Historical September 1984 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
In a multi-media event, “Halley’s Comet, 1910: Days of Awe” will present the humor, hysteria, and advertising hype that accompanied the appearance of the historic comet nearly 75 years ago.
The show will be performed at the Missouri Historical Society in the Jefferson Memorial Building in Forest Park on Sunday, Sept. 16 at 2:00 pm.
There is no admission charge.
A cast of three will portray historical personnages such as Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain and Anna Held, one of the most famous Ziegfeld girls. Accompanied by a piano and with a backdrop of colorful slides, they will take an entertaining look at the way the world reacted to the comet for two months in 1910. “Everybody’s heard of Halley’s Comet, but that’s usually all they know, unless they remember hearing that Mark Twain was born when it appeared and died when it came again,” said Jerred Metz, Ph.D., who has also written a book, Halley’s Comet, 1910: Days of Awe, to be published in February 1985. “The vaudeville olio tells the story of the comet from different points of view —historical, literary and poetic.
An astronomical event is the revue’s central character,” he continued. “The comet will be visible in late November 1985, then will disappear as it goes around the sun, then in March 1986, we will see it again.
This comet has been recorded in history since 240 B.C., but was not identified as the same one until Halley made his discovery that comets travel in orbits and boldly predieted that at the end of 1758 or at the beginning of 1759 the comet would again appear,” Metz explained. “On May 18, 1910, when the earth was to pass through the comet’s tail, the greatest number of people ever to share in a single event watched with mingled fear and awe,” he continued. “And the world did not end, as some had predicted.” Instead the comet was celebrated in song and verse, cartoons and advertisements. Every newspaper and magazine printed at the time ran stories of the people and their activities in response to the comet.
The slides used in Metz’s presentation depict this human side.
They were photographed from private collections of comet memorabilia—postcards, sheet music covers, cartoons, posters, and magazine and newspaper advertising. Metz received his doctorate in literature from the University of Minnesota, where he was a member of the faculty for several years.
He has also taught at Webster University.
His poetry has been widely published, and his most recent book is Drinking the Dipper Dry: Nine Plain Spoken Lives, which was published in 1980.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, September 1984.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1984_09.pdf, printed page(s) 9; PDF page(s) 9.
