#WorldsFair64: How Walt Disney Resurrected Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln returned to mechanical life for World’s Fair audiences, thanks to one of his biggest fans.

by Rich Watson 

Walt Disney was an integral part of the creation of the 1964 New York World’s Fair. The filmmaker and animator helped design and create pavilions for a number of corporate clients. The song “It’s a Small World,” written by the Sherman Brothers for the Fair, became an iconic theme at Disney’s theme parks.

He also spearheaded a new form of technology used to bring an American president back to life, after a fashion, a century after his death.

#WorldsFair64: Sid & Marty Krofft’s Naughty Puppet Show

Before they conquered Saturday morning TV, the Krofft brothers came to the World’s Fair with a racy puppet show.

by Rich Watson 

During the seventies, puppeteers Sid and Marty Krofft created live-action children’s shows that made them superstars of Saturday morning television. Before that, their puppets entertained adults in prime time. 

Their live theater show played World’s Fairs. A show that featured more risqué material.

#WorldsFair64: Uniroyal’s Giant Tire Ferris Wheel Was a Hit in New York and Later, Detroit

This giant tire was born as a World’s Fair Ferris wheel and became a Motor City icon.

by Rich Watson 

Due to a dispute between the international sanctioning body in charge of world’s fairs and New York Fair Director Robert Moses, corporate sponsorship dominated the 1964 Fair. Lots of major businesses created pavilions for the event.

Among them included the U.S. Rubber Company, known today as Uniroyal. They took a creative approach into making something common to fairs everywhere: a Ferris wheel in the shape of a tire.

#WorldsFair64: “Parable” and “To Be Alive!” Were Unconventional Films That Generated Buzz

Among the films screened at the World’s Fair include these two, which delighted and divided audiences.

by Rich Watson 

During the 1964 World’s Fair, the Protestant and Orthodox Pavilion played Parable, a short film. The Johnson Wax Pavilion showed To Be Alive!, another short.

These two films had different agendas, to say the least, and had different receptions. One bewildered audiences. The other won an Oscar.

#WorldsFair64: The Taste of Belgian Waffles

This delicacy from an unfamiliar part of the world dazzled World’s Fair audiences.

by Rich Watson 

Belgian waffles didn’t debut at the 1964 World’s Fair, but it was where they were popularized. 

A wider variety of exhibiting nations came to the Fair than in previous years. As a result, dishes we take for granted today—falafel, tandoori chicken, hummus, and kimchi, among others—first made a splash with an American audience there. 

The biggest hit may have been this dessert from Brussels.

#WorldsFair64: The New York State Pavilion and Its Second Chance at Life

This architectural oddity from the New York World’s Fair still stands today.

by Rich Watson 

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park hosted two World’s Fairs, in 1939-40 and 1964-65. Evidence of their existence remains, but as a kid growing up in Queens, I didn’t recognize it as such. 

Later in life I learned about the Fairs. I discovered the New York State Pavilion, one of the 1964 Fair’s biggest attractions, was being resuscitated from obscurity.

Crossy Road Stands Tall Over Other Free-to-Play Game Apps

The mobile game that broke the mold for free-to-play games is also a lot of fun.

by Rich Watson 

Crossy Road is one of the few mobile video games for which I feel any affinity. The design is deceptively simple, the gameplay even simpler. 

For someone who grew up with eighties arcade games and still identifies with them, it feels like the right kind of transition to twenty-first-century gaming.

Coleco’s Pac-Man Tabletop Game Brought the Arcade Experience Home

 

The eighties passion for Pac-Man led to the creation of this miniature arcade game version—part of a series.

by Rich Watson 

In 1982, during the height of the Pac-Man craze, Coleco released a tabletop home version of the immensely popular arcade game.

I had one because I was as much into Pac-Man as everyone else at the time.

