The 1939 New York World's
Fair, located on the current site of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (also the
location of the 1964 New York World's Fair), was one of the largest world's
fairs of all time. Many different countries around the world participated in
it, and over 25 million people attended its exhibits. The NYWF of 1939 allowed
all visitors to take a look at "The world of tomorrow."
In 1935, at the height of the Great
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 the Empire State Building. The NYWFC elected
Grover Whalen as the president of their committee. The whole committee consisted
of Winthrop Aldrich, Mortimer Buckner, Floyd Carlisle, John J. Dunnigan, Harvey
Dow Gibson, Fiorello 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. Countries around the
world took part in creating the biggest international event since World War
I. Finally, on April 30, 1939, the fair had its grand opening, with 200,000
people in attendance.
One of the most famous exhibits was
a time capsule, which was not to be opened till 6939 A.D. The time capsule was
a tube containing writings by Albert Einstein and Thomas Mann, copies of Life
Magazine, a kewpie doll, a dollar in change, a pack of Camel cigarettes, millions
of pages of text on microfilm, and much, much more.
Other exhibits included the Chrysler
Air-flow, a streamlined pencil sharpener, and one of the first televisions.
There was also a huge globe/planetarium located near the center of the fair.
Bell Labs' Voder, a keyboard-operated speech synthesizer, was demonstrated at
the Fair.
The fair was open for two seasons,
and was officially closed forever on October 27, 1940. It attracted over 45
million visitors and generated roughly $48 million in revenue. Since the Fair
Corporation had invested 67 million dollars (in addition to nearly a hundred
million dollars from other sources), it was, in fact, an economic failure, and
the corporation declared bankruptcy.
The Fair was themed. It was divided
into different "zones" (a Transportation Zone, a Communications Zone, and so
forth). The wildly popular but less uplifting Amusements Area was not integrated
into the thematic matrix, and was a mere Area rather than a Zone. The zones
were distinguished by many subtle cues, including differently colored lighting.
The "Theme Center" consisted of two landmark monumental buildings named the
Trylon and Perisphere. The design of Disneyland, with its themed Frontierland,
Tomorrowland and central Cinderella's Castle clearly owes something to the 1939
World's Fair. The resemblance of Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center to the Fair
is even closer, and was widely noted by architectural writers when it opened.
Epcot's geodesic-sphere "Spaceship Earth" bears a distinct family resemblance
to the Perisphere.
Despite the high-minded educational
tone that Grover Whalen attempted to set, the "Amusements Area" was the most
popular part of the Fair and included roller coaster, a parachute jump (which
was later moved to Coney Island where it still stands), and carnival acts such
as a collection of performing midgets. Many of the shows provided spectators
with the opportunity of viewing women in revealing costumes: the Frozen Alive
Girl, the Dream of Venus Building, and, above all, Billy Rose's Aquacade.
A special subway line, the IND World's
Fair Railroad, was built to serve the fair. World's Fair (now Willets Point-Shea
Stadium) station on the IRT Flushing Line was rebuilt to handle fair traffic
on the IRT and BMT. A Long Island Rail Road station (now Shea Stadium) was built
next to the Flushing Line station.
Here are all the films that make
up this historical collection:
Contents of DVD 1
The World's Fair: August 1940
 
This film highlights the New York Worlds Fair in August of 1940. It shows
the Ford Building, the Electrical Building, the Japanese building, a parade,
the City of Light and several other exhibits. It provides an excellent
overview in its 4 minutes.
Producer: Unknown
Audio/Visual: Silent, Color
Run time: ~ 4 Minutes
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New York World's Fair, 1939-40 (1939)
 
Take a 30 minute tour of the World of Tomorrow. This is a wonder film
to orient you on the goings on at the world fair - capturing all the major
highlights in its 30 minutes.
Producer: Wathen (R.W.)
Audio/Visual: Silent, Color
Run Time: 27:57
|
To New Horizons (1940)
 
This film documents General Motor's contribution to the worlds fair -
GMs Futurama exhibit in its Highways and Horizons pavillion. It showcases
the wonderful future world of 1960 - which given the mental state of the
American people during this time of war was quite a marvel and momentary
escape from a world that had just rolled from a depression to a war.
Producer: Jam Handy Organization
Audio/Visual: Sound, Color
Run time: 22:59
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Contents of DVDs 2-4 - The Medicus Collection
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