“Exhibit ‘Take Flight’ Re-Opens at the Museum of Science & Industry”

The Museum of Science and Industry’s exhibit Take Flight, which features a real 727, opened in 1994. It closed on Monday, October 5, A.D. 2020 to undergo renovations and re-opened on Thursday, May 13, A.D. 2021, as I mentioned in an article earlier this week.

Figure 1 Credit: Heidi Peters, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: The exhibit *Take Flight* re-opened on May 13, A.D. 2021.

“United 727’s airplane, dramatically positioned high above the Museum’s main floor, has been a one-of-a-kind sight that has amazed millions of guests. We’re excited to showcase the plane in a new way that highlights modern advances in aviation,” stated M.S.I. President and C.E.O. Chevy Humphrey.

Boeing and United Airlines support the exhibit Take Flight, which is covered by Museum Entry (general admission). Visitors can view the plane’s mechanical, electronic, and hydraulic systems, engines, and landing gear. They can learn about the side effects of flying at high altitudes, such as turbulence and dehydration, and how to compensate for them.

“The project involved restoring and highlighting the plane’s interior and creating brand-new interactives to bring flying to life,” the M.S.I. stated in a press release. “Guests will discover what made the airliner soar, explore changes in the airline industry, and understand the science of flying.”

A part of the cabin has been restored to the way it looked in 1964. Take Flight features a 150-foot-long display that includes a mural depicting an airliner from assembly to takeoff and a fleet of twenty-five model airliners hanging overhead (identified in promotional materials as “a ‘flock’ of 25 models”).

In a press release, the M.S.I. stated, “A 150-foot display take guests on a behind-the-scenes journey from aircraft assembly to takeoff, showcasing the variety of careers and people working in aviation. This spectacular wall reveals the complex systems that help people build new planes, manage airport operations and track flights and passengers all around the world.”

“As pioneers and innovators in commercial aviation, United Airlines is proud of the relationship we’ve shared with MSI and its guests over the last 35 years,” stated Suzi Cabo, Managing Director of Global Community Engagement for United Airlines. “MSI has done a remarkable job reimagining the Take Flight exhibit showcasing some our talented United employees and sparking curiosity, discussion and education about science and aviation.”

The M.S.I. stated, “We peeled back the skin of the airplane to show mechanical, electronic and hydraulic systems. Guests can see wings, engines, landing gear, lavatories and even the fabled black box. A glass floor shows the cables and pulleys used to steer the plane, while a media presentation demonstrates the 727’s technology in action, from takeoff to landing. The newly conserved cockpit explains how pilots communicate, navigate and fly.”

Figure 2 Credit: Heidi Peters, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: The cockpit underwent conservation work. Notice the statue of Thor from the temporary exhibit *Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes* that is visible through the window on the far right.

Figure 3 Credit: Heidi Peters, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: The interior of the 727 has new interactive displays. At left is an auxiliary power unit (a.p.u.).

Figure 4 Credit: Heidi Peters, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: The 727’s renovations included restoration of part of the cabin to its appearance in 1964 when it began service for United Airlines.

Figure 5 Credit: Heidi Peters, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: *Take Flight* features a 150-foot-long display that includes a mural depicting an airliner from assembly to takeoff and a fleet of twenty-five model airliners hanging overhead.

COVID-19 Protocols

Capacity is limited and visitors must purchase timed-entry tickets in advance online by visiting www.msichicago.org/tickets. There are social distancing measures in place. Face coverings are required for employees and guests ages two-and-over.

Ticket Prices

Museum Entry (general admission) tickets are $21.95 for adults and $12.95 for children (ages three-to-eleven). It is free for Members. Museum Entry tickets cover most permanent exhibits such as Science Storms and Numbers In Nature and many temporary exhibits. It does not cover parking, special exhibits and events, or Giant Dome Theater films.

Giant Dome Theater tickets are $12 for adults and $9 for children (ages three-to-eleven). For Members, tickets are free or discounted.

Tickets for Fab Lab and Learning Labs are $12 for adults and $9 for children (ages ten-to-eleven). For Members, tickets are free or discounted.

Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes tickets are $18 for adults, $14 for children (ages three-to-eleven) or $9 for Members. Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes will run through Sunday, October 24, A.D. 2021.

Hours

During Spring and Summer of 2021 (through Monday, September 6, A.D. 2021), the Museum of Science and Industry is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, and, for now, will be closed on Mondays. That includes Memorial Day (Monday, May 31, A.D. 2021). It will be open exclusively to Members on Friday, June 11, A.D. 2021. The Museum will be closed on Thursday, November 25, A.D. 2021 (Thanksgiving) and Saturday, December 25, A.D. 2021 (the First Day of Christmas).

Located in the neighborhood of East Hyde Park in Hyde Park (Community Area #41) on the South Side of Chicago, the M.S.I. is situated at the northeast corner of the Chicago Park District’s Jackson Park, at the intersection of 57^th Street and Lake Shore Drive. The address is 5700 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60637.

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The Field Museum of Natural History in March, 2018

The Field Museum of Natural History’s entrance pavilions are at opposite ends of Stanley Field Hall, which has a north-south axis. The two porticos (porches) are each reached by two successive flights of stairs.

Both porticos of The Field Museum of Natural History are flanked by two small porches, which each have two caryatids (columns in the shape of maidens). On the facade, the wings are adorned with a colonnade of attached fluted Ionic columns. The building’s fluted Ionic columns have volutes (spiral-scroll-shaped crowns).

Each portico of The Field Museum is tetrastyle in antis with double-ranked fluted Ionic columns capped by volutes. An entablature crowned by a pediment rests atop the columns. The continuous frieze in each case is relatively plain. The wave-themed acroteria that crown the pediments are borrowed from the Palace of a Fine Arts, which housed The Field Museum until 1920 and now houses the Museum of Science and Industry.

The Field Museum of Natural History isn’t “just” a museum. Visitors can watch scientists at work through windows at the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice DNA Discovery Center’s Pritzker Laboratory.

Mrs. Charles (Laura) Schweppe, a daughter and co-heiress of John Graves Shedd, the former partner of Marshall Field I who succeeded him as president of Marshall Field & Company, and who, under the guidance of Stanley Field founded the Shedd Aquarium, donated an exhibit of 100 bronze sculptures by Malvina Hoffman to The Field Museum. They represent every race, nation, and tribe in the human family (more or less). On January 9, 1933, the first group, Unity of Man, went on display.

In addition to the four figures Henry Hering (1874-1949) made for the corners of Stanley Field Hall, he also made the twelve plaster round lion head shield escutcheons that line it. These are replicas of the marble round lion head shield escutcheon he made for the pediment of the facade of The Field Museum of Natural History.

Christmas at Chicago’s Union Station

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a POLAR EXPRESS display in the Great Hall of Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a closeup of the THE POLAR EXPRESS steam locomotive mock-up in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the headlamp of THE POLAR EXPRESS steam locomotive mock-up in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This Union Station Company rail car loaded with super-size gifts is part of THE POLAR EXPRESS mock-up in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a Christmas tree in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This Christmas tree in the Great Hall of Union Station in downtown Chicago has emblems of Amtrak, Metra, and historic railroad companies whose routes they now operate like Burlington.

Cinemas sculptor Alfonso Iannelli (1888-1965) Helped Design

This is the Pickwick Theatre Building, an Art Deco movie palace and office building erected in downtown Park Ridge, Illinois in 1928.

The architects were Roscoe Harold Zook and William F. McCaughey. Sculptor Alfonso Iannelli, who also worked on the Adler Planetarium, contributed to this building.

In recent years, the Vlahakis family, who’ve owned the building for 50 years, have been able to turn the building into a multiplex by adding smaller theaters around the original auditorium. The latest one, with a screen four times the size of the one in the auditorium, will open in time to screen INFINITY WARS in May, if all goes well.

The Catlow Movie Theater is a cinema that opened in downtown Barrington, Illinois in 1927. The Tudor Revival style of architecture is not confined to the facade of the cinema. As with the Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge, Illinois, sculptor Alfonso Iannelli (1888-1965) played a role in the design and decoration of The Catlow Movie Theater.