Activision Decathlon Was Part of a New Wave of Successful Home Video Games

 

One of the early successes for Activision was this sports game which was almost as much of a workout as the real sport.

by Rich Watson 

My first home computer was the Commodore 64. Like many kids in the eighties, I used it for playing video games, mostly from a new company called Activision.

Their Decathlon was quite a challenge.

Raincheck

 

Let The Wookie Win When You Play The Star Wars Arcade Game

It’s an old game, but it still checks out.

by Rich Watson 

Unlike many children of my generation, I had no obsession with the Star Wars movies growing up. I saw Return of the Jedi when it came out, but for reasons that baffle me to this day, it never caught on with me the way it did with others. 

Today, Star Wars is a billion-dollar, multimedia mega-franchise owned by the largest entertainment corporation in the world. Video games inspired by the movies have long been an integral aspect of that franchise. One of the first did grab my attention.

The Music in Rastan Made You Want to Crush Your Enemies and See Them Driven Before You

To this fifteen-year-old at the time, this fantasy game with an exciting score was best in life.

by Rich Watson 

The 1982 movie Conan the Barbarian, an adaptation of the series of pulp novels by Robert E. Howard, was a sensation during the eighties. The character appeared in other media and inspired spin-offs and imitations.

Rastan was a video game set in a Conan-like fantasy setting. In addition to its superlative graphics, what set it apart from other games was its sophisticated music.

Gyruss Upped the Awesome Level of Space Invaders By Playing In the Round

This early video arcade game wed the Space Invaders template to the mobility and dimension of Tempest for a more exciting shoot-em-up—set to Bach.

by Rich Watson

I first played video games in the mid-eighties, during junior high school. Enticed by alien adventures in cartoons and comic books, among the first games that attracted me were variations on Space Invaders: Galaxian, Phoenix, Galaga, Gorf. Kill the armada of alien spaceships before they kill you. Simple.

Then in 1983, a new space game provided a greater challenge: it allowed movement in three hundred sixty degrees.

Five Reasons Why Shea Stadium is Synonymous With the 7 Train

The best way to have gotten to Shea Stadium was via the elevated train that runs through Queens. They had some things in common.

by Rich Watson 

The Shea Stadium site, says Google Maps, is seven minutes by car from the house I grew up in. Because I lived so close, I seldom relied on the 7 train to see my Mets. 

When I did use it, my perspective of the stadium changed. The sight of it, looming through the windows of the train car as it left the 111th Street station, inspired me. It recalled past glories, especially the 1986 championship season. It made me hope for future ones.

CitiField may be the Mets’ home now, but the ghost of Shea and the 7, in my mind at least, remain linked. 

They had a few commonalities.

Yankee Stadium and Monument Park

Baseball legends were remembered in this piece of Yankee Stadium real estate, a tradition continued today in the ballpark’s namesake.

by Rich Watson

Yankees manager Miller Huggins died of a form of blood poisoning on September 25, 1929 at age fifty. The former Red and Cardinal led Babe Ruth’s squad to three championships. The American League cancelled its schedule the day of his funeral and the World Series observed a moment of silence for him.

Three years later, in his honor, the Yankees built a granite slab with his image and accomplishments inscribed on it in bronze. They placed it in front of the center field flagpole at Yankee Stadium for all to see and remember. Its inscription calls him “a splendid character who made priceless contributions to baseball.”

When Ruth and Lou Gehrig died in the forties, similar markers joined the one for Huggins. They formed the foundation of a memorial unique in all of sports, one that could only have come from the House that Ruth built.

Three Rivers Stadium in the Seventies

This multi-purpose ballpark was home to dynasties in two sports during the Me Decade.

by Rich Watson

Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium was one of the so-called “cookie-cutter” stadiums of the sixties and seventies. Today these parks are remembered less fondly because of their similar design and their artificial turf. They remain a part of history, though, especially for Pittsburgh residents. 

Despite its look, 3RS’ first decade in existence was unforgettable. Legendary athletes from both baseball and football played there, who led their teams to winning seasons.

Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium and Its Menagerie

This former Negro League ballpark became a short-term home for the migrant Athletics—and their pets.

by Rich Watson

After coming from Philadelphia, the Athletics lived in Kansas City only twelve years. This period isn’t discussed often—these A’s never made the playoffs—but it laid the groundwork for the A’s dynasty of the early seventies in Oakland. It was also the cause of further major league expansion in the late sixties.

The A’s played in Municipal Stadium, a place with an extensive history. One of the game’s most colorful and controversial owners began his tenure here. Among the impressions he left included turning the ballpark into a kind of zoo.

“Saturday Night at the Movies” Connected Canadian Viewers to Classic Cinema

In a special post written in memory of my friend Paddy, I discuss the TV show that nurtured her love of movies.

by Rich Watson 

For those of us who knew her, the death of film blogger Patricia Nolan-Hall has been heartbreaking beyond measure. Paddy’s friends have put together a Caftan Woman Blogathon, named for the blog she ran for fourteen years, in which we’ll discuss the films, TV shows and stars she loved. I’m interrupting our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this piece because it’s my blog and I can. 

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In the days before hundreds of cable channels and online streaming services, Americans grew up watching old movies on regular television. 

Some were events. I’m old enough to recall when watching The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments on the boob tube, in color, was a Big Deal. You made time to watch, often with family or friends.

For black and white films with less hoopla, there was a Late Show. You’d flip through the TV Guide to discover what was on and you stayed up to watch. Sometimes there was a creature feature hosted by Svengoolie or Vampira or somebody like that, in creepy makeup. Most times it was a regular picture from Old Hollywood, starring people you’d never heard of, talking faster than normal, dressed well, on elaborate sets.

Canadians had much the same experience. Then in 1974 came a TV show which raised the bar for what viewers not only saw, but learned. 

For one young woman, it was exactly what she wanted.

In Right Field at Tiger Stadium, You Had to Watch Your Head

One of the many quirks of this cherished ballpark was a right field with a bit of a roof.

by Rich Watson

We left-handers have a hard time making it in a world oriented for right-handers. Fortunately baseball has tried to give us a break by building ballparks with shallow right fields. The original Yankee Stadium skewed dramatically inward on the right side to accommodate Babe Ruth, though given the rate he hit home runs, he didn’t need the help.

Detroit’s Tiger Stadium was 325 feet from home plate; left field was 340 feet. What made it peculiar, though, had less to do with its horizontal view and more to do with its vertical one.

Dodger Fandom Made Ebbets Field Special

The Dodgers welcomed their passionate fans into Ebbets Field as the fans welcomed “Dem Bums” into their homes and businesses.

by Rich Watson

Months ago, I outlined the Dodgers’ fandom when the team still lived in Brooklyn. To one not of that time, it’s hard to appreciate the tightness of the ties that bound that team to that place, and their point of convergence: Ebbets Field. 

When I was younger, I dated a girl from Flatbush. She lived only minutes from the former site. At the time, neither of us knew much, if anything, about Dem Bums and what being part of that community meant.

Its like won’t be seen again.

The Polo Grounds Went Through Four Incarnations (and a Weird Shape) to Become a Legend

The Manhattan stadium seemed ill-suited for baseball, yet it was home to some of baseball’s best and worst   moments.

by Rich Watson

Its shape resembled a giant bathtub. The foul lines were so short they were more appropriate for a high school baseball game, and its center field could’ve been reached if one used a trebuchet in place of a bat. Not only did one of the winningest baseball teams play there, though, a number of the game’s most memorable events occurred at this place.

New York City’s Polo Grounds was unique among ballparks. Within it, the Giants dominated for years before the cross-town Yankees became a powerhouse. After the Giants left, the Mets moved in and established a new standard for futility.

And no one actually played polo there.

