What's the Greatest World's Fair of All-Time?

And as it got darker and we were walking back, we ended up under the Unisphere, which is that giant globe from when the World's Fair took place in nineteen sixty four. Yeah, that's the thing out in Queens. I feel like you fly right over that whenever you're coming

into the LaGuardia, right. Uh, that's right. But as we were sitting there, you know, instead of just enjoying the moment, we immediately got our phones and started looking up the World's Fair to see what a debut there and uh, and it turns out that nine sixty four introduced the world to electric toothbrushes, computers that would match you to international pen pals, and for some reason do Pots answered this musical review called The Wonderful World of Chemistry, which

I'm sure raised off the Billboard charts. But the whole thing made me wonder, like why haven't we done an episode on the world Spare before? So like how did they start? When was there Heyday? And do they still exist? So that's what we're talking about today. Let's dive in hey their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend man guest shot Ticketer and on the other side of the soundproof glass double fisting a can of cherry

coke and a box of milk. It's actually kind of hard to watch because this is such a strange combo. But that's our friends and producer Tristan McNeil. And if you're under why Tristan chose that particular combo, it's because he's celebrating his very favorite World's fair. Honestly, Mango, I didn't know he had a favorite World's fair, but he's pretty passionate about this. That was, of course, the nineteen two fair in Knoxville, and that's when both cherry coke

and boxed milk made their public debuts. It was a banner year for beverages Mango. Well, you know what else debuted at the eighty two World's Fair The Sun Sphere, and it was the twenty six story tall tower. It had a big golden glass sphere at the top. It was actually the symbol of the fair that year, but Simpsons fans might remember it better as the Whigs Spheres.

So gave reminded me of this episode where Bart and his friends go on a road trip but they choose their destination from this like outdated triple A guide I think, And and they wind up at the fairgrounds decades after the event, and the whole places run down, but the caretaker offers the let them into the sun Sphere so that they can see quote sixteen thousand boxes of unsold wigs.

Act I do remember for this one, And if I recall correctly, they ended up with some pretty sharp looking wigs, if I'm not mistake, and that's you know, actually looked into this, and it turns out the Sun's fears now in much better shape than it was in that Simpsons episode I think it was, you know, back in two thousand seven. If I'm not mistaken, it was completely renovated and restored, and and the observation deck there is actually

open to the public again. So you know what's funny is that it's actually done much better than a bunch of other World's Fair exhibits, because, you know, while the symbols of some Worldfares have done really well for themselves, like if you think about like the Eiffel Tower or I guess the Seattle Space Needle, others have really fallen

into disrepair. In fact, there's a photographer named Jade Dosco, and she spent the last decade actually documenting all the abandoned sculptures and these icons from past Worldfares, and looking at our photos you can actually see that these are still these amazing surreal bits of history, and in a way, they're like looking at monuments to our old visions of

the future, which I find really fascinating. Yeah, it is kind of interesting how World Fairs were once this, you know, kind of like symbolic of our hopes for the future, and and it's reverse of that now, like we're mostly thinking of them in these nostalgic ways, kind of looking at them almost like time capsules, and you know, their significance is really kind of flipped at this point, and instead of being all about the future, they're really more

about these relics of the past. And I mean, obviously world's fairs in general have lost a lot of their luster over the years, but that's all going to change today, Mega, because we're we're gonna take this deep dive into the history of world's fairs, including how and why they started. And so we're gonna follow Tristan's lead and we're going to talk about a couple of our personal favorite fairs and and dip into some of the weird exhibits and

and new inventions that have debuted there. But all right, Mago, why don't we start with the basics. Do you mind just going back to the beginning and explaining what the World's fair is exactly. Yeah, So it's kind of weird to think about it this way, but a World's fare is basically an international trade show, but not one that's

