Futurama (New York World's Fair)
Encyclopedia
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
designed by Norman Bel Geddes
Norman Bel Geddes
Norman Melancton Bel Geddes was an American theatrical and industrial designer who focused on aerodynamics....
that tried to show the world 20 years into the future (1959–1960). Sponsored by the General Motors Corporation, the installation was characterised by its automated highways and vast suburbs. Compared to other "visions of the future," Bel Geddes' was rather achievable—the most advanced technology posited was the automated highway system, of which General Motors built a working prototype by 1960.
Futurama is widely held to have first introduced the general American public to the concept of a network of expressway
Controlled-access highway
A controlled-access highway is a highway designed exclusively for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow and ingress/egress regulated...
s connecting the nation. It provided a direct connection between the streamlined style
Streamline Moderne
Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone or as Art Moderne, was a late type of the Art Deco design style which emerged during the 1930s...
which was popular in America between 1928 and 1938, and the concept of steady-flow which appeared in street and highway design in the same period. Bel Geddes expounds upon his design in his book Magic Motorways, stating, “Futurama is a large-scale model representing almost every type of terrain in America and illustrating how a motorway system may be laid down over the entire country – across mountains, over rivers and lakes, through cities and past towns – never deviating from a direct course and always adhering to the four basic principles of highway design: safety, comfort, speed and economy.” He had acknowledged this in the belief that “A free-flowing movement of people and goods across our nation is a requirement of modern living and prosperity.”
The modelled highway construction emphasised hope for the future as it served as a proposed solution to traffic congestion
Traffic congestion
Traffic congestion is a condition on road networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. The most common example is the physical use of roads by vehicles. When traffic demand is great enough that the interaction...
of the day, and demonstrated the probable development of traffic in proportion to the automotive growth of the next twenty years. Bel Geddes assumed that the automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
would be the same type of carrier and still the most common means of transportation in 1960, albeit with increased vehicle use and traffic lanes also capable of much higher speeds.
To meet these assumptions, four general ideas for improvement were incorporated into the exhibition showcase. First, that each section of road be designed to receive greater capacity of traffic. Second, that traffic moving in one direction could be in complete isolation to traffic moving in any other. Third, segregating traffic by subdividing towns and cities into certain units that restrict traffic and allow pedestrians
Pedestrian
A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In some communities, those traveling using roller skates or skateboards are also considered to be pedestrians. In modern times, the term mostly refers to someone walking on a road or footpath, but this was not the case...
to predominate. And fourth, consequent traffic control for predetermined maximum and minimum speeds. Through this, the exhibition was designed to inspire greater public enthusiasm and support for the constructive work and planning by engineers
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and public officials who had contributed so much toward improvement of streets and highways.
The popularity of the Futurama exhibit fit closely with the fair’s overall theme “The World Of Tomorrow” not just in its emphasis on the future, but also in its redesign of the American landscape. The highway system was supported within a one-acre animated model of a projected America containing more than five hundred thousand individually designed buildings, a million trees of thirteen different species, and approximately fifty thousand motorcars, ten thousand of which travelled along a fourteen-lane multispeed interstate highway. It prophesied an American utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
regulated by an assortment of cutting-edge technologies: remote-controlled multilane highways, power plants
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
, farms for artificially produced crops
Genetically modified food
Genetically modified foods are foods derived from genetically modified organisms . Genetically modified organisms have had specific changes introduced into their DNA by genetic engineering techniques...
, rooftop platforms for individual flying machines and various gadgets, all intended to create an ideal built environment
Built environment
The term built environment refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from personal shelter and buildings to neighborhoods and cities that can often include their supporting infrastructure, such as water supply or energy networks.The built...
and ultimately to reform society.
Bel Gedde’s ‘future’ was synonymous with technological process, no less in its simulated low-flying airplane journey through the exhibit. The aerial journey was simulated by an eighteen-minute ride on a conveyor system
Conveyor system
A conveyor system is a common piece of mechanical handling equipment that moves materials from one location to another. Conveyors are especially useful in applications involving the transportation of heavy or bulky materials...
, carrying 552 seated spectators at a time, covering a winding path a third of a mile long through the model. Along with light, sound and colour effects the ride moved at a rate of approximately 120 feet per minute, allowing spectators to look down through a continuous curved pane of glass towards the model. The virtue of this elevated position allowed spectators to see multiple scales simultaneously, viewing city blocks in proportion to a highway system as well as artificially controlled trees in glass domes. This scale was modelled off 408 topographical sections
Topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
based on aerial photographs of different regions of the US provided by the pioneering company Fairchild Aerial Surveys.
Critical reception
Before Bel Geddes was invited to submit a proposal for the General Motors exhibit, they had planned to put in another production lineProduction line
A production line is a set of sequential operations established in a factory whereby materials are put through a refining process to produce an end-product that is suitable for onward consumption; or components are assembled to make a finished article....
as was featured at their exhibit in the Century of Progress Exposition
Century of Progress
A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...
of 1933 in Chicago. However, after they heard Bel Geddes outline his project all other plans were scrapped as they favoured his design for its appeal to a broader audience. The Futurama exhibition was subsequently presented as one of the 1939 New York World Fair’s main attractions, as it was the “Number one hit show.” It captured the fancy of the public and critics alike, with journalists competing to find adequate words to convey Bel Gedde’s “ingenuity”, “daring”, “showmanship”, and “genius”. One neutral survey of 1000 departing fairgoers awarded the General Motors exhibit 39.4 points to only 8.5 points for second place Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
as the most interesting exhibit. Business Week described the scene: “More than 30,000 persons daily, the show’s capacity, inch along the sizzling pavement in long queues until they reach the chairs which transport them to a tourist’s paradise. It unfolds a prophecy of cities, towns, and countrysides served by a comprehensive road system.”
His ideas of the future had a remarkable degree of realism and immediacy, striking a chord with an American audience slowly recovering from the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and that was longing for prosperity. At the time the credibility of Futurama’s imaginary landscape of 1960 was seen not as just a novel physical space, but as a glimpse of future time.
In media
- The name and opening sequence to the popular American animated sitcom FuturamaFuturamaFuturama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
was derived from the exhibition.
External links
- "To New Horizons" – A video document recording the display at the 1939/40 World's Fair (from Prelinger archivesPrelinger ArchivesThe Prelinger Archives is a collection of films relating to U.S. cultural history, the evolution of the American landscape, everyday life and social history...
)