Speaker 1: I guess, well, well, what's that mango? So last summer
Speaker 1: we took the family on a night out to the
Speaker 1: Flushing night Market and it's like this big Asian food
Speaker 1: fair that is so delicious, and it was one of
Speaker 1: those gorgeous summer nights I'm sure you've had these two
Speaker 1: where the kids actually behaved and we listened to this
Speaker 1: beautiful live music. There's like a cool breeze. We ate
Speaker 1: all sorts of foods on skewers. It was really magical.
Speaker 1: And as it got darker and we were walking back,
Speaker 1: we ended up under the Unisphere, which is that giant
Speaker 1: globe from when the World's Fair took place in nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty four. Yeah, that's the thing out in Queens. I
Speaker 1: feel like you fly right over that whenever you're coming
Speaker 1: into the LaGuardia, right. Uh, that's right. But as we
Speaker 1: were sitting there, you know, instead of just enjoying the moment,
Speaker 1: we immediately got our phones and started looking up the
Speaker 1: World's Fair to see what a debut there and uh,
Speaker 1: and it turns out that nine sixty four introduced the
Speaker 1: world to electric toothbrushes, computers that would match you to
Speaker 1: international pen pals, and for some reason do Pots answered
Speaker 1: this musical review called The Wonderful World of Chemistry, which
Speaker 1: I'm sure raised off the Billboard charts. But the whole
Speaker 1: thing made me wonder, like why haven't we done an
Speaker 1: episode on the world Spare before? So like how did
Speaker 1: they start? When was there Heyday? And do they still exist?
Speaker 1: So that's what we're talking about today. Let's dive in
Speaker 1: hey their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm
Speaker 1: Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good
Speaker 1: friend man guest shot Ticketer and on the other side
Speaker 1: of the soundproof glass double fisting a can of cherry
Speaker 1: coke and a box of milk. It's actually kind of
Speaker 1: hard to watch because this is such a strange combo.
Speaker 1: But that's our friends and producer Tristan McNeil. And if
Speaker 1: you're under why Tristan chose that particular combo, it's because
Speaker 1: he's celebrating his very favorite World's fair. Honestly, Mango, I
Speaker 1: didn't know he had a favorite World's fair, but he's
Speaker 1: pretty passionate about this. That was, of course, the nineteen
Speaker 1: two fair in Knoxville, and that's when both cherry coke
Speaker 1: and boxed milk made their public debuts. It was a
Speaker 1: banner year for beverages Mango. Well, you know what else
Speaker 1: debuted at the eighty two World's Fair The Sun Sphere,
Speaker 1: and it was the twenty six story tall tower. It
Speaker 1: had a big golden glass sphere at the top. It
Speaker 1: was actually the symbol of the fair that year, but
Speaker 1: Simpsons fans might remember it better as the Whigs Spheres.
Speaker 1: So gave reminded me of this episode where Bart and
Speaker 1: his friends go on a road trip but they choose
Speaker 1: their destination from this like outdated triple A guide I think,
Speaker 1: And and they wind up at the fairgrounds decades after
Speaker 1: the event, and the whole places run down, but the
Speaker 1: caretaker offers the let them into the sun Sphere so
Speaker 1: that they can see quote sixteen thousand boxes of unsold wigs.
Speaker 1: Act I do remember for this one, And if I
Speaker 1: recall correctly, they ended up with some pretty sharp looking wigs,
Speaker 1: if I'm not mistake, and that's you know, actually looked
Speaker 1: into this, and it turns out the Sun's fears now
Speaker 1: in much better shape than it was in that Simpsons
Speaker 1: episode I think it was, you know, back in two
Speaker 1: thousand seven. If I'm not mistaken, it was completely renovated
Speaker 1: and restored, and and the observation deck there is actually
Speaker 1: open to the public again. So you know what's funny
Speaker 1: is that it's actually done much better than a bunch
Speaker 1: of other World's Fair exhibits, because, you know, while the
Speaker 1: symbols of some Worldfares have done really well for themselves,
Speaker 1: like if you think about like the Eiffel Tower or
Speaker 1: I guess the Seattle Space Needle, others have really fallen
Speaker 1: into disrepair. In fact, there's a photographer named Jade Dosco,
Speaker 1: and she spent the last decade actually documenting all the
Speaker 1: abandoned sculptures and these icons from past Worldfares, and looking
Speaker 1: at our photos you can actually see that these are
Speaker 1: still these amazing surreal bits of history, and in a way,
Speaker 1: they're like looking at monuments to our old visions of
Speaker 1: the future, which I find really fascinating. Yeah, it is
Speaker 1: kind of interesting how World Fairs were once this, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of like symbolic of our hopes for the future,
Speaker 1: and and it's reverse of that now, like we're mostly
Speaker 1: thinking of them in these nostalgic ways, kind of looking
Speaker 1: at them almost like time capsules, and you know, their
Speaker 1: significance is really kind of flipped at this point, and
Speaker 1: instead of being all about the future, they're really more
Speaker 1: about these relics of the past. And I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: world's fairs in general have lost a lot of their
Speaker 1: luster over the years, but that's all going to change today, Mega,
Speaker 1: because we're we're gonna take this deep dive into the
Speaker 1: history of world's fairs, including how and why they started.
