The World’s Greatest Fair, a feature-length documentary about the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, will premiere at St. Louis’ Fabulous Fox Theatre at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 10. The film also will be shown at the Tivoli Theatre at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Monday, July 12, as part of a Filmmakers Showcase.
The World’s Greatest Fair features hundreds of never-before-seen images; the first high definition (HD) transfer of rare film footage of the fair; and interviews with nationally recognized historians. Firsthand accounts of the fair are read by well-known St. Louisans, including Mayor Francis Slay, Stan Musial, Clarence Harmon, James Buford, Mary Straus and Stan Kahn. In all, more than 150 area volunteered their time to work on the production.
Carol Diaz-Granados, Ph.D., research associate and lecturer in the Department of Anthropology in Arts & Sciences, appears several times throughout the documentary and is featured in the section about the fair’s spectacular, 265-foot-high Ferris wheel, which she began researching in the mid-1990s. (Each of the wheel’s 36 observation cars was the size of a bus — so big that, during the seven-month fair, two weddings took place in them, one on horseback.)
Steve Givens, assistant to the Chancellor, wrote the section about music at the fair. Givens also co-wrote and performed one of the songs in the documentary, “Good Night, Farewell.”
Also featured are ragtime expert Trebor Tichenor, a longtime lecturer in music; and Jeff Pike, dean of the School of Art, who provides the voice for Halsey C. Ives, the exposition’s Chief of Art and founding director of the Washington University School of Art.
Intended for national distribution, The World’s Greatest Fair is produced by Technisonic Studios, St. Louis’ oldest production company, and presented by the nonprofit company Civil Pictures, Inc.
Tickets for the Fox premiere are available through MetroTix, at (314) 534-1111 or www.metrotix.com. For more information, visit www.1904documentary.com or contact Bob Miano or Scott Huegerich at (314) 533-1777.