restricted to any single industries. So if you were to attend one, you see lavish exhibits from all kinds of companies and organizations from around the globe, and they'd be showing off upcoming products, you know, new scientific advancements or just spitballing ideas for the future of agriculture or aviation or whatever. But compared to trade shows, worlds fars cast a much wider net in terms of appealing to the public. But the fairs do have some differences from trade shows. Like, uh,

world's fairs aren't just trying to be commercial. They're also these high minded adventures, you know, where they have all these aspirations for the world. Yeah. Like I've sometimes heard world fares compared to the Olympics kind of in that regard. I mean, they're both these world spanning events. They're meant to celebrate human achievement and camaraderie and I guess progress in a lot of ways. And at the same time

they highlight all the cool stuff from other cultures. Yeah, I mean, there's some other similarities to the Olympics, too, including the fact that neither than make a bunch of money. I mean, the companies at the fair would ideally make money in the long run, I guess from the visibility and marketing they get from the air. But for the most part, world s fares tend to lose money for the cities and countries that host them. In fact, you know that eight two Knoxville Fair we were talking about.

It was a rare exception in that it actually managed to turn a profit, but not much of a profit. It only I think earned fifty seven dollars in the in the long run, which has insane. But I mean the appeal of running a World's fair has a lot more to do with, I guess, the prestige and the potential to boost tourism and invest in fund structures, rather than actually making money off the event. So if if, if their money pits, Like how did world's fares take

off in the first place? So modern world s fair has really got to start in eighteen fifty one, and that's when Britain hosted the Great Exhibition to the Works of Industry of All Nations in London. That's what it was called. I feel like maybe that's not quite as catchy as World's Fair. I don't know about you. No, it's catchyer, I think, but it almost reminds me of like when they used to call the Super Bowl the

NFLFL World Championship Game. You like super Bowls so much catchier, Like why did they think that long title would work? But uh, you know, what's weird is we're we're pretty much the only country to call these events world's fairs. Great Britain describes there's as exhibitions, UM, most of Europe and Asia have opted to call him international expositions, and most other countries just referred to them as expos So while those names are interchangeable, it all amounts to the

same event and the end. Alright. So so how are these things organized? I mean, if they're all called by different names, is there not a single governing body that oversees these like you would find for something like the Olympics? So actually there is. It's called the Bureau of International Expositions the b i E, and it's a Paris based organization that's run all the shows since it was established in so they helped with the scheduling for the events. UM,

they set guidelines and responsibilities for the host cities. You know, it's things that the participants have to abide by. Actually I never knew that, but you said the first fair was in eighteen fifty one, So so who was in charge of all of this for those years before the b i E came along? Um. In the early days, the events were mostly government enterprises, so they were organized by the rulers of whoever was hosting. So if you think about England, London was actually where the first fair

was held. It was actually Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, who spearheaded the exhibition. He had actually spent some time abroad in his youth and the experience gave him the idea to host an event like this. And at the time, Parliament had actually warmed to the idea of free trade, so Albert had hoped that his exhibition would help boost the sales of British goods in other countries. Alright, so I'm curious what were the main draws to that very

first World's Fair. Well, sadly it didn't have a sun sphere or a whig sphere, but it did have its own showy architectural icon. It was called the Crystal Palace, and this is actually the building where the different exhibits were held. It was this enormous iron and glass structure designed by this greenhouse builder named Joseph Paxton, and his

design beat out a ton of other entries. In fact, it was such a hit with the public that Paxton was later knighted for his contribution but aside from that palace, the fair also boasted arts and crafts exhibits from different countries as well as you know, science displays. They had this boat race that eventually morphed into the America's Cup, which is pretty awesome. And in total, the various displays attracted to stunning six million visitors, which is right around

a third of Britain's population. Right, that's incredible. I mean, most recent World Spairs aren't very profitable, but that first one definitely was. Like Britain made so much money off the event that they established not one, but three national museums, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum, and the Natural History Museum. Holy cow. So I'm guessing it's that success that got all these other countries interested and getting

