by James Mauro
55 The Fair would proceed “Expects Millions at Fair,” New York Times, January 31, 1936.
56 Still unsatisfied “Moses Urges Grading on Fair Site and City Land Purchase at Once,” New York Times, February 29, 1936.
57 Whether or not it was true Ibid.
58 At the end of March “Fair Halted by Delay in Grants,” New York Times, March 24, 1936.
59 “The loss of time” “No Fair Till 1940, Moses Now Fears,” New York Times, May 1, 1936.
60 the directors voted Grover Whalen “Whalen at Helm of World’s Fair,” New York Times, April 23, 1936.
61 “Execution, rather than promotion” Ibid.
62 He had already switched gears “Moses to Ignore World Fair Plans,” New York Times, March 27, 1936.
63 “despite scare headlines” “World’s Fair Funds Voted by Board,” New York Times, May 2, 1936.
64 “Do you mean that” Ibid.
65 “From the beginning” Ibid.
CHAPTER 6: THE $8 MURDER
1 “I started that” “Whalen Reviews His Year in Office,” New York Times, December 18, 1929.
2 At a little after one o’clock “Woman Is Slain in ‘Village’ Store,” New York Times, November 27, 1937.
3 When she finally “Youth Admits Killing Woman Shopkeeper,” New York Times, December 2, 1937.
4 Then Martha grabbed Ibid.
5 At a little after four o’clock “Woman Is Slain,” New York Times.
6 One detective posited Ibid.
7 On December 29 “Woman Hit with Cane Wins $500,” New York Times, April 20, 1933.
8 Steadying himself “Youth Admits Killing,” New York Times.
9 Anna Tanzola identified “Youth Sought in Slaying,” New York Times, November 28, 1937.
10 Without naming Healy “Suspect in Killing Described,” New York Times, November 29, 1937.
11 Healy didn’t show “Youth Admits Killing,” New York Times.
12 Two days later “Girl Wife Is Freed,” New York Times, December 4, 1937.
13 A grand jury “Youth Indicted in Killing,” New York Times, December 9, 1937.
14 He would spend “Changes Plea to Guilty,” New York Times, June 24, 1939.
CHAPTER 7: WHY HAVE A FAIR?
1 While all the controversy For detailed information on the World’s Fair design, concept, and development, see Pieter Van Wesemael, “New York World’s Fair or ‘Building the World of Tomorrow,’” in Architecture of Instruction and Delight (Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2001), pp. 445–558. Long out of print (but available from Amazon.com resellers and searchable via Google Books), this academic analysis provides startling details about the artistic development of the World’s Fair. Also: Eugene A. Santomasso, “The Design of Reason: Architecture and Planning at the 1939/40 New York World’s Fair,” in Dawn of a New Day: The New York World’s Fair, 1939/40, ed. Helen A. Harrison (New York: Queens Museum, 1980), pp. 29–42; and Larry Zim, Mel Lerner, and Herbert Rolfes, The World of Tomorrow: The 1939 New York World’s Fair (New York: Harper & Row, 1988).
2 In December 1935 Fair of the Future, NYWF Archives C 1.0.
3 “If we allow ourselves” Address to the New York Civic Club by Lewis Mumford, December 11, 1935, NYWF Archives PR 1.41.
4 Taking the basic subtext Michael Hare, “Why Have a Fair?” December 22, 1936, NYWF Archives PR 1.41.
5 Industrial designers such as Teague Roland Marchand, “The Designers Go to the Fair: Walter Dorwin Teague and the Professionalization of Corporate Industrial Exhibits, 1933–40,” Design Issues (Autumn 1991): 4–17.
6 the new style of streamlining Norman Bel Geddes, “Streamlining,” Atlantic Monthly, November 1934, pp. 553–63.
7 were suddenly streamlined and bullet-shaped Donald J. Bush, “Streamlining and American Industrial Design,” Leonardo (Autumn 1974): 309–17.
8 This committee Fair of the Future, NYWF Archives C 1.0.
9 their proposal was quickly adopted Report of the Theme Committee, July 16, 1936, NYWF Archives A 1.13.
10 Its general stated purpose “Rival Art Groups Battle over Fair,” New York Times, March 1, 1936.
11 “If this World’s Fair” Ibid.
12 “What are we going to do” Ibid.
13 “There is a way” Ibid.
14 “If the 1939 Fair” Ibid.
15 “Anyone who introduces” Ibid.
16 Impressed with Whalen’s speed “Whalen Elected President of Fair,” New York Times, May 5, 1936.
17 “headquarters will be established” Ibid.
