June 1, 2013: Monthly Newsletter (updates to follow)

 

Welcome to the June 2013 edition of the 1939 World’s Fair Newsletter

informationThere are several way for you to know about “What’s New for the Fair.” Sign up for the “Text Only” newsletter on the website’s home page, or sign up for email notification for new blog posts, in the sign-up area in the right column.

 

Postcard #15 – Carrier & the Parachute Jump

Now available, the fifthteenth in the series of World’s Fair Collector Postcards. Images from the original Kodachrome slides have been restored to produce these beautiful 4″ x 6″ memories of the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Individual postcards can be ordered from the website.

postcard_special

The release of the 12th postcard in the series of World’s Fair Collector’s Postcards completes the first “SET” of cards. To celebrate the entire set of 12 postcards are now available for only $12.00 plus $3.00 s/h. See a larger view of the postcards that are included in the first set and ORDER YOURS TODAY.

There’s a Postcard Video on YouTube … check it out.

New on the site


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from Laszlo Lajtai of the Hungarian Photoarchive.

Independent Subway Entrance in the Amusement Zone

arrowfrom Alan Mercer of the U.K.

Photos, a link, and information on the “Wall of Death” in the Amusement Zone

Would you like a link on the World’s Fair Website?
Look at the link page to see how I am adding the links. Hover over the link name to reveal a descriptive panel, click the link to visit the site.

Contact me with the information that you want to appear. Links must be approved before they are added.

Join the World’s Fair Community on Facebook: Simply “Like” the page, while you are there, why not add a post or a comment.

To all that have contributed to the World’s Fair Website … Thank you.

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May 20, 2013: 1939 NY World’s Fair Ephemera

Wikipedia defines Ephemera as any transitory written or printed matter not meant to be retained or preserved. Thanks to people who have shared some of the World’s Fair Ephemera the 1939 NY World’s Fair Website is able to bring the content of some of that Ephemera for everyone to read, learn from, and enjoy.

If you have a piece of Ephemera from the Fair that is not already on the list and would like to share it, please contact Paul at the 1939 NY World’s Fair.

World’s Fair Ephemera

Zone Description
Theme Center Your World of Tomorrow – Democracity (PDF DOWNLOAD ONLY)
Government Czechoslovakia – Truth Prevails 1940
Portugal Brochure – 1939
Community inteests Christian Science Booklet #3
Pepsodent Flyer
Puppet World – Gas Industries
YMCA – New York World’s Fair 1940
Food Zone 108 World’s Fair Recipes from Borden’s (PDF DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE)
Kraft – The American Way of Progress
Kraft – Miracle Whip flyer
Kraft – Philadelphia Cream Cheese flyer
Kraft – Velveeta flyer
Heinz 57 – Brochure
National Pressure Cooker brochure
Three Crowns Restaurant menu
World’s Largest Store Counter & the Mammoth Display of Wrigle’s Gum
Communications Macfadden Exhibit Souvenir Program
Trav-ler Radio – Alive in Performance 1939
R.C.A Radio Press
Royal Typewriter
Television in 1939 by NBC
Underwood Typewriter
Production Mrs. Cinderella by G.E.
Kodak – Your Kodak at the NY World’s Fair (PDF DOWNLOAD ONLY)
Kodak - Cine-Kodak at the Fair (PDF DOWNLOAD ONLY)
Owens Corning – Can This Be Glass
Sinclair Pictorial Map
Yale in the World of Tomorrow – Metals Building
1938 Westinghouse Magazine (PDF DOWNLOAD ONLY)
Game of Nim” information (PDF DOWNLOAD ONLY)
1939-40 Westinghouse Magazine (PDF DOWNLOAD ONLY)
1939 Westinghouse Newspaper (PDF DOWNLOAD ONLY)
Transportation Bill of the Play – Railroads on Parade (PDF DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE)
Chrysler Motors 1940
Firestone Builds Today – the Tire of Tomorrow
The Ford Exposition
The Ford Exposition 1940
Futurama (PDF DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE)
General Motors Exhibit Building (PDF DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE)
Highways & Horizons (PDF DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE)
General Motors Overseas
Railroads at the New York Worlds Fair 1939
RR on parade flyer – See the Hit Show at the Fair!
Railroads in action – The largest Model railroad in the world!
Pullman Railroad Exhibit Booklet
Things to See at the Fair
Amusement Ballantine Book of Ballads
Famous Chicken Inn Menu
Frank Buck’s Jungleland Flyer
Morris Gest’s Little Miracle Town (PDF DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE)
Midway Inn Menu (PDF DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE)
Red Lion Inn Menu
Sun Valley Booklet
Other Brochures 1001 Facts About the World’s Fair & New York
American Express – Fair Tour Chair Rides
Around the Grounds by Greyhound
Hotel Times Square & Hotel Breslin
New York World’s Fair Licensed Merchandise Advance Edition (1939)
Prize Poems of the ’39 NY World’s Fair
Stouffer’s Restaurant Menu in New York City
1939 Tony Sarg Pictorial Map
Yale Club of Philadelphia, PA- How to see the World’s Fair
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May 1, 2013: Newsletter

