MODEL OF MIDDLE SECTOR NEW YORK WORLD FAIR POSTCARD 1939

MODEL OF MIDDLE SECTOR NEW YORK WORLD FAIR POSTCARD 1939

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MODEL OF MIDDLE SECTOR NEW YORK WORLD FAIR POSTCARD 1939:
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MODEL OF MIDDLE SECTOR NEW YORK WORLD FAIR POSTCARD 1939

The1939–40 New York World\'s Fair, which covered the 1,216 acres (492ha) ofFlushing Meadows-Corona Park(also the location of the1964–1965 New York World\'s Fair), was the second most expansive Americanworld\'s fairofall time, exceeded only by St. Louis\'sLouisiana Purchase Expositionof 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people attended its exhibits in two seasons.[1]The NYWF of 1939–1940 was the first exposition to be based on the future, with an opening slogan of \"Dawn of a New Day\", and it allowed all visitors to take a look at \"the world of tomorrow\". According to the official New York World\'s Fair pamphlet:

The eyes of the Fair are on the future— not in the sense of peering toward the unknown nor attempting to foretell the events of tomorrow and the shape of things to come, but in the sense of presenting a new and clearer view of today in preparation for tomorrow; a view of the forces and ideas that prevail as well as the machines.

To its visitors the Fair will say: \"Here are the materials, ideas, and forces at work in our world. These are the tools with which the World of Tomorrow must be made. They are all interesting and much effort has been expended to lay them before you in an interesting way. Familiarity with today is the best preparation for the future.

Within six months of the Fair\'s opening, theSecond World Warwould begin, an event that lasted six years and resulted in the deaths of over 50 million people.

Contents[hide]
  • 1Planning
  • 2Grand opening
  • 3Exhibits
  • 4Themes and zones
    • 4.1Transportation Zone
    • 4.2Communications and Business Systems Zone
    • 4.3Government Zone
      • 4.3.1British Pavilion
      • 4.3.2Greek Pavilion
      • 4.3.3Japanese Pavilion
      • 4.3.4Jewish Palestine Pavilion
      • 4.3.5Polish Pavilion
      • 4.3.6USSR Pavilion
    • 4.4Food Zone
    • 4.5Amusement Area
      • 4.5.1Bendix Lama Temple girlie show
      • 4.6Good Neighbor Policy
    • 5Transportation
    • 6Closure and current status
      • 6.1World War II
      • 6.2Belgian Pavilion
      • 6.3Bendix Lama Temple
      • 6.4New York City Pavilion
    • 7Cultural references
      • 7.1Film and television
      • 7.2Literature
      • 7.3Other
    • 8Archives
    • 9See also
    • 10References
      • 10.1Notes
      • 10.2Further reading
    • 11External links

    Planning[edit]Souvenir booklet

    In 1935, at the height of theGreat Depression, a group of New York City businessmen decided to create an international exposition to lift the city and the country out of depression. Not long after, these men formed the New York World\'s Fair Corporation, whose office was placed on one of the higher floors in theEmpire State Building. The NYWFC elected former chief of policeGrover Whalenas the president of their committee. The committee includedWinthrop Aldrich,Mortimer Buckner,Floyd Carlisle,Ashley T. Cole,John J. Dunnigan,Harvey Dow Gibson, MayorFiorello La Guardia,Percy S. Straus, and many other business leaders.

    Over the next four years, the committee planned, built, and organized the fair and its exhibits, with countries around the world taking part in creating the biggest international event since World War I. Working closely with the Fair\'s committee wasRobert Moses, New York City Parks Commissioner, who saw great value to the City in having the World\'s Fair Corporation (at its expense) remove a vast ash dump in Queens that was to be the site for the exposition. This event turned the area into a City park after the exposition closed.