Speaker 1: And so we're gonna follow Tristan's lead and we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about a couple of our personal favorite fairs
Speaker 1: and and dip into some of the weird exhibits and
Speaker 1: and new inventions that have debuted there. But all right, Mago,
Speaker 1: why don't we start with the basics. Do you mind
Speaker 1: just going back to the beginning and explaining what the
Speaker 1: World's fair is exactly. Yeah, So it's kind of weird
Speaker 1: to think about it this way, but a World's fare
Speaker 1: is basically an international trade show, but not one that's
Speaker 1: restricted to any single industries. So if you were to
Speaker 1: attend one, you see lavish exhibits from all kinds of
Speaker 1: companies and organizations from around the globe, and they'd be
Speaker 1: showing off upcoming products, you know, new scientific advancements or
Speaker 1: just spitballing ideas for the future of agriculture or aviation
Speaker 1: or whatever. But compared to trade shows, worlds fars cast
Speaker 1: a much wider net in terms of appealing to the public.
Speaker 1: But the fairs do have some differences from trade shows. Like, uh,
Speaker 1: world's fairs aren't just trying to be commercial. They're also
Speaker 1: these high minded adventures, you know, where they have all
Speaker 1: these aspirations for the world. Yeah. Like I've sometimes heard
Speaker 1: world fares compared to the Olympics kind of in that regard.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're both these world spanning events. They're meant
Speaker 1: to celebrate human achievement and camaraderie and I guess progress
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways. And at the same time
Speaker 1: they highlight all the cool stuff from other cultures. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, there's some other similarities to the Olympics, too,
Speaker 1: including the fact that neither than make a bunch of money.
Speaker 1: I mean, the companies at the fair would ideally make
Speaker 1: money in the long run, I guess from the visibility
Speaker 1: and marketing they get from the air. But for the
Speaker 1: most part, world s fares tend to lose money for
Speaker 1: the cities and countries that host them. In fact, you
Speaker 1: know that eight two Knoxville Fair we were talking about.
Speaker 1: It was a rare exception in that it actually managed
Speaker 1: to turn a profit, but not much of a profit.
Speaker 1: It only I think earned fifty seven dollars in the
Speaker 1: in the long run, which has insane. But I mean
Speaker 1: the appeal of running a World's fair has a lot
Speaker 1: more to do with, I guess, the prestige and the
Speaker 1: potential to boost tourism and invest in fund structures, rather
Speaker 1: than actually making money off the event. So if if,
Speaker 1: if their money pits, Like how did world's fares take
Speaker 1: off in the first place? So modern world s fair
Speaker 1: has really got to start in eighteen fifty one, and
Speaker 1: that's when Britain hosted the Great Exhibition to the Works
Speaker 1: of Industry of All Nations in London. That's what it
Speaker 1: was called. I feel like maybe that's not quite as
Speaker 1: catchy as World's Fair. I don't know about you. No,
Speaker 1: it's catchyer, I think, but it almost reminds me of
Speaker 1: like when they used to call the Super Bowl the
Speaker 1: NFLFL World Championship Game. You like super Bowls so much catchier,
Speaker 1: Like why did they think that long title would work?
Speaker 1: But uh, you know, what's weird is we're we're pretty
Speaker 1: much the only country to call these events world's fairs.
Speaker 1: Great Britain describes there's as exhibitions, UM, most of Europe
Speaker 1: and Asia have opted to call him international expositions, and
Speaker 1: most other countries just referred to them as expos So
Speaker 1: while those names are interchangeable, it all amounts to the
Speaker 1: same event and the end. Alright. So so how are
Speaker 1: these things organized? I mean, if they're all called by
Speaker 1: different names, is there not a single governing body that
Speaker 1: oversees these like you would find for something like the Olympics?
Speaker 1: So actually there is. It's called the Bureau of International
Speaker 1: Expositions the b i E, and it's a Paris based
Speaker 1: organization that's run all the shows since it was established
Speaker 1: in so they helped with the scheduling for the events. UM,
Speaker 1: they set guidelines and responsibilities for the host cities. You know,
Speaker 1: it's things that the participants have to abide by. Actually
Speaker 1: I never knew that, but you said the first fair
Speaker 1: was in eighteen fifty one, So so who was in
Speaker 1: charge of all of this for those years before the
Speaker 1: b i E came along? Um. In the early days,
Speaker 1: the events were mostly government enterprises, so they were organized
Speaker 1: by the rulers of whoever was hosting. So if you
Speaker 1: think about England, London was actually where the first fair
Speaker 1: was held. It was actually Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert,
Speaker 1: who spearheaded the exhibition. He had actually spent some time
Speaker 1: abroad in his youth and the experience gave him the
Speaker 1: idea to host an event like this. And at the time,
Speaker 1: Parliament had actually warmed to the idea of free trade,
Speaker 1: so Albert had hoped that his exhibition would help boost
Speaker 1: the sales of British goods in other countries. Alright, so
Speaker 1: I'm curious what were the main draws to that very
Speaker 1: first World's Fair. Well, sadly it didn't have a sun
Speaker 1: sphere or a whig sphere, but it did have its
Speaker 1: own showy architectural icon. It was called the Crystal Palace,
Speaker 1: and this is actually the building where the different exhibits
Speaker 1: were held. It was this enormous iron and glass structure
Speaker 1: designed by this greenhouse builder named Joseph Paxton, and his
Speaker 1: design beat out a ton of other entries. In fact,
Speaker 1: it was such a hit with the public that Paxton
Speaker 1: was later knighted for his contribution but aside from that palace,
Speaker 1: the fair also boasted arts and crafts exhibits from different