 

Welcome to the May 2013 edition of the 1939 World’s Fair Newsletter

informationHall of NationsThere are several way for you to know about “What’s New for the Fair.” Sign up for the “Text Only” newsletter on the website’s home page, or sign up for email notification for new blog posts, in the sign-up area in the right column.

 

Postcard #14 – The Hall of Nations

Now available, the fourteenth in the series of World’s Fair Collector Postcards. Images from the original Kodachrome slides have been restored to produce these beautiful 4″ x 6″ memories of the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Individual postcards can be ordered from the website.

postcard_special

The release of the 12th postcard in the series of World’s Fair Collector’s Postcards completes the first “SET” of cards. To celebrate the entire set of 12 postcards are now available for only $12.00 plus $3.00 s/h. See a larger view of the postcards that are included in the first set and ORDER YOURS TODAY.

There’s a NEW Postcard Video on YouTube … check it out.

New on the site


arrow
from Hilary Rossen

The Advance copy of the New York World’s Fair Licensed Merchandise Catalog. - found under Flyers and Brochures – Other Brochures.
The Yale-club of Philadelphia – How to see the World’s Fair is a check list of Pavilions and amusements.
4-Minute Crossing. The Lincoln Tunnel – Plan Now to Visit the New York Worlds Fair 1939 – in Misc. Maps
Truth Prevails – Czecho-slovakia Will Rise Again – from 1940The front and back cover of a Slovenian – American 1939 Map of Greater New York:
Watch Elsie the Cow blink and chew. On the Borden’s page of the website.

arrowfrom David Woodie

World’s Fair Powder case

Would you like a link on the World’s Fair Website?
Look at the link page to see how I am adding the links. Hover over the link name to reveal a descriptive panel, click the link to visit the site.

Contact me with the information that you want to appear. Links must be approved before they are added.

Join the World’s Fair Community on Facebook: Simply “Like” the page, while you are there, why not add a post or a comment.

To all that have contributed to the World’s Fair Website … Thank you.

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April 20, 2013: Evolution of the Website

In September of 1990 I started a small business mainly doing typesetting and graphics. Back then, if I remember correctly, I had a 1,200 k-bit/s dial-up modem and the only thing I used it for was visiting “Bulletin Boards.” I think back then you dialed a number directly to the “Bulletin Board” to get connected. In February 1996 I signed up with an Internet Service Provider, got my first email address and started a website for my business. It was a sub-site and only afforded me 40-meg of storage. The site’s still there (web1.greatbasin.net/~pmphoto/) but now is only used as a directory for  my other sites.

IFirst World's Fair Home page 2002n March 1999 I registered the domain name of pmphoto.to and moved everything from the sub-site to new hosting on Softcom.  Everything included the business, antiques & collectibles, and personal pages. In 2002 I added the 1939 New York World’s Fair to that site.

That first World’s Fair site took up 7.6 meg of space and contained 1,227 files in 43 folders. At that time Softcom only afforded 40-meg of space, but it was enough to hold everything.World's Fair Home Page in 2008

In 2004 Dr. William R. Hanson shared 83 images of the Fair from his private collection which were added to the site.

