The wondrous future was now at the 1939 World Fair | World Fair 

My Uncle Seymour is one of the people featured in this film. He is the photography/you tube buff. One of the black & white pictures they show is of me as a baby. 😀 My uncle passed at 92 in May 2019. He was soooo happy to participate in this project. Thank you to the film makers for including him and for giving me happy, lasting memories of my dear, beloved uncle, who I loved very, very much.

Very EXCELLENT Video - I am 90 - Grew up in Jackson Heights - went to the fair with my father - Got Stuck on the Parachute - That was an adventure - 16mm was a big deal - 8mm was a deal - I was a Designer in the 64 world fair - Industrial Designer - Did The Tower Of light mechanical figure Displays and Belgian Waffle Display and others - You had a Wonderful Life - God Bless You and Family

This is a beautiful film. I attended the Fair in 1964 and was very surprised to find out that the major exhibits in 1939 had been done by the very same companies. The people I met in my youth who had been at the 1939 fair shared the feeling of exhilaration and astonishment presented in this video.

The future sure looked better in the past.

In our family archives is a handful of black & white snapshots from the 1939 World's Fair when my parents, then newlyweds, visited it from Colorado. They bought a little souvenir, a metal sculpture of the "Trylon & Perisphere," which still sits on my shelf of treasured heirlooms.

I really felt like I was sitting by the fire listening to my Grandfather telling me a story. Just wide-eyed and hoping the story never ended.

"this is my HP camera...2 megapixels..." :D this video is a multidimensional time-capsule.

all that footage that Ephriam has all needs to be uploaded somehow so it dosen't get lost,and we can all enjoy.

I love all of the people interviewed here! They all convey their memories with such fondness. I hope that they’ve all had wonderful lives in the decades since. There was a life-sized brass bald eagle at the ‘39 Fair that had formerly been on a Nazi swastica. Hitler donated it to the 1939 World Fair. After the Fair it ended up on top of my school’s flagpole. I always used to look up at it and marvel at the history it had seen.

The ones who took film of the fair were ahead of their time. There are so many events I wish I had filmed when I was younger.

This film is a treasure.

The big sphere was the idea of the Hayden Planetarium that was opened in the AMNH 60 years later.

Beautiful film! So nice seeing them remembering and giving us their perspective from back then.

My mother was 10 when her uncle took her to the fair. She shared colorful and detailed memories with me, many of which appear in your video. Thank You

My grandpa gave me a set with a pickle pin and a ketchup bottle pin from the fair.

This was masterfully done, and with such regard & respect.

I was 8 years old when my parents took me to the 1939 world's fair. When my father didn't see a German building. , he predicted World War II.

This was absolutely amazing! I'm actually reading and audiobook which is a memoir of a gentleman who fought at Iwo Jima. As a young boy he tells the story (in this case I tell the story which is very awesome) of his trip to the 1939 world's fair with his two brothers and his father. This was a real nice bookend to all the research I've been doing :-)

In 1967 the World Fair was in Montreal, I lived an hour away and I was 9, it changed my life. There I began learning about the world, and I never lost the appetite.

I attended the fair as a four year old in 1940. In looking at this wonderful remembrance I was startled by the "Hobby Lobby" at 10:45!

As these dear people remenisce, you just know that they are reliving the moment in their heads. Wonderful.

This was a great Documentary!! Thank you so much!

This really deserves more attention! Loved it.. thanks

Over forty years later when I used to cut class in 5th and 6th grade and get on the 7 train straight to Willet's Point for Flushing Park, I would walk around the whole entire park as if it belonged to me and only me. No one else would be there during the weekday in the day time, except for park workers. I would walk around pretending the entire park was my estate and the park workers were my personal garden attendants of my own grand purlieu outside the city limits of Corona. I would even make gestures to them as if I was keeping my eye on them and snap my fingers ordering them to get back to work. I would then put my walkman headphones back on and continue listening to The Great Adventures of Slick Rick album surveying all of my property. I know Flushing Park like the back of my hand. And its incredible how none of those 1939 World Fair structures are there any more. The work it must of took to take them all down, is almost unimaginable to me. Today, I welcome everyone and their family and friends to come and sojourn my grandiose estate, Flushing Park. I highly recommend the savory Oaxacan Cheese Empanadas. They are absolutely scrumptious.

Deeply moving.

This video is indescribably wonderful. Thank you for doing this.

To think that these times are the closest we’ve come to having a depression again. Very interesting doc.

Dude spends the first 2 minutes roasting his grandmother and the founding fathers. Incredible.

I have a big appreciation of people who are willing to share their memories. We really do need our elderly. I wish today's younger generation would be more respectful to the old. Dumb politics has made old people the enemy in their eyes.

The guy describing his wife’s hat made me laugh so much

Thank you for this short film.

The best American world's fairs were: New York 1939, Chicago 1933, Chicago 1893, St. Louis 1904, and San Francisco 1915.

Very beautiful. The Fair has always entranced me, ever since I was little. If i had a time machine, this is the first place I'd go.

This is amazing. I went to the 1982 world’s fair expecting something like this. I was seriously disappointed.

Wonderful. A truly moving and evocative documentary. Thanks to all involved.

