New York World's Fair
Let's keep on exploring the Fair!
First up is this great shot of the Avis Antique Car Ride. As you can see, there is a prominent guide rail; it just so happens that Disneyland added guide rails to the Autopia in '64 as well. Just a few miles from the World's Fair, Freedomland's similar "Horseless Carriage" ride was about to close forever.
The DuPont pavilion looks like a miniature baseball stadium here. Each of the globe lights that surround the building are surrounded by "atoms", making them into stylized molecules. This pavilion sounds like one that I would want to visit... among its wonders: You'll see a performer place on his hand a piece of metal heated to 1800 degrees, protected by a sheet of insulating material only one-eighth of an inch thick. You will witness curious and startling reactions, such as the mixing together of two clear liquids which suddenly and on signal turn black. You will see a liquid change colors many times as it is poured from one container to another, and you will marvel at the strange and beautiful effect of chemiluminesence. Chemiluminesence, yeah!!
The DuPont pavilion looks like a miniature baseball stadium here. Each of the globe lights that surround the building are surrounded by "atoms", making them into stylized molecules. This pavilion sounds like one that I would want to visit... among its wonders: You'll see a performer place on his hand a piece of metal heated to 1800 degrees, protected by a sheet of insulating material only one-eighth of an inch thick. You will witness curious and startling reactions, such as the mixing together of two clear liquids which suddenly and on signal turn black. You will see a liquid change colors many times as it is poured from one container to another, and you will marvel at the strange and beautiful effect of chemiluminesence. Chemiluminesence, yeah!!
And, just because I love him, here is Mr. T. rex from Sinclair Oil's "Dinoland". I recently watched some video that showed many dinosaurs from this exhibit, and lots of them had movement. It didn't show the T. rex, but I think it's safe to say that his arms and jaw moved, and it's possible that his head moved as well.
14 comments:
Does anyone know where the Horseless Carriages went after the fair? I know Santa's Village -Sky Forest got this same system and they bought it used....but I would think the Fait had a larger qauntity or cars compared to the amount Santa's Village had. Maybe Santa's Village split the syatem with another of it sister parks??
Super neat photos! Cool!
That is a neat picture of the Chemistry pavilion. It's the first time I've seen it up close.
In the background of the T-Rex picture you can see two men and a woman standing in front of machines that would make a injection molded plastic dinosaur souvenir. I think I might still have my Anklyosaurus somewhere! -Dennis
Sharp Eyes Anonymous Dennis. They had the same wax figurine machines at Marineland, which made octopus and dolphins. My dolphin had defective molding in the head, so the top of his scull came off.
I used to pretend I was doing brain surgery on him. Without anesthetic. Hey, it was the 60s!
Ok, Denis' post got me poking around on the internet. The machines are called "Mold-a-Rama" and apparently their presence at this very World's Fair really boosted their popularity.
I did some plagiarism -er- research from Wikipedia:
Mold-A-Rama is a brand name for a type of vending machine that makes blow-molded plastic figurines. Mold-A-Rama machines debuted in late 1962 [1][2] and grew in prominence at the 1964 New York World's Fair.[3] The machines can still be found operating in some museums and zoos.[4]
Mike Cozart, I'd love to know the same thing, hopefully one of my readers will have an answer.
Anon, Katella Gate beat me to it, but those are definitely Mold-A-Rama machines! I have a stegosaurus from the Fair (bought at a swap meet). They still have these wonderful machines at the L.A. County Zoo.
Katella, I don't think it's plagiarism if you credit your source!
Du Pont was a great show. It was educational without being pushy. You can see an interior shot and download the complete soundtrack on my site at http://www.worldsfairphotos.com/nywf64/dupont.htm
Regards
Bill
They had those machines at Universal Studios too. You could get a green bust of Frankenstein or a blue standing version of him. They had a marked slot in the back that you were supposed to cut out so they could be used as coin banks.
Bill, thank you for the info! Turns out I have some photos of the Du Pont show, but I didn't know what they were until I saw your example (now I know the significance of the word "Zepel"!!). I'll check out the soundtrack too, for sure.
TM!, I'd want a Frankenstein bust! They had the machines at Marineland as well, I used to have a leaping dolphin from there - it broke.
Interesting sidelight on Walt Disney and the New York World's Fair: Even though Walt and his team were responsible for the Fair's most popular attractions, he was kind of a reluctant contributor. According to Michael Barrier's fine biography "The Animated Man," Walt considered World's Fairs to be "out of date," and also couldn't see the point of building a theme park on the scale of Disneyland, only to close it and tear it down after just two seasons. He turned out to be right, since the Fair proved to be unprofitable in the end.
oh wow, i have not thought about those veding machines in YEARS! i do remember my brother having a dinosaur made from one of them tho, just wish i could remember where he got it.
i also have never seen the DuPont building so nice, which does definitely remind me of Three Rivers Stadium (blown up almost 10 years ago now :(
we had a great antique car ride at West View Park which closed up in 1977. went to all of my school picnics here; its a mall now :(
thanks for these awesome shots!! :D
The horseless carriages from the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair are still in operation, though in slightly modified form (were switched from gas to electric and were given grills with common automobile brand names) at Adventureland on Route 110 in Farmingdale, Long Island.
Thank you for the info about the fate of the horseless carriages, Anon!
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