The Greatest Fair Ever Held

Prior to the 20th century, the state of medical care for Jewish Brooklynites was dire. The closest Jewish hospitals were a long trip into Manhattan and overcrowded, while local hospitals could not meet religious requirements (e.g. kashrut: Jewish dietary laws). The result was that many Jews went without lifesaving care. However, on November 9, 1901, the State Board of Charities approved the incorporation of the Jewish Hospital of Brooklyn, Kings County’s first medical center equipped to care for both Jewish and non-Jewish patients. The only hurdle: raising $100,000 to acquire a hospital site (over 3 million dollars in today’s currency). The solution to this obstacle was spectacular: a week-long, ornately themed fundraiser festival unlike any other. Colonel A. B. De Frece of Manhattan was hired as director general of the fair. “[T]here is no better known or more successful manager of eleemosynary functions anywhere than he,” the Brooklyn Eagle declared, promising that his would be “the greatest fair ever held by the Hebrews of this city.” 

De Frece envisioned a festival that would be “original and attractive…as different from other fairs as possible.” It would offer every amenity at fifteen sales booths, from candy to seances led by a celebrity medium. Perhaps inspired by the concept of a festival of booths, De Frece and his team scheduled the fair during the Jewish holiday of the Feast of Booths, more commonly known as Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles (tabernacle = booth / hut / sukkah). The fair’s theme would be Sukkot in a “fairy-like bower” on a grand scale. 

The approach of the fair was much anticipated by the local newspapers, which covered the countdown to opening day with both enthusiasm and a hint of bemusement, as captured in the Brooklyn Eagle’s description of the elaborate sukkah that would stand at the fair:

The fair will be held on the eve of the Jewish festival of tabernacles and it will be quite an appropriate as well as an instructive and novel feature to reproduce one of those queer tabernacles, or succoths. . . The succoth will be a fair representation even as to the branches of trees with which it is built, and the leaves which cover it. Grape vines with the fruit hanging in large clusters will spread over the succoth and dishes of fruit will be served by the women in charge.

These “women in charge” would be members of the Women’s Auxiliary Committee of the Jewish Hospital Society. They were the executors of De Frece's vision, responsible not only for sourcing the vendors and wares for sale, but also for managing and staffing every booth -- the latter of which would be done while dressed in Torah-era costumes.

The old Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), then located on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights, was chosen as the fair’s site, where, according to the reporters, attendees would be visually transported:

The Academy of Music will, to all intents, have disappeared, and [attendees] will stand beneath a great canopy of azure, with a zenith twinkling with star-like lights of tiny incandescent bulbs, and under a widespreading tent.

Blue streamers, long and wide, will hang from the center of the roof down to the railing of the first balcony, and from this railing to the floor draperies will cunningly inclose [sic] the entire auditorium. In this tented inclosure [sic] will be erected the fifteen booths, where will be displayed the donations of thousands of philanthropic Brooklynites. 

As electric light had only become widely available in private homes within the last few years, a sky of electric stars was likely especially novel. In addition to the twinkling night sky, the grape-festooned sukkah, costumed women, and a bounty of palm trees, the wares promised to be uniquely intriguing. One booth that was expected to be amongst the most popular was the doll booth. “Such a beautiful collection, probably, has seldom, if ever, been gathered together before,” wrote the Brooklyn Eagle. Many of the dolls were dressed by celebrities of the day, including a doll that was expected to draw “a spirited bidding,” dressed by Marie Cahill, a Brooklyn-born Broadway star, as one of her own characters in the musical Sally in Our Alley. Another celebrity moment would include Madame Agnes Charcot, a “celebrated palmist…who created such a furore [sic] among the 400 at Newport during the past summer.” Fair attendees would have the opportunity to “pay for the shivers” induced by her palm readings and seances. Another booth aimed to please a range of budgets, offering both candy and diamonds, supplied by the Unity Club of Brooklyn. According to De Frece, “at this booth will be displayed more valuable gems than ever before in this city in a like affair.” In addition to these lures, the fair also promised to offer souvenirs, flowers, furniture, pianos, books, groceries, tobacco, wine, seltzer, food, music, Punch and Judy puppet shows, and one horse drawn carriage (complete with rubber tires, harness, whip, and blankets -- though the horse was likely not included). 

