by James Mauro
17 “It’s beautiful” Ibid., May 12, 1939.
18 “I loved it” Ibid., May 30, 1939.
CHAPTER 15: VISIONS AND DREAMSCAPES
1 hired a public-speaking expert “Oratory at the Fair,” New Yorker, December 24, 1939, pp. 12–13.
2 “Slang will have no place” “Fair Aides to Begin Lessons in Diction,” New York Times, October 29, 1938.
3 “He expects that kind of thing” “Orders,” New Yorker, May 13, 1939, p. 14.
4 “Never mind about the mayor” Ibid.
5 “has its loathsome” “Notes and Comment,” New Yorker, April 29, 1939, p. 16.
6 “hope against hope” Russell B. Porter, “5,000 Hear Prince,” New York Times, May 2, 1939.
7 “We maintain the open-door policy” Ibid.
8 “I worked for the Fair Corporation” Bainbridge and McKelway, “That Was the New York World’s Fair.”
9 “Friends tell me I am crazy” “‘Father of Fair’ Never Visited It,” New York Times.
10 “They wouldn’t complete our building” Charles Stevenson, “Labor Takes In the Fair,” Atlantic Monthly, January 1949, p. 1.
11 Whalen finally stepped in “Strike Settled at World’s Fair,” New York Times, July 19, 1938.
12 “to drive occasional nails” Stevenson, “Labor Takes In the Fair,” p. 6.
13 “I find them resting” Ibid., p. 9.
14 “We have had only” Ibid., p. 11.
15 Bassett Jones For details on the incredibly versatile Jones and his lighting of the World’s Fair, see Geoffrey T. Hellman, “Day-Before-Yesterday-Man,” New Yorker, April 29, 1939, pp. 24–30.
16 “As darkness falls” Lewis Mumford, “West Is East,” New Yorker, June 17, 1939, p. 38.
17 “I’ve kept the intensities down” Hellman, “Day-Before-Yesterday-Man.”
18 found themselves wandering around “Let’s Go See,” Atlantic Monthly, June 1939, p. 884–85.
19 “We’re not familiar” Meyer Berger, “At the Fair,” May 11, 1939.
20 “We shall eat” “Notes and Comment,” New Yorker, April 29, 1939, p. 16.
21 “a definite breach of faith” Harding, “World’s Fair New York.”
22 “the nickel is a coin” Ibid.
23 “The talk about” Joseph Wood Krutch, “A Report of the Fair,” Nation, June 24, 1939, p. 722.
24 “The designers found out” “Drama and Crowds—Direct Sources of and Materials for Design,” Architectural Record (August 1940).
25 “Naturally we’ve had” “Fair ‘Over the Top,’ Whalen Holds, Predicting Unparalleled Success,” New York Times, June 19, 1939.
26 “This Fair has already gone” Ibid.
CHAPTER 16: PALESTINE VS. PANCHO VILLA
1 Science Advisory Committee For a history of this committee and Gerald Wendt’s involvement, see Robert W. Rydell, “The Fan Dance of Science: American World’s Fairs in the Great Depression,” Isis (December 1985): 525–42.
2 Science was taking a wrong turn Ten days before the Fair opened, on April 20, 1939, the California Institute of Technology’s Robert A. Millikan gave a speech to the Merchants Association in which he predicted, among other misstatements, that “life in America fifty or a hundred years hence will not differ nearly as much from the life of today as the life of today differs from that of a century or even a half century ago”; and, “So far as tapping the energy ‘locked up in the atoms’ is concerned, we can count that out.” Robert A. Millikan, “Science and the World of Tomorrow,” Vital Speeches of the Day, May 1, 1939, pp. 446–48.
3 “to tell the whole story” “Science and the New York World’s Fair,” Scientific Monthly, April 1939, p. 587.
4 “We wish to abolish” Kuznick, “Losing the World of Tomorrow,” p. 349.
5 “Any plan now” Ibid., p. 354.
6 “He wanted to aid the Jews” Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times.
7 “I believe” “Foes Are Warned,” New York Times, May 2, 1939.
8 “Will there be war or peace” Herbert L. Matthews, “Speech Moderate,” New York Times, May 15, 1939.
9 “Palestine” Ibid.
10 The USSR Pavilion For detailed descriptions of this pavilion, see Anthony Swift, “The Soviet World of Tomorrow at the New York World’s Fair, 1939,” Russian Review (July 1998): 364–79; “Russian Pavilion,” New Yorker, May 20, 1939, pp. 15–16.