In 2007 I registered pmphoto.us with Softcom and moved all the business related information to the new site, but the Fair still shared space with my personal pages and the antiques.

Then in 2008 came the first major revision to the site. Still, everything except the business was on this single site with only 40 meg of storage space to hold all the information. It was at this time that the World’s Fair Blog was started and added to the main menu so one could go back and froth from the site to the blog seamlessly.

In 2010 Softcom offered Shared Hosting on the Cloud which offered unlimited domains, unlimited band-width, and unlimited storage. I registered 1939NYWorldsFair.com, moved pmphoto.to and pmphoto.us to the cloud, created a sub-domain, antiques.pmphoto.to for the antiques and collectibles, and another sub-domain for all my personal web pages and did another revision to the World’s Fair site.

World's Fair Home Page 2011

Then in 2011, with its new home, the look of the site was changed slightly. blue replaced the black in the header,WF-2013 and the PMP logo was removed. A monthly notice area was added, and some other features were added. And on January 28th, the World’s Fair facebook Community page was started.

 

In 2012 another sub-site was added and the World’s Fair image database was created and added as a link in the main menu. The header for the website was once again changed and color images replace the old black & white ones.

Today the site occupies more than 441 meg of storage space housing 7,083 files in 535 folders.

More people are finding the site every month. The log files show that more than 40,000 visitors per month visited the site in February and March of this year from all over the world.

If you have photos, stories, information, suggestions, or find errors that need correcting, please contact me.

In eleven years the site’s come a long way … and there’s still a long way to go.

 

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April 4, 2013: World’s Fair Licensed Merchandise – Advance Edition

1939 World's Fair Licensed MerchandiseDuring  the twelve years that I have been working on the World’s Fair website I have seen a lot of photos of souvenirs sold at the Fair, but it was not until Hilary Rossen loaned me a copy of the “World’s Fair Licensed Merchandise” catalog that I realized I have seen next to nothing.

The “New York World’s Fair Licensed Merchandise,”  96-page catalog is now available on the web to view.

Pages 1 through 10 contain general information. Pages 11 through 28 are a list of vendors promoting their products for the Fair. The list is arranged by product type and alphabetically within the product group.

Pages 31 through 95 are full page ads for  vendors showing some of the products they have to offer.

The “advance” catalog was published in 1938 and I’m sure that before the Fair opened and probably up to the opening of the second season of the Fair, more merchandisers were added to the list. It would be interesting to know how much revenue was generated just through licensing fees in the two years the Fair was open.

Several people have told me that the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair was the “most merchandised” event EVER HELD. After looking at this catalog, I think they may be right.

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April 1, 2013: Newsletter

 

Welcome to the April 2013 edition of the 1939 World’s Fair Newsletter

informationThe Polish PavilionThere are several way for you to know about “What’s New for the Fair.” Sign up for the “Text Only” newsletter on the website’s home page, or sign up for email notification for new blog posts, in the sign-up area in the right column.

 

Postcard #13 – Poland

Now available, the twelfth in the series of World’s Fair Collector Postcards. Images from the original Kodachrome slides have been restored to produce these beautiful 4″ x 6″ memories of the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Individual postcards can be ordered from the website.

postcard_special

The release of the 12th postcard in the series of World’s Fair Collector’s Postcards completes the first “SET” of cards. To celebrate the entire set of 12 postcards are now available for only $12.00 plus $3.00 s/h. See a larger view of the postcards that are included in the first set and ORDER YOURS TODAY.

There’s a NEW Postcard Video on YouTube … check it out.

Next Auction Ending April 23rd, 2013

Closing Tuesday April 23rd, 2013 at 10:00 PM EDT
Catalog will be available April 1st
Exclusively Offering World’s Fair and International Exposition Items
Souvenirs and Historical Pieces From All Fairs 1851 – 1985
All Authentic Period Items
World’s Fairs exhibited the pinnacle of human achievement through the ages
This auction is an opportunity to acquire vintage items in every imaginable collecting category Visit the World’s Fair Auction Site

New on the site

arrowfrom Varese Layzer

Perpetual Calendar – Good from 1939 to 1966, made in India.

