Italian VersionWelcome to Tomorrow!
The 1939-40 New York World's Fair was considered a major cultural event even before the first truckload of steel was delivered to Flushing Meadows. Since the fair contains so many deeply embedded ideas and narratives, a true tour of The World of Tomorrow begins with the story of its design and planning, the virtual place in which those ideas were formed. No event exists completely in a vacuum; the history of the fair's development contextualizes the exposition, and the fair itself illuminates the times and people who created it. The virtual tour offered by the movies of the Collection is also an occasion to watch the reactions of the American public to the fair, and a key to understand its legacy.
In April of 1939 the New York World's Fair, "Building The World of Tomorrow," opened on what was once a marshy wasteland in Flushing Meadows, just east of the great metropolis. From its inception to its closing ceremonies, the Fair promoted one of the last great metanarratives of the Machine Age: the unqualified belief in science and technology as a means to economic prosperity and personal freedom. Wedged between the greatest economic disaster in America and the growing international tension that would result in World War II, The World of Tomorrow was a much-needed antidote to the depression and confusion of the times. It provided the one saving grace which all of America needed: it provided hope.
Of course that hope was not to come without some cost, and counted among the limitations of The World of Tomorrow were its emphasis on product consumption and a hegemonic notion of the ideal American citizen. The Fair's established theme was one of international cooperation, but its true emphasis was on the "new-ness" of ideas, forms, and especially consumer products. Like all things new, it was immensely exciting and at times naive. However, in the words of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the "moonlight of romance" which surrounded the Fair inevitably gave way, and in two summers it ran its course, closing in 1940. Nevertheless, its cultural legacy has lasted well into the late twentieth century and has helped shape and define the commercial, cultural, and political climate of post-World War II America and the world. In a sense, we have lived through The World of Tomorrow, and the Fair has kept many of its promises, for better or for worse.
Part ideological construct, part trade show, part League of Nations, part amusement park, and part Utopian community, the Fair promoted its message of hope and prosperity with icons, symbols, exhibitions, and demonstrations. It was a literal laboratory for a group of industrial designers who considered themselves both artists and social theorists, and from the plan of the Fair's site to many of its prominent buildings, the Fair's primary stylistic vocabulary was that of the streamlined and Modern design which they helped establish. Nowhere was that design more apparent than in the Trylon and Perisphere, a 700-foot spire and an orb as wide as a city block, created to be the exposition's focal point. The Trylon and Perisphere remain forever linked with The World of Tomorrow; both loom as profound and problematic icons on the landscape of American culture.
The World of Tomorrow was a search for a useable Future (with a capital "F"), and while it added fuel to the fire of the American cultures of consumption and exclusion, it also provided a tangible vision of hope and prosperity in the face of uncertainty and confusion.
Welcome to the 1939 New York World's Fair! Welcome to Tomorrow!
We created a small video with a low-res compilation of sequences from the movies belonging to this Collection.
Click HERE to watch this video on YouTube
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Welcome to Tomorrow!
A Collection of amateur movies, industrial documentaries and newsreels filmed at the 1939-40 New York World's Fair.
We do provide duplicates of the multimedial files of the Collection on a customized DVD-ROM on a (1) cost-recovery basis.
Almost all the digital copies of the films are good quality Hi-Res editable videos.
All the videos in this Collection are available in different format, size and definition. We can suggest you the right one for the use you have in mind.
PRIVATE USE: home TV vision (DVD-Divx player), PC, iPod.
WE LICENSE FOOTAGE from our Collections for: multimedial creations on CD or DVD, TV commercials, film or TV programs, documentary Productions, web sites, marketing/ad campaigns, video email, electronic kiosks, trade shows, business seminars, cultural events, museums, expositions... and more.
Hi-Res videos from our Collections are available on DVD, CD or directly in your inbox. Clips and movies can also be downloaded from our servers using a PW or uploaded by us to your FTP.
WE ARE JUST WAITING FOR YOUR INQUIRES!!!
(1) It is possible to obtain digital duplicates of the multimedial files from this collection for research, teaching, general interest user information, and private study purposes. The fees charged for these files are on a cost-recovery basis. The size, run-time, quality, and detailed informations regarding any multimedial file are indicated in the following list.
The files are available on a customized DVD-ROM.
Billing is done when the order is fulfilled. Payment instructions will follow. Normal turn around time for requests is 3 weeks. Rush (2-3 business days) is available for an additional fee of 40 Euros.
To know the fees applied for these files please contact Vincent Romano.
The multimedial files of the Collections are compatible with the free version of the most common players: Quicktime Player, Real Player, Windows Media Player.
Mac users can easily view MPEG 1, MPEG 2, MPEG 4, and Divx movies in MacOSX with the free version of this program: VLC Media Player.
All the material in the Romano-Archives Collections is in the public domain and has no copyright attached to it. Only exception are original articles or texts published on this Website and the Romano-Archives' original compilations on CDs or DVDs that are subject to copyright.
Material of the Romano-Archives Collections is made available solely for historical research and educational purposes only. Any trademarks appearing on the material are the sole property of the registered owners. No endorsement by the trademark owners is to be construed, nor was any sought. The products, brand names, characters, related slogans and indicia are or may be claimed as trademarks of their respective owners.
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Page 1
1939NYWFAmateurMovie.mpeg
Available on DVD Only
Run time: 00:20:20 Audio/Visual: silent, color Quality # # # # #
Filetype: MPEG 2 Filesize: 345 MB
Amateur movie. The 1939-40 New York World Fair. Scenes shot at the "World of Tomorrow".
1939NYWFAmateurMovie2.mpg
Available on DVD Only
Run time: 00:13:49 Audio/Visual: silent, color Quality # # # #
Filetype: MPEG 1 Filesize: 140,1 MB
Amateur movie. The 1939-40 New York World Fair. Scenes shot at the "World of Tomorrow".
