# Talk:1939 New York World's Fair

The Wikisource link doesn't point toward anything.--Pharos 22:59, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

The "father of public relations", Edward Bernays played a large role in the planning of the 1939 World's Fair. He was employed by many corporations and the idea was to present a view of the future of America as being a consumerist democracy. This is mentioned in part four of the documentary series, The Century of the Self entitled, "Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering" and Bernays' role in shaping modern politics and marketing is the focus of earlier programmes. Proof Reader (talk) 01:08, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

reqphotoin|New York
http://www.airportjournals.com/Photos/0507/X/0507020_1.jpg was linked into an X-Files article recently, but if there's something like it available under fair use/free use, it'd be better off here. -- nae'blis (talk) 16:50, 3 February 2006 (UTC)
reqphotoin|1939

Lots of truly PD photos available from Library of Congress.  —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Caltrop (talk • contribs) .

I think this comment is overly POV and have replaced it with a NPOV characterization.

1939: The Lost World of the Fair by David Gelernter is a sui generis blend of essay and fiction. It is a politically conservative tract which yearns for the days when authorities had authority and Robert Moses knew best. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Caltrop (talk • contribs) .

Statements such as "At night, with the latest in lighting technology switched on, the effect was magical." is POV, and has no place in the article. Please clean the article and present a neutral POV.

The quoted statement was probably from some pavillion marketing brochure from the Fair, or possibly from Fair marketing materials themselves.  However, it also would have been a pretty typcial statement by a visitor of the time.  As such, it is a neutral point of view of the time.  The fact that current readers and TV watchers can not imagine a time where people had attitudes that differ from their own current attitudes does not mean that such times did not exist.  Reading the literature of the day with a sufficiently open mind to believe that even a little of it was written truthfully, or talking to any of the few remaining people that were alive then should make it a bit more obvious that people had rather different ideas back then.Loren.wilton (talk) 21:06, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
I'm not entirely satisfied with the result here- it's kind of ghetto- an unattributed quote was very slightly rephrased into a description given as the point of view of "many people."  Unfortunately, the quote can't be found on Google or google books (except where derived from this page), so we can't correctly attribute it.  Perhaps the thing to do is rewrite this objectively, saying something like "The high tech lighting was an impressive spectacle."  Or if somebody has that book by Dietrich Neumann on architectural lighting, maybe we could make some comparisons.  I'll wait for comments before I do it.Fixifex (talk) 18:19, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

wasn't the Towers also shown and part of the Story in the Film Men in Black also? -- Hartmann Schedel (talk) 13:00, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

ok, maybe not if nobody seems to be interested -- Hartmann Schedel  Prost  18:14, 15 April 2010 (UTC)
is there a special reason why the hint "Man in Black" is totally ignored now since 2 years? Even if I'm wrong (which could be possible) than someone may is so polite telling me this? thanks in advice -- Hartmann Schedel cheers 21:24, 6 September 2010 (UTC)
I think you mean the observation towers from the latter 1964 New York World's Fair. 75.41.110.200 (talk) 01:04, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

The article states, 'One poster from that year's fair, issued by Borden's Milk had Elmer the Cow proclaiming "makes you proud to be an American".'  I think the appropriate bovine is Elsie, not Elmer.  Elmer is not a cow, but is in fact a bull, the "husband" of Elsie.  Also, I don't think Elmer existed as a character until after the fair. Can someone say for sure?  Please see:  Elmer's web site: [1]. Waynersampson69 (talk) 07:05, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

I am reading the 2010 novel Twilight At The World of Tomorrow by James Mauro which is providing a very informative account of the events of the 1939 world's fair.  If anyone has the book etc. and we can incorporate the information in here someone it would be appreciated.--Cooly123 00:55, 16 November 2010 (UTC)
The Photos in this novel would be great to add to (they are reputable too many are from the New York City Public Library).  --Cooly123 17:11, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

I have added a new section describing the official archives of the 1939 New York World's Fair at the New York Public Library. They now have made a wealth of material available online, including additional new illustrated commentaries written by 21st century writers.  Some of this material is ideal for providing high-quality references for the Wikipedia article.  Reify-tech (talk) 02:34, 16 March 2014 (UTC)