    Edward Bernaysdirected public relations of the fair in 1939, which he called \'democricity\'.[2]Grover Whalen, a public relations innovator, saw the Fair as an opportunity for corporations to presentconsumer products, rather than as an exercise in presenting science and the scientific way of thinking in its own right, asHarold Urey,Albert Einsteinand other scientists wished to see the project.[3]\"As events transpired\", reportedCarl Sagan,[4]whose own interest in science was nevertheless sparked by the Fair\'s gadgetry, \"almost no real science was tacked on to the Fair\'s exhibits, despite the scientists\' protests and their appeals to high principles.\"

    Promotion of this great event took many forms. In 1938, theBrooklyn Dodgers,New York Giants, andNew York Yankeesbaseball teams did their part to promote the upcoming fair by wearing patches on their jerseys featuring theTrylon,Perisphere, and \"1939\" on their left sleeve.Howard Hughesflew a special World\'s Fair flight around the world to promote the fair in 1938.

    While the main purpose of the fair was to lift the spirits of the United States and drive much-needed business to New York City, it was also felt that there should be a cultural or historical association. It was therefore decided that the fair opening would correspond to the 150th anniversary ofGeorge Washington\'s first inauguration as President of the United States, andWPAartists paintedmuralswhich appeared in theNew York Times Magazine.[5]

    Grand opening[edit]Ford pavilionRCA Exhibit Building

    On April 30, 1939, a very hot Sunday, the fair had its grand opening, with 206,000 people in attendance. The April 30 date coincided with the 150th anniversary ofGeorge Washington\'s inauguration, inLower Manhattan, as the first President of the United States. Although many of the pavilions and other facilities were not quite ready for this opening, it was put on with pomp and great celebration.

    David Sarnoff, then president of RCA and a strong advocate of television, chose to introduce television to the mass public at the RCA pavilion. As a reflection of the wide range of technological innovation on parade at the fair, Franklin D. Roosevelt\'s speech was not only broadcast over the various radio networks but also was televised along with other parts of the opening ceremony and other events at the fair. On April 30, 1939, the opening ceremony and President Roosevelt\'s speech were seen on black and white television sets with 5 to 12-inch tubes.[6]NBC used the event to inaugurate regularly scheduled television broadcasts in New York City over their station W2XBS (nowWNBC). An estimated 1,000 people viewed the Roosevelt telecast on about 200 television sets scattered throughout theNew York metropolitan area.

    In order to convince skeptical visitors that the television sets were not a trick, one set was made with a transparent case so that the internal components could be seen. As part of the exhibit at the RCA pavilion, visitors could see themselves on television. There were also television demonstrations at the General Electric and Westinghouse pavilions. During this formal introduction at the fair, television sets became available for public purchase at various stores in the New York City area.[6]

    AfterAlbert Einsteingave a speech that discussedcosmic rays, the fair\'s lights were ceremonially lit. Dignitaries received a special Opening Day Program which contained their names written inBraille.

    • 1939 World\'s Fair ephemera

    • This 1940 general admission ticket also included visits to \"5 concessions\" (listed on backside)

    • Ticket backside

    • Trylon and Perisphere on 1939 US Time Capsulemarker

      One of the first exhibits to receive attention was theWestinghouse Time Capsule, which was not to be opened for 5,000 years (the year 6939). Thetime capsulewas a tube containing writings byAlbert EinsteinandThomas Mann, copies ofLife Magazine, aMickey Mousewatch, aGillettesafety razor, akewpie doll, a dollar in change, a pack ofCamel cigarettes, millions of pages of text onmicrofilm, and much more. The capsule also contained seeds of foods in common use at the time: (wheat, corn, oats, Tobacco, cotton, flax, rice, soy beans, alfalfa, sugar beets, carrots and barley, all sealed in glass tubes). The time capsule is located at a depth of 50 feet (15m). A small stone plaque marks the position.[7]Westinghouse also featured \"Elektrothe Moto-Man\": the 7-foot (2.1m) tall robot that talked, differentiated colors, and even \"smoked\" cigarettes.[8]

      On July 3, 1940, the fair hosted \"Superman Day\". Notable was the crowning of the \"Super-Boy and Super-Girl of the Day\" following an athletic contest, and a public appearance bySuperman, played by an unidentified man. Broadway actorRay Middleton, who served as a judge for the contest, is often credited with having appeared in the Superman costume on Superman Day, but he did not; however, he may have played Superman during a live radio broadcast from the scene. Although the unknown man in the costume is often said to have been the first actor ever to play Superman,Bud Collyerhad been performing the role on theSuperman radio seriessince the preceding February.

