I've got a pretty short list of pre-WWII events that I would like to have experienced in the flesh, and would have to say that the 1939 New York Worlds Fair is definitely one of the tops. It was a very special window in time of America's history, as ... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
The ARCA held a road race there as well. One of my big car screwups was selling the remains of one of the cars that was in the race.http://es-la.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=402981369524
Jay, watch Batman Mask of the Phantasm, I was obsessed with the '39 Worlds Fair when we did that... the whole end of it is set in a fictional version of the World's Fair- I was drawing tons of set ideas and they wrote it into the plot- lots of transportation exhibits, (a dream car exhibit of a "car of the future" that becomes the Batmobile later-) I think there was big Flathead building too- I should see if I can find some sketches... So much great stuff in the GM building though! What a year-
I think the 39 Fair was extended into 1940 as well. There were toasters made with the Trylon and Perisphere symbol on them as a Fair commerative. My son bought a really nice one at a thrift store here for $6, sold it on the bay for $45. The 33 Chicago Fair would be first on my list then the 39 NY Fair, fabulous automotive exhibits as well as all the other aspects of American life and across the World at the time/.
I was out junk shoppin the other day and was able to score a 1939 Worlds Fair New York license plate. Not much but lets me reach back to another time and place. Got it for $4 here in W. Ore.
Jive-Bomber Jay - Great post! It's really a bummer that the Chrysler video was removed from YouTube ... I posted it in my May 31, 2009 1939 World's Fair Chrysler 3D Film thread ... I thought it was a really cool stop-motion animation (almost PIXAR worthy ) ... but sometime in the Fall of 2009, the video went missing from the Public Internet ... I've been looking for another copy of it ever since. UPDATE: After further research, I discovered that John Norling's 1939 "In Tune with Tomorrow" (B&W version) was re-released in Color as "New Dimensions" in 1940 ... and that RKO Pictures re-issued "New Dimensions" as "Motor Rhythm" in 1953. Here's a color anaglyph (red/blue) version of "Motor Rhythm": <object width="640" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sNm0XiML4dA?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sNm0XiML4dA?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="390"></embed></object> Just put your on and enjoy!