Defunctland: The History of the 1964 New York World's Fair
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- Опубліковано 8 сер 2020
- All roads converge at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, as the infamous city planner Robert Moses recruits Walt Disney to create the greatest fair in the history of the world.
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Moses: "I want this fair so I can refurbish it into a park and be remembered as a philanthropic genius and not a racist destroyer of cities"
Disney: "I want this fair because I want to see Lincoln talk"
Some minor corrections:
Moses: "I want this fair so I can refurbish it into a park and be remembered as a philanthropic genius and not a racist destroyer of cities, but no public transport wouldn't want any poor people there ;)"
Disney: "I want this fair because I want to see Lincoln talk, mccarthyist propoganda"
Guys, guys, don’t argue yet, let me get my popcorn first!
@Akagi-Chan No he wasn't lmao. Are you braindead? The whole McCarthyism thing was just an excuse to get rid of any political dissenter by labeling them a communist.
@Akagi-Chan Good, hopefully they can make it better.
@Akagi-Chan Hmmm no, I think for profit hospitals and overpriced medication is a capitalist concept ;)
"Do you suppose God is mad at Walt for creating man in his own image?" has the exact same energy of that "Do you think God stays in heaven because he too lives in fear of what he's created?" line from Spy Kids.
TIL that line is from Spy Kids. what
SaltpeterTaffy ua-cam.com/video/0fPRO2SApO8/v-deo.html yeah it surprised me to when I first learnt a few months ago too. It sounds so out of place
Considering what he created, he damn well better stay in heaven, if he knows what's good for him.
God is mad at Walt for his inappropriate behavior with Alice. She was only four. He was also a 33° Freemason.
God was so mad that he killed Walt before his EPCOT could be realized. :(
"worse, to the people of seetle"
as a resident of seattle this made me laugh my ass off
You mean seetle?
Lmao
Might be the top defunctland line for me so far hahaha
As someone who doesn’t live there, it’s still just as funny
As a resident of Oregon I know that feel when people mispronounce my state "Oh-Ree-Gone"
"It's a miracle, Lincoln is alive and Moses needed him now more than ever"
What a sentence to hear out of context
Lincoln: “What the....I am alive!?”
Moses: “Good, alright hear me out...The Confederates are working with the Ancient Egyptians and are planning to release hell on earth! Hurry now!”
@Führer des Benutzers behold the brand new FPS,
Abe
Bane of Demons
@Führer des Benutzers Better yet: Lincoln and Moses unite to fight off the dinosaur invasion! 😅
Sounds like a history version of the Avengers, lmao.
The Fate series be like
I love how Robert Moses came up with cartoonishly evil supervillain plans to cover up the fact that he was a cartoon supervillain.
I love how his legacy will be as a hated crooked idiot, instead of the great American he thought he was.
I wonder if that will happen to anyone living today... heehee...
WHY would anyone want to be a crook, then think they will be remembered as great.
Stupid or what?
Most people who desperately want to prove that they're not racist do so in ways that prove how racist they are.
Your right. I read the book "king of new york" years ago. He was a devious person who took down anyone who got in his way.
@@Business_News I see mostly one person crying. =D
@regular weed No, I disagree.
Let's not extend mass transit to the World's Fair.
Why is no one showing up to the World's Fair?
My first thought when I heard that. His racism and his elitism over road common sense.
They don't want common people to show up and at the same time want half a million people a day.
*DOES NOT COMPUTE*
@@PositionLight The commercial for "The Subway Special to the World's Fair" was played so many times on TV then that to this day I remember the tune and almost all the lyrics.
It's on YT if you search for: New York World's Fair Subway Commercial (1964)
@@PositionLight So the doc's got an error?
@@TheOtherBill Moses wasn't a huge supporter of transit, but the 64 fair had good transit access.
“Lincoln, the first president to suspend habeas corpus, was not available to comment.” Had me dying
to be fair his comment if he suddenly was plopped into 1964 would most like have been: "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
To fair to Lincoln suspending Habeas Corpus is legal under the Constitution.
@@LoneWanderer101 yeah but so was slavery, and Lincoln didn't like that shit either.
The point was that Lincoln was *not* a lover of following the law, he just happened to be in a unique position to change it.
Lincoln was the Bill Clinton of his era
Yes, brilliant!
