‘Benergy!’

Philadelphia is going right over the top for Benjamin Franklin’s 300th birthday

By: Gloria Hayes Kremer
   Philadelphia is throwing its biggest birthday party ever.
   Philadelphia is reinventing Benjamin Franklin — the nation’s oldest founding father, born in 1706 — with an international traveling exhibition at the National Constitution Center on Independence Mall.
   Celebrating his 300th birthday, "Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World" is a remarkable show — accompanied by scores of related events throughout the city — running through April 30.
   The Franklin who emerges from the exhibition is the extraordinary man who wanted to develop — and improve — everything from stoves to governments. Inventor, scientist, meteorologist, author, businessman, entrepreneur, civic leader, diplomat, musician, philosopher, patriot, founding father — Franklin eludes easy categories.
   Visitors can view a superb interactive exhibit and then expand their knowledge of Franklin and the events that shaped the creation of the Constitution by watching a 17-minute multimedia presentation, "Freedom Rising." Steps away are the permanent exhibits and Signer’s Hall, which features life-sized statues of the Constitution’s signers and dissenters.
   This unprecedented collection is valued at more than $150 million. It has been assembled from institutions and private lenders (including many of Franklin’s descendants) from around the world and includes five of America’s founding documents, all signed by Franklin.
   Among the artifacts are Franklin’s walking stick, his signed copy of The Treaty of Paris, the odometer he invented, and pages from his "Poor Richard’s Almanack." More than five years in the planning, the 8,000-square-foot exhibition involves 40 cultural and historic organizations.
   After its Philadelphia debut, the exhibition will travel to major museums in Houston, St. Louis, Denver and Atlanta, ending its run in Paris in 2008.
   In his own words, Franklin’s lifelong quest was "to a better world." He helped to establish an independent and unified nation. He was the only man to have shaped all of the American republic’s founding documents.
   Born to a working-class family in Boston, Franklin ran away from home at age 17, gaining passage on a ship. Arriving in Philadelphia in 1723, he wandered through the streets of the town where he first saw his future wife, Deborah, and many leaders of the institutions he would help to establish. Among them are the Library Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Hospital, the University of Pennsylvania and the American Philosophical Society.
   Franklin would call his adopted hometown his "true home" the rest of his life.
   Franklin first worked as a tradesman and later a government official as he constantly observed and analyzed the world around him. He lived at what is known today as Franklin Court between Third and Fourth streets off Market Street and frequently worked in the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall). In Christ Church Burial Ground at Fifth and Arch streets, Franklin and his wife are buried.
   The celebration offers a 20-minute guided walking tour — "Franklin’s Fabulous Friends, Family & Foes" — spotlighting life in Philadelphia from 1730-1790 as told through the stories of people close to Franklin. Also offered is an hour-long self-guided tour, "Walking in Franklin’s Footsteps," that takes in the same streets Franklin walked (Elfreth’s Alley) and the places he worked (Independence Hall), prayed (Christ Church), played (American Philosophical Society), lived (Franklin Court) and founded (Pennsylvania Hospital).
   Special "Benergy" events will be bursting forth all over Philadelphia, including a Philadelphia Orchestra performance of a specially commissioned piece by Daniel Kellogg; The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s "In Pursuit of Genius," featuring French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon’s famous bust of Franklin, and the Pennsylvania Ballet’s revival of "Franklin Court," choreographed by Christopher d’Amboise.
   On Jan. 17, Franklin’s birthday, a day-long birthday celebration will take over Philadelphia, complete with birthday cake and hot chocolate all over town. An evening gala at Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park will follow.
   Franklin even had an impact on the culinary life of America. He introduced the Colonies to Swiss barley, Scottish kale, Chinese rhubarb and other foods. And while his year-long stint with vegetarianism as a teenager had an economic rationale (he bought books instead of meat), his 1,000-bottle wine collection was appreciated at his dinner table.
   Philadelphia chefs have created Ben-themed cocktails and dishes. For example, an Italian restaurant, Le Castagne, offers a three-course Franklin-themed lunch for $17.06 (the year of his birth), while a French favorite, Brasserie Perrier, features cocktails using Ben’s favorite flavors.
   Franklin lived and worked in 14 different houses in Philadelphia, as a boarder, a renter and an owner. While visitors can’t sleep where Franklin slept (none of the houses is still standing), they can choose from at least seven hotels offering the Ben’s Birthday Hotel Package.
   At the Visitors Center’s Independence Ballroom, which overlooks Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, visitors can meet and chat with a look-alike Franklin (Ralph Archbold). This activity offers insight into Franklin’s childhood in Boston as well as to his exciting ventures in Philadelphia where he was a successful printer, postmaster, librarian and finally, elder statesman.
For a calendar of events, for tour information and for information on room and board in Philadelphia, visit www.gophila.com/ben and www.constitutioncenter.org.