AUGUST 15-16, 2020 – A walk thru a fair 80 years ago
WEEKEND EDITION
AUGUST 15-16, 2020
The
131st Edition
1939-1940
WORLD’S FAIR ART
PAVILIONS OF GREAT ART
AND DESIGN
BUILT ON LANDFILL IN FLUSHING, QUEENS THE FAIR WAS A SHOWCASE FOR NEW INNOVATIONS FROM CARS TO TELEVISIONS. IT NEVER FULFILLED THE GOALS SET FOR IT AND WITH THE COMING ON WORLD WAR II, THE SECOND YEAR WAS NOT SUCCESSFUL.
THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING WHILE THE FAIR WAS UNDER CONSTRUCTION
THE TRYLON AND PERISPHERE STAND OUT IN LOW-RISE QUEENS IN 1938. THE ALMOST COMPLETE GOLDWATER HOSPITAL IS CLEARLY VISIBLE. ON THE ISLAND.
APRIL 30, 1939 WAS OPENING DAY FOR THE FAIR WITH FDR IN ATTENDANCE.
A MERE 35,000 INVITED GUESTS TO OPENING DAY.
VISITORS ENJOYED RIDING A NEW INVENTION, AN ESCALATOR AT THE WESTINGHOUSE PAVILION.
ENTRY GATE WITH A CLOCK FROM A NEARBY QUEENS COMPANY-BULOVA WATCHES.
THE FRONT OF THE FORD PAVILLION
FORD MOTOR COMPANY “ROAD TO TOMORROW”
Billy Rose’s Aquacade was a spectacular musical and water extravaganza foreshadowing the form of many popular Hollywood musicals in the ensuing years. The show was presented in a special amphitheater seating 10,000 people and included an orchestra to accompany the spectacular synchronized swimming performance. It featured Johnny Weissmuller and Eleanor Holm, two of the most celebrated swimmers of the era, and dazzled fairgoers with its lighting and cascades and curtains of water, pumped in waterfalls at 8,000 gallons a minute. The cost of admission was 80 cents. The Aquacade facility itself served as an entertainment venue in the park for many years afterward, including the 1964–65 World’s Fair, but fell into disrepair in the 1980s and was finally demolished in 1996.
WATER FROLICS AT THE AQUACADE
MOM, WHAT IS A CASH REGISTER? LOOK CLOSE, IT WAS UP TO A MAX OF $99.99.
PAUL MANSHIP CREATED MANY SCULPTURES FOR THE FAIR. ABOVE IS CELESTIAL SPHERE AND BELOW IS SUNDIAL. HE IS BEST KNOWN FOR PROMETHEUS AT ROCKEFELLER PLAZA
Italian Pavilion
The Italian pavilion attempted to fuse ancient Roman splendor with modern styles, and a 200-foot (61 m) high waterfall dedicated to Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the radio defined the pavilion’s facade. The pavilion occupied 100,000 square feet of space on plot GJ-1 at Presidential Row North and Continental Avenue and cost more than $3 million. Italy paid for the right to use another ten thousand feet of space in the fair’s Hall of Nations. There, the mosaic floor was to be graced by a high pillar upon which rested the ubiquitous She-Wolf, mother of Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome.
Above Nino Giordano’s Capitoline She-Wolf extended the lines of a Roman triumphal arch. The long side walls, adorned with emblems of ancient and modern Rome and maps of its new colonial ’empire’ were divided into three sections by columns with rostra rising on a plinth of black marble and accentuated by Roman stucco of a velvety-white color. These walls sheltered Romano Romanelli’s bronze statue of Mussolini which stood tall upon a black marble pedestal in the very center of the room.The pavilion’s popular restaurant was designed in the shape of the nation’s luxury cruise line ships.
WEEKEND PHOTO
WHAT AND WHERE IS THIS?
SEND RESPONSE TO: ROOSEVELTISLANDHISTORY@GMAILCOM
WIN A KIOSK TRINKET.
FRIDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
Long Non-Functioning Water Fountain
North of Smallpox Hospital
Southpoint Park
NOW AT THE KIOSK
OUR NEW MUGS
AND MAGNETS IN THIS DESIGN
MUGS $12-, MAGNETS $5-
CAT-A-TORIAL
My name is Lucky and I am the boss of the Octagon Wildlife Freedom Foundation Shelter. I guard the area from other creatures. Rosanna rescued me from the basement of a bodega. Sitting outside on the stoop of my home is sure a better deal. Come by the road near the south end of Octagon by the Sanctuary. Can’t wait for partying to begin!!!
Funding Provided by:
Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation Public Purpose Funds
Council Member Ben Kallos City Council Discretionary Funds thru DYCD
Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to
Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Deborah Dorff
ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHT RIHS. 2020 (C)
PHOTOS IN THIS ISSUE (C) JUDITH BERDY RIHS
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