1964 New York World's Fair
It's time for yet another June birthday celebration; this time let's all wish JG a very Happy Birthday! Sue B. sent the following scan. We can't decide if the baby is a girl or a boy (I mean, I still wear a bonnet when I want to feel fancy), but the important thing is that cake! It's a tribute to pylons, if I ever saw one, and perfect for JG (since we could find no cakes with trashcans on them).
Now, on to our "Anything Goes Saturday" post! I'm using up some random scans from the 1964/65 New York World's Fair - always fun if you ask me. First, from 1965 we see this marching band on the a bridge that passed over the Long Island RR tracks, heading toward the entrance to the Fair. This photo gets an additional 75 points because of the Nun!
Next is this view from the Bourbon Street area, which had been the Louisiana Pavilion in 1964, but (apparently) that was not a success. The official guidebook described the area thusly: A variety of restaurants, plus sidewalk artists, Mardi Gras parades and an organ grinder with a monkey, lends atmosphere to this street. Shops feature Louisiana products such as pralines and hand-blown glass. Nightclubs offer music and dancing as well as other kinds of entertainment, and the restaurants include a French Quarter sidewalk cafe'
Next is this fun view of a father and daughter up on the undulating "Moon Deck" of the Eastman Kodak pavilion. Notice the Tower of the Four Winds in the background, part of the Pepsi Cola/UNICEF pavilion where guests could enjoy "It's a Small World".
Speaking of the Pepsi Cola pavilion...! There's Mickey Mouse, safely ensconced above the fray (no switchblades up there). He can still greet guests with a friendly wave. The aforementioned Tower of the Four Winds was a famous Rolly Crump kinetic sculpture with lots of pieces that spun and twirled with the breeze - I like how the sign to the right even has a little wind-powered element on the end!
I hope you have enjoyed your visit to the New York World's Fair.
16 comments:
Major-
Happy Birthday, JG-! What could be better than a 'pylon-themed' birthday cake, unless it was sitting in the chair with that wonderful pattern.
I love seeing folks enjoying that great world's fair. I do believe the marching band seen in the 1st image from the fair is the St. Fidelis Majestic Knights, from College Point, N.Y.
Thanks, Major.
In the first pic, I think we can see the Beatles in the background, scoping out Shea Stadium.
I hope that marching band was playing Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves.
Happy Birthday, JG! Hey, who gave that baby a knife???
Happy birthday, JG. Many happy returns of the day! (Now, where have I heard that before?)
Wha...??? Is that a candle puncturing that cake? WHY? Maybe it was just a silly tradition in this family to use Great Grandma's ridiculous giant candle that she brought over from the olde country, to skewer their special cakes. I dunno, the baby's face looks like a boy to me, but that get-up he's wearing... oh dear. Oh, I just realized, this photo was taken outside, on the porch (or patio).
1) Hmm, I'm guessing those aren't solar panels behind the marching band. I had a chuckle looking at the band members leading the parade; they're all either too tall or too short! Do we know what that stadium is in the background?
2) All those things listed in the guidebook sound like fun, and tasty too. Wonder why it didn't do better? I suppose an organ grinder and his monkey just couldn't compete with all the other miraculous things at the Fair.
3) The variously angled contours and tilted railing make the dad and his daughter look like they're leaning in some odd direction. There must be one of those mysterious "gravity spots" in Flushing Meadows!
4) Mickey is leaning casually against the railing. And his tuxedo is unbuttoned... Someone call Bu!!!
Tokyo!, Oh. That's Shea Stadium? I knew it was in the vicinity, but I didn't think it was this close to the Fair. It always looks so far away in the other Fair pics we've seen.
It's always great to see pics of the '64/'65 NY World's Fair. Thanks, Major.
Happiest of Birthdays JG!!
The drum of the marching band reads “St. Fidel****** Ma******knights********” we may never know. Obviously thus shows tge craze with nuns and marching bands that swept the nation after the Rosalyn Russell & Hayley Mills film THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS!!!
Whenever I see images of the Disney costume characters at the worlds fair , I think what would the second Disneyland have been like if the 1958 WED project “DISNEYLAND EAST” had progressed . The New York worlds fair paused all that and lead to Florida after . In some alternate universe there’s a Disneyland in Virginia …. And both Disneyland East & Disneyland West have relocated Disney built attractions from the 1967 Los Angeles Worlds Fair….