in on this expo action. Yeah, and and the US was the first one to line up and give it a try, though our first attempt wasn't that great. We actually copied the Crystal Palace exhibition and we built it in Bran Park in New York City, oh, right, where we used to work. And that's uh, that's interesting that there was actually a World's Fair there. I know, it's hard to believe. But despite the fact that they pretty much stuck to London's formula, New York's exhibition was way

less successful. In the end, the organizers lost so much money that the US didn't host another event like that for over twenty years. Yeah, you know, probably the earliest World's fair in the US. I remember hearing about I think would be the eight Expo in Chicago, and you know that's the one where the city was really looking

to celebrate reconstruction. This was following the Great Fire, so they went all out with the fairs design in the exhibits Like yeah, I think they got the same guy who designed Central Park that you know, Olmstead, of course, to lay out the grounds, and supposedly his work on the project was so impressive that L. Frank Baum later used it as inspiration for the Emerald City and The

Wizard of Oz. Yeah, I mean that fair sounded super fun for so many reasons, Like uh I I had read that Nicola Tesla and Thomas Edison were competing that with their own electric lighting exhibits, which would have been so fun to see. Um. Plus, a bunch of famous snacks came out that year, like juicy fruit gum cracker jacks, and you know you gotta braise yourself for this one cream of wheat. Cream of wheat. Now I hesitate to admit this, but actually, as a kid, I was a

big fan of cream of wheat. But it's a good snack. But as exciting as instant porridge must have been for those fair goers. I mean, we can probably agree that the real show stopper of that year was the debut of the world's first ferris wheel that was invented by this thirty three year old guy from Pittsburgh. It was

an engineer. His name was George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. Quite the name, but the wheel was two d and sixty four ft tall, could hold about sixty people at once, and the Ferris wheel was a huge success, not surprisingly. I mean, I can only imagine what this must have looked like to people, and thousands of people ponying up. I think it was fifty cents of peace to take this twenty minute ride on the new contraption. I mean, any minutes. Can you imagine being on one of these

things for that long? Was? It's pretty crazy? I mean that sounds torturous to be but to be fair, the public hadn't actually seen anything like that before. Even the European fairs to that point hadn't had these feature attractions that were just fun for fun's sake, like the ferris wheel. But the Chicago Fair changed all of that, and from then on, nearly every World's Fair has included a fund zone, dedicated rides and attractions that you might see it like

theme parks or amusement parks. And actually, we should just put a pin in that for now, because we'll get back to that theme park connection a little later. All right. Well, I do have to say that I kind of liked that America's first big contribution to these events was adding fun stuff like the rides and the games. I do only wish that that the games had brought in enough money to make the fair more sustainable, you know. Yeah,

so I was actually stunned by the numbers. There have been a little over a hundred Worlds Fairs held in over twenty countries since that first one in the mid nineteenth century, but their golden age ended quite a while ago once World War One hit. They never really regained their popularity, and I think that's because as fun as the fairs have become After the Ferris Will, entertainment gradually

got easier and easier to come by. In terms of transportation, you had stuff like highways and planes and high speed trains, all of which made it possible to travel to far away places rather than waiting for the world to come to you. And the kind of life changing futuristic gadgets that the fairs have become famous for showcasing like TV and radio changed all of that. Instead of that fuss and that expense of going to an expo hundreds of

miles away, you got that information brought right into your home. Yeah. I know, if you think about, you know, fast forwarding to today, we have the internet on top of everything else. So I guess there's also this attitude of, you know, like, why bother attending anything when you can get live updates on your phone or just watch these videos of of just the best bits you know of the fair online exactly.

And I want to make sure we circle back to this idea of world's fairs kind of going obsoletely because there's so much more to say about it, but for now, let's just revel in the nostalgia and and talk about some of our all time favorite expos. All right, that sounds fun. But before we get to it, let's take a quick break. You're listening to Part Time Genius and we're talking about the world's greatest World's Fairs. Okay, well, so we obviously haven't had the chance to attend one ourselves.

