#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.