arrowfrom Bob Catania

Brochures – Portugal - 24-page brochure from the Portugal Pavilion
R.C.A.’s Radio Press – The FAX newspaper from the fair
Sun Valley 24-page Brochure – A cool spot at the Fair
Glass & Porcelain – Several new items on this page
Odd and Ends 4 – Walking Stick,  Cane Chair, Banner, Ring, Serving Tray, and Nutshell
Desktop Items – Metal Candy Dish, Metal Book Ends
Buttons & Pins – A couple more charms have been added

arrowfrom Will Hill

Mini Postcard set: Set of 16 2½ x 3½ postcards from the Fair

arrowfrom Andrew Kaufman

Bus from the GM Futurama exhibit

Would you like a link on the World’s Fair Website?
Look at the link page to see how I am adding the links. Hover over the link name to reveal a descriptive panel, click the link to visit the site.

Contact me with the information that you want to appear. Links must be approved before they are added.

Join the World’s Fair Community on Facebook: Simply “Like” the page, while you are there, why not add a post or a comment.

To all that have contributed to the World’s Fair Website … Thank you.

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March 20, 2013: Sex at the 1940 New York World’s Fair

Sir Magazine Sept., 1964 - Sex at the 1940 NY World's Fair

Published in September 1964, author Hank Reeves compares the 1964 New York World’s Fair to the one in 1940.

AS WORLD’S FAIR ATTENDANCE LAYS AN EGG, MOSES MIGHT REMEMBER THAT THE ’40 FAIR WAS A FINANCIAL FLOP UNTIL SEX CAME TO THE MIDWAY.

By HANK REEVES

The New York World’s Fair amusement area is losing so much money, it isn’t funny – or even amusing.

The least amused are the concessionaires, who have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in the hope of turning a quick profit. Now all the turning that many of them are doing is in their sleep.

Planners had hoped that the amusement area world be one of the Fair’s liveliest spots. But business is such that the indefatigable Mike Todd Jr., for instance, gave up after his show, “America Be Seated,” too in $300 at the box office in two days.

Others worried concessionaires met recently to see what could be done to draw more visitors. Some lamented that blueprints had be scrapped to build a huge moving sidewalk that would have taken tourists effortlessly to their pleasure palaces. This project was abandoned as too expensive.

Others suggested playing lights on the amusement area to draw Fair-goers like moths. Some even went so far as to suggest ways to make the admission price cheaper for tourists.

In the light of World Fair History, it was rather strange that no suggestion was made to toss a little s-e-x into the amusement section to liven things up a bit. Strange, when you look back at what happened at the New York World’s Fair of 1939-40.

That business of trick lighting a giving dollar-wise visitors a break isn’t new. In 1940, Fair admission prices were cut, and the lighting the Great White Way was boosted to 10 times the candle power of ’39.

But that was just for eye-openers. Summing up the ’39 officials’ experience, the Daily News’ Jack Turcott wrote the following year.

“Fair officials learned that dividends were paid off only to concessionaires who gave fun and frolic, with a goodly share of near nudity thrown in.” He stated the naked truth: the officials of the 1940 Fair were going to emphasize sex.

The ill-concealed facts behind this decision b Fair Authorities sound vaguely familiar. The Fair fathers were forced to step in and financially rescue more than seven productions in the Great White Way amusement area whose operators had come close to losing their shirts.

article page - Sir Magazine Sept., 1964 - Sex at the 1940 NY World's FairNow losing you shirt isn’t such a bad idea, reasoned the Fair officials, if you happened to be built right-like a girl. And if people paid money to see you without your shirt on, then you might be able to have both boom and bust!

Even the staid New York Times felt compelled to note that the refurbished Great White Way that year was “brighter . . . livelier” that its predecessor. It went on to mention “Oscar the Obscene Octopus” in the show “Twenty Thousand Legs Under the Sea.”

“Oscar,” the Times reported for its marine-life enthusiasts, “is a rubber octopus utilized by a dancer to initiate a new form of strip tease.”

The News’ famous critic, Burns Mantle, happily reported that Gypsy Rose Lee was abiding by the rules of the art as laid down by the Fair authorities – she was very careful not to take off more than she had on.