The “Other” Wrigley Field Was the Setting For a “Twilight Zone” Episode

This West Coast version of Wrigley Field only lasted one year in MLB, but it was often used for TV and film.

by Rich Watson

This post is for the Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon, another long-running blog event—this year marks the eighth annual edition. I think the premise is self-explanatory. At the end I’ll tell you where and when you can read more entries in this vein.

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Chicago’s Wrigley Field, the home of the Cubs for over a century, is one of Major League Baseball’s oldest and greatest ballparks. Named for owner William Wrigley, the chewing gum manufacturer, he also owned the Cubs’ old farm team, the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League. 

In 1925, he commissioned a new ballpark for the Angels and moved them there, on 425 East 42nd Place. It was called Wrigley Field before the one in Chicago. It also received lights long before its namesake.

Future Dodger and Cub turned actor—not to mention an NBA player—Chuck Connors played in Wrigley Field West. (I’m calling it that to distinguish it from the Chicago one.) Here’s an article about his sports career, including the story of how he settled a contract dispute between the Dodgers and two of their superstars.

The Angels had won six PCL championships before moving to their new ballpark, and would win five more at Wrigley. Even in those early years, though, it was clear the new park could be used for another purpose: making movies.

Paddy

Let me tell you a story about a woman I knew who loved movies.

My previous blog was about film. In the beginning it was devoted to contemporary ones for the most part. Then I discovered bloggers who wrote about older movies—the black and white ones. Over time, I devoted more space in my blog to the oldies as a result of reading theirs. I gravitated towards these bloggers for various reasons, but mostly because I learned more from them—about Old Hollywood, true, but also about who these bloggers were, what they value, why these movies mean as much as they do to them.

One in particular stood out for me.

She came from a family of movie lovers, her and her three sisters and their extended families. I’d never seen a clan bonded by a shared passion like theirs was, and is. Silent movies in particular was their great love, especially comedies. If they had built a shrine to Buster Keaton somewhere, it wouldn’t surprise me.

I visited her blog and she visited mine and in time, we got to know each other better. I wasn’t familiar with a number of her favorites. Her tastes often ran towards things like British dramas and Westerns, in addition to silent comedies. She had an eye for detail and a wit I found endearing; it was what kept me coming back.

Sometimes I would write a post on my blog in response to something she wrote and we’d discuss it. She had a perspective I found enlightening at some times, humorous at others, but I’d come to recognize it as uniquely hers. She didn’t write editorials per se, but through her reviews I learned which things in a movie she valued, such as music. She was big on American songbook-type material; ironic, since she was Canadian.

In fact, I believe I connected more with her comments, on both our blogs, than anything else. They let me see other sides to her: the wife, and mother of two—including a special needs child—who were her pride and joy; the performing artist; the Trekkie, the baseball fan. And yet as much as I know about her, in some ways I feel as if I’d only scratched the surface. She lived in another country. It wasn’t like we could’ve gone to the movies together.

Oh, but how I wished we could have. I always told her, one day I would come up there to Toronto and we’d go see a Keaton film together. The pandemic shot that dream down, but I had started to hope it might rise again. Now this.

I had ended my film blog and started this one and she followed me, something I wasn’t sure she would do since I talk about movies less often here. I’m so glad she did. Now her memory is part of this blog too, if only for a short time.

I can’t believe I won’t have her to talk to about movies anymore. She had been part of my online life for a decade and I thought she always would be. Watching old films will feel different now.

Patricia Nolan-Hall was a woman whose soul was tied to Old Hollywood and the memories they stirred, old and new. She was a blogger. She was my dear friend.

She was Paddy.

A Brewer Homer at Milwaukee County Stadium Meant a Slide Into a Beer Mug

Hit a home run for Milwaukee and you too can see this guy do his thing out in the bleachers.

by Rich Watson 
 

When you think of Milwaukee, you think of beer. (That and seventies retro-themed sitcoms.) Since 1840, the Midwestern city has specialized in producing suds from over seventy breweries and over a hundred brewing companies, including Miller, Pabst and Schlitz.