Speaker 1: countries as well as you know, science displays. They had
Speaker 1: this boat race that eventually morphed into the America's Cup,
Speaker 1: which is pretty awesome. And in total, the various displays
Speaker 1: attracted to stunning six million visitors, which is right around
Speaker 1: a third of Britain's population. Right, that's incredible. I mean,
Speaker 1: most recent World Spairs aren't very profitable, but that first
Speaker 1: one definitely was. Like Britain made so much money off
Speaker 1: the event that they established not one, but three national museums,
Speaker 1: the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum, and the
Speaker 1: Natural History Museum. Holy cow. So I'm guessing it's that
Speaker 1: success that got all these other countries interested and getting
Speaker 1: in on this expo action. Yeah, and and the US
Speaker 1: was the first one to line up and give it
Speaker 1: a try, though our first attempt wasn't that great. We
Speaker 1: actually copied the Crystal Palace exhibition and we built it
Speaker 1: in Bran Park in New York City, oh, right, where
Speaker 1: we used to work. And that's uh, that's interesting that
Speaker 1: there was actually a World's Fair there. I know, it's
Speaker 1: hard to believe. But despite the fact that they pretty
Speaker 1: much stuck to London's formula, New York's exhibition was way
Speaker 1: less successful. In the end, the organizers lost so much
Speaker 1: money that the US didn't host another event like that
Speaker 1: for over twenty years. Yeah, you know, probably the earliest
Speaker 1: World's fair in the US. I remember hearing about I
Speaker 1: think would be the eight Expo in Chicago, and you
Speaker 1: know that's the one where the city was really looking
Speaker 1: to celebrate reconstruction. This was following the Great Fire, so
Speaker 1: they went all out with the fairs design in the
Speaker 1: exhibits Like yeah, I think they got the same guy
Speaker 1: who designed Central Park that you know, Olmstead, of course,
Speaker 1: to lay out the grounds, and supposedly his work on
Speaker 1: the project was so impressive that L. Frank Baum later
Speaker 1: used it as inspiration for the Emerald City and The
Speaker 1: Wizard of Oz. Yeah, I mean that fair sounded super
Speaker 1: fun for so many reasons, Like uh I I had
Speaker 1: read that Nicola Tesla and Thomas Edison were competing that
Speaker 1: with their own electric lighting exhibits, which would have been
Speaker 1: so fun to see. Um. Plus, a bunch of famous
Speaker 1: snacks came out that year, like juicy fruit gum cracker jacks,
Speaker 1: and you know you gotta braise yourself for this one
Speaker 1: cream of wheat. Cream of wheat. Now I hesitate to
Speaker 1: admit this, but actually, as a kid, I was a
Speaker 1: big fan of cream of wheat. But it's a good snack.
Speaker 1: But as exciting as instant porridge must have been for
Speaker 1: those fair goers. I mean, we can probably agree that
Speaker 1: the real show stopper of that year was the debut
Speaker 1: of the world's first ferris wheel that was invented by
Speaker 1: this thirty three year old guy from Pittsburgh. It was
Speaker 1: an engineer. His name was George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr.
Speaker 1: Quite the name, but the wheel was two d and
Speaker 1: sixty four ft tall, could hold about sixty people at once,
Speaker 1: and the Ferris wheel was a huge success, not surprisingly.
Speaker 1: I mean, I can only imagine what this must have
Speaker 1: looked like to people, and thousands of people ponying up.
Speaker 1: I think it was fifty cents of peace to take
Speaker 1: this twenty minute ride on the new contraption. I mean,
Speaker 1: any minutes. Can you imagine being on one of these
Speaker 1: things for that long? Was? It's pretty crazy? I mean
Speaker 1: that sounds torturous to be but to be fair, the
Speaker 1: public hadn't actually seen anything like that before. Even the
Speaker 1: European fairs to that point hadn't had these feature attractions
Speaker 1: that were just fun for fun's sake, like the ferris wheel.
Speaker 1: But the Chicago Fair changed all of that, and from
Speaker 1: then on, nearly every World's Fair has included a fund zone,
Speaker 1: dedicated rides and attractions that you might see it like
Speaker 1: theme parks or amusement parks. And actually, we should just
Speaker 1: put a pin in that for now, because we'll get
Speaker 1: back to that theme park connection a little later. All right. Well,
Speaker 1: I do have to say that I kind of liked
Speaker 1: that America's first big contribution to these events was adding
Speaker 1: fun stuff like the rides and the games. I do
Speaker 1: only wish that that the games had brought in enough
Speaker 1: money to make the fair more sustainable, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I was actually stunned by the numbers. There have
Speaker 1: been a little over a hundred Worlds Fairs held in
Speaker 1: over twenty countries since that first one in the mid
Speaker 1: nineteenth century, but their golden age ended quite a while
Speaker 1: ago once World War One hit. They never really regained
Speaker 1: their popularity, and I think that's because as fun as
Speaker 1: the fairs have become After the Ferris Will, entertainment gradually
Speaker 1: got easier and easier to come by. In terms of transportation,
Speaker 1: you had stuff like highways and planes and high speed trains,
Speaker 1: all of which made it possible to travel to far
Speaker 1: away places rather than waiting for the world to come
Speaker 1: to you. And the kind of life changing futuristic gadgets
Speaker 1: that the fairs have become famous for showcasing like TV
Speaker 1: and radio changed all of that. Instead of that fuss
Speaker 1: and that expense of going to an expo hundreds of
Speaker 1: miles away, you got that information brought right into your home. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I know, if you think about, you know, fast forwarding
Speaker 1: to today, we have the internet on top of everything else.
Speaker 1: So I guess there's also this attitude of, you know, like,
Speaker 1: why bother attending anything when you can get live updates
Speaker 1: on your phone or just watch these videos of of
Speaker 1: just the best bits you know of the fair online exactly.