Reify-tech Thanks for sharing this. I especially liked New York World's Fair 1939 and 1940 Incorporated Records for its listing consumer issues.  Blue Rasberry (talk) 14:13, 31 October 2014 (UTC)

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I believe that I found source for this in the New York Times based on the title, but it is behind a paywall and I do not have subscription to view the full archived article. If someone with a subscription could verify this and add the reference, that would great. Here is the article: https://www.nytimes.com/1939/05/01/archives/cosmic-rays-start-brilliant-display-ten-of-them-snatched-out-of.html
Klyster7 (talk) 22:46, 3 November 2018 (UTC)

the Picture of soviet pavilon at night is put under the polish pavilon section in the article 83.5.184.121 (talk) 18:29, 21 July 2023 (UTC)

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company had as one of their displays, a diorama showing and promoting their newest real estate investment, a breathtaking "city within a city" utilizing new building techniques and brilliantly developed green spaces in a new apartment complex called "Parkchester", located in the southeast Bronx.  Seen by 1,000's of World Fair visitors, it was exactly what was needed to compel New Yorkers, searching for viable NYC living quarters for a reasonable sum of money, to sign up and move from all corners of the metropolitan area, thus becoming a resident of the only borough in NYC attached to the North American continent.  Factoid:  The other four boroughs are on islands. 2600:1700:3C90:4510:AC7C:C774:B325:3A32 (talk) 23:56, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

This review is transcluded from Talk:1939 New York World's Fair/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Nominator: Epicgenius (talk · contribs) 17:46, 27 September 2024 (UTC)
Reviewer: Xarinu (talk · contribs) 04:46, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Hello @Epicgenius: I'll be reviewing this article as part of the January 2025 GAN Drive. (I might be a little late to respond, just so you know.)

@Epicgenius: First off:


### Deprecated Link
I only found one URL that didn't go where it was intended to go, this one, connected to this cite right here. Please archive it ASAP.


### Concerns with plagiarism
The following excerpt from the Consumer Products section appears to have been copied from this website: "...included Vermeer's painting The Milkmaid from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, a streamlined pencil sharpener, a diner (still in operation as the White Mana in Jersey City, New Jersey), a futuristic car-based city by General Motors, and..." other sections have been highlighted by Earwig's Copyvio, but are either coincidences/quotes or appear to be paraphrased text. Please remove the above section, or rephrase it.


### Length
The amount of mean words per article on the English Wikipedia is 460. This article is comprised of ~10,588. As explained in WP:CANYOUREADTHIS, at about 10,000 words on a single Wikipedia page, it would be more beneficial to move sections to other pages or trim sections down, for the sake of the average reader's attention span.
7,500-8,000 words is generally considered the upper limit before trimming should be done according to WP:SIZERULE, so I'd suggest cutting the article down to around 6,500-7,000 words before continuing review. I will be putting this article on hold for 7 days, to allow time for editing. When you feel that you've adequately addressed the concerns with article length, ping me, and I will take the article off of hold.
Some sections (i.e. intro of? Development) are rather short and probably couldn't be made more concise, while "May to October" and "1940 Season" both exceed 700 words. Below is a list of the names of sections I'd recommend you edit down:
Need Trimming:

1936 and 1937
May to October
1940 Season
Zones
Less Necessary, but could still use a trim:

1938 and 1939
Off-Season
Landscape Features
Transportation
Visual Art and Sculpture
Site and Structures
Foreign exhibits and staff
Reception
Economic and regional influence
When I receive your ping, I will post my full assessment of the article. If you have questions/comments/concerns, please ping me & send me a message here! If you need more than 7 days to shorten the article, I can either extend the onhold time or post the assessment & fail it, giving you plenty of time to work on the article either way. (With the latter, you will be more than welcome to resubmit this article afterwards!)
🪐 Xarinu 🪐 (Talk 2 Me :] ) 21:20, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

