The World of Tomorrow

I'd like to close out this short series about the New York Worlds Fair by taking a trip backwards in time to the 1939-40 Fair. My father remembers visiting that fair, which was also located in Flushing Meadows. Highlights included the iconic symbols, Trylon and Perisphere. There have been quite a few documentary films about this fair, but the best one (in my humble opinion) is The World of Tomorrow. This film was first broadcast on PBS (WNET in New York) on November 22, 1984.

Here is the description from TV Guide:

The year 1939 was a good time for dreaming. In "The Wizard of Oz," Dorothy escaped her dreary Kansas existence and found herself "somewhere over a Technicolor rainbow." And millions of other Americans visited the New York World's Fair to glimpse a future of peace and prosperity "that was visible for just a moment between the Depression and the war."

Jason Robards narrates this 1984 documentary...which uses archival footage and stills to juxtapose the Fair's rosy predictions with the dark realities of the time. The film covers the exposition from conception through construction, and tours the major attractions, including General Motors' "Futurama."

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6