Glamor might not sell cars, but it draws crowds.
Auto manufacturers and dealers have known about the drawing power of celebrities for a long time. That’s why, when each year’s Chicago Auto Show is about to open, car-minded Chicagoans are sure to hear about the stars from Hollywood or the sports world who will be at McCormick Place–signing autographs, performing or chatting with the showgoers.
Celebrities add a dash of flash and pizzazz to the annual event. If a Michael Jordan or Miss America can lure show visitors to a manufacturer’s display, their presence might send sales up when those visitors start thinking about a trip to the dealership.
“It’s a definite plus for the show,” said Dave Sloan, executive vice president of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, the show’s sponsor. “We can tell based on the calls we get asking which sports celebrity is going to be at the show.”
In addition to sports figures, “cartoon characters are a draw,” including the Rug Rats and Power Rangers, which have appeared on the show floor in recent years.
“On the downside,” Sloan said, “sometimes celebrities can hurt the flow of the show.” Michael Jordan, for instance, drew so many showgoers to the Chevrolet display that adjacent exhibitors were displeased.
In the early days, that wasn’t the case.
In 1901, the year of the first official Chicago Auto Show–at the old Coliseum, just south of the Loop–the vehicles were the only stars. Most people at that time had rarely seen an automobile. By visiting the Coliseum during auto show week, they could watch these new-fangled machines in action–or drive one on the indoor track.
Test drives were the attraction in 1901, but they were short-lived. Some frightful incidents occurred when showgoers tried to cross the track as a motorcar, driven perhaps by a person who’d never sat behind the wheel before, came whizzing toward them.
Though well-known people doubtless visited the Chicago Auto Show through the next couple of decades, their appearances were not chronicled. A visit to the Coliseum by Henry Ford or Alexander Winton or a racing daredevil such as Barney Oldfield was considered far more noteworthy than the presence of a distinguished person from another walk of life.
Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne spoke to the Chicago Automobile Trade Association at its annual dinner in 1931, but any appearance at the show went unreported. When Charles F. Kettering, inventor of the electric self-starter, visited the Chicago show in 1939, his photograph was taken. Whether a Clark Gable or a Jean Arthur visited that year, we’ll never know.
From 1935, when the auto show moved to the International Amphitheatre, into the 1960s, each year’s Chicago Auto Show included an elaborate stage revue. Those musical extravaganzas attracted attention to the new models, which were driven onstage accompanied by community beauty queens. True celebrities began to appear in 1950, when the Chicago Auto Show resumed after nearly a decade’s absence in and after World War II. Puppets Kukla and Oliver J. Dragon, of “Kukla, Fran & Ollie” TV fame, sat for publicity photos at the show that year, accompanied by puppeteer Burr Tillstrom.
Among the famous faces at the 1954 auto show was singer Cab Calloway, who took the wheel of the new Ford Thunderbird being prepared for a 1955 debut.
Long before entering the political arena, Ronald Reagan, a movie star and the host of the “G.E. Theatre” on TV, sat in several vehicles, including a Cadillac Espada convertible with extra-tall tailfins and an early “horseless carriage” that was steered with a tiller.
Sen. Joseph McCarthy appeared at the auto-show lunch held by the Southtown Economist newspaper.
TV’s Jack Webb turned up in 1955 for Ford. Known for his portrayal of Los Angeles detective Joe Friday on radio and TV, Webb posed with a ’55 Ford that featured license plate “714,” Friday’s badge number. Three years later, Buick created a show car named the Wells Fargo, enlisting Dale Robertson, who played on the TV series of that name. Entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. arrived at the International Amphitheatre in 1959 to help show off the stylish Renault Caravelle convertible.
Lincoln-Mercury’s Sports Panel proved to be a compelling attraction for many years, starting in the 1960s. The ’71 panel included golfers Sharron Moran and Byron Nelson; Al Kaline of the Detroit Tigers; Olympic sprinter Jesse Owens; Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr and pro bowler Billy Welu. Ron Santo, third baseman for the Chicago Cubs, drew such a huge crowd that year nearby exhibitors complained to the management that their displays were being overlooked.
Triple Olympic gold-medal skier Jean-Claude Killy and football star O.J. Simpson made appearances for Chevrolet at the 1969 auto show.
Race drivers have been popular. Land-speed record holder Craig Breedlove, appearing at American Motors’ stand, and NASCAR driver Cale Yarborough were among the attractions at the 1968 Chicago Auto Show. All-time stock-car record holder Ernie Derr helped promote Dodge.
In the 1980s and ’90s, NASCAR great Richard Petty undertook similar duties. In 1982, Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Unser made an appearance at Audi’s exhibit, and A.J. Foyt signed autographs for Oldsmobile.
Football stars at the 1982 show included the Bears’ Mike Singletary and running back Walter Payton, a show fixture for years. Payton and Michael Jordan are two of the most-often-seen celebrities at the Chicago show. For years, Oldsmobile hired Miss America. In 1971 Phyllis George appeared with Miss World, Sandie Wolsfield.
Lincoln-Mercury hired dancer-actor Ben Vereen to help introduce the Mercury Sable in 1985. Dodge invited Oprah Winfrey in her pre media mogul days to appear at its display in 1986. Even the Disney characters were seen at McCormick Place, promoting the new Chevrolet Lumina minivan in 1989. A year earlier, Jim Henson’s Muppets presented the “Muppet Traffic Safety Show.”
In 1988, France’s Peugeot brought a group of Shakespearean and Broadway performers from New Jersey.
At the exhibit space for British-built Sterling automobiles, three guards from Buckingham Palace turned up in full regalia on the lower level of McCormick Place in 1992.
Sport stars are the most likely to show up on public days now, with actors and others occasionally on hand to introduce a model to the media in the press period before the official opening of the show.
Jack Palance, for instance, appeared in 1997 at Ford’s news conference heralding its Powerforce concept truck.
Celebrities might stick around for the “First Look for Charity” night, circulating among the tuxedo-clad and gowned revelers, but then leave before the show opens to the general public.
Automotive executives usually escape the public’s gaze, except in 1984. Lee Iacocca made his only visit as chairman of Chrysler Corp. and drew more attention than the cars. Iacocca wanted to look over two rivals to his company’s “garageable” minivans, which were unveiled at McCormick Place. According to observers at the time, he didn’t think much of the Chevrolet Astro and Ford Aerostar.
Vice President Al Gore was soundly criticized after he arrived at the auto show in 1997 accompanied by Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. Why? Because show visitors had to wait in line in the new McCormick Place lobby while the politicians toured the show floor.