Somewhere in between the real and famous Miss Lee and the fake and infamous Octopus were scores of girls willing to show all their beauty for art and to keep the Fair’s turnstiles twirling. The mood of the sexy Fair was set to some extent by the arrival of Yvette Dare, who was accompanied by her specially trained parrot.

Yvette, a stunning brunette with a profile remarkably resembling a Hedy Lamarr’s, showed up wearing a white picture hat, blouse, black skirt, black gloves, a long-handled black pocketbook and black shoes. Oh, yes, and that parrot perched on her shoulder.

Some 50 usually blasé reporters met Yvette, then began acting uncomfortable, like a bunch of bashful schoolboys. For while the gentlemen of the press dropped their pencils and fumbled with their notebooks, Yvette peeled off her blouse. Then the parrot went into his act. Instead of saying, “Polly wants a cracker,” or any such avian nonsense, Pol proved himself to be taciturn bird of action, not words.

Pol wasn’t the only lucky bird at that Fair. The winged variety, we’re still talking about. Rosita Royce, a star attraction at the White Way Casino’s “Nation on Parade,” climaxed her act wearing nothing but a white satin train flowing from her waist, a large ring on her finger, a pair of open-toed satin pumps – and five lucky birds.

Rosita, another brunette, would stand there with wide eyes and taut breasts, and those white doves looking a though they didn’t care what union they belonged to.

Even the great actress Carol Lombard got a case of buck-naked fever which seemed to sweep the Fair like an epidemic. Clad only in a technical sense, she wore a fake buckskin G-String to match the motif of the Indian Village while her portrait was sketched by another Fair Maiden.

As you may have guessed – or remember, if you are lucky enough to have seen it – sex at the Fair 25 years ago had is whacky side. At the “Hot and Cold Show” nearly nude girls like Marge Berk were slipped inside hollowed-out cakes of ice while torrid dances wee stated around them to provide the “hot” part of the show.

Salvador Dali, the artist, concocted a “Dream of Venus” act in which a girl swam in a tank with a sleeping nude posed against a surrealist set. Some viewers thought this beat Dali’s melted watches.

And there was the Enchanted Forest, at which viewers could look through gall as a miniature woodsy setting and see, reflected to miniature size, a girl in bra and G-string appear and dance amid the trees. This was enough t make some visiting lumberjacks swear off the sauce.

Even the Lama Temple, admittedly a dud during the ’39 season, began packing them in when it sexed up its name to Forbidden Tibet and featured a ballet in which a Tibetan Lama was tempted by a girl playing “a symbol of desire.”

Perhaps one of the loftiest acts along these lines was staged by Alma Bray, who billed herself as the first strip tease artist to perform her act on a trapeze at a night club. No one challenged her claim.

Alma began her daring young-woman-on-the-flying-trapeze act clad in a full-length evening gown. Then, as she flew through the air with the greatest of ease, she began dropping her clothes and ended up wearing a G-string that would make a bikini seem like a pair of overalls.

There was also the nudist dancer Dolores at the Cuban Village. There were Norman Bel Geddes’ Crystal Lassies. There was the Congress of Beauty. There were the Sun Worshipers. . . .
This is not to say that a couple of million persons didn’t stop off and take the 250-foot parachute jump, which was a feature of the Fair. And many visited Robert Ripley’s $2,000,000 collection of curios at his Odditorium. They also took safaris to Frank Buck’s Jungleland, and they watched Billy Rose’s Aquacade, which starred Eleanor Holm and Buster Crabbe with a cast of 500 “aquabelles and aquabeaus.”

But sex ws the big drawing card, and the sexier shows set records to prove it. Attendance at the rejuvenated amusement area was more than double that of the previous year.

All this in 3-D contrast to the decorous mood of the current World’s Fair, whose 75-year-old president, Robert Moses, has declared: “We shall have no cheap midway . . . dubious side shows.”

That word “dubious” apparently covers a lot of ground. One of the current Fair’s big attractions is “Les Poupees de Paris.” When Moses heard that one of the 32-pound lady puppets was about to perform nude from the waist up, the whip of officialdom cracked. The puppet appeared, all right, wearing a hastily fashioned bra.

