1939 New York World's Fair: The Forgotten Appearance of Superman

By Craig: A long time ago I was told that my grandparents attended the New York World's Fair on their honeymoon. They were married in 1939. I cannot remember if one of them told me this, or perhaps it was my mother that told me. I was only 9 when my grandfather passed away in 1978. My grandmother followed him to the grave a few years later. Needless to say my interest in this World's Fair did not really begin until after they were dead.

I probably first heard of this spectacular event about the time that my grandfather passed away. It was about this time that I started collecting postage stamps. One of the first commemorative stamps that I acquired was the purple and white 1939 World's Fair issue. I was intrigued by the symbol on it and wondered what it meant. To me it was merely a white sphere and a long triangle. I knew it represented the Fair, but what was the meaning? It became one of my favorite stamps, and I eventually found a block of four that I added to my growing collection. I still do not know why I was initially drawn to the symbol, but I was. During my teenage years and into my early 20s I  had moved on from collecting postage stamps, and the furthest thing from my mind was the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair. Then, in the mid 1990s, quite by accident, I stumbled into an antique shop in North Carolina to look for books when I happened to see an object that caught my attention. It was an old wooden thermometer with the old familiar symbol on it that I remembered from my childhood. It was the Trylon and Perisphere. I looked at the shopkeeper and asked him how much he wanted for it. He told me that I could have it for $30. At the time I really couldn't afford it, but I had to have it! I reached into my wallet and paid the man and walked out of the shop with it. It was an impulsive thing to do, but for some unknown reason I felt compelled to purchase it. I started reading up on the Fair and purchased David Gelernter's book  1939: The Lost World of the Fair which was the only book that I could find on the subject. I became completely engrossed in it. The theme of the Fair was "The World of Tomorrow." Exhibits at the Fair told a hopeful tale of how life might look at a time in the future. It was an optimistic outlook. A philosophical exuberance of hope during a time of uncertainty. When the Fair opened to a large crowd on April 30, 1939 the world was on the eve of another world war. The Fair offered a glimmer of hope in a world festering in confusion. Albert Einstein summed up mankind's inability to mediate issues among the many nations of the Earth, which prevented the transition into the utopian World of Tomorrow. He delivered a message in a time capsule that was buried on the fairgrounds and was to be opened 5,000 years in the future. He wrote:

            Our time is rich in inventive minds, the inventions of which could facilitate our lives considerably. We are crossing the seas by power and utilize power also in order to relieve humanity from all tiring muscular work. We have learned to fly and we are able to send messages and news without any difficulty over the entire world through electric waves.
            However, the production and distribution of commodities is entirely unorganized so that everybody must live in fear of being eliminated from the economic cycle, in this way suffering for the want of everything. Furthermore, people living in different countries kill each other at irregular time intervals, so that also for this reason anyone who thinks about the future must live in fear and terror. This is due to the fact that the intelligence and character of the masses are incomparably lower than the intelligence and character of the few who produce something valuable for the community.
             I trust that posterity will read these statements with a feeling of proud and justified superiority.

The most popular attraction of the Fair, by far, was the Futurama exhibit in the General Motors building. Fairgoers were herded into the building and seated in plush moving chairs that slowly moved along a track overlooking a vast model of a futuristic city. Each chair was equipped with a sound system from which a voice resonated:
"And now on its magic 'carry-go-round' General Motors invites you on a tour of future America. The moving chairs below the map will transport you into 1960." 

The 1939 World's Fair ran into a second season in 1940, and by this time Europe had become embroiled in the second World War.  On the third day of July the Fair celebrated Superman's Day. The Man Of Steel was only 2 years old at this time having first appeared in Action Comics # 1 in 1938. This day, however, would mark the first time that Superman was seen in public. There seems to be some sort of controversy as to who played the role of Superman on this day. The best guess is that it was a character actor by the name of Ray Middleton who donned the blue tights and red boots and climbed onto what appeared to be a large white pedestal. Standing erect, poised and confident on top of the float he was pulled along the fairgrounds followed by a parade of screaming kids. A silent home movie reel captures the event as it happened 76 years ago. There is something timeless about the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair, almost a pervading sense of loneliness as one watches silently the footage from a time long gone and now nearly forgotten. Before Superman makes his appearance there are athletic contests that are held for children of all ages. At the end of the day a Superboy and a Supergirl will be crowned. Celebrities of the day were there including Charles Atlas who presented the Superboy award to William Aronis, and the Supergirl award to Maureen Reynolds. These were the days when there were winners and losers and not everyone was handed a participation trophy.

                                                     https://youtu.be/yNaMbFAQF4U

76 years have now passed since the World's Fair closed its gates for the last time. The magnificent symbols of the Fair, the gleaming white and radiant Trylon, and Perisphere were dismantled, and the steel structures that supported them were supposedly later used for the war effort. The fairgrounds were turned into a park, and another World's Fair used the same ground 25 years later. It was a smaller Fair, and the feeling at that time was a lot less hopeful for the future. Today, most people visiting the park have no idea that the grounds that they are walking across was once the epicenter of a utopian vision for mankind. A future that promised a technology that would make the lives of people much easier. In a way it has, but with technology also came  dystopian warnings of Orwell and Huxley. Today, one can almost see the ghosts of the fairgoers of 7 decades ago. Mute witnesses to a time now almost at the limit of living memory. Then there is Superman... the symbol of hope, standing tall, a representation of a future that could have been, followed by a parade of youthful faces he turns the corner past the view of the cameraman, and into a certain oblivion from a world and a time that no longer is.