But based on everything you've heard and read, what would you say was your favorite World's Fair? Well, I mean, of course, it's tough to pick just one, because they all brought something strange or cool to the table. But just looking at this in terms of historical interest, I'd probably have to go with the nine World's Fair that

was held in New York. And you know, of course, what's unique about this one is that the planning for it really began at the height of the Great Depression, and the fair itself was opening at the tail end of that era, and it was really seen as a way to boost morale and sort of get the nation back to thinking positively about the future. And it was a coloss whole effort from everything from government agencies to corporations, all of these other smaller organizations from all over the world.

And it was such a big effort that when all these pavilions and exhibitions were finally finished. The project spanned over twelve hundred acres and queens and it was formerly an ash dump in that spot. In the total cost, just looking at this, it was over a hundred and sixty million dollars. I mean, first of all, acres just sounds like so much space, that's the sanity to me. But also that budget, like if you think about a hundred sixty million dollars, that's a crazy amount to spend,

especially during the depression. Oh absolutely. And you know, in fact, FDR gave the opening address at the fair and he described the country's participation as America having quote hitched her wagon to a star of goodwill. So there was a lot riding on the success of the World's Fair, and at least in terms of public reaction, it was a huge success. There were more than forty four million people

who attended the fair over this two season run. Of course, there were some very famous guests, including you know, visits from King George the sixth and Queen Elizabeth and they made a special presentation at the British Pavilion during that visit. That's pretty cool. Actually, I remember from when we were at Metal Flaws like, uh, FDR through a picnic for them when they came, and he served them hot dogs and it's the first time the King and Queen that's right,

which I love. But you know, considering the origins and that it started with Prince Albert, you'd almost expect like more royals to visit these things. Yeah, I think it happened from time to time, but the ninety nine fair was a special case because it didn't focus only on the current achievement of nations. Instead, the theme of the

thirty Fair was the world of tomorrow. So you know, this idea was to really highlight the possibilities of the future, or, as FDR put it, the hope that quote the years to come will break down the many barriers to intercourse between nations. I mean, that's actually kind of heartbreaking when you remember that World War Two was just around the

corner at that point. Yeah, the Fair in New York probably would have actually stuck around for a third season if things hadn't escalated so quickly in Europe at that time. I mean, you know, war was looming on the horizon, and the fair ended up closing earlier than some had hoped, and it ultimately left the event over budget as usual, but still most exhibitors and attendees would say that the fair was a resounding success. So what kind of exhibits

were people responding to so positively? Well, one of the

biggest raws was a GM exhibit. It was dubbed Futurama, and this was this expansive model of the city of the future, and and they were looking at the far flung year of nineteen sixties, so who knew what was going to happen then, And so you had things like skyscrapers and multi level highways and plenty of landing pads for helicopters and low flying planes, and guests would board this little train and take a fifteen minute tour through the model city, and honestly, the public went crazy for it.

There was something like twenty five million people actually had taken the ride by the time the fair closed. I mean, it's funny because like skyscrapers and highways, like none of that feels super future wristic, or like people are even using their imaginations. All that stuff obviously would come around and like the next twenty years, So where's this hankering for things? Like? Uh, I don't know, Jeff propelled sneakers

or robot butlers. I don't know about rockets shoes, but there was definitely one robot at the nineteen thirty nine fair. His name was Electro the Moto Man, and he was the main attraction of Westinghouse exhibition and according to reports, crowds routinely waited in these three hour lines for their chance to meet Electro. And really, if you, if you, if you look at the timing there, he's widely considered

to be one of the world's first recognizable robots. So this wasn't just a guy in a costumers something like. It actually performed robotic functions, Oh man, could it? Ever? So, just reading the list of the things it could do, I mean, first of all, actually, just to back up a little bit, this thing was seven ft tall, wait, two and fifty pounds, so even on just size alone, the crowds were probably dazzled by this thing. But so so,