The dedicated New York girl-watching societies are now focusing their binoculars on a related test involving the famous Folies Bergere. The Folies girls, used to appearing in the altogether in their native France, opened in a Broadway theater June 2.

The producer, Stephen Sharmat, vowed before the show opened that the girls would appear equally as undraped as in their native habitat. “This is a clean show,” he said. “Nude, yes. But clean. The show is going to open undraped. What happens then is up to the Commissioner of Licenses of the City of New York. My attorneys tell me that if we have to go to litigation, we will, win it.”

If Sharmat and his legal beagles prove correct, who knows, the World’s Fair might get the message. It might just remember the lesson of ’39-and bring on les girls.


NOTE: This is the entire article as it appeared in Sir Magazine and written by Hank Reeves. It has been reproduced here to afford readers information about the two Fairs and the attitude about sex at the Fair.

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March 1, 2013: Newsletter

 

Welcome to the March 2013 edition of the 1939 World’s Fair Newsletter

informationWorld's Fair Collector's Postcard # 12There are several way for you to know about “What’s New for the Fair.” Sign up for the “Text Only” newsletter on the website’s home page, or sign up for email notification for new blog posts, in the sign-up area in the right column.

 

Postcard #12 – New England

Now available, the twelfth in the series of World’s Fair Collector Postcards. Images from the original Kodachrome slides have been restored to produce these beautiful 4″ x 6″ memories of the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Individual postcards can be ordered from the website.

postcard_specialpostcard-set-ad

The release of the 12th postcard in the series of World’s Fair Collector’s Postcards completes the first “SET” of cards. To celebrate the entire set of 12 postcards are now available for only $12.00 plus $3.00 s/h. See a larger view of the postcards that are included in the first set and ORDER YOURS TODAY.

 

New on the site

 

arrowfrom Robert Bialo

Misc. Envelopes – Another First Day Cover has been added.

arrowfrom Bob Catania

Misc. Glass-Porelain  – This is a new category with 16 items.
Misc. Desktop items  – New category for souvenirs from the Fair, with 14 new items.
Misc. Stickers & Labels pg 7 -  5 new labels and stickers
Misc. Stickers & Labels pg 6 - 1 new stickers
Misc. Magazine Covers -  New Category, 14 images
Misc. Maps -  2 maps moved from Odds n Ends
Misc. Odds and Ends page 1 - Scott Paper Towel sampler and 1940 Fair Uniform Jacket
Misc. Odds and Ends page 2 -  5 new items
Misc. Odds and Ends page 3 -  2 pennants, pillow, and fan
Misc. Odds and Ends page 4 - WF Puzzel and Handkerchief
Government Zone – Portugal -  Cover of the Portugal Magazine
Government Zone – US Pavilion -  Picture and Press Release for Building’s Facade Statue Contest
Amusement Zone – Sun Valley – Cover of the Sun Valley Magazine
Amusement Zone – Amphitheater - Cover of Billy Rose’s Aquacade Magazine
Communications Zone – RCA -  Card certificating that a person has been televised at RCA

arrowfrom Randy Richter (World’s Fair Historical Society)

Medicine & Public Health – Pepsodent Flyer — “The Secret Behind Her Smile,” Pepsodent Toothpaste
Misc. Odds and Ends page 5 – Rubicon Perfume Box and Bottle

Would you like a link on the World’s Fair Website?
Look at the link page  to see how I am adding the links. Hover over the link name to reveal a descriptive panel, click the link to visit the site.

Contact me with the information that you want to appear. Links must be approved before they are added.

Join the World’s Fair Community on Facebook:   Simply “Like” the page, while you are there, why not add a post or a comment.

To all that have contributed to the World’s Fair Website … Thank you.

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February 1, 2014: Here’s What’s New

questions

New York Central Locomotive

From Felix Maestri

I have a cardboard cutout of a New York Central Steam Engine # 5453 & Coal Tender made by CONCORA (Container Corporation of America).  I am told that this was given out at the 1939 Word’s Fair.  Any chance that this info is correct?

For larger images of the envelope and cutout parts, visit the New York Central Cutout Page

Contact me with your thoughts.