Speaker 1: And I want to make sure we circle back to
Speaker 1: this idea of world's fairs kind of going obsoletely because
Speaker 1: there's so much more to say about it, but for now,
Speaker 1: let's just revel in the nostalgia and and talk about
Speaker 1: some of our all time favorite expos. All right, that
Speaker 1: sounds fun. But before we get to it, let's take
Speaker 1: a quick break. You're listening to Part Time Genius and
Speaker 1: we're talking about the world's greatest World's Fairs. Okay, well,
Speaker 1: so we obviously haven't had the chance to attend one ourselves.
Speaker 1: But based on everything you've heard and read, what would
Speaker 1: you say was your favorite World's Fair? Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: of course, it's tough to pick just one, because they
Speaker 1: all brought something strange or cool to the table. But
Speaker 1: just looking at this in terms of historical interest, I'd
Speaker 1: probably have to go with the nine World's Fair that
Speaker 1: was held in New York. And you know, of course,
Speaker 1: what's unique about this one is that the planning for
Speaker 1: it really began at the height of the Great Depression,
Speaker 1: and the fair itself was opening at the tail end
Speaker 1: of that era, and it was really seen as a
Speaker 1: way to boost morale and sort of get the nation
Speaker 1: back to thinking positively about the future. And it was
Speaker 1: a coloss whole effort from everything from government agencies to corporations,
Speaker 1: all of these other smaller organizations from all over the world.
Speaker 1: And it was such a big effort that when all
Speaker 1: these pavilions and exhibitions were finally finished. The project spanned
Speaker 1: over twelve hundred acres and queens and it was formerly
Speaker 1: an ash dump in that spot. In the total cost,
Speaker 1: just looking at this, it was over a hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty million dollars. I mean, first of all, acres just
Speaker 1: sounds like so much space, that's the sanity to me.
Speaker 1: But also that budget, like if you think about a
Speaker 1: hundred sixty million dollars, that's a crazy amount to spend,
Speaker 1: especially during the depression. Oh absolutely. And you know, in fact,
Speaker 1: FDR gave the opening address at the fair and he
Speaker 1: described the country's participation as America having quote hitched her
Speaker 1: wagon to a star of goodwill. So there was a
Speaker 1: lot riding on the success of the World's Fair, and
Speaker 1: at least in terms of public reaction, it was a
Speaker 1: huge success. There were more than forty four million people
Speaker 1: who attended the fair over this two season run. Of course,
Speaker 1: there were some very famous guests, including you know, visits
Speaker 1: from King George the sixth and Queen Elizabeth and they
Speaker 1: made a special presentation at the British Pavilion during that visit.
Speaker 1: That's pretty cool. Actually, I remember from when we were
Speaker 1: at Metal Flaws like, uh, FDR through a picnic for
Speaker 1: them when they came, and he served them hot dogs
Speaker 1: and it's the first time the King and Queen that's right,
Speaker 1: which I love. But you know, considering the origins and
Speaker 1: that it started with Prince Albert, you'd almost expect like
Speaker 1: more royals to visit these things. Yeah, I think it
Speaker 1: happened from time to time, but the ninety nine fair
Speaker 1: was a special case because it didn't focus only on
Speaker 1: the current achievement of nations. Instead, the theme of the
Speaker 1: thirty Fair was the world of tomorrow. So you know,
Speaker 1: this idea was to really highlight the possibilities of the future, or,
Speaker 1: as FDR put it, the hope that quote the years
Speaker 1: to come will break down the many barriers to intercourse
Speaker 1: between nations. I mean, that's actually kind of heartbreaking when
Speaker 1: you remember that World War Two was just around the
Speaker 1: corner at that point. Yeah, the Fair in New York
Speaker 1: probably would have actually stuck around for a third season
Speaker 1: if things hadn't escalated so quickly in Europe at that time.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, war was looming on the horizon,
Speaker 1: and the fair ended up closing earlier than some had hoped,
Speaker 1: and it ultimately left the event over budget as usual,
Speaker 1: but still most exhibitors and attendees would say that the
Speaker 1: fair was a resounding success. So what kind of exhibits
Speaker 1: were people responding to so positively? Well, one of the
Speaker 1: biggest raws was a GM exhibit. It was dubbed Futurama,
Speaker 1: and this was this expansive model of the city of
Speaker 1: the future, and and they were looking at the far
Speaker 1: flung year of nineteen sixties, so who knew what was
Speaker 1: going to happen then, And so you had things like
Speaker 1: skyscrapers and multi level highways and plenty of landing pads
Speaker 1: for helicopters and low flying planes, and guests would board
Speaker 1: this little train and take a fifteen minute tour through
Speaker 1: the model city, and honestly, the public went crazy for it.
Speaker 1: There was something like twenty five million people actually had
Speaker 1: taken the ride by the time the fair closed. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's funny because like skyscrapers and highways, like none of
Speaker 1: that feels super future wristic, or like people are even
Speaker 1: using their imaginations. All that stuff obviously would come around
Speaker 1: and like the next twenty years, So where's this hankering
Speaker 1: for things? Like? Uh, I don't know, Jeff propelled sneakers
Speaker 1: or robot butlers. I don't know about rockets shoes, but
Speaker 1: there was definitely one robot at the nineteen thirty nine fair.
Speaker 1: His name was Electro the Moto Man, and he was
Speaker 1: the main attraction of Westinghouse exhibition and according to reports,
Speaker 1: crowds routinely waited in these three hour lines for their
Speaker 1: chance to meet Electro. And really, if you, if you,
Speaker 1: if you look at the timing there, he's widely considered
Speaker 1: to be one of the world's first recognizable robots. So
Speaker 1: this wasn't just a guy in a costumers something like.