@Xarinu, thanks for taking up the review. Good point regarding the article's size - it is quite lengthy, though this is in some part because of the large cultural influence that the fair had. I've condensed this article to about 8,000 words, around the threshold where WP:SIZERULE says that an article "may need to be divided or trimmed". Please let me know if there are other details in particular that you think can be trimmed.I've also rephrased the problematic text you mentioned above. – Epicgenius (talk) 22:47, 3 January 2025 (UTC)
@Epicgenius: thanks for your prompt response! (And I apologize for my lack thereof.) I agree with you, ~8,500 ~8,000 words should be fine for an article of this level of cultural signifigance, so I will put this article back on review.I'm almost done with initial passes on this article, but it will probably be at least another day before I have finished compiling and double-checking my work thus far, so apologies for that. I will ping you when ready with an initial review.Cheers,🪐 Xarinu 🪐 (Talk 2 Me :] ) 06:57, 4 January 2025 (UTC)
@Epicgenius: Apologies for my lateness, a computer crash reverted a good deal of my work. This is the initial review of your article, where it is compared against the six Good Article criteria.


### Accurate & Verifiable
With the problematic sentence removed, this article is now free of copyright violations.
Every single citation I checked verified the text it was placed on to a sufficient degree! 
Cite Spot-Check
[62] [11] [230] [9] [372] [476] [226] [105] [348] [132] [58] [389]-(b) [287]-(a) [65] [152] [208] [401]-(a) [111] [131] [180]-(b) [245] [129] [393] [218] [93]-(a) – Good


### Well-Written
Overall, this article contains mostly clean and neat prose, though there are some sections that contain small punctuation errors or bits that could be revised. Please read the summary located at the bottom of this post for instructions (if needed).  
Reference MOS:PUNCTUATION for punctuation-related suggestions.
Please feel free to challenge my suggestions (if you do so, please note as such below applicable points.)
Intro/Lead/Lede
Good, except for:

"indirectly influenced Queens's further development." – Per MOS:PLURALNOUN, "Queens's" should be "Queens' ".

Development

"in 1853–1854; the city did not host" – I would change the semicolon to a period.
"Joseph Shadgen had come up with the idea with the World's Fair" – Replace the second "with" with "for".
"Joseph Shadgen had come up with" – Change to "Joseph Shadgen came up with".
"for the fair that October. and the New York World's Fair" – Replace the period with a comma.
"January 1936, allowing" – Change to "January 1936, which allowed".
"ash mounds; excavating Meadow and Willow lakes; and" – Replace the semicolons with commas.
"The International Convention Bureau endorsed the 1939 World's Fair, allowing the bureau's 21 member countries to host exhibits there, and Lehman also invited the governors of other U.S. states." – Try breaking this sentence into two.
"in January 1938; by then, Whalen was" – Replace the semicolon with a period.
I have done all of these. Epicgenius (talk) 00:48, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
Operation

"promoted 17 other publications about the fair" – This reads a little awkwardly, perhaps change it to "17 publications' stories about the fair" or similar.
"in February 1939; which were" – Change the semicolon to a comma.
"president Stanley M. Isaacs had wanted" – Add commas before and after the name ("president, Stanley M. Isaacs,".)
"at the fair, and, due to" – Remove the comma after "and".
"well as "bargain books" with food" – Add a comma after "'bargain books'".
"By mid-August the WFC" – Add a comma after "mid-August".
"for safekeeping, and the" Remove the comma.
"concessionaires increased ticket prices; the fair's" – I would replace the semicolon with a comma or a period.
"In large part due to inclement weather, some concessionaires considered closing their attractions by that August, and attendance" – I recommend rewording to: "their attractions that August(/by that August). Attendance..."
I have done all of these. Epicgenius (talk) 00:48, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

Fairground

"the 1939 season and 13" – Add a comma after "season".
"donated a million tulip bulbs" – I would recommend, per MOS:NUMERAL, changing "a million" to "1 million".
"Some streets in were named after" – Could fix this in a few different ways - simply remove the "in", or change to something like "Some streets in the fairground".
"private companies; government exhibits; and" – Recommend replacing semicolons with commas.
"by the WFC; the" – The semicolon can be replaced with a period.
"and Max Abramovitz and consisted" – Add a comma after the name.
"and sphere." – Is there a better (more detailed) way to describe the perisphere?
Whoops, I accidentally deleted its dimensions. I've added them back. Epicgenius (talk) 00:48, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
"There were two focal exhibits that were" – This feels a little awkward as an introduction - maybe rephrase to "Two of the focal exhibits were" or similar.
I have done all of these. Epicgenius (talk) 00:48, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