18 notoriously bad reputation Donald Moffat, “Mr. Pennyfeather on Manhattan,” Atlantic Monthly, April 1936, pp. 385–94.
19 “The big town” Davis, “Money Makes the Fair Go.”
20 “We knew that our town” Davis, “Our Island Universe.”
21 “So of civic pride” Ibid.
22 “A New Yorker is inclined” Davis, “Money Makes the Fair Go.”
23 “It is infinitely” Ibid.
24 “to portray New York” Davis, “Barnum in Modern Dress.”
25 “It is just like New York” “Notes and Comment,” New Yorker, January 4, 1936, p. 9.
26 a gardenia-wearing stuffed shirt “$156,000,000 Show: Eleven Gates Ready to Swing at the N.Y. World’s Fair,” Newsweek, May 1, 1939, p. 49.
27 “The fashion amongst” Davis, “Money Makes the Fair Go.”
28 “twentieth-century Barnum” Ibid.
CHAPTER 8: 106 DEGREES IN THE SHADE
1 “Time is of the essence” “Two Low Fair Bids Rejected by Moses,” New York Times, June 5, 1936.
2 “I refuse” “Moses Wins Fight for Fair Contract,” New York Times, June 10, 1936.
3 “The city cannot” “Mayor Calls Police to Halt Razing of Ferry by Moses,” New York Times, July 23, 1936.
4 “All is quiet” “Ferry Row Over, Service Resumed,” New York Times, July 24, 1936.
5 “the sun was hidden” “Site Is Dedicated for World’s Fair,” New York Times, June 4, 1936.
6 “the ground upon which” “La Guardia Runs a Steam Shovel as Work Starts on World’s Fair,” New York Times, June 30, 1936.
7 “This is the way” Ibid.
8 Already, crews For further details on the actual reclamation process, see Moses, “From Dump to Glory”; “Fair Bonds,” Time, November 23, 1936; Victor H. Bernstein, “Dump and Swamp Areas Reclaimed for Fair,” New York Times, August 16, 1936.
9 “The scene there” “World’s Fair Project in Construction Stage,” New York Times, July 5, 1936.
10 In July 1936 “7 Die in and Near City,” New York Times, July 10, 1936.
11 “No flimsy riprap” Moses, “From Dump to Glory.”
CHAPTER 9: PANIC IN TIMES SQUARE
1 At first, the combined teams “Eight Detectives Moved in Shake-Up,” New York Times, October 6, 1935.
2 For the better part “Detectives Begin Cryptography Study,” New York Times, February 12, 1935.
3 Lieutenant James Pyke Richard Esposito and Ted Gerstein, Bomb Squad: A Year Inside the Nation’s Most Exclusive Police Unit (New York: Hyperion, 2007), pp. 277–86.
4 Hayias had refused “Lieut. Pyke Frees, Aids Relief Forger,” New York Times, September 20, 1936.
5 “I wouldn’t arrest these people” Ibid.
6 Socha, seeing another group “Windows Wrecked in Cleaners’ Strike,” New York Times, October 20, 1935.
7 The boring part “K. of. C. Sweepstakes Promoters Arrested on Mail Fraud Charge,” New York Times, March 3, 1936.
8 They also held “39 Seized in Raids on Race Tip Offices,” New York Times, November 4, 1938.
9 advanced to detective, second grade “9 Detectives Promoted,” New York Times, December 25, 1937.
10 In October, he got his name “3 Seized in Theft of City Tax Stamps,” New York Times, October 20, 1938.
11 Throughout the city “Theatre Is Bombed,” New York Times, August 31, 1935; “Tear Gas Exploded in Six Theatres Again,” New York Times,
November 3, 1936.
12 On one particular Thursday “225 Police in Hunt for Bombers Ring,” New York Times, November 4, 1936.
13 At three a.m. “Bombs Shatter Windows of 7 Fur Shops; West 29th St. Blasts Laid to Labor Trouble,” New York Times, September 12, 1938.
14 “I want thirty thousand” “Dynamiter Is Foiled in Hold-up of Bank; 31 Sticks of Explosive and Caps Are Seized,” New York Times, September 9, 1938.
15 “These bombs are crudely” “Roosevelt Aids Inquiry on Bombs,” New York Times, April 13, 1936.
16 he began devising a method James A. Pyke, “Some Notes on the Handling of Suspected Bombs and the Investigation of Explosions,” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (March/April 1942): 668–74.
CHAPTER 10: SELLING THE FAIR
1 a salary of $100,000 a year Ruth Brindze, “Grover Whalen’s Mammoth Circus,” Nation, December 10, 1938, p. 616.