11 “The Soviet people” “Young Man Showing His Muscles,” New Republic, May 31, 1939, p. 87; Russell B. Porter, “Russian Envoy Opens Nation’s Pavilion at Fair as a ‘Good Neighbor’ of U.S.,” New York Times, May 18, 1939.
12 “warmongers accustomed to” Ibid.
13 “The agents of Hitler” Robert B. Post, “Parliament Backs Plan on Palestine,” New York Times, May 24, 1939.
14 “England has, in part” “Dr. Einstein Urges Patience on Jews,” New York Times, May 28, 1939.
15 “Remember in the midst” Ibid.
16 “America’s link” Frank Zachary, “The Fair That Was,” New Yorker, April 11, 1964, p. 125.
17 “just liked having Indians and horses around” Ibid.
18 Perylon Hall For description, see “Perylonia,” New Yorker, July 8, 1939, pp. 17–18.
19 “for a true world of justice” Frank S. Adams, “Spotlight at Fair Swings to Dedication of the Palestine Pavilion,” New York Times, May 29, 1939.
20 “of what Jews have accomplished” “Officials Acclaim Palestine Exhibit,” New York Times, May 13, 1939.
21 “This pavilion is a token” Adams, “Spotlight at Fair.”
22 “The World’s Fair” Albert Einstein, “Address at Dedication of Palestine Pavilion at N.Y. World’s Fair,” May 28, 1939, Albert Einstein Archives, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 28–490.00.
23 “I am here entrusted” Ibid.
24 Einstein sat with his pipe See Edwin Muller, “Einstein at Princeton,” Nation, September 17, 1938, p. 267. Muller refers to the fact that Einstein eschewed alcohol but allowed himself three pipes a day.
CHAPTER 17: GERMANY YESTERDAY—GERMANY TOMORROW
1 “Czechoslovakia is still alive” Russell B. Porter, “Courage of Czechs Acclaimed at Fair,” New York Times, June 1, 1939.
2 “can rule the country” Ibid.
3 “I have no apologies” Ibid.
4 “chamber of horrors” “La Guardia vs. Hitler,” Time, March 15, 1937. 214 “dirty Talmud Jew” “La Guardia and the German Press,” New Republic, March 17, 1937, p. 154.
5 “Secretary Hull and I” “Attack on Hitler Renewed by Mayor,” New York Times, November 3, 1938.
6 should he allow the Nazis to participate NYWF Archives, B294, F13; a report from Whalen to the executive committee, dated February 1, 1937, states, “Germany will participate if the exchange difficulty can be arranged.”
7 “Will any Jew set foot” Oswald Garrison Villard, “No Swastikas at the World’s Fair!” Nation, June 5, 1937, p. 648.
8 one-hundred-thousand-square-foot pavilion NYWF Archives, B294, F12; a handwritten, undated note states, “Industry will be prominently represented with cultural features—a restaurant is being considered.”
9 “The Germans are not at all satisfied” NYWF Archives, B294, F14.
10 “We believe that as Germany” Laura Z. Hobson, “Freedom Pavilion,” Nation, April 29, 1939, p. 492.
11 “Four days later” Ibid.
12 “We don’t want to do anything” “‘Freedom Pavilion’ at Fair Planned to Celebrate the Pre-Nazi Culture,” New York Times, January 13, 1939.
13 “I have never believed” Ibid.
14 “This enterprise would be” Hobson, “Freedom Pavilion.”
15 The Italian Pavilion Bishop, “World’s Fair Notes,” Kenyon Review, p. 245.
16 “the Japanese people” “Japan Dedicates Pavilion with 1,500-Year-Old ‘Flame of Friendship,’” New York Times, June 3, 1939.
17 “a new civilization” Ibid.
18 “If they bomb it” “Bund Rally Bomb Ru
mor Fails to Worry Mayor,” New York Times, February 21, 1939.
19 “We are outraged” “Bund Rally to Get Huge Police Guard,” New York Times, February 19, 1939.
20 “Why is it necessary” “1,300 Will Police Big Bund Meeting,” New York Times, February 20, 1939.
21 “We have enough police here” “22,000 Nazis Hold Rally in Garden; Police Check Foes,” New York Times, February 21, 1939.
22 “You ought to be proud” Ibid.
23 “I went down to the Garden” “Bund Foes Protest Policing of Rally,” New York Times, February 22, 1939.
24 “The policeman is” Read Bain, “The Policeman on the Beat,” Scientific Monthly, May 1939, pp. 450, 452.
25 “I think the results” “Bund Foes,” New York Times.
CHAPTER 18: ROYAL FLUSH
1 “When do we eat?” Whalen, Mr. New York.
2 “Who was that man?” Ibid.
3 “What the hell are you doing?” Ibid.
CHAPTER 19: “I NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT!”
1 quite a controversy Edward Alden Jewell, “Tomorrow, Inc.,” Parnassus (October 1937): 3–8.
2 a “scientist-magician” “Man Loses His Shadow in World’s Fair Exhibit,” Science News Letter, August 12, 1939, p. 103.
3 “We were thinking of you” “People,” Time, September 26, 1938.
4 “People living in different countries” Albert Einstein, “Message in the Time Capsule,” September 1938, in Ideas and Opinions (New York: Crown Publishers, 1954).
5 “I must say that” Russell Maloney, “6939 and All That,” New Yorker, May 6, 1939, pp. 28–29.
6 “a gray-haired fairgoer” Meyer Berger, “At the Fair,” New York Times, July 10, 1939.
7 Leó Szilárd For detailed information on Szilárd, see William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard—The Man Behind the Bomb (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1992); and Leó Szilárd, Leo Szilard: His Version of the Facts, eds. Spencer Weart and Gertrud Weiss Szilárd (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1980). Both works are long out of print but available via Amazon.com resellers.
8 Szilárd had conceived plans Valentine L. Telegdi, “Szilard as Inventor: Accelerators and More,” Physics Today (October 2000).
9 “Had he pushed through” Gene Dannen, “The Einstein-Szilard Refrigerators,” Scientific American (January 1997).
10 Szilárd had fled Berlin “Obituaries: Leo Szilard,” Physics Today (October 1964).
11 “Both Wigner and I” Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times.
12 “I sawed [it]” Thomas Lee Bucky with Joseph P. Blank, “Einstein: An Intimate Memoir,” Harper’s Magazine, September 1964, p. 47.
13 “We knew that Einstein” Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe.
14 “Wigner suggested” Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times.
15 “I decided” Ibid.
16 “Some recent work” Nathan and Norden, eds., Einstein on Peace.
CHAPTER 20: “YOU TELL ’EM, MICKEY!”
1 The Fair was too “high-hat” “A Cornflower for Mr. Whalen’s Gardenia,” Saturday Evening Post, September 2, 1939, p. 22.
2 “Hi, screwball!” Gelernter, 1939: The Lost World of the Fair, p. 39.
3 “Mr. Tompkins” Bruce Bliven Jr., “Gone Tomorrow,” New Republic, May 17, 1939, p. 42.
4 “It is evident” “Whalen Foresees Big Influx to Fair,” New York Times, July 6, 1939.
5 “With respect” President’s report to the Board of Design, July 20, 1939, NYWF Archives, B13, F11.
6 “Don’t believe these stories” “Figures v. Dreams,” Time, August 21, 1939.
7 “Dear Grover” Letter from Harvey Gibson to Grover Whalen, August 16, 1938, NYWF Archives, B13, F2.
8 “Want a chew?” “50¢ Week-End Fee at Fair Is Set as ‘Final’ Concession,” New York Times, August 1, 1939.
9 “The finance and executive committee” Ibid.
10 “The announcement” Ibid.
11 “I think the Executive Committee” Ibid.
12 “He had put so much of himself” Shalett, “Epitaph for the World’s Fair.”
CHAPTER 21: THE STORM CENTER OF THE WORLD
1 “I would like to ask you” Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times.
2 “We want you all to come” Archival newsreel footage, Movietone News, August 14, 1939; from “The World of Tomorrow.”
3 “The house was now” Shalett, “Epitaph for the World’s Fair.”
4 “sacrifice their lives” “Polish-Americans Defy Nazi Power,” New York Times, August 20, 1939.
5 “[We] send you” Ibid.
6 For a grand total According to the annual report, year ended December 27, 1939, the actual paid attendance came to 25,817,265. NYWF Archives, B2, F11.
7 “Haven’t you received” “New Economy Moves at Fair Seen in Choice of Banker as Chairman,” New York Times, September 1, 1939.
8 “Mr. Gibson will give” Ibid.
9 “I can’t tell whether” Ibid.
10 “The World’s Fair” Ibid.
11 “I’d like to say” Ibid.
CHAPTER 22: “S’LONG, FOLKS!”
1 “We welcome you here” “Sympathy in Crisis Cheers Poles’ Day,” New York Times, September 3, 1939.
2 “This is an hour of sorrow” Ibid.
3 “Lindbergh is not our man” Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe.
4 “More Fair for less money!” “Fair Cuts Its Rate to Flat 50 Cents for All October,” New York Times, September 27, 1939.
5 “I should think” Ibid.
6 “It’s pretty good” Ibid.
