While still at NYU, Rubin got a job selling hot dogs and beer at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Every day he spent his lunch break at the Johnson's Wax Pavilion watching a 20-minute movie, "To Be Alive!" by Francis Thompson, about the commonalities of growing up in cultures across the U.S., Europe, Africa and Asia. It was viewed on three separate 18-foot screens, and a single-screen version won the Oscar for documentary (short subject). At the end, the narrator states, “Simply to be alive is a great joy.” This inspired Rubin, who said he “wanted to bring that feeling into the world somehow — that it’s wonderful to be alive.”