Wednesday, October 26, 2011

World's Fair Fun

It's time to clean out some files on my computer! Here are some leftovers from the New York World's Fair; nothing too exciting, which is why they are leftovers.


Here's the Johnson's Wax pavilion. That golden disk (suspended above a reflecting pool) doesn't look too big from here, but it was actually a theater that could hold 500 guests. A film entitled "To Be Alive" was shown. It depicted "...the joys of living shared by all people". I guess we can assume that there were no explosions or battling robots?


Here's a nice shot of the Singer Bowl; at some point, it was decided that the Fair would need a stadium for large gatherings. The Fair's dedication ceremonies were held here (President Lyndon B. Johnson was there) on April 22, 1964! You can still see the stadium today, although the name has changed to "Louis Armstrong Stadium". See the kid to the left, the one who is pointing? I dig his shirt!


Located on the shore of Meadow Lake is the Hawaii pavilion. There were costumed Hawaiian girls there, which is all I need to know. But there were also artisans and examples of there wares, canoe rides, a color movie, poi burgers, and three-hour, 12 course luau. (OK, there weren't really poi burgers).


Swedens' pavilion is looking rather abandoned in this picture from July 1964. Maybe it wasn't open yet? When open, you could see demonstrations of Swedish technical wonders, including "a high speed machine that fills toothpaste tubes". Can it be true?? There was also a miniature department store full of fine Swedish merchandise (no naughty movies, though), and of course a smorgasbord.


16 comments:

TokyoMagic! said...

Pass the poi, please!

Pilsner Panther said...

Maybe "nothing too exciting," Major, but I always find the N.Y. World's Fair pictures fascinating, mainly because my father worked there (in some obscure administrative job under the Fair's honcho, Robert Moses).

If nothing else, these pics demonstrate that Johnson's Wax and Singer had much more lavish budgets for their exhibits than poor Hawaii and Sweden did!

Nancy said...

you always make good leftovers...

i love the Johnson Wax pavillion sign there in front of the double-mushroom sort of structure, the one with all the geometrics... so cool!!

sunshine abounded that day making the Singer Bowl bright and very pretty. to me, the Hawaiian Village looks like a diorama in that shot (i love when that happens) and i personally have no aversion to doing some shopping for Swedish wares... :-)

i love the World's Fair! it always makes me mad to remember that we could have driven there, but my parents werent "go on vacation" people

Connie Moreno said...

Nice pics. Made me hungry. Do you think they had poi on a stick?

JG said...

Ha, those swedes and their toothpaste, always with the filling and the filling.

LOL. Cool pics Major...

JG

Major Pepperidge said...

TokyoMagic! is clearly a "Flintstones" fan! And welcome back from Florida.

Pilsner Panther, that is pretty cool that your dad worked for Robert Moses. Moses was a controversial figure, but he sure got stuff done! And yes, the industrial pavilions (GM, Ford, IBM, etc) were WAY more elaborate and cool.

Nancy, now you can just visit IKEA for your Swedish wares. The Hawaii pavilion does sort of look like a little diorama!

Connie, poi was offered in dehydrated pill form!!

JG, I knew you would be extra excited about the toothpaste machine!

Douglas McEwan said...

I always enjoy seenig pics of the Fair. My parents took us to NYC in the summer of 1965 (I am native to Los Angeles), my first trip back east, since my uncle worked at the fair (Chief projectionist for the whole fair, overseeing all projection systems in the whole place.), so we could stay with them, and visit the fair every day. It was fun. I was 15, and I'll never forget it.

PsySocDisney said...

I'm a fan of that theater! Way funky and totally awesome. And I wanna peek behind those curtains in Sweden!
Lovin the leftovers.

Major Pepperidge said...

Douglas, I am jealous of your experience visiting the Fair in person! All I have is photos (taken by strangers!) to go by.

Hannahx2, I agree, that disk-shaped theater is very cool, I especially love the fact that it is suspended over a pool of water. Why? Just because it is COOL.

TokyoMagic! said...

I was wondering if anyone would get that reference. Thanks for the welcome back, Major!

Chiana_Chat said...

Yea but is the stadium still as bright and cheery and the front area still as inviting with those nifty multi-color lights and stuff?

The Restaurant of the 5 Volcanos? I'm there! Even if some of their cuisine might be a little hot...

Anonymous said...

more worlds fair pictures, please!
Dennis,L.I.N.Y.

Joe said...

I wonder if Johnson moved their pavillion after the fair or simply built another? That looks very similar to the Golden Rondelle Theater at their headquarters in Racine, WI. It is also suspended off the ground by towers and has a theater inside.

Major Pepperidge said...

Joe, I'll have to do some research, but thanks for the interesting info!

sky magic said...

I'm not sure if anyone will see this (as I'm about 2 weeks late to the party, as usual), but the Golden Rondelle Theater is indeed the one from the New York World's Fair - so says the S.C. Johnson web site. Also, a quick Google search found that Wisconsin pavilion from the fair was disassembled and also moved back to the state - but it wasn't rebuilt until 1997! So there are at least 2 buildings for the '64 Fair now in Wisconsin...

Major Pepperidge said...

Thank you, sky magic! That's very cool to know that the Golden Rondelle is still around. It definitely makes sense to design a building that can be used after the fair. I wonder if the theater is in use very often?