Futurama, 1964 World's Fair

General Motors' FUTURAMA was the biggest draw of the 1964/65 New York World's Fair, with over 29 million visitors. That's a daily average of about 80,000 visitors. Impressive! This was an updated version of the Futurama that was designed by Norman Bel Geddes for the 1939/40 New York Fair.

Today I have 7 interior photos from 1965 for you! We'll start with this view of the Moon: On the moon there is no air to breathe. No rain to fall. No sound that can be heard. Nothing can grow or can decay in the vacuum of this time-stilled world.

Yet here is man. Exploring. Building his first bridge head in his span of space. Lunar rovers float magically over powdered plains. Range the crater's edge. Their elastic train-like bodies conforming to every surface character of the moon.

Here's a weather station in Antarctica ...forecasting to the world the great climatic changes born in the Antarctic's never-ending winds. Technicians, kept warm within their walls of ice, gather data from the deapths of space; from polar winds; surrounding seas. In microseconds, relaying information wherever needed anywhere on earth.

Under the sea: ...aquacopters search the ocean floor to find, miles deep, vast fields of precious minerals and ores. And in the deepest trenches of the seas, study at first hand long hidden secrets of survival. Work easily the rich oil deposits of the Continental Shelves while trains of submarines transport materials and goods along the waterways of the under sea.


And in warmer seas are new realms of pleasure: A weekend, if you wish, at Hotel Atlantis in the kingdom of the sea! A holiday of thrills and of adventure. Of beauty and enchantment. Of radiant wonders in the sun bright gardens of the seas.


In the Amazonian rainforests: First, a searing ray of light -- a laser beam -- cuts through the trees. Then a giant machine, a factory on wheels, grinds up the stumps and jungle growth, sets the firm foundations, forms the surface slabs, sets them in place and the roadway bed is paved.

These forest highways now are bringing to the innermost deapths of the tropic world the goods and materials of progress and prosperity creating productive communities that can enter profitably the markets of the world and offering to us all enchanting tours through the storybook forests of tropic lands.


We've passed through mountain territories and are approching vast deserts: And for our deserts a new technology: waters from the sea made fresh as rain to nourish crops planted in the sand. Produce from seed to shipment, programmed and processed by a new agriculture. A science of plenty for an ever growing world.


And finally, we approach the City of Tomorrow: All roads lead, as they have for centuries, to the great centers of commerce and communication as the Continental Highway now leads us to the city of tomorrow.

Here the city first receives its goods and produce from the factories and the fields of the world. Plazas of urban living rise over freeways.

I'd like to recommend the excellent website www.nywf64.com to anybody who is interested in this great World's Fair!

Also, check out this wonderful promotional video to get a sense of the ride: