1939 NY World's Fair Masthead
1939 New York World's Fair Newsletter
May 2016
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Welcome to the World's Fair Newsletter:

Changes to the Gift Shop

All the items for sale in the World's Fair Gift Shop that were "Buy Now," have all been changed to "Add to Cart". The only exceptions are a couple of 3rd party items which are purchased directly from the people who are selling them.

Except for my World's Far book, all items are Free Shipping.

Has anyone else noticed a similarity?

CBS Good Morning
Screen capture of CBS Good Morning TV show.

The CBS "eye" on a yellow background caught my attention the first time I saw it. CBS has been using the "eye" since it made it debut on October 20, 1951.

NBC Booklet
1939 NBC Booklet

But if we turn the clocks back to 1939 and visit the RCA pavilion we find that on Sunday, April 30th, 1939, opening day for the Fair, experimental station W2XBS (later to be know as WNBC) in New York City began regularly scheduled television broadcasts with President Roosevelt's speech opening of the 1939 New York World's Fair.

"Television," a booklet by the National Broadcasting Company, was handed out at the 1939 Fair and seems to have a familiar motif. I think the eye was only the designer's way of associating television as the means of visual communication and never intended it to become their logo. But none-the-less I did find the similarity interesting.

New on the Web

Someone told me that the 1939-40 NY World's Fair was the most merchandised event ever held. I'm not sure it that is true, but if it's not, it must be close to the top of the list.

While there is no way to ever show you all the items that were related to the Fair, you'll find hundreds of them tucked away in the section of the web titled "MISC."

Currently the Misc page is divided into 29 categories. One of the categories is titled "Odd & Ends" where you'll find 7-pages containing the items that didn't fit into one of the main categories.

This month, thanks to Andy Kaufman, Bob Bialo, Shirley Manning, and John Collins a host of new items have been added. In the "New on the Web" section of this newsletter I have listed those new items with a link directly to the image.

There have also been some additions to a few of the pages in the "WF Tour."

Additions to the Misc section

Glass

Pennants and Flags

Desktop Items

Coins and Tokens

Buttons & Pins

Clothing

Playing Cards

Envelopes

Additions to Odd and Ends

Additions to the Zones and Pavilions

Zone 1 - Government

Zone 2 - Community Interests

Zone 3 - Food

Zone 5 - Production & Distribution

Zone 6 - Transportation

People Seeking Information:

Fred Sloviko

Here are two photos of items I was told were in the 1939 World's Fair in a Pabst beer exhibit. Any info would be helpful.

Pabst beer steins
Beer Steins
Pabst Painting
Painting
Pabst painting enlarged area
Enlargement

In the "enlargement" you'll see a Pabst sign hanging on one of the buildings. In the lower left corner of the painting it says, "Courtesy Pabst Breweries."

Did Pabst have a presence at the Fair? If yes, where was it located?

Joe Simpson

By chance does anyone remember or have seen work signed by John Joseph Billings, an artist sculptor whose work was on display in the public access area during the 1939 World's Fair?

Thanks, Joe Simpson

If you have answers, contact me.

View the current list of questions. If you have a question email me and I will add it to the list.

The World's Fair Gift Shop

Visit the Gift Shop to purchase many items from the 1939 NY World's Fair.

Money raised from the sale of items goes towards maintaining the website.

New postcard additions:

All postcards are $6 ea. - FREE shipping in the U.S.

facebook

Join the World's Fair Community page on Facebook - Simply "Like" the page, while you are there, and why not add a post or a comment.

Lost on facebook?: Many people have posted on the 1939 New York World's Fair Community facebook page only to get lost on the left-side under "Posts to Page." If you want your post to be seen in the main section of the page, I need to make you an editor. Here's what you need to do:

  1. Send a "Friend Request" to my personal account (Paul M. Van Dort or TriviaWolf).
  2. Be sure to "Like" the 1939 New York World's Fair Community page.
  3. Send me a message to let me know you would like to be an Editor and I'll do the rest.

Links

Would you like a link on the World's Fair Website? Take a look at the links page to see how I am adding the links. Hover over the link name to reveal a descriptive panel, click the link to visit the site.

Contact me with the information that you want to appear. Links must be approved before they are added.


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