From Fabiola Johnson … fabiolalarue@gmail.com

“Hello, I know a family member of mine was in a musical revue that went to the fair as a performer. She was in a company from Mexico. I only know the name of the Variety Show was Upa y Apa. I wonder if any of these shows went to theatres on Broadway after their performance at the Fair? I have information of a Revue titled “Mexicana” that coincides with the dates… but my aunt’s name isn’t on the program I found from the Playbill Archives.

I’m trying to write her biography. She became a famous choreographer in the 40 and 50′s and her participation is this show in the Fair is all I have of the beginning of her carreer.The reason I know she was there is because  I have a telegram telling her she’s been accepted in the Revue and must go the rehearsals and I remember her telling me about New York (she died 6 years ago.) Can anyone give me information?
Thanks”

Does anyone know where a Dance group from Mexico may have performed? Mexico had only the building in the Hall of Nations and I don’t know if they held any live performances in the pavilion.

From Michael Varisto  varisto@comcast.net

“I’m looking for images of the Jesse James guns that were displayed at this world fair. Are there any?”

new_on_site

arrow Misc.
There were many versions of the “Offical Guide Book” published during the two years the Fair was open. Visit “World’s Fair Guide Books“  to view some of the covers. If you have a different guide book, send me a photo of the cover so I can add it to the website.

The last image is the ad that ran in the “Today at the Fair” No. 173, Sunday, October 22, 1939.  It shows the cost of the various Guide Books and Souvenir Books.

I noticed in the ad that the Pocket size, paper cover guid book was 25¢ and the Regular size was 50¢. All the paper cover editions I have are 5 1/8 inches by 8-inches and cost 25¢. Is that the “Pocket” size book, or did they change the prices? If that is the “pocket size” book, what is the size of the Regular edition?

arrowfrom Cathy Scibelli

Postcard by Tichnor Brothers, Inc.  – Greece, Peru, and Romanian Buildings.
Postcard by Henry Baumann – Ripley’s ALFRED LANGEVIN
Mrs. Cinderella: General Electric puts a new slant on the old Fairy Tale in this illustrated 24-page color brochure.
What to see today at Chrysler A one-page flyer with a diagram to the exhibits at the Chrysler Motor Corp. Pavilion also a pair of Poloroid glasses for viewing their show.

arrowfrom Leonard Thibadeau

Postcard by CT Art Colortone – Star Pylon

arrowfrom Jake Marx

Child’s Sweatshirt – See blog post from January 19

arrowfrom Will Hill / Deborah Fullington Hill

Two personal photos of family members with folk from Little Miracle Town in 1939. And another personal photo of Bob and Florence “Flossie” Fullington of Philadelphia, PA in front of the Electrical Utilities Pavilion.

arrowfrom Randy Richter

Booklet #3 from the Christian Science Pavilion.
Postcards from the Christian Science Pavilion printed by Marbridge Printing Company:
Signed 1939 Guide Book (read the January 27 post)
Advertisement for Etnyre Streamlined Street Flushers (at the bottom of the World’s Fair Product ads page)

arrowfrom Robert Bialo

Two First Day Covers
Asbury Park – World’s Fair sticker (last sticker on page 7)

To all that have contributed to the World’s Fair Website … Thank you.

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January 27, 2013: A Signed 1939 Guide Book

signed_bookThis signed 1939 guide book was donated to the World’s Fair Historical Society and shared with me by Randy Richter. The signatures are from people wishing Art Hines good luck in the future. Sort of reminds me of a year book, but it appears to have been signed long after the Fair closed.

At first I thought it may be someone leaving employment at the Fair but on a couple pages the date 4/4/42 shows up, which is well after the Fair Closed.

There are military references such as Co. B 12, Goldbricking, Keep em flying, and Pine Camp, NY. Information about Pine Came on the New York State Military Museum website

So here is a book from 1939 that has a lot of signatures wishing Art Hines a good future. I’m guessing that Art is leaving for active military duty and maybe the only book available for everyone to sign was the Guide Book. But I get the feeling that many of the people all had something in common with the Fair as well as the Military and Pine Camp.

Take a look at all the signatures and sentiments on the World’s Fair Signed Guide Book page and draw your own conclusions. Send me an e-mail with your thoughts by using the Contact link at the top of this page.

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