It’s hard to imagine Disneyland West and Disneyland East without the relocated attractions from the New York World’s Fair and the LA Fair of ‘67 …. RCA’s “LEGEND OF ENCHANTED TIKI ISLE” , CHEVROLET’s “SYMPHONY OF AMERICA” , the 7-UP “REFRESHMENT GARDEN”, the GE “Century of Progress” , “It’a A Small World Cruise” , “Tupperware Home of Future Living”, “MEXICO ADVENTURA! In Circle/Vision …etc…
Happy Birthday, JG!
Thanks for the pix, Major.
Happy Birthday, JG! As they say in the old country, "may you receive a cake with a pylon in it."
JB, Shea stadium looks close because most of the pictures from that bridge are on the park side of the entrance gates. According to this map, the band here is on the much longer span over the LIRR yard that connects the entrance to the subway lines.
Bourbon Street looks pretty detailed in this picture. In most of the ones I've seen, it's a pale shadow of what Walt built in NOS. I think that had a lot to do with its lack of success.
That octagonal(?) structure behind the Tower of the 4 Winds is the Better Living Center which housed dozens of exhibitors, many who joined late when the half-built World of Food pavilion was demolished just before fair opening.
I much prefer the post-Sorcerer's Apprentice lok to Mickey in the last picture to the off-putting ones from the early days of the park and the Snow White premiere newsreels.
Thanks everyone! I don’t feel much older, but these things come by degrees, I’m told. Sue, I love the cake, perfect rendition.
That picture of Dad and daughter makes me a little seasick, what a strange roof. The Tower is so cool, sad that it is lost.
This is the first I’ve heard of a French Quarter at the Fair. I wonder why that failed? Seems like a natural.
Mike, the mind reels at the possibilities.
Thank you, Major, much appreciated!
JG
Happy Birthday JG! Hope you can also possess a candle like the one depicted in "Human Baby Huey". That candle is quite the statement, and I can probably say with some certainty, that Baby Huey is indeed a boy. That being said, some clarity: Mickey doesn't have a traditional vest: it's kind of a coat/cape/drum major kind of thing...which there is a name for, but it escapes me at the moment. It is find for Mickey to have this garment unbuttoned. What is NOT ACCEPTABLE is the very CAVALIER way in which Mickey is standing! So very casual and not befitting of his position when acting as Ambassador outside the confines of his Magic Kingdom 2500 miles away. Give a royal wave there Mickey! What are you? on a break?! That being said, I am enjoying seeing the OG "it's a small world", with it's Crump Sculpture. I would soooo like to recreate this for my yard, but time, energy ,and money don't permit it. NUNS ON THE RUN! Another great nun movie which I love. There actually isn't a nun movie that I don't like...maybe the scary ones where nuns become vampires with fangs and such. I was a St. Trinians fan as a kid: what silly and fantastic movies, and us kids, when we became unruly, were often chastised by adults saying "where do you think you are? St. Trinians?!"....if you don't know these movies, I recommend a look...I'm not sure how they've aged...and possibly today is a good day for a prescreening of "Where angels go...trouble follows..." another great nun movie. Speaking of undulating Moon decks....this one is really fantastic! I don't see that passing any kind of inspection today, but glad it made it's way into the 60's! A "Disneyland East" would have worked in my hood...not sure about the snow: something to think about...it seems like Walt Disney Productions at the time were great innovators and leaders and would have invented something...like sidewalk melters like the Mormon Temple has in SLC. There are ways...and when you are known for innovation...you dream up what can't be done...and then you do it. I'm not sure of the WDC power of innovation today. I think their egos get in the way of real innovation...knock my socks off Bob Iger! I dare you like Bob Conrad and the battery on his shoulder! ...Walt Disney's of the world? Where are you?! Lurking around GDB?! Thanks Major!
@ TM!-
"Hey, who gave that baby a knife???" Not to worry... it's a cake shovel-!
@ Bu-
I just looked at The Nun's Story, (1959) - starring Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch and Dean Jagger; also receiving eight Oscar nominations. Unlike Nuns On the Run or The Trouble with Angels, it isn't exactly 'yuk-filled', but what a great story, beautifully-told, acted and directed.
