‘Pirate Girl’ was face of expo on Treasure Island
The Golden Gate International Exposition of 193940 was organized in direct competition with the 1939 New York World’s Fair. An attraction was needed to draw customers west to Treasure Island, a flat spit of land newly raised from San Francisco Bay. That attraction turned out to be Zoe Dell Lantis, a ballerina and nightclub dancer hired to be the exposition’s “theme girl.”
Costumed as the “Pirate Girl from Treasure Island” in an outfit that highlighted her dancer’s legs, Lantis toured the country performing publicity stunts like leaping across the narrowest gap in the Grand Canyon, in her pirate hat, jagged shorts and highheeled boots. Before the exposition even opened, she had been featured in a Life magazine photo spread and had been dubbed “the most photographed girl in the world” by the
National Clipping Service.
It can be assumed that a number of visitors who came to “the Magic City,” as the Treasure Island fair came to be known, were there in search of Lantis. In a variety of costumes, she posed for photos with visiting celebrities and everyday fairgoers. She became an inexhaustible ambassador for the exposition, a role she was willing to revisit throughout her long life.
Lantis died Wednesday after witnessing two world wars, two worldwide pandemics and any number of Treasure Island world’s fair anniversary reunions. She was 104.
Lantis, who after the fair earned greater fame as a pioneer in aviation under her married name Zoe Dell Nutter, died peacefully of old age at her ranch in Green County, Ohio, said Anne Schnoebelen, vice president of the Treasure Island Museum.
“Zoe Dell Lantis had the face that brought the Golden Gate International Exposition to life for the nation,” Schnoebelen said. “She was hired by the publicist for her outgoing and friendly personality and her willingness to do almost anything to announce the fair to the country.”
Zoe Dell Lantis was born on Flag Day, June 14, 1915, and grew up in rural Yamhill, Ore.
According to an interview that appeared in “The San Francisco Fair,” a book published on the fair’s 50th anniversary, Lantis described how she came to San Francisco at age 18 to pursue her dream of joining the San Francisco Ballet. She was working at a nightclub when she auditioned to be a “theme girl” for the exposition and spent two years on the road doing advance publicity.
She was not the only theme girl. There were several, “but Zoe Dell rose to the top because of her talent and personality,” said Schnoebelen. “She was strong, she was brave, she had a beautiful smile and people just loved her.”
In her skimpy pirate suit, Lantis skied, handled jumping frogs, rode a horse in a rodeo, and rode an elephant in the circus at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“It was supposed to look like glamour,” she later recalled.
“I’d almost freeze to death sometimes. In sleet and snow. I never wore a coat.”
While in New York, she visited Mayor Fiorello La Guardia to talk him into leaving his own world’s fair for the exposition in San Francisco. When she arrived in her usual outfit, La Guardia demanded she be covered in a fur coat. She did not get La Guardia to visit, but she got a lot of publicity for her efforts. She had better luck with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom she met during her barnstorming tour. He was unable to attend but sent first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
“Zoe Dell was terrific because she became a symbol of a youthful quality and beauty and, oh my God, what energy,” said historian Richard Reinhardt, author of “Treasure Island: San Francisco’s Exposition Years.”
The Golden Gate International Exposition opened on Feb. 18, 1939, and had two seasons. In all, it was open for 372 days before closing for good on Sept. 29, 1940. Lantis traveled throughout the run. When she wasn’t on the road, she was at the fair, as a dancer and emcee. She introduced big bands, including Benny Goodman and the Dorsey Brothers.
“The fair was a development ahead of its time. They had colored lights, colored photography, aviation, the atom smasher from Berkeley, and the first microwave ovens and televisions,” she would recall later. “I’ve seen a lot of World’s Fairs. I’m invited to every one as an official visitor, and I’d say ours was one of the most wonderful I could ever imagine.”
After the exposition closed, Lantis tried to join the USO as a performer, but back surgery ended her dance career. So she got her private pilot’s license and went into sales for Piper Aircraft. On a trip to Ohio, she met Ervin J. Nutter, president of Elano Corp. They were married and settled on a cattle ranch near Dayton, and she became the company pilot.
As she flew him in a singleengine Cessna 182, Lantis Nutter became dissatisfied with the lack of heat in the airplane’s tiny cabin and is credited with helping invent a system that took the heat from the plane’s engine and redirected it into the cabin.
She also became dedicated to the aviation history of Dayton, where the Wright brothers built their first plane. She went to Congress to lobby for the establishment of the National Aviation Hall of Fame there. She also kept flying her own Cessna, even while raising three stepsons and becoming a doting grandparent.
In February 1989, Lantis attended the 50th anniversary of the exposition on Treasure Island, along with other performers and fair staffers. After that, Lantis seldom missed a reunion, until the museum was closed in 1997, when the Navy exited Treasure Island, which had become a naval station.
“She was bubbly and seemed to know everyone. It was obvious she just loved being back,” said Schnoebelen. “It seemed like she got a contact high just from being on Treasure Island, a place that had brought her so much fun when she was young.”
For the past several years, efforts have been made to reopen the Treasure Island Museum, and Lantis was always willing to fly out from Dayton to do her part. In addition to the excitement created by her appearance, Lantis was a major benefactor to the ongoing push to reestablish the museum on the island. Her last appearance was a year ago, at age 103.
“She always dressed in bright colors, which matched her personality,” said Schnoebelen. “No matter what the circumstances, she always had a story to tell about the fair and the people she had met.”
A memorial service in Dayton is pending. Survivors include stepsons Joseph Nutter and Robert Nutter and granddaughter Katie McCallum, also of Dayton, and grandson Jonathan Nutter of Cincinnati, and four greatgrandchildren.