After seven months of build up by local newspapers, New York Governor Benjamin B. Odell formally opened the fair on Monday, October 13, 1902 with over two thousand attendees streaming through the open doors to the sounds of “The Star Spangled Banner” and “Hail to the Chief,” played by the Hebrew Orphan Asylum Band. Outside, the horse and carriage for sale clopped down the streets of Brooklyn Heights, announcing the fair’s opening and, hopefully, attracting a buyer. 

Regrettably, there are no known renderings of the fair, perhaps due to the fire that destroyed BAM just 13 months later. However, the image below depicting a streamer festooned fundraiser held at BAM during the American Civil War provides an idea of what the Sukkot extravaganza may have loosely resembled.

Amongst the many Important Men who attended the opening, addressing the crowd from the guest box at BAM’s second tier, was Abraham Abraham. One of the founders of Abraham & Strauss, Brooklyn’s hugely successful department store (later acquired by Macy’s), Abraham had donated perhaps the largest bulk sum to the Jewish Hospital. He welcomed fair attendees with a speech, applauding the “arduous work” that went into the production. He credited the inception of the idea of the hospital to Mr. Nathan Jonas, a founder and president of the Jewish Hospital Society, whose “ardor and enthusiasm…knew no bounds.” Abraham also thanked the many women responsible for realizing De Frece's vision. “I wish to say a word of the Jewish women of Brooklyn,” Abraham announced. “They again evidence, by their zeal and devotion in the course of this work their helpfulness. God bless them, one and all…” He went on to quote an unnamed British clergyman, saying, “‘Where there is great work to do, the women are the men to do it.’”

Thirteen of these women had just received recognition in print by the Brooklyn Eagle, which described them not as “the men to do it,” but as “the galaxy of pretty Jewesses." Photographic portraits of these women headed a nearly full-page article titled, “Getting Ready for the Big Jewish Hospital Fair.” Though the article did not discuss these women individually, some of their titles indicate their activities and autonomy within Brooklyn and its newest hospital. 

• Miss Sadie Bloch, Regional Secretary of the Hospital Aid Society
• Mrs. Amelia Fallek, one of the most prominent workers
• Miss Anna B. Glaser
• Miss Pauline Hemendinger
• Miss Minnie Igelheimer, Financial Secretary of the Hospital Aid Society
• Mrs. I. Lahn, Treasurer of the Women’s Auxiliary
• Miss Max S. Levison, President of the Ladies Hebrew Benevolent Society of the E.D. [Eastern District, i.e. Williamsburg]
• Miss Miriam Levy, Second Vice President of the Hospital Aid Society
• Miss Mollie Marks, Registrar of Dispensary, only Woman Director on Hospital Board
• Mrs. A. Reisenburger, Secretary of the Auxiliary Committee
• Mrs. D. I. Rogow
• Mrs. Henry Roth, President of the Women’s Auxiliary, Woman Chairman of the Fair
• Miss Lucile S. Slote, Regional Secretary of the Young Friends League

If the hospital’s cause were not inspiration enough, there were also a prizes offered to the women who collected the largest number of donations, sold the most season tickets to the fair, and secured the most advertisements for the official fair book, The Voice of the Fair, which was to be edited by members of Packer Institute’s senior class. The prizes included diamond rings and a diamond studded watch. At the end of the first day the fair closed around 11 pm and the women had sold 5,000 season tickets, which alone raised $10,000. They were off to an excellent start.

The fair continued through the week, drawing a steady stream of supporters. The most popular attractions proved to be the flower, candy, and seance booths, though the Brooklyn Citizen stated that “all the tables were patronized with remarkable recklessness…Everybody seemed disposed to buy.” The fair closed early at 6pm on Friday in observance of Shabbat, reopening Saturday at 2pm. That night was the “gala night,” featuring special guest Bird Sim Coler. He was the Democratic nominee for governor who would lose to the opening night’s guest, governor incumbent Odell, the following month, despite strong support in New York City. A rumor was floated that Coler was going to talk politics at the fair, which drew a great number of politicians and public, resulting in the fair’s largest gathering. The Brooklyn Citizen predicted that this political lure would “draw the largest crowd of spenders” and that “every opportunity will be given the distinguished visitors to part with their superfluous cash.” Leading the attack on these wallets was De Frece. He “commission[ed] several hundred charming young daughters” to “take care of” the politicians. Seventy-five of these women were instructed to target Coler, while the rest were to target the other politicians. De Frece anticipated several thousand dollars in winnings from this strategy. 

