See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet

 

Yet another postcard from the New York City World's Fair.  And the caption on the back, GENERAL MOTORS FUTURAMA BUILDING New York World's Fair 1964-1965.  Peace through Understanding.  This night view of the largest building ever constructed for a Fair exhibit is keynoted by an enormous slanting canopy 110 feet high over the entrance to the exhibit area.  The exhibit projects its visitors into the life of the future as predicted by GM's technicians."  I'm guessing that future didn't include comprehensive, off-road mass transit. 

Have a Pepsi

 

I've always been rather fascinated by the idea of a World's Fair, and it's one of the regrets of my life that I've never been to one.  So, the caption, "PEPSI-COLA PAVILION, New York World's Fair 1964-1965.  Peace through Understanding.  Animated figures representing children in national costumes entertain visitors on a Walt Disney-created cruise taken in specially designed boats.  A UNICEF exhibit is also included."  Child labor laws, I guess. 

New York (And a bit of the fair) 1939

As I mentioned in the last post, the Czechoslovakian Pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair closed after the German invasion of the country in 1939, and didn't reopen for the 1940 season, so dating these photos was easy.

All of these images are captioned in the same neat hand.  Top to bottom, "S.S. Queen Mary, NYC," "Riverside Church, NYC," "Columbia University, NYC," "Lower Manhattan NYC,"  "Lower NYC Skyline from Staten Is. Ferry," "Empire State Building," and "Czecho-Slovak Pavilian-NY World's Fair."

More From the 1939 New York World's Fair

It must have been an interesting time at the fair.  Even though all the countries of Europe were invited to submit a pavilion, Germany declined.  All things considered, not a bad idea.  In 1938, the Munich Agreement was negotiated by England and Germany, giving part of Czechoslovakia to the Nazis.  In 1939, the first year of the fair, Germany would take the rest of the country, and Germany and the Soviet Union would invade and dismember Poland.   The Czech and Polish pavilions would close for the 1940 season.  The Soviets dismantled their building and left a vacant lot in the middle of the fairgrounds.

 Of course, the Polish invasion led to declarations of war by France and Great Britain, with German invasions of Denmark and Norway soon to follow.  And then the big push, Germany moving through Belgium, the Netherlands, and France, pushing what was left of the British military into the channel at Dunkirk.  I can't imagine that smiling German greeters would have been welcome in New York City.  In any case, many of the employees of the European pavilions were stranded in New York for the duration.

I don't know whether these photos are all by the same photographer.  All I do know is that I found them all stuffed in the same envelope.  The picture of the statue and the night shot were both trimmed, so they may, in fact, be the same format as the others, but they were also printed on a different paper, so, different photographer or printed at another time?  Who knows.  Take a close look at the next to last photo in the column.  It's flopped.  For those who wish to print for themselves, camera original film reads right through the base, the shinny side.  That is, unless, someone deliberately loaded the film backwards.  Some people do.  Color film, shot through the base, saturates the red dyes on the film.  Black & white changes the contrast.  

The 1939 New York World's Fair

I just picked up an envelope of photos of New York from 1939.  It reminded me that I already had some photos from the 1939 New York World's Fair, so I've decided to put them up over the next few days.  This one, found in the quarter box at the antique mall, shows the Trylon and Perisphere.

World's fairs are, essentially, massive trade shows, allowing countries and large corporations to sell themselves to the paying public.  The 1939 fair was the first to be built around a theme, The World of Tomorrow.  The Perisphere and Trylon were designed as the theme center.  The buildings were  by architects Wallace Harrison and J. Andre Fouilhoux.  The Perisphere contained a massive diorama, Democracity a depiction of an ideal city of the future, by industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss.

Meet Me At the Fair

Remember World's Fairs?  When I was a kid I desperately wanted to go to a World's Fair.  Seattle was the one I wanted to visit the most.  I really wanted to go up into the Space Needle and ride the monorail.  Eventually I would do both, though the awe factor was lessened by age.

World's Fairs were basically trade shows writ large.  Big companies  like General Motors and IBM had their own pavilions, while countries would showcase everything from the arts, national customs, and of course, business opportunities.

Written on the back, "Again the "Unisphere."  Notice the beds of flowers.  The landscaping was beautiful.  In the distance on the right is the New York State Pavilion and tower which we went up into and from which the next picture was taken.  New York Worlds Fair May 1965."

The New York World's Fair ran from 1964 through 1965.  The Unisphere is still there.