Audio and Video from the Fair
During their visits to the Fair guests were treated to a variety of songs heard as background music over the public address system. I was fortunate to have been able to buy several of the actual tapes used at the Fair, and have added them here as free downloads. The tapes were professionally restored, and have been converted into several CDs.
Please note that I do not know the names of some of the songs, so if you know any of them please let me know.
The original tapes were in mono, and are presented here in that format.
I hope you enjoy this musical trip back to the Fair!
Want even more background music?
Here's another set of background music. The tape was loaned to me by Joseph Petrucelli. The tape box was labeled "Recorded in the programmer room - 1965". These shows were played at the Fountain of the Planets show in the evenings. There were five shows listed on the box but two of them (The College Songs Show and The Great Masters Show) were missing from the tape. The shows run about 20 minutes, so these are large files to download.
The Broadway Show
(please note that the original tape ended abruptly and was missing the last 2-3 seconds of music)No Business Like Show Business - Irving Berlin Always - Irving Berlin I Love a Piano - Irving Berlin Alexander's Ragtime Band - Irving Berlin Tea For Two - Vincent Youmans Rose Marie - Rudolf Friml Ol' Man River - Jerome Kern Make Believe - Jerome Kern Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - Jerome Kern Hallelujah - Vincent Youmans I've Got Rhythm - George Gershwin Fascinating Rhythm - George Gershwin Lady Be Good - George Gershwin Falling In Love - Rodgers and Hart Dancing in Dark - Arthur Schwartz Easy to Love - Cole Porter Without a Song - Vincent Youmans With A Song in My Heart - Rodgers and Hart Strike Up the Band - George Gershwin Over the Rainbow - Harold Arlen Someone to Watch Over Me - George Gershwin They Say That Falling in Love is Wonderful - Irving Berlin Around the World in 80 Days - Victor Young You and the Night and the Music - Arthur Schwartz Begin the Beguine - Cole Porter Night and Day - Cole Porter What a Beautiful Morning - Rodgers and Hammerstein Some Enchanted Evening - Rodgers and Hammerstein If I Loved You - Rodgers and Hammerstein Rhapsody in Blue - George Gershwin |
The Familiar Melodies Show
Prelude - "Lohengrin" - Wagner New World Symphony - Dvorak Lost Chord - Sir Arthur Sullivan Evening Star - Tannhauser - Wagner Meditation from "Thais" - Massenet Scherzo from 6th Symphony - Tchaikowsky Traumerei - Schumann Pastorale Symphony - Beethoven Finlandia - Sibelius Symphony No. 1 - Brahms Arioso - Bach Pilgrim's Chrous - "Tannhauser" - Wagner |
The Patriotic Show
Yankee Doodle | Mademoiselle from Armentiers | |
Spirit of '76 | Madelon | |
Hail Columbia | Keep the Home Fires Burning | |
Washington's March | How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning | |
Hail to the Chief | It's a Long Way to Tipperary | |
Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean | Over There | |
Johnny Comes Marching Home | American Patrol | |
Yellow Rose of Texas | Semper Fidelis | |
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp | National Emblem | |
Dixie | Stars & Stripes Forever | |
Glory, Glory, Hallelujah | Halls of Montezuma | |
Yankee Doodle Dandy | Caissons Go Rolling Along | |
It's a Grand Old Flag | Anchors Aweigh | |
Rose of Picardy | Semper Paratis | |
K-K-K-Katy | Wide Blue Yonder | |
Long, Long Trail | My Land, Your Land | |
There are Smiles | God Bless America | |
Pack Up Your Troubles |
Here's a note that Joe had sent me that was very interesting:
I was the Project Manager for a company called "Commercial Radio and Sound Corp." My boss was Art Schneider, a leader in the industry and way ahead of his time. We designed, engineered, fabricated, supervised the installation, did all check outs for many of the Exhibits. As Project Manager I was responsible for the design and insuring that the work was done and operational prior to the fair opening. If memory serves me right we started the engineering 2 yrs prior to the fair opening and were involved until the closing of the fair. I was the PM for the Fairgrounds Sound System, the Ford Exhibit, Travelers and the daddy of them all, "The Fountain of the Planets" with its synchronized sound, water, fire works display. Many a night I spent out there to insure all was working. We had our share of problems but the Fair opened on time. To me it was a "Labor of Love". I even worked on the Unisphere model that was made for publicity purposes prior to the fair opening where we had scrolling lights on the rings around the Unisphere. I think Hamel and Langer were the Consulting Engineers? I know that my boss was working with Robert Moses on this project. I also think that my company did the 1939-1940 Worlds Fair (way before my time, but I do remember attending with my Dad). |
Pope Paul VI visits the World's Fair
On October 4, 1965 Pope Paul VI made a historic visit to New York, the first trip for any pope to the United States. On the way back home he stopped for a brief visit at the Vatican Pavilion. Click here to listen to the audio of the NBC television feed. The segment runs slightly over 23 minutes, so it's a large file (33 MB). You can also listen to the report of his departure from Kennedy airport (28 minutes, 68 MB).
Video from the Fair
I've created two collections of vintage photos from the Fair. They are in Windows Media Player format. There are also links to the videos on YouTube.
I Had the Time of My Life at the New York World's Fair
... the title says it all for me!
Large (640x480, 26.6 MB) Small (320x480, 10.2 MB) YouTube.com |
What a Wonderful World
... more photos, set to Louis Armstrong's classic song
Large (640x480, 26.6 MB) Small (320x480, 10.2 MB) YouTube.com |
A World's Fair Diary
This NBC Special starring Edwin Newman aired on July 30, 1964. It runs almost an hour so it's a large file (84MB) but well worth downloading. There's some great footage I don't recall seeing in any other shows. Click here to download the file, which is in MP4 format.