I'm 74 and a group of us kids in Newark NJ took the trains to the 1964-65 World's Fair . Greatest fun ! Went home at night and never a fear on the trains! When people were still civil ! How far down we as a society have come . I'm embarrassed at the newer generation !

I went to the 1964 World's Fair in NYC. It was quite a sight for 13-year old eyes. My mom went to the one in 1934 in Chicago. She told me a lot of stories about that occasion. At the displays by various nations they will show you what they are doing, inventions, all kinds of stuff that are really futuristic. It you get the opportunity to go to a World's Fair you should do it. You won't be disappointed.

THANKS FOR SHARING THE TREASURE!

Thanks for making that!

3:10 - I'm glad he bought 400 FT. of color film. These videos are neat.

We just finished restoring a 1939 NYC worlds fair Briar Pipe

Is there an archival dump of all of that color film? Definitely amazing footage that needs to be accessible assuming all of it was restored for this short video.

thank you for sharing this footage! Beautiful video esp. in color.

I'm wondering how many people need to work over there to build hundreds of buildings only for the fair and after that destroying them?

Priceless, people should watch this, just to study how to be a decent human being

I was not around at the time of the 1939-40 fairs...yes FAIRS...as we had one out here in San Francisco..."Treasure Island"! Being born in 1943, I missed these wonderful exhibitions. My mom, dad and grandparents attended our fair...and it was as beautiful as the NYWF. The optimism then...killed off by war and greed...which still rules the world of 2020!

Such a fantastic video ! What a joy listening to these people reliving their World Fair memories. 🥰

I LOVE THE 1939 NEW YORK WORLD’S FAIR!!! Even though I’m far more of a 1964 New York World’s Fair fan.

thank you.

Lovely film! Enjoyed the reminiscences so much.

I was born 8 years after, but somehow this puts me THERE much more than anything from the Hollywood film industry of that era. Always imagine that the world before my time was in black & white, and this video helps me correct that. Much like the first time we see the jump into colour in The Wizard of Oz or Pleasantville. And this brain jump is also what the former fairgoers describe so well. When I hear them speak, with that special accent from the neighborhoods around the fair site, am swept back to the times I first set foot in NYC. I think of the people who worked and travelled through LaGuardia Airport, those who good-naturedly told me that I was the one with the accent. Everyone sharp as a tack and so full of wit. At the time I knew beans about Jewish American culture and the great impact it has had on North American society. In a way, Flushing Meadow really was a centre of the Melting Pot. That can be seen by the mix of dancers on the outdoor dance floor. Thank you so much to all those who participated in putting this wondrous work together, and thank the Lord I stumbled upon it.

These films are passing the test of time.

5:57 omg king kandy (aka turbo)from Wreck it Ralph

I love this thank you so much

Less than two minutes in and he dragged his grandmother across the country, Jesus Christ 🤣🤣

nice doc but i wat to see more of the actual fair and not just personal anecdotes.

beautifully done

Before Disneyland/world (and even before a short time in the 80s Heritage USA) you had the World's Fair. I'll tell ya I rather go to one of the World's Fair any day than that Disney crap! But too many years too late. Pitty. The world we live in now...Cringe!

simply great. love it

I love this documental, but didn’t show much of the fair

DIDN'T GET THE PICKLE!

I'm flabbergasted that Ephraim was 99 in this video, he didn't look a day over 80!

Whoa, did you say a class of 50 people. What, not enough teachers ?

The fair look like the future but not the future. It weird to think about it

Look how well dressed everybody was

I wasnt even thought of in '39. But listening to these folks, one has to think what went thorough these peoples minds when war broke out. They could've thought "Wow, everybody gets together and has a good time. Now I hear Germans are rounding up Jews in Belgium." "I was in the Belgium exhibit, why is this happening?"

There is a hone in the town I live in from this world's fair. From house plans bought from 1939 fair.

You mean AM radio? Because FM radio wasn't invented yet in 1939'

Yes, in the past even the future was better.....

I have 8mm film from my great grandfather opening day.

The future is not what it used to be

At least Cambridge voted intelligently...

My god, the future, the Gernsback Continuum was right

This looks just like Tijuana mexico , google it , the city

That might be the first GGILF Ive seen in the wild. Me likey

I think the human race is de- evolving instead of evolving. I've been here over 60 years and that's my observation.

ANALOG FILM BaBY !!!

Too much interviewing of elderly people, not enough of the fair.

yeah these world Fairs built these billion-dollar opulent buildings while everyone in society was suffering and dying. Something doesn't add up here.....

And here we are complaining about everything. And these people had to give so much due to the depression no candies no toys. And they were happy we should be ashamed of our self.for crying we dont have or that.these people maybe only had a 1 meal.we need to give THE LORD thanks that at least we have a roof meal we dont have to be out there on food lines.So lets all ben our kness and give praise to THE LORD.so tonite as we lay down to sleep kets all give the thanks for what we had today cause tomorrow we dont know what we are going to wake up to.

Design by important architects? C'mon... these buildings were there before you existed. We simply inherited this land from an older civilization.

The area of the two worlds fair in Queens NY today is garbage , You would not want to be there.....