2 Board of Design Tyng, Making a World’s Fair, p. 25.
3 “the definition of the main theme” “Board of Design Is Named for Fair,” New York Times, May 22, 1936.
4 “The principal difference” Woolf, “Man Behind the Fair,” p. 15.
5 “I wouldn’t engage anyone” Ibid., p. 3.
6 “The New York World’s Fair” Report of the Board of Design, July 7, 1936, NYWF Archives, B2, F14.
7 “I have now come to” “Moses Quits Fair, But Split Is Denied,” New York Times, October 9, 1936.
8 “no difference of opinion” Ibid.
9 “I speak sincerely” “Says Fair Bonds Are Sound,” New York Times, December 22, 1936.
10 “We believe” Ibid.
11 “If by some mischance” “$460,000 Fair Bonds Bought by Macy’s,” New York Times, January 11, 1937.
12 “Among other things” “Truck Driver Buys $400 World’s Fair Bond,” New York Times, January 5, 1937.
13 “conduct apparently contrary” “Whitney & Co. Fails; Exchange Ex-Head Faces 3 Inquiries,” New York Times, March 9, 1938.
14 “The telephone operator” Whalen, Mr. New York, p. 179.
15 “The log jam was broken” Ibid., p. 180.
16 “I took the next ship over” Ibid.
17 “I called on” Hellman, “For City and for Coty II.”
18 “As I entered” Whalen, Mr. New York, p. 186.
19 “I understand you served” Ibid., p. 187.
20 “Italy compete with Wall Street?” Hellman, “For City and for Coty II.”
21 “The American people” Whalen, Mr. New York, p. 188.
22 “I said that participation” Hellman, “For City and for Coty II.”
CHAPTER 11: “FOLKS, YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHING YET!”
1 “We promised the world” “‘Floating’ Sphere to Dominate Fair,” New York Times, March 16, 1937.
2 “Wouldn’t a European war” Richard O. Boyer, “World of Tomorrow, Or Next Day,” New Yorker, April 30, 1938, p. 38.
3 “My personal investigation” Ibid.
4 “It is the hope” “Whalen Returns, Hopeful for Peace,” New York Times, September 14, 1937.
5 could potentially charm the dictators John T. Flynn, “World Peace for the World’s Fair,” New Republic, March 2, 1938, p. 100.
6 “Next thing you know” “Indignant Ambassador,” Time, January 17, 1938.
7 a different kind of “ball and bat” Minutes of the promotion council, April 4, 1939, NYWF Archives, B1, F7.
8 “I saw no reason” Woolf, “Man Behind the Fair.”
9 “Only the brave” “City Fair Building Gets Cornerstone,” New York Times, January 20, 1938.
10 “the peoples of the nations” “Fair Starts Work on Theme Center,” New York Times, April 9, 1938.
11 World’s Fair Preview “235 Parades,” New Yorker, April 30, 1938, p. 12.
12 “The day was a big success” “Fireworks Dazzle 600,000 at Fair Site,” New York Times, May 9, 1938.
13 “you ain’t seen nothing yet!” “Three-Hour ‘Preview’ Motorcade Gives City Glimpse of 1939 Fair,” New York Times, May 1, 1938.
CHAPTER 12: “THEY COME WITH JOYOUS SONG”
1 “ball and spike” “Ball & Spike,” Time, May 9, 1938.
2 a vision of heaven “Theme Center Idea Symbol of Heaven,” New York Times, July 8, 1939.
3 “Barnum had his sacred” “Ball & Spike,” Time.
4 “Democracity” For details on this exhibit, see Jeffrey Hart, “The Last Great Fair,” New Criterion, January 2005, pp. 76–77; and “Stanley in the Perisphere,” New Yorker, April 15, 1939, pp. 16–17.
5 inaugural gate of over one million “Fair Facts,” Time, May 15, 1939.
6 between $150 and $1,000 Daniel Lang, “Ike and Mike on the Air,” New Republic, May 17, 1939, p. 43.
7 “an internal war” Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Opening of the New York World’s Fair,” April 30, 1939, in John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online], Santa Barbara: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database), accessed at www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15755.
8 “As a nation” “Hull Warns World in Plea for Peace,” New York Times, February 13, 1939.
CHAPTER 13: BLACKOUT
1 “victim of the greatest con game” “Attack on Fair Made in Council,” New York Times, April 4, 1939.
2 “from all employment” “Negroes Protest to Fair,” New York Times, March 16, 1939.
3 “I know that you people” “World’s Fair Bans Bias Against Negro,” New York Times, January 25, 1937.
4 “the specific article” Robert W. Rydell, “Selling the World of Tomorrow: New York’s 1939 World’s Fair,” Journal of American History (December 1990): 968.