here's what he was programmed to be able to do. Think, there were twenty six mechanical tricks for the audience to see. They included walking, talking, counting, blowing up balloons, and mango the biggest of all, even smoking a cigarette. So but not enjoying it. Elector actually came loaded with corny jokes to amuse your buddies, so it was pretty impressive to

see what he could do. But actually just looking at all the features, there was a record player embedded in his chest and it gave him access to a pretty impressive seven hundred word vocabulary, so the robot could carry on conversations with audience members, and these talks would include some low key insults like my brain is bigger than your brain, which was not only funny but probably maybe even a little unnerving for somebody back in nineteen thirty

nine if you think about it. I love the idea of this, like robot insulting you and then like taking upuff of a cigarette and then insulting you and taking up off his cigarette. But it sounds like the visitors weren't too put off by him, right, Like I mean they kept turning up to waiting these three hour long lines. I guess, right, yeah, and so and and and he wasn't the only feature there. I mean, Electro actually brought a friend when he returned for the second season, and

this was this robotic English terrier named Sparko. Sparko could bark, could sit, could beg just like a normal dog. And then when the fair eventually packed up shop in nineteen forty, they weren't done. Electro and Sparko took their show on the road, and I was look at this article found on history dot com, and here's what it had to

say about it. Quote. After spending World War Two in the company's basement and not contributing to the war effort, Electro and Sparko were dusted off and sent off to tour fairs, movie sets, and other spots around the country, where they continued to delight and inspired generations of children. I've got to admit I thought there was going to be pretty blend. But between this time machine ride and UH and a robot that smoked cigarettes, I've got to

say I think he won me over. Alright, Well, it was really hard to choose just one fair, and you know, even once you narrow it down, you're left with all kinds of weird exhibits like apparently there were slew of other quote unquote girly shows that year, including one called Living Magazine Covers. Visitors basically would pay a fee to enter and photograph these topless models posing in sets that

were built to look like magazine covers. I mean, I'm kind of surprised that I was allowed, especially you know, considering how many kids were probably running around. Well that's the thing, So that NYPD actually made a sweep of the fair in order to try and crack down on some of the more lewd attractions. So they get to the magazine exhibit, and I think many people expected it to be shut down, but they decided to give it a pass. And the reason was because they considered it art.

It was just art and mango. And it might sound like a win for the exhibits owner, whose named Jack Sheridan, but actually he wasn't happy about this because he worried that that art label would drive away his customers. So classy. But all right, now that you've had your say, it's my turn to talk about my favorite World's Fair. And to do that, we'll have to hop in our General Motors sponsored time machine and fast for it all the way to nineteen sixty four. All right, well, that sounds

great for the first Let's take one more quick break. Okay, Well, so I picked the nineteen sixty four World's Fair because it's probably the one I wish I most could have gone to And I know I'm not alone because it still gets reference today. All Right, we're gonna have to remind me why that is exactly. But just thinking back to the time to to kind of set the scene for where we were, I mean, that was a big year in general. You've got the Civil Rights Act past

that year, Muhammad Ali became the heavyweight champion. Of course, the Beatles were taking America by storm at that time. And yes, of course this this would have been a memorable year without this awesome World's Fair. But but remind me why it was such a big deal. Yeah, So obviously America I had a time going on, and maybe some of that swagger worked its way over to the World's Fair, because it's pretty impressive. So for starters, there was an exhibition where a guy flew around wearing a

jet pack. It was originally built for the U. S. Army, and apparently you could fly a distance of eight fifteen feet or go as fast as sixty miles per hour, and while the pilot didn't get too far like off the ground or go that fast. He was a star performer in the fairs Wonder World Musical, which you know, I guess there's nothing to sneeze at. Once you said jet pack, I was like, yeah, that's why a new Mango would pick the one with the jet pack. But