After the Braves headed south to Atlanta, it wasn’t long before a new baseball team took their place: the Pilots, exiled from Seattle after only one year in existence. In 1970, they were renamed the Brewers and played in the Braves’ old ballpark, Milwaukee County Stadium.

All they lacked was a mascot.

The Only Baseball Game Played in the Snow Was At Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium

A snowstorm didn’t stop the American League debut of MLB in Canada.

by Rich Watson 

The Toronto Blue Jays entered Major League Baseball as an expansion team in 1976. A plan to move the Giants from San Francisco was blocked due to a court ruling. The Canadian metropolis was awarded an original team instead, in a wave that also gave birth to the Seattle Mariners.

The name “Blue Jays” had been used by the Phillies in the fifties for a time, but Torontonians selected it as part of a fan contest.

Canadian National Exhibition Stadium, a football venue built in 1948, was the chosen home site. It had been outfitted recently with AstroTurf, new at the time. The city council had also approved $2.8 million (Canadian) for stadium renovation.

An expansion draft assembled the players, among them Vancouver native Dave McKay. A schedule was drawn up, and tickets sold. The new team would play its first game on April 7, 1977 against the White Sox.

Everything went fine—as long as no one looked at the weather forecast.

Connie Mack Stadium and Its Remarkable Architecture

Baseball in Philadelphia used to be played in a virtual palace.

by Rich Watson 

During the early twentieth century, the Philadelphia Athletics were the dominant team in the brand new American League. This meant they were popular—to the point where fans had to be turned away from tiny Columbia Park.

Team president Ben Shibe eyed a square block of land on Lehigh Avenue between 20th and 21st Streets. It was part of an underdeveloped neighborhood, with trolley cars and railroad stations, but also containing bluffs and gullies where live animals roamed. A smallpox hospital was there too, but the city was about to shut it down.

Shibe quietly bought up the land beginning in 1907, with the intent to build a new, bigger ballpark on the site. Two years later, what he and the A’s got was nothing less than a cathedral to baseball.

That Time When a Game at The Astrodome Was Rained Out

The Astrodome was built to avoid weather issues. How could a ballgame get called on account of rain?

by Rich Watson

The Astros were born in 1962 as the Colt .45s, and the city of Houston was glad to have them. Watching games at Colt Stadium, though, was like sitting in a sauna. During the heart of the summer, game-time temperatures in the upper nineties were not unusual.

When co-owner Roy Hofheinz visited the Roman Colosseum, he learned it used to have an awning, called a velarium, to shield the audience from the sun. As a result, he financed and developed the creation of the Astrodome, the first domed sports stadium in the world. 

Prior to Opening Day 1965, the legendary Satchel Paige test-pitched within the dome’s $4.5 million dollar air-conditioning system. He declared it a “pitcher’s paradise.” 

The Colt .45s became the Astros. The dome opened in April. Soon it was also home to the NFL Oilers and many pro and college teams.

Games and other events could be watched at a comfortable seventy-three degrees. Mother Nature, it seemed, had been conquered—until a bizarre incident during the Bicentennial year of 1976.

Comiskey Park’s Exploding Scoreboard Was a Spectacle Like No Other in Baseball

One of the showcases of this Chicago ballpark was a  scoreboard that put on a show of its own whenever the White Sox homered.

by Rich Watson

In 1948, James Cagney made a movie called The Time of Your Life, about the customers of a saloon. Cagney’s character played a pinball machine. At one point, he hit the jackpot and the game lit up, making all kinds of noise.

Bill Veeck saw the film. He was one of baseball’s great raconteurs and iconoclasts during his four decades as an owner for three different teams, including the White Sox. He looked for innovative ways to sell the game, from night baseball to integration to wacky fan promotions and more.

Seeing Cagney with his pinball machine inspired Veeck to commission the creation of something that would enliven the experience of coming to Chicago’s Comiskey Park.