      The fair was also the occasion for the1st World Science Fiction Convention, subsequently dubbed \"Nycon 1\".

      Ralph Vaughan Williamscomposed his work for harp and string orchestraFive Variants of Dives and Lazaruson commission from the World\'s Fair. The first performance was atCarnegie Hallin June 1939, conducted byAdrian Boult.[9]In addition, theBritish Councilcommissioned a piano concerto fromArthur Blissfor the British Week at the World\'s Fair. Adrian Boult conducted the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall on June 10, 1939, withSolomonas the soloist.[10]

      Ceramic sculptorWaylande GregorycreatedThe Fountain of the Atom, which displayed the largest ceramic sculptures in modern times.[11]It included the fourElements, each measuring 72 inches (180cm) high and each weighing over a ton. There were also eight electrons, which were illustrated inLifeMagazine (March 1939). Gregory also created two exhibitions featuring his ceramic sculptures for the General Motors Building,American ImportsandAmerican Exports.

      Nylonfabric, theView-Master, and Scentovision (an early version ofSmell-O-Vision) were introduced at the Fair. Other exhibits includedVermeer\'s paintingThe Milkmaidfrom theRijksmuseuminAmsterdam,[12]a streamlinedpencil sharpener, adiner(still in operation as theWhite ManainJersey City, New Jersey), afuturistic car-based city by General Motors, and early televisions.[13]There was also a hugeglobe/planetariumlocated near the center of the fair.Bell Labs\'Voder, a keyboard-operatedspeech synthesizer, was demonstrated at the Fair.

      Themes and zones[edit]Map showing exhibit locations and transportation access

      The fair was divided into differently themed zones, such as the Transportation Zone, the Communications and Business Systems Zone, the Food Zone, the Government Zone, and so forth. Virtually every structure erected on the fairgrounds was extraordinary, and many of them wereexperimentalin many ways. Architects were encouraged by their corporate or government sponsors to be creative, energetic and innovative. Novel building designs, materials and furnishings were the norm. Many of the zones were arranged in a semicircular pattern, centered on theWallace HarrisonandMax Abramovitz-designed Theme Center, which consisted of two all-white, landmark monumental buildings named theTrylon(over 700 feet (210m) tall) and thePerispherewhich one entered by a moving stairway and exited via a grand curved walkway named the \"Helicline\". Inside the Perisphere was a \"model city of tomorrow that visitors\" viewed from a moving walkway high above the floor level. The zones were distinguished by manycolor cues, including different wall colors andtintsand differently coloredlighting.

      The colors blue and orange were chosen as the official colors of the fair, as they were the colors of New York City, and featured prominently. Only the Trylon and Perisphere were all white; avenues stretching out into the zones from the Theme Center were designed with rich colors that changed the further one walked from the center of the grounds. For example, the exhibits and other facilities along the Avenue of Pioneers were in a progression of blues, starting with pale tints and ending in deepultramarine. At night, with the latest in lighting technology switched on, the effect was felt by many visitors to be a magical experience.[citation needed]

      Outdoor public lighting was at the time of a very limited and pedestrian nature, perhaps consisting of simple incandescent pole lamps in a city and nothing in the country. Electrification was still very new and had not reached everywhere in the US. The fair was the first public demonstration of several lighting technologies that would become common in future decades. These technologies included the introduction of the firstfluorescent lightand fixture.General ElectricCorporation held the patent to the fluorescent light bulb at the time. Approximately a year later, the original three major corporations,Lightolier,Artcraft Fluorescent Lighting Corporation, and Globe Lighting, located mostly in the New York City region, began wide-scale manufacturing in the US of the fluorescent light fixture.

