Looking Back at the 1964-'65 New York World's Fair

The Unis-sphere, symbol of the New York World's Fair. Photos taken by my Uncle Everett Wallace over two visits. Spring 1965.  

        Looking back on the New York World’s Fair 1964 – 1965

                                                     By Eric K. Williams   

It is hard to believe that the last New York World’s Fair took place nearly 50 years ago in the mid-1960’s. Yet, so much of what we take for granted now in the 21^st century is all around us. Like Babe Ruth’s legendary ‘Called Shot’ home run in the 1932 World Series, the New York World’s Fair of 1964 – 1965, was right on target, and was the ‘called shot’ in the way we live today.

In short, technologically speaking, and especially in the way we humans communicate, share and exchange information, take simple photographs, send short messages, speak on the telephone, that fair was true to prediction 50 years ago. Think of it in the way in which we watch and record  television programs, view movies at a cinema, listen to music, travel within cities and across oceans, and in so many other ways, much of what we do now has come out of that very fair.

For Baby Boomers like myself who were born in the 1950’s, the very notion of everyone having a colour television set in their home, considered a luxury item then, was nothing short of revolutionary. So, too, was the concept of ‘portable hand carried  telephones,’ safer cars, a man landing on the moon, brighter colour film, and movies, and high definition television, smaller audio recording tape machines, video telephone calls to anyone in the world, and also, how space satellites would become more important in everyday life, back then, it was all science fiction.  

The Clan of Everett Wallace, standing in front of the World's Fair symbol, the Unis-Sphere at the New York World's Fair 1965. Photo by Everette Wallace.

Yes, the American space program where much of today’s technology comes from, out of the so-called RACE FOR SPACE, was driven in large part by the ‘Cold War’ with the Soviet Union. That race for space also captured the imagination of international scientists, educators, those in the media, the public at large, and also, young people. I should know, being among the millions of American young people who would sit up and watch the rocket launches into space out of Cape Canaveral on television. 

But why jump forward? 

For the generation of New Yorkers who were born in the early part of the 20^th century, the 1939 – 1940 World’s Fair was a landmark event for them on so many levels. Television, more affordable cars giving one freedom, differently constructed city life, cheaper and less cumbersome radios, washing and drying machines at home, for example, was introduced. But, unlike the World’s Fair that would follow two and a half decades later, that fair at the end of the 1930’s had an ominous backdrop. Europe was then in the beginning stages of the second ‘war to end all wars.’ It was a constant under-current on the mood of the American public, still reeling from the Great Depression. So that meant much of the new technology being introduced there, would have to be placed on the proverbial ‘back burner,’ and the world would have to wait until the latter part of the 1940’s, after this war, to experience what had been promised.    

My interest in writing this piece is twofold: One is that it came about after running across a series of old colour slide photographs an uncle of mine had snapped at the second New York fair. The photos cover two visits he had made with his branch of my large extended family, in 1965. My late uncle, Everett Kermit Wallace, was a man well ahead of his time. For the better part of 40 years, from about 1948, until about the mid-1990’s, my uncle had the foresight of recording his life by snapping hundreds of colour slides of his family in New York, his life in the U.S. military overseas in Asia, and other items of note in the world about him. Later in the 1960’s, he captured other significant events with motion picture Super 8, and 8mm colour film of his travels across much of North America while on vacation.  

Left to right, Cousins Everett Wallace III, Frances Wallace, Aunt Inez Wallace, Nancy Wallace, and Cousins Gregory and Lewis Wallace. Sitting at the foot of the Unis-Sphere, New York World's Fair 1965.  

The other reason for sitting down and writing this, is more a question as to what happened to the concept of Expos, or World’s Fairs in America, and why is it that not much has happened on the American scene since those days? My relatives who were alive and had attended the 1939 fair, spoke of it with deep civic pride, and had pointed out the many benefits of it to the city. Those benefits included, jobs a-plenty, completion of what is now La Guardia Airport, the linking of the Grand Central Parkway to other city traffic arteries, and perhaps most important of all, an impression left on tourists that New York was the most exciting place to be.  \

But first, the photos.....   

My uncle’s youngest son, and my cousin, Kermit Wallace, had been transferring these colour slide and film images since his father’s death into a digital format, and sharing some of them with me in recent years. The photographs that accompany this ‘look back’ are the property of the Wallace Family collection. Most of the 20-odd photographs here contain members of my extended family at the fair, and will likely have interest, for some, of one New York African-American family taking part in a historical site, and major event.  

The Author, with his cousin, Kermit Wallace. Wall Street. New York City. March 2011.

I had visited the New York World’s Fair a total of six times. The first visit came in late May of 1964, as a member of my sixth grade class from P.S. 99, while on a day trip. The other five visits took place with extended family members, with two additional visits in 1964, followed by three additional trips, and one all by myself, in 1965.     

The New York State Pavilion and main entrance way at the New York World's Fair 1965.

I do remember a photo slide exhibit at my elementary school in The Bronx in early 1964. Public School 99 was one of many such New York schools that took part in a big promotion organized by fair promoters that spring of 1964. The next New York World’s Fair, we were told, was promised for 1989, but it never came to be.     