Major-
I just noticed the bass drummer has placed the chin strap of his marching band helmet under his nose, rather than under his lip or chin. (He must be a rebel or attempting to develop a mechanical antidote for seasonal allergies-!)
Nanook, since the baby is enjoying his cake outdoors, I can’t help thinking about bugs getting in the frosting. I’M NOT CRAZY! What’s wrong with indoors? I wonder how they chose the marching band from College Point, NY? Maybe a different school got to do the honors every day?
TokyoMagic!, I definitely recognize Ringo’s distinctive gait. Why is that nun hovering so close to those kids? It’s creepy. She probably hit them all with rulers at St. Fidelis school.
JB, so, do you think the cake was a bundt cake with a hole already in the middle? Or did mom just jam a giant candle into a regular cake? If so, I worry about her sanity. Still, she did make a cake, and that’s something. The baby is probably wearing a bonnet to distract the bugs from getting into the frosting. I can’t tell what those “solar panels” actually are - for ventilation? Did they transmit light? Who knows why people didn’t go to the Louisiana pavilion, maybe they thought it would be full of gators. “My children are occasionally well behaved and don’t deserve to be eaten as a rule”. I love the crazy shapes of the Eastman Kodak building, it’s like nothing else, it’s definitely like a “Haunted Shack” from the future. Mickey can be as casual as he wants, remember, he usually didn’t wear a shirt at all in the early days.
Mike Cozart, see Nanook’s comment! I’ve read about several never-built concepts for other Disneyland-type parks around the country, and the idea is fascinating. Some of them do sound a little odd though, like the one in St. Louis. That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have been a success! A 1967 Los Angeles World’s Fair, nothing bad happened in LA in 1967.
Mike Cozart, any time I read about attractions that were never built, I have the strongest wish to zap myself to an alternate universe where they existed. I’d tell you how I”ll do it, but later! I’ll bring my camera and take lots of pictures.
K. Martinez, you are welcome.
Dean Finder, yes, they really weren’t that far away from Shea Stadium in the first pic, as opposed to most photos where it is way, way in the distance. There have been New Orleans areas at other fairs and expos, going back to the 1930s, so I always imagine that Walt saw one and figured he could do it a lot better. And he did! Remember, I have a photo of Annette posing on top of the Better Living Center, check it out HERE! I always have a fondness for the weirder, less-cute Mickeys, but admit that the one seen in the last photo is pretty much perfect.
JG, I hope you have a wonderful day! As I said to JB, I love that undulating roof, I want that for my next mansion. The French Quarter area failed, and the France pavilion was never even built, though it is mentioned in many pre-opening brochures. It’s a conspiracy!
Bu, the only place I ever saw a candle that large was when I was a good boy and went to church with my family. They had some pillar candles that were at least 18” tall. I always think of Mickey’s coat as the old-fashioned “claw hammer” variety, like Groucho sometimes wore, and I do believe that it is traditionally not buttoned up. Don’t you think that Mickey can be more relaxed and friendly? He shouldn’t have to stand at attention. Give a mouse a break! I’ve never seen “Nuns on the Run”, though I remember when it came out. Robbie Coltrane. It might be wonderful, but the trailers did it no favors. A St. Trinians fan, who knew there was such a thing? I’m not even sure what other movies you are referring to. Hopefully they don’t have things like Bing Crosby in “blackface” or other fun scenes. I do think that any place with icy winters would be a mistake for a Disney park, though they do get snow in Paris and Tokyo on occasion, so what do I know. Sidewalk melters?!? For real?
Nanook, just the title, “A Nun’s Story”, makes me want to watch something else. Unless it was about naughty nuns! One of my favorite genres.
Nanook, I wonder if the kid’s chin strap slipped ruing marching, and he was too busy drumming to be able to adjust it?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JG! Some moms put strawberries on their birthday bundt cakes, but this mom knows some kids prefer pylons. We do.
It wouldn't surprise me if that nun is the marching band director/leader at St. Fidelis.
Fun birthday party at the Fair! Thanks, Major.
Happy birthday, JG, and a belated happy birthday to JB. The saying Dean Finder quotes was garbled coming over from the Old Country. It was originally “may you receive a cake with a python in it.”
All the best cakes come with pylons.
Thanks everyone.
JG
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