BBQ Productions, NYC

In 1939, an ash dump in Flushing Meadows, Queens, NY, was transformed into the site of a World’s Fair that thrilled visitors with images of “The World of Tomorrow” -- a bright future filled with post-Depression wonders. Twenty-five years later, a group of top business and political leaders of the day resuscitated the abandoned site for a reprise of the event which would hold a unique place in history. The memorable spectacle was the 1964/65 New York World’s Fair, a realization of the promises of 1939 as well as an unwitting monument to changing times.By the 1964 Fair’s opening, the assassination of President Kennedy and widespread civil unrest had jarred the nation. The feeling that the future was no longer tomorrow but was happening today left the 1964/65 New York World’s Fair with an overriding feeling of commercialism. Its theme, “Peace Through Understanding,” for some never materialized. But the magic of World’s Fairs was in their ability to make possible what had never been done. The people who conceived, built and worked these spectacular events overcame enormous obstacles through devotion and will, and left behind indelible memories.Filmmakers Terri Marlowe and Curtis Cates have explored one of the last of these great expositions in a 90 minute documentary, Peace Through Understanding: The 1964/65 New York World’s Fair. The film, interweaves recollections of numerous participants with archival footage, photos and period music for a behind-the-scenes and historical account of the event and its turbulent backdrop.Through interviews with people who were involved at many levels (pavilion owners, operators and employees; representatives of the 1964/65 World’s Fair Corporation; fairgoers; historians; collectors and curators), the film goes beyond nostalgia to allow the viewer to share the world that was the fair with those who experienced it first-hand. Rather than a stock “day-at-the-fair” movie, the story is told from numerous viewpoints by the men and women who were there, many of whom were at the height of their professional careers, working for corporations at the height of their power. They offer insights not only into the Fair, but into the times in which it occurred. The narrative incorporates their recollections and insights into the historical context of the event and the site itself as it evolved from an ash dump to the 1939/40 New York World’s Fair to the temporary headquarters of the United Nations to the 1964/65 World’s Fair and then, in 1967, to its current state as a New York City park.In many ways, the 1964/65 Fair represented a changing of the guard, from the new art and architecture it featured to the civil rights demonstration that marked its opening day. New York politics and urban planning were undergoing shifts in priorities as Robert Moses concluded his master works as State and City Parks commissioner to head the 1964/65 World’s Fair Corporation.In keeping with exposition tradition, the 1964/65 World’s Fair introduced such innovative wonders as Disney’s animatronics, computer controlled exhibits, the first racetrack exclusively for stunt driving, 360 degree movie screens and picture phones. Even Michelangelo’s Pieta was moved from Rome to Flushing Meadows in a brash show of can-do achievement.World’s Fairs are dynamic events which mobilize forces on artistic, economic, industrial, political and social levels. As such, they are powerful historical landmarks of the times in which they occur. “We see the ‘39 Fair and the ‘64 Fair as bookends on an era,” Ms. Marlowe says. “The ‘64 Fair to us represents almost an end of an age of innocence.”