The last World’s Fair held on American soil was in New Orleans back in 1984. Since then, The U.S. has sat on the proverbial sidelines, and surprisingly since that year, withdrew its membership from the Paris-based Bureau of International Expositions. The B.I.E., as it is also known, is the organization that chooses sites for World’s Fairs every five years. The U.S. State Department, it seems, was no longer willing to pay the annual dues, about $20,000.00 dollars a year, a relatively small fee for membership in an international group.  

Helicopter landing at the Port Authority Pavilion, New York World's Fair 1965.

As of this writing, 98 countries are members of the BIE, and that includes every major U.S. ally. For this writer, the absence of an American presence on this world body sends a disturbing message to the rest of the world. This message also flies in the face in the push of globalization, truncates the message of America being an important leader of technological innovation and excellence, and it also says, in essence, that the rest of the world does not matter. American presentations at the most recent expos were called “a disgrace,” by one Popular Science magazine reporter in a lengthy piece.  

Yet, this question must be posed to critics of the world fair, or expo concept: ‘Would the 20^th Century have been ‘The American Century,’ without the two New York World’s Fairs of 1939, and 1964-1965?’ David Gelernter, is a History Professor at Yale University, who is also known for his book titled, ‘1939: The Lost World at the Fair,’ has an opinion on that worth noting.    

When asked about the 1939 fair and its impact economically and socially, he said it helped to “improve the city’s image (internationally.”) Pausing for a moment he added that between 1945, the end of the Second World War, and well into the mid-1950’s that for New York, “they were ‘boom years’ economically, yes (that while) many things also helped, the 1939 fair was a huge factor.”  

View From the Uni-Royal Ferris Wheel at the New York World's Fair 1965.

 The two most recent world fairs, or expos, took place in Aichi, Japan (2005) and in Shanghai, China (2010,) with the Aichi fair drawing over 22 million visitors. Both fairs, which were overlooked by the U.S., represent the beginning of the ‘Asian Century,’ so say expo proponents. The Shanghai Expo, which drew over 70 million attendees, was a no-expense-spared advertisement for Chinese ambition. It showcased technological and architectural innovation. It was like a male Peacock’s ‘showing of the feathers’ for the Chinese nation, eager to demonstrate that it is a strong global economic force. That display also underlined how China is keen to improve its international reputation in what became a public relations coup in Shanghai.

Entrance to Far East restaurant, an early peek at an emerging region, at the New York World's Fair 1965.

A world’s fair is important and leaves a longer lasting impression, it could be argued, than a city hosting, say, the Olympics. While the Olympics is a two week affair, an international expo runs for at least six months. Both New York events, for example, ran for two year stretches and drew millions of visitors.

There is also the enduring architectural legacies unveiled at expos that leave an indelible mark on a city from such events. London’s Crystal Palace, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris, for example, both came out of 19^th century world expositions held in each city.  

The collection of family colour slides shared with me unearthed not only my own memories of the fair, but memories of a different time. Much has changed in New York, America, and indeed, the rest of the world over the past 50 years, when looking at technology, politics, society, and culture. Personally, nearly half of my relatives in those photos have long passed on, including my uncle who snapped those pictures. For my late uncle, and grandmother, who had both attended the New York fair a quarter century prior, the event offered hope of a better future world. I, too, was infected with the bug of a brave, exciting, and new world about to unfold in front of me, in spite of the World’s Fair critics back then.  

Hurrying along, Aunt Inez Wallace, Cousin Gregory Wallace, with Everett III, far right, at the New York World's Fair 1965.  

Like today, there were opponents of a city hosting such an event, with arguments mostly about costs, a better use for public funds, and the temporary inconvenience visited upon its residents. Opponents now advance those same arguments, even adding in a new twist that technology, and the Internet, make holding such a physical event that would draw millions to it, passé. Yet, several published stories reported that the crowds which attended the most recent expos in Asia were large, enthusiastic, and in most cases, had waited in line for up to ten hours just to get in. Hardly passé for the citizens of Japan and China, who not only have held successful expos they can point to, but who also benefitted from an economic injection numbering in the billions despite the current global financial crisis.

Left to right, my Aunt Inez Wallace, Grandmother, Ethel Wallace, and my Cousin, Lewis Wallace, at the New York World's Fair 1965.

New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, who spent much of his political capital attempting to lure the 2012 Summer Olympics to his city during his first term. Bloomberg did not lift a finger, nor entertain the idea of bringing a 2020, or 2025 expo, to the Big Apple in his two terms that followed. That extension of his political capital over the Olympics was unsuccessful, as London beat out New York. An opportunity may have been missed, but there remain supporters in academia, science, technology, civic boosters, business, the media, and some elected officials in New York, who would be eager to drum up support to bring back the fair.

The Mono-Rail ride, a big attraction, at the New York World's Fair 1965. 

Prior to 1939, what became the World’s Fair grounds, and later, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, was for decades a large city garbage dump. The fair made the park, and later, a lot of other useful and permanent sites in New York, possible. What the high quality colour slides my Uncle Everett left behind do for this New Yorker is to not only touch a deep emotional chord of a time now gone, but they also give me a jolt of promise, and yes, the possibility of a better future still yet to come.                      

My Uncle Everett Kermit Wallace, Photo Chronicler, Left, with his wife, my Aunt Inez Wallace In front of the Bell Telephone Pavilion at the New York World's Fair 1965.