what about your robot Butler? Did the sixty four have one of those two? No, but if you asked me, you'd actually had something better. A robot Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln. That is so like the one at at Disneyland, right, don't they have a robot Abraham Lincoln. Yeah? So, so the strange thing is it is the one at Disneyland. So remember that theme park connection I mentioned earlier. So

it's not just roller coasters and ferris wheels that tame parks. O. The World's Fair is the entire concept of highly themed areas filled with different attractions. All of that's lifted from world's fairs. So one of the staples where a bunch of pavilions themed to represent different countries. And you know that's something you see reflected in adventure Land or I guess the World Showcase at Epcot. And you know what's funny is that Epcot was actually, uh that part was

intended to be kind of a permanent World's Fair. Plus we've got the whole tomorrow Land Park sections and that giant metal spirit at Epcot. Like even at first glance, it's obvious how much Disney was lifting from the World's Fairs. All right, well, what's the connection between Robot Abraham Lincoln

and Disney though? So Walt had actually been this lifelong fan of World's Fairs, so he was super excited when the sixty four exhibition was announced for New York and he wanted to be a part of it anyway he could. And in the end he got his wish. He he wounded up designing not just one, but four different attractions for the fair, and the focal point of all of them were robots or is Disney called them audio animatronics.

He debuted the technology a year earlier with these birds at his enchanted Tiki Room attraction at Disneyland, but it was at the sixty four World's Fair that this new form of animation really came into its own and the Lincoln figure from that Illinois pavilion that was one of the most ambitious robots the company had ever attempted. And why was that, Well, Robot Lincoln had all these complex hydraulic systems that had to be rigged up for his movements.

But also at that point, of robot had actually never been built with any convincing likeness of a real person, So making something that lifelike was really impressive. In fact, when when National Geographic took an early look at Disney's work in nineteen sixty three, they concluded that the animatronic

Lincoln was quote alarming in its realism. And when it premiered at the Fair, I mean, what's amazing is that there's a story of this five year old boy in the audience who freaked out and he looked up at his dad and shouted, uh, Daddy, I thought you said he was dead. I'd say that's a pretty real validation

right there. But but but in thinking about reproducing Lincoln, I would think this would be really difficult to pull off because if you think about what they would have had at that point, you know, they probably had a few old pictures, maybe a couple of portraits of Lincoln. But I would think that was about it, right, So

that's the really cool part. Apparently the real Lincoln allowed a sculpture to make a mask of his face just two months prior to his assassination, and that's what the Disney artists actually used to make their version as accurate as possible. Like that does just feel slow, unreal. But by the time the exhibit was copied and add to Disneyland a year later, it had been overhauled to make

it even more convincing. That's pretty cool, but I'm curious, So, so what were the other three attractions that Walt got involved in. It's a small world that that boat ride. You've got those robot children from around the world singing the same song for twelve long minutes, and that was actually part of the Units Pavilion. It was sponsored by Pepsi,

which I had no idea. Um there There was also the Carousel of Progress, which they made for the Ge Pavilion, and uh that was just basically a rotating theater that switched betwe mean scenes of robots acting out these domestic scenes. But it also showcased g products in the process. And lastly, and and probably best of all, there was the Magic Skyway and this was at the Ford Pavilion. I'm trying to remember this, but I don't think I've heard about this one, So what what was the deal with that?

So Ford was debuting this brand new sports car that year, the Mustang. I'm sure you've heard of it. I feel like I've heard that before. So to help sell the public on this new design, the company teamed up with Disney and they built this ride where fair goers would board motorless Mustang convertibles and then they just get pulled along this conveyor belt. I mean, that doesn't exactly sound exciting, but but if I had to guess, this is where

the robots come in, is that right? Exactly? So, the idea was that the writers will be sent on a trip back in time, all the way to the Jurassic Age, and they'd encounter intricate scenes of dinosaurs caring for the young or I guess squaring off for battle, all sorts of amazing things. I mean, Disney basically treated this Ford money as an excuse to make cool about dinosaurs, which