Speaker 1: It actually performed robotic functions, Oh man, could it? Ever? So,
Speaker 1: just reading the list of the things it could do,
Speaker 1: I mean, first of all, actually, just to back up
Speaker 1: a little bit, this thing was seven ft tall, wait,
Speaker 1: two and fifty pounds, so even on just size alone,
Speaker 1: the crowds were probably dazzled by this thing. But so so,
Speaker 1: here's what he was programmed to be able to do. Think,
Speaker 1: there were twenty six mechanical tricks for the audience to see.
Speaker 1: They included walking, talking, counting, blowing up balloons, and mango
Speaker 1: the biggest of all, even smoking a cigarette. So but
Speaker 1: not enjoying it. Elector actually came loaded with corny jokes
Speaker 1: to amuse your buddies, so it was pretty impressive to
Speaker 1: see what he could do. But actually just looking at
Speaker 1: all the features, there was a record player embedded in
Speaker 1: his chest and it gave him access to a pretty
Speaker 1: impressive seven hundred word vocabulary, so the robot could carry
Speaker 1: on conversations with audience members, and these talks would include
Speaker 1: some low key insults like my brain is bigger than
Speaker 1: your brain, which was not only funny but probably maybe
Speaker 1: even a little unnerving for somebody back in nineteen thirty
Speaker 1: nine if you think about it. I love the idea
Speaker 1: of this, like robot insulting you and then like taking
Speaker 1: upuff of a cigarette and then insulting you and taking
Speaker 1: up off his cigarette. But it sounds like the visitors
Speaker 1: weren't too put off by him, right, Like I mean
Speaker 1: they kept turning up to waiting these three hour long lines.
Speaker 1: I guess, right, yeah, and so and and and he
Speaker 1: wasn't the only feature there. I mean, Electro actually brought
Speaker 1: a friend when he returned for the second season, and
Speaker 1: this was this robotic English terrier named Sparko. Sparko could bark,
Speaker 1: could sit, could beg just like a normal dog. And
Speaker 1: then when the fair eventually packed up shop in nineteen forty,
Speaker 1: they weren't done. Electro and Sparko took their show on
Speaker 1: the road, and I was look at this article found
Speaker 1: on history dot com, and here's what it had to
Speaker 1: say about it. Quote. After spending World War Two in
Speaker 1: the company's basement and not contributing to the war effort,
Speaker 1: Electro and Sparko were dusted off and sent off to
Speaker 1: tour fairs, movie sets, and other spots around the country,
Speaker 1: where they continued to delight and inspired generations of children.
Speaker 1: I've got to admit I thought there was going to
Speaker 1: be pretty blend. But between this time machine ride and
Speaker 1: UH and a robot that smoked cigarettes, I've got to
Speaker 1: say I think he won me over. Alright, Well, it
Speaker 1: was really hard to choose just one fair, and you know,
Speaker 1: even once you narrow it down, you're left with all
Speaker 1: kinds of weird exhibits like apparently there were slew of
Speaker 1: other quote unquote girly shows that year, including one called
Speaker 1: Living Magazine Covers. Visitors basically would pay a fee to
Speaker 1: enter and photograph these topless models posing in sets that
Speaker 1: were built to look like magazine covers. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: kind of surprised that I was allowed, especially you know,
Speaker 1: considering how many kids were probably running around. Well that's
Speaker 1: the thing, So that NYPD actually made a sweep of
Speaker 1: the fair in order to try and crack down on
Speaker 1: some of the more lewd attractions. So they get to
Speaker 1: the magazine exhibit, and I think many people expected it
Speaker 1: to be shut down, but they decided to give it
Speaker 1: a pass. And the reason was because they considered it art.
Speaker 1: It was just art and mango. And it might sound
Speaker 1: like a win for the exhibits owner, whose named Jack Sheridan,
Speaker 1: but actually he wasn't happy about this because he worried
Speaker 1: that that art label would drive away his customers. So classy.
Speaker 1: But all right, now that you've had your say, it's
Speaker 1: my turn to talk about my favorite World's Fair. And
Speaker 1: to do that, we'll have to hop in our General
Speaker 1: Motors sponsored time machine and fast for it all the
Speaker 1: way to nineteen sixty four. All right, well, that sounds
Speaker 1: great for the first Let's take one more quick break. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: so I picked the nineteen sixty four World's Fair because
Speaker 1: it's probably the one I wish I most could have
Speaker 1: gone to And I know I'm not alone because it
Speaker 1: still gets reference today. All Right, we're gonna have to
Speaker 1: remind me why that is exactly. But just thinking back
Speaker 1: to the time to to kind of set the scene
Speaker 1: for where we were, I mean, that was a big
Speaker 1: year in general. You've got the Civil Rights Act past
Speaker 1: that year, Muhammad Ali became the heavyweight champion. Of course,
Speaker 1: the Beatles were taking America by storm at that time.
Speaker 1: And yes, of course this this would have been a
Speaker 1: memorable year without this awesome World's Fair. But but remind
Speaker 1: me why it was such a big deal. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: obviously America I had a time going on, and maybe
Speaker 1: some of that swagger worked its way over to the
Speaker 1: World's Fair, because it's pretty impressive. So for starters, there
Speaker 1: was an exhibition where a guy flew around wearing a
Speaker 1: jet pack. It was originally built for the U. S. Army,
Speaker 1: and apparently you could fly a distance of eight fifteen
Speaker 1: feet or go as fast as sixty miles per hour,
Speaker 1: and while the pilot didn't get too far like off
Speaker 1: the ground or go that fast. He was a star
Speaker 1: performer in the fairs Wonder World Musical, which you know,
Speaker 1: I guess there's nothing to sneeze at. Once you said
Speaker 1: jet pack, I was like, yeah, that's why a new
Speaker 1: Mango would pick the one with the jet pack. But
Speaker 1: what about your robot Butler? Did the sixty four have
Speaker 1: one of those two? No, but if you asked me,
Speaker 1: you'd actually had something better. A robot Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln.
