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Photo: Hills Bros. Coffee Inc. Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institution
Hills Brothers Coffee Inc. was one of 5,000 brands brewing when this show opened its doors in San Francisco. Its exotic logo featured a turbaned Arab, drawn by a vagabond artist in 1897. But the company’s icon grew as stale as reheated coffee in the 1960s when focus groups free-associated it with Middle Eastern spies. Hills Bros. quickly replaced the old logo with an ethnically nondescript sipping head.
1) 1900 Paris Universal Exposition
2) 1900 New York Auto Show
3) 1919 Electric Show
4) 1933 Ken Allen Food Show
5) 1935 Pacific International Exposition
6) 1956 International Livestock Show
7) 1959 World Congress of Flight
8) 1964 American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages Show
9) 1969 Consumer Electronics Show


Photo: Detail of the photo from The Collections of Henry Ford
This industry’s first official show was held in New York’s Madison Square Garden. Lacking enough exhibits to fill the cavernous space, show management built a special demonstration space so manufacturers could parade their moving products. Officials constructed a rooftop incline where horseless carriages showed that they could climb as well as their equine counterparts.
1) 1900 Paris Universal Exposition
2) 1900 New York Auto Show
3) 1919 Electric Show
4) 1933 Ken Allen Food Show
5) 1935 Pacific International Exposition
6) 1956 International Livestock Show
7) 1959 World Congress of Flight
8) 1964 American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages Show
9) 1969 Consumer Electronics Show


PHOTO: supplied by clay wilkening
Before Ralston Purina was the big dog of the $12-billion pet-food industry, it hogged much of the farm-animal feed market. During this Chicago show, visitors strolled through Champ, a 12-foot-tall, 19-foot-long, 11-foot-wide Fiberglas-and-plastic steer. Champ offered a mechanical demonstration of how it digested cattle feed and trapped nails and wire in its stomach before it let loose a super-sized steer burp.
1) 1900 Paris Universal Exposition
2) 1900 New York Auto Show
3) 1919 Electric Show
4) 1933 Ken Allen Food Show
5) 1935 Pacific International Exposition
6) 1956 International Livestock Show
7) 1959 World Congress of Flight
8) 1964 American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages Show
9) 1969 Consumer Electronics Show


Photo: courtesy of las vegas news bureau
Air travel was soaring when the old Las Vegas Convention Center opened for business and hosted this aviation industry show. The Federal Aviation Administration was launched the year before, along with the first U.S. passenger jet — the Boeing 707. The high point of the show was female astronaut trainee Jerrie Cobb, who took off in her twin-engine aircraft and set a world light-plane speed record.
1) 1900 Paris Universal Exposition
2) 1900 New York Auto Show
3) 1919 Electric Show
4) 1933 Ken Allen Food Show
5) 1935 Pacific International Exposition
6) 1956 International Livestock Show
7) 1959 World Congress of Flight
8) 1964 American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages Show
9) 1969 Consumer Electronics Show


PHoto: courtesy of the coca-cola company
Back in the days when people 'met for a soda,' the soda fountain was the coffee bar of its era and Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. was the Starbucks. Known for using provocative artists like N.C. Wyeth and Norman Rockwell, the Atlanta-based company built a soda fountain of black marble over a tableau of art-deco water nymphs, symbolizing the drink that nourishes, at this San Diego show.
1) 1900 Paris Universal Exposition
2) 1900 New York Auto Show
3) 1919 Electric Show
4) 1933 Ken Allen Food Show
5) 1935 Pacific International Exposition
6) 1956 International Livestock Show
7) 1959 World Congress of Flight
8) 1964 American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages Show
9) 1969 Consumer Electronics Show


PHOTO: supplied by clay wilkening
Dieting weighed heavily on everyone’s mind at this show. Weight Watchers International Inc. was founded the year before, and low-sugar diets were the rage. During the show, Abbott Laboratories Inc. touted the sugar substitute Sucaryl. It was the first time a skating rink had been used in a trade show — but cyclamate (the ingredient in Sucaryl) was on thin ice, finally being banned in 1969.
1) 1900 Paris Universal Exposition
2) 1900 New York Auto Show
3) 1919 Electric Show
4) 1933 Ken Allen Food Show
5) 1935 Pacific International Exposition
6) 1956 International Livestock Show
7) 1959 World Congress of Flight
8) 1964 American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages Show
9) 1969 Consumer Electronics Show


Photo: Oscar and associates inc., courtesy of hall-erickson inc.
This show was pulsing with the sounds of the Beatles' 'Get Back' and Zager and Evans’ 'In The Year 2525' playing on General Electric Co. radios, such as the P1757 Trim Performer and the P1807 Homemakers Companion, while portable phonographs such as the Wildcat and the Mustang were spinning vinyl like Arlo Guthrie’s 'Alice’s Restaurant' and The Who's 'Tommy.'
1) 1900 Paris Universal Exposition
2) 1900 New York Auto Show
3) 1919 Electric Show
4) 1933 Ken Allen Food Show
5) 1935 Pacific International Exposition
6) 1956 International Livestock Show
7) 1959 World Congress of Flight
8) 1964 American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages Show
9) 1969 Consumer Electronics Show


PHoto: courtesy of the hoover company
When Hoover Co. displayed its new Model 102 vacuum at this Cincinnati show, it swept away the competition with its low-slung hood that let the vacuum slide under furniture. Costing $65 — about a fifth the price of a Model T then and nearly $700 in today’s money — it was also a no-frills departure from the early days of vacuuming, when cleaners were designed to double as coffee tables and cocktail bars.
1) 1900 Paris Universal Exposition
2) 1900 New York Auto Show
3) 1919 Electric Show
4) 1933 Ken Allen Food Show
5) 1935 Pacific International Exposition
6) 1956 International Livestock Show
7) 1959 World Congress of Flight
8) 1964 American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages Show
9) 1969 Consumer Electronics Show


PHOTO: OTIS ELEVATOR CO. HISTORICAL ARCHIVES
Just five years after the word 'escalator' stepped into the American vocabulary, the Otis Elevator Co. demonstrated the uplifting technology at this show. More than 50-million visitors wandered among the 83,047 exhibits and marveled at new technology, such as wireless telegraphy, electric trains, and automobiles — and of course, Otis’ moving stairway, which thousands of visitors paid a penny to ride.
1) 1900 Paris Universal Exposition
2) 1900 New York Auto Show
3) 1919 Electric Show
4) 1933 Ken Allen Food Show
5) 1935 Pacific International Exposition
6) 1956 International Livestock Show
7) 1959 World Congress of Flight
8) 1964 American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages Show
9) 1969 Consumer Electronics Show
 

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