7 “It cost approximately” “World’s Fair Aspires to the Title of ‘People’s Playground’ Next Year,” New York Times, October 21, 1939.
8 “Give ’em only pickle pins!” “Child Hordes Give Fair Wildest Day; 150,000 Stream In,” New York Times, October 28, 1939.
9 “managed to strip the World of Tomorrow” Ibid.
10 a couple who had been stranded “Notes and Comment,” New Yorker, July 22, 1939, p. 9.
11 “There was some benefit” NYWF Archives, B10, F3.
12 “There shall never” “362, 522 Pack Fair on Its 2d-Best Day; Midway Sets Mark,” New York Times, September 25, 1939.
13 A frequent visitor Interview with Edward Chalfant, January 11, 2009.
14 “I’ll bet they’re going to eat” “1939 Fair Closes; Seen by 26,000,000; Plans Laid for ‘40,” New York Times, November 1, 1939.
15 “Grover Whalen is president” “Grover’s Helper,” New Yorker, November 4, 1939, pp. 12–13.
16 “I don’t know what we’d do” Ibid.
17 “If the bondholders” Ibid.
18 “What we need” Ibid.
19 could hardly believe the transformation Sidney M. Shalett, “‘Hello Folks’ Is the Watchword as Elmer Takes Over the Fair,” New York Times, May 12, 1940.
CHAPTER 23: “HELLO, FOLKS!”
1 “Why don’t you let me” Shalett, “Epitaph for the World’s Fair.”
2 “How do you do, gentlemen!” “Synthetic ‘Elmer’ 1940 Fair Greeter,” New York Times, April 13, 1940.
3 “Well, I hope I bring millions!” Ibid.
4 “Mr. and Mrs. America” Ibid.
5 “Elmer is the ‘great American’” Ibid.
6 “The transformation” Shalett, “‘Hello, Folks’ Is the Watchword as Elmer Takes Over the Fair,” New York Times, May 12, 1940.
7 The changes were numerous For an overview of the myriad changes in the 1940 Fair, see Russell Maloney and Eugene Kinkead, “Trylon, Trylon Again,” New Yorker, May 11, 1940, pp. 36–42; and “Forty Fair,” Time, May 20, 1940.
8 “to keep the crowds away” Maloney and Kinkead, “Trylon, Trylon Again.”
9 “Would he go back” “Ballet for Ford,” Time, June 3, 1940.
10 “never once forgot” Ibid.
11 “You wouldn’t mean Sparko” Shalett, “‘Hello, Folks’ Is the Watchword.”
12 crated up f
or shipping back to the USSR “Pavilion in Crates,” New Yorker, July 13, 1940, pp. 10–11.
13 “Those of you who are bondholders” Shalett, “Epitaph for the World’s Fair.”
14 “it would take” Ibid.
15 “Is the sun coming out?” “Gibson Is Pleased by Fair Finances,” New York Times, May 29, 1940.
CHAPTER 24: “THIS LOOKS LIKE THE REAL GOODS”
1 “This is not a dedication” Sidney M. Shalett, “Hoover Condemns Nazis in Fair Talk,” New York Times, May 19, 1940.
2 “designed to create” “Bombing Is Third Within Two Weeks in City,” New York Times, July 5, 1940.
3 “Get out of the building” “Fair Gets New Bomb Scare from a Package of Cloth,” Washington Post, July 7, 1940.
4 an electrician named William Strachan For the most detailed overall account of the bomb, from its discovery to explosion, see “Police Die in Blast,” New York Times, July 5, 1940; and “Bomb from British Pavilion Kills 2, Hurts 5 at N.Y. Fair,” Washington Post, July 5, 1940.
5 It was there again “Police Die in Blast,” New York Times.
6 three-thirty in the afternoon Official report of James B. Leggett, commanding officer, 110-A Detective Squad, July 4, 1940, NYWF Archives, B1858, F10.
7 “ticking like a clock” “Aftermath of World’s Fair Bombing,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 5, 2007.
8 It was Morlach Leggett, NYWF Archives.
9 walked down an alley Ibid. Leggett reports that Morlach (pronounced “Morlock”) carried the bomb for a distance of about two blocks.
10 The four detectives Memo from Detective John H. Koester to the World’s Fair director of public safety, July 4, 1940, NYWF Archives, B1858, F10.
11 At a little after four o’clock Ibid.
12 Lynch called Peter Hayias’s number “Detective Hayias,” New York Times, December 2, 1941.
13 “I’ll be back in an hour” Maki Becker, “Remembering Ultimate Sacrifice: Memorial Eyed for Cops Killed at ’40 World’s Fair,” (New York) Daily News, July 25, 2000.