Speaker 1: That is so like the one at at Disneyland, right,
Speaker 1: don't they have a robot Abraham Lincoln. Yeah? So, so
Speaker 1: the strange thing is it is the one at Disneyland.
Speaker 1: So remember that theme park connection I mentioned earlier. So
Speaker 1: it's not just roller coasters and ferris wheels that tame parks. O.
Speaker 1: The World's Fair is the entire concept of highly themed
Speaker 1: areas filled with different attractions. All of that's lifted from
Speaker 1: world's fairs. So one of the staples where a bunch
Speaker 1: of pavilions themed to represent different countries. And you know
Speaker 1: that's something you see reflected in adventure Land or I
Speaker 1: guess the World Showcase at Epcot. And you know what's
Speaker 1: funny is that Epcot was actually, uh that part was
Speaker 1: intended to be kind of a permanent World's Fair. Plus
Speaker 1: we've got the whole tomorrow Land Park sections and that
Speaker 1: giant metal spirit at Epcot. Like even at first glance,
Speaker 1: it's obvious how much Disney was lifting from the World's Fairs.
Speaker 1: All right, well, what's the connection between Robot Abraham Lincoln
Speaker 1: and Disney though? So Walt had actually been this lifelong
Speaker 1: fan of World's Fairs, so he was super excited when
Speaker 1: the sixty four exhibition was announced for New York and
Speaker 1: he wanted to be a part of it anyway he could.
Speaker 1: And in the end he got his wish. He he
Speaker 1: wounded up designing not just one, but four different attractions
Speaker 1: for the fair, and the focal point of all of
Speaker 1: them were robots or is Disney called them audio animatronics.
Speaker 1: He debuted the technology a year earlier with these birds
Speaker 1: at his enchanted Tiki Room attraction at Disneyland, but it
Speaker 1: was at the sixty four World's Fair that this new
Speaker 1: form of animation really came into its own and the
Speaker 1: Lincoln figure from that Illinois pavilion that was one of
Speaker 1: the most ambitious robots the company had ever attempted. And
Speaker 1: why was that, Well, Robot Lincoln had all these complex
Speaker 1: hydraulic systems that had to be rigged up for his movements.
Speaker 1: But also at that point, of robot had actually never
Speaker 1: been built with any convincing likeness of a real person,
Speaker 1: So making something that lifelike was really impressive. In fact,
Speaker 1: when when National Geographic took an early look at Disney's
Speaker 1: work in nineteen sixty three, they concluded that the animatronic
Speaker 1: Lincoln was quote alarming in its realism. And when it
Speaker 1: premiered at the Fair, I mean, what's amazing is that
Speaker 1: there's a story of this five year old boy in
Speaker 1: the audience who freaked out and he looked up at
Speaker 1: his dad and shouted, uh, Daddy, I thought you said
Speaker 1: he was dead. I'd say that's a pretty real validation
Speaker 1: right there. But but but in thinking about reproducing Lincoln,
Speaker 1: I would think this would be really difficult to pull
Speaker 1: off because if you think about what they would have
Speaker 1: had at that point, you know, they probably had a
Speaker 1: few old pictures, maybe a couple of portraits of Lincoln.
Speaker 1: But I would think that was about it, right, So
Speaker 1: that's the really cool part. Apparently the real Lincoln allowed
Speaker 1: a sculpture to make a mask of his face just
Speaker 1: two months prior to his assassination, and that's what the
Speaker 1: Disney artists actually used to make their version as accurate
Speaker 1: as possible. Like that does just feel slow, unreal. But
Speaker 1: by the time the exhibit was copied and add to
Speaker 1: Disneyland a year later, it had been overhauled to make
Speaker 1: it even more convincing. That's pretty cool, but I'm curious, So,
Speaker 1: so what were the other three attractions that Walt got
Speaker 1: involved in. It's a small world that that boat ride.
Speaker 1: You've got those robot children from around the world singing
Speaker 1: the same song for twelve long minutes, and that was
Speaker 1: actually part of the Units Pavilion. It was sponsored by Pepsi,
Speaker 1: which I had no idea. Um there There was also
Speaker 1: the Carousel of Progress, which they made for the Ge Pavilion,
Speaker 1: and uh that was just basically a rotating theater that
Speaker 1: switched betwe mean scenes of robots acting out these domestic scenes.
Speaker 1: But it also showcased g products in the process. And lastly,
Speaker 1: and and probably best of all, there was the Magic
Speaker 1: Skyway and this was at the Ford Pavilion. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to remember this, but I don't think I've heard about
Speaker 1: this one, So what what was the deal with that?
Speaker 1: So Ford was debuting this brand new sports car that year,
Speaker 1: the Mustang. I'm sure you've heard of it. I feel
Speaker 1: like I've heard that before. So to help sell the
Speaker 1: public on this new design, the company teamed up with
Speaker 1: Disney and they built this ride where fair goers would
Speaker 1: board motorless Mustang convertibles and then they just get pulled
Speaker 1: along this conveyor belt. I mean, that doesn't exactly sound exciting,
Speaker 1: but but if I had to guess, this is where
Speaker 1: the robots come in, is that right? Exactly? So, the
Speaker 1: idea was that the writers will be sent on a
Speaker 1: trip back in time, all the way to the Jurassic Age,
Speaker 1: and they'd encounter intricate scenes of dinosaurs caring for the
Speaker 1: young or I guess squaring off for battle, all sorts
Speaker 1: of amazing things. I mean, Disney basically treated this Ford
Speaker 1: money as an excuse to make cool about dinosaurs, which
Speaker 1: is awesome. But in the end everyone was happy, Like
Speaker 1: Walt was able to relocate these dinosaurs scenes to Disneyland
Speaker 1: and they were incorporated there into I guess part of
Speaker 1: the parks railroad and and uh Ford went on to
Speaker 1: sell four hundred thousand Mustangs in its first year, which
Speaker 1: was actually four times what they had expected. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a huge number and it's hard to argue with those results.
