This post was written by Mariam Touba, Reference Librarian for Printed Collections
It was a financial failure and—being unsanctioned—not even a real “world’s fair.” It stands as little more than yet one more piece of Baby Boomer nostalgia. But, in fairness, the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair that opened 50 years ago this month was itself a bit of Greatest Generation nostalgia: One of the motivations in the endeavor was to recreate the energy and promise of the 1939-40 “World of Tomorrow,” the great fair that opened on the same site in Flushing Meadows, Queens just 25 eventful years earlier. Parents of the 1960s literally wanted their children to experience the wonders of the future. As a Baby Boomer child of a mother who walked to the 1939 Fair from her Flushing home, I’d be one .
My mother did a good job in not revealing how much the 1964 Fair was a reprise of 1939. The forbidding Art Deco architecture of the popular 1939 General Motors “Futurama” exhibit was modified, but the pavilion’s feature of moving chairs gazing down on gleaming future cities remained the same in 1964.
![Futurama. General Motors Corp. 1940, F128 T788.A8; Let’s Go to the Fair and Futurama. [1964] F128 T793.A8](http://blog.nyhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Both-Futuramas-e1396446589723.jpg)
Criticized by the sophisticated for its kitsch, the 1964-65 World’s Fair nonetheless stands as an optimistic take on the promise of the Space Age, an early taste of the digital world, a culminating celebration of plastics and synthetics, and the beginnings of modern theme-park entertainment.
![Welcome…to the IBM Pavilion [1964] F128 T793.T9](http://blog.nyhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/IBM-e1396381976740.jpg)
![Touchtone phone from Fun at the Fair [1964 edition] F128 T790.14.G8](http://blog.nyhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Touchtone-phone-e1396382211407.jpg)
Before it was more commonly known as the AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons co-sponsored the Dynamic Maturity pavilion that stood between the 7-Up and Coca Cola buildings.
Their brochure also included a fact sheet for visitors, noting that admission was $2.00 for adults and $1.00 for children. A 21st century onlooker cannot help remarking that there was no senior rate. The Sinclair Oil Company’s large papier mâché dinosaurs and ubiquitous plastic dinosaur souvenirs continued their success in product identification. Decades after Sinclair gas stations disappeared from the East Coast, the association of dinosaurs and Sinclair remained in the minds of a generation of fairgoers.
One can wager that for most visitors to the 1964-65 World’s Fair, three distinct memories come to mind: Gazing reverently at Michelangelo’s marble sculpture, Pietà, elaborately lit on a moving sidewalk at the Vatican pavilion, gliding along in a boat while being serenaded by dolls singing the relentlessly catchy “It’s a small world (after all),” and splurging one-dollar on a berry and whipped cream-covered waffle at the Belgian Village.
![1964-1965 World’s Fair, New York, N.Y. Belgian Village [1964] , F128 T792.32](http://blog.nyhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/BelgianVillage-e1396382674284.jpg)
Eventually, the various exhibitions’ components and technologies were incorporated at Florida’s Epcot Center, Disney’s attempt—successful or not, for better or worse—at making permanent the magic of our World’s Fair experience.
Very interesting for a former NYer and VERY well written! Kudos to Mariam Touba!!
Great remembrance!
One little nit: At the 64-65 World’s Fair, it was not called a “Belgian”, but a “Bel-Gem” waffle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle
Thank you, WiseUp, for that addition. I did come across that name, “Bel-Gem” in my research, but, for once, I went with my own memory: I could not recall anybody of my acquaintance calling it that!
I had just turned 18 and was now able to drive from New Rochelle to Queens in the summer of ’65. A great place for taking a date–a mixture of wonder, people from all over and new foods to try. Every time I pass the rusting NYS Pavilion and Unisphere, my thoughts return to that summer. When the place was under construction my father would occasionally take us for a drive and for as far as one could see: mud. But a real Phoenix arose.
I remember the Small World, the lifelike talking Lincoln and the Mustang, but my most indelible memory is watching a tall rather craggy-faced young performer named Morgan Freeman displaying his singing and dancing abilities in a musical industrial show. I forget what the show was trying to promote, but at one point he and the rest of the cast were dancing Eskimos. I read years later that it was indeed Mr. Freeman and that I had witnessed my first of many great Freeman performances. Tom Howard (Thomas.Howard @Hotmail.com
I remember the Small World, the lifelike talking Lincoln and the Mustang,but my most indelible memory is watching a tall, slightly craggy-faced performer named Morgan Freeman displaying his singing and dancing abilities in a musical industrial show. I forget what the show was trying to promote, but at one point he and the rest of the cast were dancing Eskimos. I read years later that it was indeed Mr. Freeman and I had witnessed my first of many great Freeman performances.
Thanks for your memories, Steve and Tom! It does seem that Morgan Freeman performed at the Fair, but people debate where. I wonder if he took more than one dancing gig.
-Mariam
This is great Mariam. My parents, sister, brother and I drove from NJ and the exhibit I remember best has the fragrant smell and cushiness of the jungle under your feet, as one of the “experience” areas. I believe it was Coca-Cola, truly “sensational.” It was a beautiful summer day and my brother and sister were 5 and 8, while I was older. My mother also went to the 1939-40 World’s Fair from PA and she also talked about the “highways of tomorrow” and how they had happened. The GE animatronics was the most dazzling to me. It was 1996 before I got to Disney World, and that was for work, so the World’s Fair was more vivid, than DW years later!
Thanks for the comments and the memories!
-Mariam
At the time I worked for a radio staton from Erie Pa and we broadcast from the fair each of the two years it ran. The first year from the Ford pavilion and the second from the American Gas Pavilion. As press we had access to a lot of private suites inside the various pavilions. The AMEX was super as were various food places on the ground. Lot of great memories from those days. The first day of 1964 it rained and a sit in was staged at the Ford building.