is awesome. But in the end everyone was happy, Like Walt was able to relocate these dinosaurs scenes to Disneyland and they were incorporated there into I guess part of the parks railroad and and uh Ford went on to sell four hundred thousand Mustangs in its first year, which was actually four times what they had expected. Yeah, that's a huge number and it's hard to argue with those results. But well, before we move on to any other sections or any other fairs, was there anything else you wanted

to mention about that sixty four fair? Yeah, there were a couple other highlights. So for instance, uh, I know, the fair hosted cream of wheat, which you know, I guess makes it more special. But in the sixties it was Belgian waffles time to shine and and technically the waffles had made their first state side appearance in the nineteen sixty two World's Fair. This was in Seattle, but

they didn't make much of a splash there. But a few years later, you know, fair goers just couldn't get enough of these Belgian waffles, and in fact, they were such a hit that waffle maker sales spiked all over the country, and as The New York Times reported in nineteen sixty five, quote, the Belgian waffles sold like hotcakes. Waffles sold like I feel like they're mixing their breakfast similes there, But they are The times so much better now. Yeah,

all right, Well what's next though? You said you've got one more right, Yeah, So you remember the b I E from earlier that's that organization that oversees the official world's fairs. They actually have all kinds of rules about who can host exhibitions and how often they're allowed to occur. So, for example, the current rule is that one large exposition can be held every five years and one smaller one

can be held in between. And another big rule is that only one event is allowed per country every ten years. But the US actually broke both of those rules in nineteen sixty four because Seattle had just hosted their own big exhibition, which was just two years earlier. And wait, so you're you're setting with sixty four one? Was what? Was it kind of like a rogue World's Fair? Yeah, it wasn't. And because the fair didn't get permission from b i E, some European countries refused to participate. I

mean they called it an unsanctioned event. And the countries that refused were pretty big countries like France, Britain, Italy. They all set it out. So what what did the organizers do to fill those spots that they just turn the companies or what did they do? Yeah? I mean that that was part of it. But the fair's rogue status actually had these unexpected benefits to both the US and to some lesser known nations. Here's how um this guy, Christopher Klein explained it in an article that he wrote

for History. Quote. Filling the gap at the fair were smaller geopolitical powers, ranging from Thailand to Honduras to Morocco. Fifteen African republics, some newly independent from European colonial powers,

also erected exhibits. The fair not only introduced tens of millions of Americans to the languages, history, and food of these more unfamiliar cultures, it also offered the first glimpse of the country's coming demographic shift that would be precipitated by the signing of the nineteen six Immigration Act, which opened the US two millions previously denied by national quotas

in the same month that the fair closed. Well, that's that's actually pretty incredible, and it's such a bummer to hear about what a force for good these cultural events were for our country, and especially knowing that we've sort of moved on from them. Like I was actually reading about how the attendance at the eighty four World's Fair in New Orleans was so low it actually became the first exposition to declare bankruptcy while it was still open was so strong that no other World's Fair has been

held here since then. In fact, after almost twenty years of sustained disinterest in hosting, the US actually withdrew from the b i E back in two thousand one. And so we we still contribute these exhibits from time to time, but the country no longer seems interested in taking a larger role in these events. Yeah. I mean, it's sad to think about, but but you know, just because the US has lost interest in World's Fair doesn't mean the rest of the world has. So a few people know this,

but World's Fair still take place regularly. There was a big one in Milan in two thousand fifteen, there was a smaller one last year in Kazakhstan. And there's another big one set for Dubai. Yeah, and I actually I read about it. There are still a few groups in the US who are trying to build support for different ones. Like there there's their support for a small expo that could be in Minneapolis and three or maybe for a

much larger expo in either San Francisco or Houston. And but you know, I kind of hope we get to see the World's Fair back in the U s sometime and you know, in the not too distant future. Yeah, fingers crossed. Actually, well, one of the things that they've done recently is kind of restricted the themes to things that aren't as widely popular. So I mean it's like