      Another theme of the fair was the emerging new middle class, leading a hoped-for recovery from theGreat Depression. The fair promoted the \"Middleton Family\"—Babs, Bud, and their parents—who appeared in ads showing them taking in the sights of the fair and the new products being manufactured to make life easier and affordable, such as the new automatic dishwasher.

      Each day at the fair was a special theme day, for which a special button was issued; for example, May 18, 1939, was \"Asbury Park, New JerseyDay\". Some of these buttons are very rare and all are considered collectibles.

      In 1940, the theme of the fair was changed to \"For Peace and Freedom\" as war in Europe escalated. One poster from that year\'s fair, issued by Borden\'s Milk, had Elsie the Cow proclaiming \"makes you proud to be an American\".[citation needed]

      Transportation Zone[edit]Views of the \"World of Tomorrow\" (video)ThePRR S1on display at the fair. This engine ran continuously at 60mph (97km/h) on adynamometerwhile the fair was open.

      With its vast area and prominent location just south of the Theme Center, the Transportation Zone pavilions attracted widespread attention. Perhaps the most popular of the Transportation Zone pavilions was the one built for General Motors. There, the 36,000 square feet (3,300m2)Futuramaexhibit, designed by famed industrial designer and theater set designerNorman Bel Geddes, transported fair visitors over a hugedioramaof a fictional section of the United States that was designed with a stunning array of miniature highways, towns, 500,000 individually designed homes, 50,000 miniature vehicles, waterways, and a million miniature trees of diverse species.[14]These elements of the diorama gradually became larger as the visitors, seated in chairs overhead, moved through the exhibit, until the cars and other elements of the exhibit became life-size.

      At the conclusion of the ride the visitors to the pavilion exited into an area that was constructed as a life-size city intersection with multistory buildings and stores on all sides. The stores included an auto dealership and an appliance store where visitors could see the latestGMandFrigidaireproducts. As with almost all pavilions in the fair, these showcases were not only intended to get people to buy the sponsor\'s products, they were also intended to educate and inform the populace about basic materials and processes that were then very new and not well known. Many experimental product concepts and new materials were shown that were not currently available for purchase, but would become available in various ways over the next few years. In many ways the fair pavilions more resembled a modern-day government-sponsored science fair exhibit than they would resemble modern corporate advertising and sales promotions.

      Adjacent to the GM pavilion was the Ford Pavilion, where race car drivers drove on a figure eight track on the building\'s roof endlessly, day in and day out. Not far from GM and Ford was theChryslerexhibit group, where an audience in a theater withair conditioning, then a new technology, could watch a Plymouth being assembled in an early3D film.

      Railroads were a major form of transportation for both passengers and freight in 1939, as airlines are for passengers today. Many visitors to the fair would have arrived in New York by railroad, and most visitors had at least a moderate interest in the topic. The centerpiece of the Railroad Conference exhibits (on seventeen acres) was \"Railroads on Parade\", a spectacular live drama re-enacting the birth and growth of railroads. It had music byKurt Weiland choreography byBill Matons.[15]In addition to the show, there were important historical objects on display by the various railroads and manufacturing companies, such as theTom Thumbengine. ThePennsylvania Railroad(PRR) had itsS1engine on display, mounted on rollers under the driver wheels and running continuously at 60mph (97km/h) all day long. The BritishLondon Midland & Scottish Railwaysent theirCoronation Scotexpress train with a locomotiveLMS Princess Coronation Class 6229 Duchess of Hamilton, (disguised as sister locomotive6220Coronation), to the fair.[16][17]GM\'sElectro-Motive Divisionhad a display of their then new streamlineddiesel-electricpassenger locomotives. TheItalian state railwaysdisplayed one of their record-settingETR 200electric multiple unitcars.YOU MUST SEE SCAN FOR CONDITIONNOTE CORNER WEAR WITH WEAR CORNER WEAR
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