Friday, March 23, 2012

Seattle KCTS-9 Celebrates the 1962 World's Fair - Space Needle and Monorail

http://kcts9.org/when-seattle-invented-future-1962-worlds-fair?utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=When+Seattle+Invented+the+Future%3A+The+1962+World%27s+Fair&utm_content=ENEWS+2012%2F03%2F23+-+2012%2F03%2F29+US+and+Canada&utm_campaign=03%2F23%2F2012


When Seattle Invented the Future: The 1962 World's Fair (2012)

Stories from the Fair: Women of Century 21
  • SLIDESHOW

Stories from the Fair: Women of Century 21

A collage of historic photographs illustrating the many ways in which women helped shape the fair 
(Image courtesy of Century 21 Photographs, Washington State Archives, Puget Sound Regional Branch)
Learn More
Postcards from the Fair
  • INTERACTIVE MAP

Postcards from the Fair

Navigate the World's Fair postcard collection with an interactive map of the United States
View the Postcards

About the Documentary


  READ THE REVIEWS:
   The Seattle Times review:When Seattle 'invented' the future
   Crosscut.com: A documentary worthy of Seattle's shining moment

Songs from the 1962 Seattle World's Fair Archives

Title: Summer of '62
Recording used by permission
of Seafair-Bolo Records
Cover image courtesy of MOHAI
View Album Cover
Title: Meet Me in Seattle
Recording used by permission
of Seafair-Bolo Records
Cover image courtesy of MOHAI 
View Album Cover
Title: Invitation to the Fair
Recording used by permission 
of Seafair-Bolo Records
Cover image not available

Women of Century 21

Postcards from the 1962 World's Fair


Music by Art and Toni Mineo

The husband and wife team of musicians Art and Toni Mineo produced two albums for the World's Fair. Art Mineo's space-themed, 'Man in Space with Sounds,' was the music for the Bubbleator ride and Toni Mineo composed the music for 'Rhapsody 21.'

A World's Fair Digital Scrapbook

In 1962, Jane Morton (then Jane Smyth) was sixteen and living in Ness City, Kansas. As members of the local high school band, Morton and her classmates received a special invitation to represent their state at the Seattle World’s Fair.

Archival Footage: Century 21 Calling

Century 21 Calling was a commercial to promote the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle. Courtesy of archive.org

History Café: Director John Gordon Hill

The spring of 1962 was a pivotal time for the city of Seattle. The World's Fair gave us the Space Needle and the monorail and brought Elvis and John Glenn to Seattle. Filmmaker John Gordon Hill discusses KCTS 9's 1962 World's Fair documentary "When Seattle Invented the Future."

Comments

KEM
03/23/12
My father was the manager (director?) of the children's section of the Science Center during the fair. He worked from sometime in early spring (well before the fair started), and I know he was still working the day of the Columbus Day storm. He was also a teacher in Seattle Public Schools, so did "double duty" during much of that time.
I was 8 years old and turned 9 that July. My photo is in the original souvenir book, and reappeared in the recent Seattle MET magazine recounting the history of the fair. (...I must say I let out a small shriek in the grocery store when I idly opened that issue and found myself looking AT myself!)
There was a time, years later, when it seemed that he may have been an assistant director of the entire Science Center. That is very unclear to me, and may or may not have been true ~ I have not been able to find out.
I have many memories of the fair, as I was there fairly often. My Bluebird group sang on the flag plaza for some part of the opening ceremonies. Some of my friends were also photographed for the souvenir book on that day in early spring (when my father very suddenly called my mother and said there would be photographers there later that SAME day, and could she possibly round up some children willing to be photographed?? ~ She did.)
At any rate, I was inordinately proud of my father, proud of Seattle, proud to be alive, and excited about the wonderful future ahead of us all in "Century 21"!!
Janice Crosetti
03/23/12
My Aunt Carol worked in the Space Needle gift shop during the fair. I was so proud of her!
Pat Hayenga
03/23/12
My brother won a trip to the World's Fair for being a top paperboy in his district. And of course, Elvis was there!!!!!!!!
Barb R
03/23/12
My Dad helped make the original huge 6x24" post cards with the photo of the Space Needle against the blue sky. My mom still has a few.
Bonnie
03/01/12
I was 9 yrs old when my parents packed my 3 older sisters and me into our station wagon for the 2+ hour ride from Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island to Seattle. It was a trip we didn't make very often and I was excited beyond belief. I'd never been to Disneyland and what little I had seen in the newspaper about what would be at the World's Fair really peaked my interest, even being so young.
My most vivid memories are riding on the Bubbelator and going through the Home of the Future, having lunch up in the Space Needle, which was a HUGE splurge for my parents, and getting separated briefly from my parents in the Science Pavilion. I'd never seen crowds of people like that before and the overwhelming panic I felt when I was pushed along with the crowd going down the stairs, away from my mother's hand, still sticks with me today! I still cannot stand being lost.
It was a most thrilling and terrifying day all in one! Everything I saw at the 1962 World's Fair made me very hopeful about the future. At that time schoolkids were still having to kneel in the hallways or hide under desks with our hands over our heads in the event of a nuclear attack. The 1962 World's Fair made all things good seem possible and I felt proud that Seattle was at the center of it.
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