energy or conservation. But I think if they shift that back to I guess these more open themes of progress and technology in the future, you might get more on support for it. And I don't know, maybe there's a balance that could be struck between those two. I don't know what exactly what that would be, but maybe we can go back to your jet packs. That could be jet packs that run on canola oil or something like that. Is that seeing like a off the crowd? Yeah, I

think both futuristic things and environmental things. I'm for it. But while we're waiting for that, why don't we start the fact off. So here's one more awesome thing about the nineteen sixty four World's Fair. Do you know that Michelangelo's Pieta was exhibited there? No, So while Italy sat this out, the Vatican didn't, and they lent the sculpture to the fair. But and for good reason. There was

a ton of security around the exhibit. So not only was the artwork protected with plenty of guards, it also came and closed in bulletproof glass and visitors could only see it from a moving walkway which zoomed by a two miles per hour. All right, Well, we were talking earlier about that first Futurama exhibit that the GM put on, and it wasn't really that futuristic, you know, talked about

roads and helicopters. But in nineteen sixty four they decided to one up themselves and they put on this sequel Futurama too, and in this run they showed how lunar bases would just be a fact of life, and that we'd be using lasers to slice down trees, and seaweed farms would be farmed by these aqua coopters to feed the world, and and then of course, for some reason, a lot of weathermen would live at the South Pole, which weirdly actually feels like the most doable of all

the things that I just said. That's pretty amazing. So at the Worlds For in Chicago, people actually used it to make a statement, and some Scandinavians decided to protest Christopher Columbus and specifically his quote discovery of North America. And they did this by building this giant Viking ship and then sailing it and docking it in the Harvard during the fair. They really showed them art well. The San Francisco Expo in nineteen fifteen also sounded pretty cool.

So not only did the city work hard to rebuild itself just nine years after the massive earthquake there, but it featured thing was like a telephone line that went all the way to New York, so people on the East coast could hear the Pacific Ocean. And also for some reason, the Liberty Bell came on tour for it, which that was So that's been over a hundred years and that was actually the last time that the Bell has gone on the road. It's actually just been home

in Philadelphia ever since then. I love that the Liberty Bell opened for a telephone. I had yet this rock event. But if you're a foodie, the St. Louis Expo might be the one to focus on. So there are so many foods that have been on menus for a while, but they all really shined there, and they took on this larger American audience, and this included things like peanut butter hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream, cones, dr pepper cotton candy, iced tea, and my favorite, the banana split man. That's

a pretty good line up show. All those things are one of the things that gets overlooked at the world's fairs. Mango, it's the power of poet tree. So how you didn't see that coming, did you? I did not. We're gonna go back to the nineteen o one World's Fair and Buffalo, and at that fair, vendors popularized popcorn as a snack, and they did it by using this chance. I mean, tell me if this doesn't make you want to eat

some popcorn. Lovely eyes come shine and glitter by your girl a popcorn fritter you could see, I mean just just opening my wallet right now. Yeah. Yeah, But they sold a ton of popcorn. But that isn't all. So fruit sellers decided to get in on this rhyming action. Now, this happened three years later, in nineteen o four. I guess they had three years to work up something really, really good. And this was a Missouri fruit specialist. His name was J. T. Stinson and he coined the phrase

an apple a day keeps the doctor away. I've never heard it, We'll trust me. I think a few other people had. Well. I love that. I don't even think you like poetry that much. I decided to honor it in this big way today, so I feel like you today's trophy. I thought that might take it well. Thank you very much, and thank all of you guys for listening. If there's any great facts about world's fairs we have forgotten today, we would love to hear those from you.

You can always email us part Time Genius at how stuff Works dot com or call us on our seven fact hot line that's one eight four four pt Genius, or has always hit us up on Facebook or Twitter. But thanks so much for listening. Thanks again for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of How Stuff Works and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do the important things we couldn't even begin to understand. Tristan McNeil does the editing thing. Noel Brown made the theme

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