It seems that Coler was caught off guard, despite De Frece's public announcement of his plans, and that the women were committed to their parts:

When the news spread at 9 o’clock that Mr. Coler had been sighted, the hosts of winsome young damsels who had been merrily engaged parting [others] with their money, left their willing victims and made one grand rush for the entrance through which Mr. and Mrs. Coler were escorted… 

Gaily-dressed women, armed with boutonnieres, their dark eyes flashing with anticipation, lined the way, six deep, from the door to the magnificently-decorated auditorium, and almost completely drowned the cheers of the mass of buyers inside by the gleeful shouts of “Take a chance, Governor!” [Chances = raffle tickets]

The Brooklyn Eagle described a somewhat more overwhelming scene: 

...[F]inally the fair workers became so persistent and the demands for recognition so numerous that Mr. Coler put up his hands and fled to a box where he remained the rest of the evening. 

Meanwhile, other attending politicians, such as Hugh McLaughlin and John L. Shea, who had not escaped, boasted suits that were heavily laden with flowers from the women. 

The exact amount raised that night was not publicly reported, but the crowds were so large and stayed so late that the scheduled auction was postponed until the following day. The fair’s popularity warranted an extension, finally closing on Monday, October 20th after 8 days of festivities and fundraising. In gratitude for their hard work, the hospital directors hosted a dance for the fair workers, which lasted through the small hours of the morning. 

By all but one marker, the fair was a momentous success. Despite the great efforts of De Frece, the Women’s Auxiliary Committee, Nathan Jonas, and many others, the fair fell about $10,000 shy of its $100,000 goal. Seemingly undeterred, the Women’s Auxiliary Committee continued their fundraising efforts, supported by the Aid Society of the Jewish Hospital, the Young Friends League, and another themed fundraiser led by De Frece (a strawberry festival). Together, they raised the $100,000 by December of that year, then pushed their goal to $150,000. 

In September 1903, the Hebrew Hospital Association placed the winning bid of $96,500 on the former Memorial Hospital for Women and Children building, which continues to stand at Classon Avenue and Prospect Place. Various expansions and fundraisers followed, delaying the opening until December 1906. A nursing school and dormitory opened in the hospital on December 9th and the hospital opened its doors to patients on December 17th. It was equipped with 75 beds, including one “perpetual bed” awarded to winning ticket holder number 216, Mr. B. Sel. The hospital’s opening received significantly less fanfare in the papers than did the Sukkot extravaganza. Nonetheless, it proved to be an invaluable asset to the Brooklynites and quickly established a reputation of prestige.

Roughly 100,000 Jewish Brooklynites (a population that continued to expand) finally had a local hospital that could provide proper care, inclusive of their religious needs, and care for the needs of any Brooklynite. Despite its name, the Jewish Hospital was a secular institution dedicated to “afford[ing] medical and surgical aid, nursing and comfort, to sick and disabled persons, without regard to their creed or nationality" - or race. The hospital would continue to expand and evolve, becoming one of Kings County’s preeminent medical institutions and reaching a bed capacity of 886 at its largest. An untold number of patients passed through its doors, including Barbara Streisand and Nas, both born in the hospital, in 1942 and 1973, respectively, and Albert Einstein, for an exploratory laparotomy in 1948. 

Today, the sprawling Brooklyn Jewish Hospital building still stands, though it is no longer an active hospital. It has, since the early 2000s, served as a nearly 700-unit apartment complex. The names of its largest donors, including Abraham Abraham, are still etched above its various doorways and its morgue is now, according to local legend, home to Neptune Diner. Should you pass the building, which now stretches down the majority of the block, remember that it was acquired through the efforts of, among many, a strategist fair director and numerous determined costumed women.