For sale is an original 1940 NEW YORK WORLD’S FAIR ADVERTISING BROCHURE. This color brochure highlights the features and admission costs for the World’s Fair. Admission cost 50 cents for an adult and 25 cents for children aged 13 and under. The phone number to call for more info was a 5 digit number: World’s Fair 6-1940. This brochure when folded measures 9 inches by 4 inches. The brochure unfolded measures 27 inches by 16 inches. Booklet is in great condition. A first rate Americana collectible.
The 1939–40 New York World’s Fair was a world’s fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people attended its exhibits in two seasons. It 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”. When World War II began four months into the 1939 World’s Fair, many exhibits were affected, especially those on display in the pavilions of countries under Axis occupation. In order to convince skeptical visitors that the television sets were not a trick, one set was made with a transparent case so that the internal components could be seen. After Albert Einstein gave a speech that discussed cosmic rays, the fair’s lights were ceremonially lit.
Frank Buck exhibited his “Frank Buck’s Jungleland”, which displayed rare birds, reptiles and wild animals along with Jiggs, a five-year-old trained orangutan. In addition, Buck provided a trio of performing elephants, an 80-foot “monkey mountain” with 600 monkeys. A number of the shows provided spectators with the opportunity of viewing women in very revealing costumes or topless, such as the “Frozen Alive Girl”, the Living Pictures, and the Dream of Venus building.
Billy Rose’s Aquacade was a spectacular musical and water extravaganza foreshadowing the form of many popular Hollywood musicals in the ensuing years. The show was presented in a special amphitheater seating 10,000 people and included an orchestra to accompany the spectacular synchronized swimming performance featuring Johnny Weissmuller and Eleanor Holm. The show dazzled fairgoers with its lighting and cascades and curtains of water, pumped in waterfalls at 8,000 gallons a minute. The cost of admission was 80 cents.
