The 1939-1940 New York World's Fair: The World of Tomorrow

By Bill Cotter

Falling in between the dark days of the Great Depression and World War II, the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair offered a refreshing prediction for "the World of Tomorrow."

There were exciting demonstrations of robot servants, computerized highways, color photography, and a new invention called television. Visitors could tour the latest in model homes, enjoy the marvel of air-conditioning, and watch the newest streamlined steam locomotive in action. America's largest corporations joined forces with nations from around the world to showcase the wonders of a future that was sure to come. There were also displays of past technical marvels, international culture and cuisine, and plenty of the innovative architecture that is a large part of these international expositions. Vintage photographs, most never published before, showcase what has been lauded as the most memorable world's fair of all time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Dec 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781439665954

Bill Cotter

Bill Cotter is the author of the novels Fever Chart, The Parallel Apartments, and The Splendid Ticket. He is also responsible for the middle-grade adventure series Saint Philomene’s Infirmary, published by Henry Holt. His short fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. An essay, “The Gentleman’s Library,” was awarded a Pushcart Prize in 2013. When he is not writing, Cotter labors in the antiquarian book trade. He lives in Austin with his wife, the retired opera singer Krissy Olson.

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INTRODUCTION

What eventually became the 1939–1940 New York World’s Fair began, like many others of these grand expositions, when a group of businessmen and city leaders was looking for ways to generate economic growth in their city. Like others before them in other cities, they eventually decided the answer was a world’s fair, bringing the countries of the world together for a massive celebration. In typical New York style, their fair promised to be bigger and better than any seen before. It had to be, as their city was the biggest and the best, and this would let them prove it to the world.

A corporation was formed after the initial brainstorming session held in 1935, and the elite of city politics and business were solicited to become members of the board. The project quickly gained momentum, for many of them saw this as a way to leave the days of the Great Depression behind them. The fair would be a tool to firmly establish New York City as the world’s economic leader by drawing new businesses and money into the city. And, if all went well, the fair would also generate a tidy profit for all involved.

Another faction was also pushing for the fair. Many residents of the borough of Queens had long been complaining that there was no large public park or green area for their enjoyment. Manhattan had Central Park, and Brooklyn had Prospect Park, but the largest open area in Queens was a miserable-looking and malodorous ash heap used by the rest of the city to dump the output of thousands of incinerators and furnaces. Part of the profits from the fair would be dedicated to the creation of a park that would surely rival the scope and grandeur of Central Park.

This, then, was the basis for the fair. Knowing that they were not alone in wanting to put the Depression behind them, the fair organizers announced the theme would be Building a better tomorrow with the tools of today. The fair would showcase the best American industry could offer, with examples of a life of ease and luxury that would be easily attainable by the average American.

The fair opened on May 30, 1939. The date was not picked at random; it was the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of Pres. George Washington, held in what was then the nation’s capital, New York. Under a charter from the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), a trade group formed in 1928 to regulate world’s fairs, it was scheduled to run for a six-month window. In reality, and in a poorly guarded secret, the fair corporation based their budget on a second season, but if it had been publicly announced, BIE approval was unlikely. Thus, the fair was formally announced as the 1939 New York World’s Fair, a name that appeared on all of the correspondence and the mountains of souvenirs sold at the event.

Painting an incredibly optimistic view of the future—even as several of the nations represented careened toward war—the Great Fair was still a remarkable showcase of new technology. Television, international telephone calls, and the fax machine were first introduced there. And the fair’s forward-reaching aesthetic—directly influenced by the work of Norman Bel Geddes, Le Corbusier, Miles van der Rohe, and others—continues to inspire creative notions of tomorrow today.

Like many well-intentioned plans, things did not go quite as hoped. The fair relied on very optimistic attendance projections that, in retrospect, should have been challenged when they were first presented. No one wanted to be a naysayer on such a popular project, though, so work forged ahead using a budget based on ticket sales that would never occur. To make matters worse, some aspects went way over budget.

When the fair finally opened, the crowds were less than projected, and a common complaint was that the fair was too expensive. For some time, it was uncertain if the fair would return for a second season as had long been planned. New management was installed, and prices were lowered, making the second season profitable despite an additional $3.3 million having been spent to add new attractions and other improvements. Now renamed as the 1940 New York World’s Fair, and with no need to further placate the BIE, the fair gained a new motto in the second year, For peace and freedom, reflecting the war clouds gathering on the horizon.

The overall theme was changed from looking forward to the world of tomorrow to one where people were encouraged to enjoy the good things of today. Overall, it became more of a giant county fair, hoping to put aside some of the city slicker image it had garnered the first year to instead appeal more to folks from more rural areas. Attendance the second year actually turned out to be lower than in 1939, but the cost-savings measures worked, and the year was profitable. Unfortunately, the sea of red ink from the first year could not be overcome, and the overall result for both years was a loss.

Still, money is not the only way to measure the success of a fair. In the years since it ended, the fair has gained an almost mythical status among those who study such events, theme parks, and other forms of mass entertainment. A tremendous undertaking by any measure, the fair was conceived, designed, and built in an incredibly short window. Media reports at the time showed that it ran very smoothly, with few problems other than in the accounting offices. Many fairs have started off only partially completed on opening day or had to shutter parts when the money ran out unexpectedly. Not so in New York—expense accounts for fair executives may have been slashed, but to those who came to visit, the fair was everything that had been promised and more.

The theme structures, dubbed the Trylon and Perisphere by a publicity department that at times seemed obsessed with inventing Greek-sounding names, became instantly recognizable symbols of the fair, even for those who were born years after it. For example, in a 1961 episode of the television series The Twilight Zone titled The Odyssey of Flight 33, the passengers and crew of a jet that is somehow hurled backwards in time immediately recognized their predicament when they looked below them and saw the Trylon and Perisphere, which had been torn down 20 years earlier.

I, like many others, am a devotee of an event I never saw in person. In 2008, I wrote my first book on it for Arcadia Publishing, hoping to share parts of my collection of photographs and information with others with similar interests. While I was happy with the book, and still am, I was limited in the