Speaker 1: But well, before we move on to any other sections
Speaker 1: or any other fairs, was there anything else you wanted
Speaker 1: to mention about that sixty four fair? Yeah, there were
Speaker 1: a couple other highlights. So for instance, uh, I know,
Speaker 1: the fair hosted cream of wheat, which you know, I
Speaker 1: guess makes it more special. But in the sixties it
Speaker 1: was Belgian waffles time to shine and and technically the
Speaker 1: waffles had made their first state side appearance in the
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty two World's Fair. This was in Seattle, but
Speaker 1: they didn't make much of a splash there. But a
Speaker 1: few years later, you know, fair goers just couldn't get
Speaker 1: enough of these Belgian waffles, and in fact, they were
Speaker 1: such a hit that waffle maker sales spiked all over
Speaker 1: the country, and as The New York Times reported in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five, quote, the Belgian waffles sold like hotcakes.
Speaker 1: Waffles sold like I feel like they're mixing their breakfast
Speaker 1: similes there, But they are The times so much better now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, Well what's next though? You said you've got
Speaker 1: one more right, Yeah, So you remember the b I
Speaker 1: E from earlier that's that organization that oversees the official
Speaker 1: world's fairs. They actually have all kinds of rules about
Speaker 1: who can host exhibitions and how often they're allowed to occur. So,
Speaker 1: for example, the current rule is that one large exposition
Speaker 1: can be held every five years and one smaller one
Speaker 1: can be held in between. And another big rule is
Speaker 1: that only one event is allowed per country every ten years.
Speaker 1: But the US actually broke both of those rules in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four because Seattle had just hosted their own
Speaker 1: big exhibition, which was just two years earlier. And wait,
Speaker 1: so you're you're setting with sixty four one? Was what?
Speaker 1: Was it kind of like a rogue World's Fair? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it wasn't. And because the fair didn't get permission from
Speaker 1: b i E, some European countries refused to participate. I
Speaker 1: mean they called it an unsanctioned event. And the countries
Speaker 1: that refused were pretty big countries like France, Britain, Italy.
Speaker 1: They all set it out. So what what did the
Speaker 1: organizers do to fill those spots that they just turn
Speaker 1: the companies or what did they do? Yeah? I mean
Speaker 1: that that was part of it. But the fair's rogue
Speaker 1: status actually had these unexpected benefits to both the US
Speaker 1: and to some lesser known nations. Here's how um this guy,
Speaker 1: Christopher Klein explained it in an article that he wrote
Speaker 1: for History. Quote. Filling the gap at the fair were
Speaker 1: smaller geopolitical powers, ranging from Thailand to Honduras to Morocco.
Speaker 1: Fifteen African republics, some newly independent from European colonial powers,
Speaker 1: also erected exhibits. The fair not only introduced tens of
Speaker 1: millions of Americans to the languages, history, and food of
Speaker 1: these more unfamiliar cultures, it also offered the first glimpse
Speaker 1: of the country's coming demographic shift that would be precipitated
Speaker 1: by the signing of the nineteen six Immigration Act, which
Speaker 1: opened the US two millions previously denied by national quotas
Speaker 1: in the same month that the fair closed. Well, that's
Speaker 1: that's actually pretty incredible, and it's such a bummer to
Speaker 1: hear about what a force for good these cultural events
Speaker 1: were for our country, and especially knowing that we've sort
Speaker 1: of moved on from them. Like I was actually reading
Speaker 1: about how the attendance at the eighty four World's Fair
Speaker 1: in New Orleans was so low it actually became the
Speaker 1: first exposition to declare bankruptcy while it was still open
Speaker 1: was so strong that no other World's Fair has been
Speaker 1: held here since then. In fact, after almost twenty years
Speaker 1: of sustained disinterest in hosting, the US actually withdrew from
Speaker 1: the b i E back in two thousand one. And
Speaker 1: so we we still contribute these exhibits from time to time,
Speaker 1: but the country no longer seems interested in taking a
Speaker 1: larger role in these events. Yeah. I mean, it's sad
Speaker 1: to think about, but but you know, just because the
Speaker 1: US has lost interest in World's Fair doesn't mean the
Speaker 1: rest of the world has. So a few people know this,
Speaker 1: but World's Fair still take place regularly. There was a
Speaker 1: big one in Milan in two thousand fifteen, there was
Speaker 1: a smaller one last year in Kazakhstan. And there's another
Speaker 1: big one set for Dubai. Yeah, and I actually I
Speaker 1: read about it. There are still a few groups in
Speaker 1: the US who are trying to build support for different ones.
