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Home Movies: New York World’S Fair, Manhattan, Atlantic City (1939)

1939 · Short film · 13 min

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Synopsis

This silent color home movie footage depicts the New York World’s Fair of 1939 in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens (which ran until fall of 1940), as well as surrounding Manhattan and Atlantic City landmarks (TRT 13:17). A Douglas DC-3 propeller-driven airliner taxiing on a runway. It features Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 engines, and is marked for American Airlines’ “Flagship” fleet. A marshaller directs it (0:08). Two women in stylish coats and hats pose on the passenger plane’s ladder while boarding (0:21). Aerial photography from the jet shows rural landscapes, highways, rivers, factories (0:32). The art deco Chrysler Building. The blimps pass the Empire State Building in silhouette (1:07). An unseen plane’s contrail makes a circular arc behind the Chrysler Building (1:25). The site of the 1939 World’s Fair as seen from an airplane on an airport runway. The Manhattan skyline. The World’s Fair grounds seen from the sky. The Trylon and Perisphere are visible at a distance (1:36). Fountains and sculpture at the fair’s Constitution Mall, with a statue of George Washington in the center. Pedestrians walk past a large, rectangular building (possibly a theater) decorated with a colorful mural (1:56). A long corridor of pavilion exhibits flanked by international flags. A statue: “The Astronomer” by Carl Willes, located near the Helicine. The silver dome of the US Steel Building, seen from the Avenue of Labor. Curved architecture and a distant Ford Pavillion (2:09). Another…

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Details

Running time
13 minutes
Collection
Ephemeral Films

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