Culture

"multiple color scheme." – Replace "scheme" with "schemes".
"At the Masterpieces of Art building were hundreds of rare paintings; during the 1940 season, even more paintings were shown." – Rephrase to: "At the Masterpieces of Art building, there were hundreds of rare paintings. During the 1940 season, even more paintings were shown." Or similar.
"Organ Company, along with nylon, cellophane, and Lucite." – Consider splitting the sentence after "Organ Company" (i.e. "...Organ Company. Newly synthesized polymers nylon and lucite were also displayed, along with the relatively recent invention cellophane." or similar.)
"For the 1939 season, there were at least 40 restaurants" – Rephrase the opening to this section.
I have done all of these. Epicgenius (talk) 00:48, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

Aftermath

"demolished, and workers were" – Consider removing the comma.
"before again reverting to park use in 1967." – Use parallel structure - "before reverting to using the(/"park use in") park again in 1967."
I changed this to "The site hosted the 1964 New York World's Fair before it again became a park in 1967." Epicgenius (talk) 00:48, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
"Polish Government in exile" – I think it was normally known as the "Polish government-in-exile (hyphens)".
"cost (later revised to 39.2%)." – Remove parentheses, add a comma after "cost."
I have done all of these. Epicgenius (talk) 00:48, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

Impact

Reorganize intro to Reception - e.x. "The Washington Post wrote in 1936, while the fair was still being developed, that the fair would give New York City a permanent public park," or similar.
"while the 'visitors" – Remove "the".
"said the event 'will still" – Add "that", move back start of citation ("said that the event will 'still'") or similar.
"fair' even" – Add a comma after the quote (fair').
"Exposition) would" – Add a comma after the parentheses.
I rephrased this to eliminate the parentheses. Epicgenius (talk) 00:48, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
"million visitors who" – Add a comma after "visitors".
"with Queens's further development." Same as top, should be "Queens' ".
"to New York Public Library." – To the New York Public Library.
"1930s, wile" – While.
"the fair. These include" – Try rephrasing to "This memorabilia/ephemera/These souvenirs include..."
I have done all of the above, except where otherwise indicated. Epicgenius (talk) 00:48, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
"Heller, amd Seymour" – Remove "amd".
I changed this to "and", which I had intended to write but misspelled. Epicgenius (talk) 00:48, 9 January 2025 (UTC)


### Broad
As previously discussed, this article is quite broad. The length of the article is not now a problem, however - I find that every section and subsection mostly contains only necessary detail. 


### Neutral
I have not found significant editorial bias in this article; opinions are stated without preference and the tone of the prose is kept professional throughout. 


### Stable
This article is stable. It complies with WP:BATTLEGROUND and the edit warring policy. 


### Illustrated
Images are relevant, on-topic, and tagged appropriately with "public domain"/"CC BY-SA 2.0"/"no restrictions". 


### Review Summary
This article easily passes five of the six criteria, of course requiring some revising before passing the "well-written" barrier. Just address every point raised, I'll do a last pass-over of the article and bring up anything else that needs to be addressed, and we can move on to passing the article!
🪐 Xarinu 🪐 (Talk 2 Me :] ) 09:59, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

@Xarinu: Thanks again for the review. I've now addressed all the issues you've raised above. Epicgenius (talk) 00:48, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
@Epicgenius: This article looks great! I'm going to give it a Y pass.  This was a fascinating article, very thorough and well-sourced. I quite enjoyed reading it, and wish you congratulations on your new GA! (The bot may take a moment to add the GA icon to the article's front page.) 🪐 Xarinu 🪐 (Talk 2 Me :] ) 01:32, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

The fair started in April 1939, and World War II broke out in September 1939. The article barely mentions the backdrop and consequences for the fair, it's a big part of the historical context. For example there were many workers who came from Europe and were unable/unwilling to return home, including Polish and French Jews. But there was also the larger cultural aspect of a world fair which is a celebration of unity vs. a period of war and division, it must have been surreal.    -- GreenC 02:24, 24 September 2025 (UTC)