1939NYWFAmateurMovie3.mpg
Available on DVD Only
Run time: 00:07:31 Audio/Visual: silent, color Quality # # # # #
Filetype: MPEG 2 Filesize: 374 MB
Amateur movie. The 1939-40 New York World's Fair. Scenes shot during the last days of the event, in August, 1940.
1939NYWFAnnPennington.mp4
Available on DVD Only
Run time: 00:01:28 Audio/Visual: silent, color Quality # # # #
Filetype: MPEG 4 Filesize: 10,3 MB
Amateur movie. The 1939-40 New York World's Fair. Scenes shot during the "erotic" dance show of a well known stripper from the Thirties, Ann Pennington.
1939futurama-Bc.mpg
Available on DVD Only
Run time: 00:00:33 Audio/Visual: Sound, B&W Quality # # #
Filetype: Quicktime movie Filesize: 5,6 MB
Producer: unknown
1939-40 New York World's Fair. Sequences related to the building of the model of "The World of Tomorrow".
1940ToNewHorizons.mpeg
Available on DVD Only
Run time: 00:22:59 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W and color
Quality # # # # #
Filetype: MPEG 2 Filesize: 608 MB
To New Horizons (1940)
Producer: Handy (Jam) Organization
Definitive document of pre-World War II futuristic utopian thinking, as envisioned by General Motors. Documents the "Futurama" exhibit in GM's "Highways and Horizons" pavilion at the World's Fair, which looks ahead to the "wonder world of 1960."
This film was put together by General Motors to trumpet their "Highways and Horizons" exhibit (which included the Futurama) at the 1939-40 New York World's Fair. It opens in b&w, as a wistful, utopian narrator explains how Americans are always striving for "new horizons," and "new ways of doing things." Then the film turns color, and we are taken into the G.M. pavilion, where we slowly pan over "the wonder world of 1960" -- an immense, miniature diorama designed by Norman Bel Geddes. An eerie organ-of-the-future plays as the narrator shows us an autocentric world -- complete with 100 mph freeways and city traffic systems "designed to bypass undesirable slum areas." "Does it seem strange? Unbelievable?" the narrator asks, as we look at a world that is unbelievable almost 45 years after it was supposed to exist. "We are all interested in the future, for that is where we will spend the rest of our lives!" An evocation of an abundant future and a unique little piece of film history.
Shotlist
¥ 20:34:28:18- 20:34:51:00
Series of driving POV shots. We move forward on various paths and roads starting with a grassy path, dissolving to a dirt road, next a road that looks as though its got wooden planks, then a wooden bridge, and finally we veer off to another narrow dirt road. All that's seen in this sequence are the roads and the rugged land surrounding them.
¥ 20:35:02:10- 20:35:10:15
Short but excellent driving POV first past a woman using a water pump in her front yard and next to a visceral image of children running towards their schoolhouse.
¥ 20:36:23:20- 20:36:31:18
Short but nice driving POV. We see out the top corner of the passenger's window which gives us a view of the beautiful desert we rapidly drive by as well as the interior of the car.
¥ 20:37:44:10- 20:38:16:10
Series of driving POV up hills/mountains and around hair pin turns. We drive by green hills, rocky desert areas, snowy pine trees, and gently rolling hills all the while coming dangerously close to the edge. Sometimes dizzying as we round the turns.
¥ 20:40:13:24- 20:40:29:25
Excellent pan of crowds at the 1939/40 New York World's Fair waiting to get inside of the General Motors building. As the camera pans the people in line (several of whom look at the camera), the film changes from black and white to Technicolor. A man waves at the camera as it continues to pan the area.
¥ 20:40:57:15- 20:41:10:10
More footage of lines going into the Futurama exhibit in the General Motors building. This time we view the area where the line wraps around several levels. As the camera pans the line, it is clear that the lines were intended to be part of the architecture of the building.
1939RCA_Television.mpeg
Available on DVD Only
Run time: 00:09:03 Audio/Visual: sound, B&W
Quality # # # # #
Filetype: MPEG 2 Filesize: 251 MB
An RCA Presentation: Television (1939)
Producer: Radio Corporation of America (RCA)
Early promotional film introducing TV to the American public, coordinated with the rollout of scheduled broadcasting at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Shows scenes of television production at the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) studios at Rockefeller Center, New York City, using equipment manufactured by NBC's corporate parent RCA.
1939MiddletonFamily-NYWF.mpeg
Available on DVD Only
Run time: 00:55:00 Audio/Visual: sound, Color
Quality # # # # #
Filetype: MPEG 2 Filesize: 2,92 GB
The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair (1939)
Producer: Westinghouse
From a Westinghouse advertisement in 1939: "Here's a family of folks you know - friends who live just around the corner from everyone. Doing the Fair - because that's what everyone is doing this year. Thrilled by its beauty . . . amazed at its wonders . . . the Middleton Family, from Everywhere, U.S.A.!
There are Babs and Bud, overflowing with the exuberance of 18 and 14 . . . romping through Wonderland like two kittens across a rug. There are Father Tom and Mother Jane, trying unsuccessfully to be calm and judicious about it all. And there's Grandma, whose eyes, bright with the memories of other Fairs, grow brighter still with the vision of a new Tomorrow for her dear ones.
Watch the pages of your favorite magazines for the diverting adventures of this lovable family. Better still, join them in person at the Great Court of the Westinghouse Building. A warm welcome awaits you - and a fascinating exhibit of electricity's greatest marvels."
Click HERE to watch an excerpt from this movie on YouTube
Click HERE to watch another excerpt from this movie on YouTube
Jump on page 2
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Last update: June-07-2009
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