Synopsis
Shot in 1939, this silent 16mm home movie contains images shot in New York State including a visit to the World's Fair of 1939 starting at about the 11 minute mark. The images include shots of the Unisphere and other buildings including the Italian and Russian pavilions. The film ends with shots of the illuminated fountains at night. The film starts with images of the harvest, with African American workers contributing their labor. At 3:08 the Finger Lakes are seen, and at 3:25 the campus of Cornell University. The countryside around Ithaca is sen at 6:40, and Niagara Falls at 9:00. The St. Lawrence River is seen at 10:00. The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the 1,216 acres (492 ha) of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (also the location of the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair), was the second most expansive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people attended its exhibits in two seasons. The NYWF of 1939–1940 was the first exposition to be based on the future, with an opening slogan of "Dawn of a New Day", and it allowed all visitors to take a look at "the world of tomorrow". According to the official New York World's Fair pamphlet: The eyes of the Fair are on the future — not in the sense of peering toward the unknown nor attempting to foretell the events of tomorrow and the shape of things to come, but in the sense of presenting…
Uploader's description on archive.org
Details
- Running time
- 14 minutes
- Collection
- Ephemeral Films
Subjects on the Internet Archive
- Stock Footage