Misery Loves--Company: June 2009

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

----Cowgirl and Cowboy Probably Not Discussing Cows . . .

By WNYC Culture Thu, Mar 26, 2009
Art and Design, Performance, Photography Seventy years ago, in the spring of 1939, New Yorkers - as well as visitors from all over the globe - were treated to a spectacular World’s Fair. As WNYC’s Sara Fishko tell u

s, it

was happening at one of the most perilous moments in history. Here is the next Fishko Files.

Monday, June 29, 2009

More than 44 million people attended the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair, held at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. The concept for the Fair was conceived at the height of the Depression in 1935. The official theme of the Fair was “The World of Tomorrow.” Its founders hoped the exposition would help to lift the world out of depression, instill hope for a bright future, and in the process bring some cash to the city of New York.

Designed by architects Wallace Harrison and J. Andre Fouilhoux, the Trylon and the Perisphere were the landmark, gleaming-white monument buildings of the 1939 World’s Fair. The Trylon towered over the grounds at a height over 700 feet. Visitors entered the Perisphere (180 foot diameter) on a curved walkway. The hollow Perisphere housed Democracity, a huge, futuristic diorama of a metropolis designed by Henry Dreyfuss. Balconies rotated slowly around the dimly lit inside of the sphere, and symphonic music was broadcast throughout. Projections of men in various occupations seemed to approach the visitors as the walkways turned. Each man, a narrator explained, represented a part of a cooperative society grounded in the leisure and happiness of Democracity.

The New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives Division has recently completed a huge preservation project of their enormous vault of Fair records, spanning from planning and development all the way through demolition.

The Westinghouse Time Capsule of Cupaloy was built for the World’s Fair and buried 50 feet underground at the fairgrounds, deemed not to be uncovered until 6939 AD. Among its contents are: writings by Albert Einstein and Thomas Mann; copies of Life Magazine; a kewpie doll; a dollar in change; a pack of Camel cigarettes; seeds of commonly-used crops of 1939 such as wheat, corn, tobacco, cotton, and barley; and millions of pages of text. The capsule itself is made of an alloy of copper, chromium, and silver. It is highly resistant to corrosion and sealed with asphalt. A Book of Record was printed and distributed throughout the world so that future generations will know what everything is and how it works. Read more about the story of the time capsule at the website.

E.L. Doctorow’s World’s Fair

If you are interested in reading more about the 1939 World’s Fair, check out E.L. Doctorow’s novel, World’s Fair.

Excerpt from E.L. Doctorow’s novel World’s Fair: “Everywhere people walked in family groups and stopped to take pictures in front of exhibit buildings. The shuffle of feet was like a constant whispering in my ears, or what I imagined a heard of antelope would sound like going in great numbers slowly through high grass. We went around Commerce Circle and through the Plaza of Light and right around the Trylon and Perisphere, which, up close, seemed to fill the sky. The pictures of them hadn’t suggested their enormity. They were the only white objects to be seen. They were dazzling. They seemed to be about to take off, they looked lighter than air. A ramp connected them, and I could see a line of people silhouetted against the blue sky…”