Speaker 1: Like there there's their support for a small expo that
Speaker 1: could be in Minneapolis and three or maybe for a
Speaker 1: much larger expo in either San Francisco or Houston. And
Speaker 1: but you know, I kind of hope we get to
Speaker 1: see the World's Fair back in the U s sometime
Speaker 1: and you know, in the not too distant future. Yeah,
Speaker 1: fingers crossed. Actually, well, one of the things that they've
Speaker 1: done recently is kind of restricted the themes to things
Speaker 1: that aren't as widely popular. So I mean it's like
Speaker 1: energy or conservation. But I think if they shift that
Speaker 1: back to I guess these more open themes of progress
Speaker 1: and technology in the future, you might get more on
Speaker 1: support for it. And I don't know, maybe there's a
Speaker 1: balance that could be struck between those two. I don't
Speaker 1: know what exactly what that would be, but maybe we
Speaker 1: can go back to your jet packs. That could be
Speaker 1: jet packs that run on canola oil or something like that.
Speaker 1: Is that seeing like a off the crowd? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think both futuristic things and environmental things. I'm for it.
Speaker 1: But while we're waiting for that, why don't we start
Speaker 1: the fact off. So here's one more awesome thing about
Speaker 1: the nineteen sixty four World's Fair. Do you know that
Speaker 1: Michelangelo's Pieta was exhibited there? No, So while Italy sat
Speaker 1: this out, the Vatican didn't, and they lent the sculpture
Speaker 1: to the fair. But and for good reason. There was
Speaker 1: a ton of security around the exhibit. So not only
Speaker 1: was the artwork protected with plenty of guards, it also
Speaker 1: came and closed in bulletproof glass and visitors could only
Speaker 1: see it from a moving walkway which zoomed by a
Speaker 1: two miles per hour. All right, Well, we were talking
Speaker 1: earlier about that first Futurama exhibit that the GM put on,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't really that futuristic, you know, talked about
Speaker 1: roads and helicopters. But in nineteen sixty four they decided
Speaker 1: to one up themselves and they put on this sequel
Speaker 1: Futurama too, and in this run they showed how lunar
Speaker 1: bases would just be a fact of life, and that
Speaker 1: we'd be using lasers to slice down trees, and seaweed
Speaker 1: farms would be farmed by these aqua coopters to feed
Speaker 1: the world, and and then of course, for some reason,
Speaker 1: a lot of weathermen would live at the South Pole,
Speaker 1: which weirdly actually feels like the most doable of all
Speaker 1: the things that I just said. That's pretty amazing. So
Speaker 1: at the Worlds For in Chicago, people actually used it
Speaker 1: to make a statement, and some Scandinavians decided to protest
Speaker 1: Christopher Columbus and specifically his quote discovery of North America.
Speaker 1: And they did this by building this giant Viking ship
Speaker 1: and then sailing it and docking it in the Harvard
Speaker 1: during the fair. They really showed them art well. The
Speaker 1: San Francisco Expo in nineteen fifteen also sounded pretty cool.
Speaker 1: So not only did the city work hard to rebuild
Speaker 1: itself just nine years after the massive earthquake there, but
Speaker 1: it featured thing was like a telephone line that went
Speaker 1: all the way to New York, so people on the
Speaker 1: East coast could hear the Pacific Ocean. And also for
Speaker 1: some reason, the Liberty Bell came on tour for it,
Speaker 1: which that was So that's been over a hundred years
Speaker 1: and that was actually the last time that the Bell
Speaker 1: has gone on the road. It's actually just been home
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia ever since then. I love that the Liberty
Speaker 1: Bell opened for a telephone. I had yet this rock event.
Speaker 1: But if you're a foodie, the St. Louis Expo might
Speaker 1: be the one to focus on. So there are so
Speaker 1: many foods that have been on menus for a while,
Speaker 1: but they all really shined there, and they took on
Speaker 1: this larger American audience, and this included things like peanut
Speaker 1: butter hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream, cones, dr pepper cotton candy,
Speaker 1: iced tea, and my favorite, the banana split man. That's
Speaker 1: a pretty good line up show. All those things are
Speaker 1: one of the things that gets overlooked at the world's fairs. Mango,
Speaker 1: it's the power of poet tree. So how you didn't
Speaker 1: see that coming, did you? I did not. We're gonna
Speaker 1: go back to the nineteen o one World's Fair and Buffalo,
Speaker 1: and at that fair, vendors popularized popcorn as a snack,
Speaker 1: and they did it by using this chance. I mean,
Speaker 1: tell me if this doesn't make you want to eat
Speaker 1: some popcorn. Lovely eyes come shine and glitter by your
Speaker 1: girl a popcorn fritter you could see, I mean just
Speaker 1: just opening my wallet right now. Yeah. Yeah, But they
Speaker 1: sold a ton of popcorn. But that isn't all. So
Speaker 1: fruit sellers decided to get in on this rhyming action. Now,
Speaker 1: this happened three years later, in nineteen o four. I
Speaker 1: guess they had three years to work up something really,
Speaker 1: really good. And this was a Missouri fruit specialist. His
Speaker 1: name was J. T. Stinson and he coined the phrase
Speaker 1: an apple a day keeps the doctor away. I've never
Speaker 1: heard it, We'll trust me. I think a few other
Speaker 1: people had. Well. I love that. I don't even think
Speaker 1: you like poetry that much. I decided to honor it
Speaker 1: in this big way today, so I feel like you
Speaker 1: today's trophy. I thought that might take it well. Thank
Speaker 1: you very much, and thank all of you guys for listening.
Speaker 1: If there's any great facts about world's fairs we have
Speaker 1: forgotten today, we would love to hear those from you.
Speaker 1: You can always email us part Time Genius at how
Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com or call us on our seven
Speaker 1: fact hot line that's one eight four four pt Genius,
Speaker 1: or has always hit us up on Facebook or Twitter.
Speaker 1: But thanks so much for listening. Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 1: Part Time Genius is a production of How Stuff Works
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