Archive Watch

Seattle World’S Fair “Century 21 Exposition” Under Construction (Silent) Xd30404 (1962)

1962 · Short film · 13 min

Watch now On the Internet Archive

Synopsis

This silent footage must have been part of a documentary or promotional film about the 1962 "Century 21 Exposition" in Seattle, Washington. The film features an unidentified woman, who walks through the grounds of the World’s Fair, while much of it is still in the process of being built. The theme of the Fair is “Living in the Space Age.” The buildings, sculptures and high-tech monorail and space needle have a futuristic, mid-century modern style in keeping with the "Space Age World's Fair" concept. Sign says “Seattle World’s Fair Century 21 Exposition, Inc. Information and Tickets.” A stylish blonde woman buys a ticket. 21, 1962” (00:22). She looks around outside of a mid-century modern building, the Washington State Coliseum. Shots inside the Coliseum of a large structure made out of cubes. She walks outside with a sculpture in the foreground and the Space Needle in the background (1:23). She considers a modern sculpture in front of the Canada Pavilion (1:33). Pan of a large empty interior space as she is greeted by a man in a hard hat. He shows her a large totem pole lying on its back (2:24). She gets on to the Seattle Center Monorail, built by Alweg. The monorail moves down the concrete track. Close up of the monorail driver. She enters the AT&T or Bell Telephone building that says “Communications.” She picks up a phone at a sci-fi looking installation called the “Pulse Code Modulator” (5:18). Circles light up with pictures of people on the phone. She enters a room full…

Uploader's description on archive.org

Details

Running time
13 minutes
Collection
Ephemeral Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

More like this