5 the Fair itself was of two minds Mentor A. Howe, “Come to the Fair!” Phylon 1, no. 4 (1940): 314–22.
6 “lighter than last week’s” “Light Auto Traffic Surprise to Police,” New York Times, May 1, 1939.
7 “sad note, slightly morbid” “Crowds Awed by Fair’s Vastness and Medley of Sound and Color,” New York Times, May 1, 1939.
8 rejection of true science Peter J. Kuznick, “Losing the World of Tomorrow: The Battle over the Presentation of Science at the 1939 New York World’s Fair,” American Quarterly (September 1994): 341–73.
9 The plan was to “capture” For a detailed analysis of the cosmic rays display, see Waldemar Kaempffert, “Science in the News,” New York Times, April 30, 1939.
10 “I’m very sorry” “Einstein in New Triumph,” New York Times, May 1, 1939.
11 “I just apologized” Archival newsreel, Movietone News, Inc., April 30, 1939, from “The World of Tomorrow,” Tom Johnson and Lance Bird, prods. (CA: Direct Cinema Limited, 1992).
12 “If science, like art” Albert Einstein, “On Cosmic Rays,” April 30, 1939, Albert Einstein Archives, 1–134.00. (Note: The handwritten text, heavily edited and with entire paragraphs penciled out, reveals exactly how Einstein struggled to accommodate his audience and his five-minute time limit.)
13 “If a metallic conductor” Ibid.
14 “Give us ten cosmic rays!” “Cosmic Rays Start Brilliant Display,” New York Times, May 1, 1939.
15 Einstein threw the switch “156,000,000 Show,” Newsweek, May 1, 1939, p. 46.
16 “One they could applaud” “Cosmic Rays,” New York Times.
17 fewer than two hundred thousand Shalett, “Epitaph for the World’s Fair.”
18 the numbers had been fudged “Fair Facts,” Time.
19 “[Whalen] has got the circus” “In Mr. Whalen’s Image,” Time.
CHAPTER 14: “I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE”
1 “I hadn’t reckoned on” Hellman, “For City and for Coty II.”
2 “the stupendous” Boyer, “World of Tomorrow, Or Next Day.”
3 “I rejoice” Hellman, “For City or for Coty II.”
4 “My father himself” Ibid.
5 “The trouble is” Boyer, “World of Tomorrow, Or Next Day.”
6 “Think of this huge ba
ll” Ibid.
7 Futurama was the dream For details about Norman Bel Geddes and Futurama’s design, construction, and experience, see Roland Marchand, “The Designers Go to the Fair II: Norman Bel Geddes, the General Motors ‘Futurama,’ and the Visit to the Factory Transformed,” Design Issues(Spring 1992): 23–40; Christina Cogdell, “The Futurama Recontextualized: Norman Bel Geddes’s Eugenic ‘World of Tomorrow,’” American Quarterly (June 2000): 193–245; Robert Coombs, “Norman Bel Geddes: Highways and Horizons,” Perspecta 13 (1971): 11–27; Adnan Morshed, “The Aesthetics of Ascension in Norman Bel Geddes’ Futurama,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (March 2004): 74–99; and Paul Mason Fotsch, “The Building of a Superhighway Future at the New York World’s Fair,” Cultural Critique (Spring 2001): 65–97.
8 “His head is in the clouds” Geoffrey T. Hellman, “Design for Living—I,” New Yorker, February 8, 1941, p. 24.
9 an expert on the future Geddes also predicted that “car speed control will probably be by button on the wheel…. You will drive at forty or fifty or sixty or thirty, according to the button you push.” Norman Bel Geddes, “What the Future Holds for Us,” speech before the New York Herald Tribune Forum, October 26, 1939.
10 “Can General Motors afford” Geoffrey T. Hellman, “Design for Living—III,” New Yorker, February 22, 1941, p. 29.
11 “It cost us six million” Ibid.
12 “Now we have arrived” Narration of Futurama taken from original recordings and “Futurama” promotional booklet produced by General Motors Corp.
13 “the future, as presented here” Lewis Mumford, “The Sky Line in Flushing: Genuine Bootleg,” New Yorker, July 29, 1939, p. 39.
14 “G.M. has spent” Peter J. Kuznick, “Losing the World of Tomorrow: The Battle over the Presentation of Science at the 1939 New York World’s Fair,” American Quarterly (September 1994): 349.
15 “All we are trying to do” “General Motors Host to Employees,” New York Times, May 29, 1939.
16 “There’s a special kick” Meyer Berger, “At the Fair,” New York Times, May 4, 1939.
