“HALLEY’S COMET
– 1910: DAYS OF AWE”
A REVIEW IN
SONG AND VERSE
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 Jefferson Memorial Building in Forest Park, St.
Louis, Missouri on Sunday, September 16 at 2:00 p.m.
A cast of three will portray
historical personages, such as Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain and Anna Held,
one of the most famous Ziegfield 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.
Jerred Metz, Ph.D. is author of the
work. “The vaudeville folio 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 stated.
Metz stated that “on May 18, 1910,
when the Earth was to pass through the comet’s tail, the greatest number of
people ever to share a single event watched with mingled fear and awe. 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.