Moses: What if I build a park on this gross swampland?
Disney, eyeing Orlando: 🤔
Well, Washington DC was built on a swamp. That's the origin of the term “The Swamp.” (folk etymology)
There are state and national parks also built on swamplands in Florida… the entire state is basically a giant swamp.
We heard about which Disney features went to DisneyLAND, but didn't Orlando's DisneyWORLD also end up with some of Walt's projects from the '63 NY World's Fair? Have their been any World's Fairs after 1963?
@@richardtherichard26 No true. Though certainly mostly flat, not all of Florida is swampland.
@@karenryder6317 yes there have, they just haven't been so mega-popular because people in the 21st century aren't nearly as impressed by industry exhibitions- the events people care about nowadays tend to be either sports or entertainment related, such as the world cup, olympics, or things like the academy awards, CES, E3, etc
"Lincoln was not able to comment, mostly due to the fact that he still wasn't working."
It's quotes like that and the "losing to Seattle" line that add subtle, sophisticated humor. I love it.
"The Lincoln animatronic was able to give the speech 7 times, which was 6 more times than Lincoln gave it."
🎵 See you in Seat-ul! See you at the fair! 🎵
seedle
Haha they definitely remind me of arrested development which is perfect given they've referenced it on here
Lets go to Seedle and visit the Space Neattle!
Ah yes, the monster rats, and their leader: a powerful rat named Charles Entertainment Cheese...
A giant rat, that knew all of the rules...
Riley O'Steen is this a JerJer reference?
We love a callback
Or perhaps it was Ratigan.
Is there are source for that element of the video about the giant rats?????
Kevin's completely nonchalant delivery is a total knockout _every time._ The Seattle gag was rad, but what really got me was-
"Moses became more rude towards the members of the press as they wrote negatively about him. And in retaliation, the members of the press wrote negatively about him."
I loved the Lincoln and following the law bit.
What a quality video.
Exactly! It has a feel of subtly to it, it gets me every time
That final line, "there was just one problem, Walt Disney... was dead" delivered as if it really were "just" a problem was so nonchalant that it caught me off guard even though I was well aware of the timing of Walt's death in relation to epcot. I was expecting a deadpan final jab, and I still wasn't able to spot the moment until he had already delivered it.
@@martyjehovah That was a very bazaar ending. "Walt Disney... was dead"... and............
We should have another words fare.😊
Honestly, I feel so sorry for the poor accountant that was literally berated into heart failure. Moses was an evil man, through and through. Classic example of when narcissism somehow gets even worse than it already is.
i know, right? i couldn't stop thinking about it even after i watched the video.... that poor accountant :(
robert moses was such a gigantic asshole
Was Robert Moses a Republican?? He sure acted like one...
@@Fataliese
Yes other side bad
@@Fataliese
Yes that is joke
@@Fataliese
Oops my bad
/s /s /s /s /s /s
“There was just one problem. Walt Disney was dead.”
THE WAY I SCREAMED
Yes, that last line was a gut punch.
It would be like if the Muppet Babies video ended with the mentioning of Jim Henson’s death.
Ha....It Made me Larf.....
Always leave 'Em' Wanting More...!
@keagan Minogue an involuntary expulsion of air signaling heightened amusement .
@keagan Minogue It's a sournd that people marke when they're amursed.
“Walt wanted to show amusement park’s sophistication.” *shows video of animatronic cavemen rubbing their butts*
I died
@@DanielleDOrnellas who are you...?
Walt Disney?!
@@Gravydog316: Correction: Who WAS she?
🤣🤣🤣🤣
It gives me great satisfaction to know that Moses lived long enough to see that he failed, and how he would be remembered 😊
A fitting end for a rotten man.
It's also satisfying to see the complete cynicism of Moses juxtaposed with the childlike sincerity of Walt* and the differing outcomes of the fair for the two men.
*I know that Walt wasn't perfect either, but Moses made him look like a saint by comparison.
And even more unfortunate that Walt could not (although with his plans for EPCOT maybe it was for the best that he had died when he did).
@@654jimbob654it’s seriously amazing that in spite of all Walt’s flaws, he seems like such a great guy next to Moses
Robert Moses was a
nasty piece of work!
It's kinda funny that Moses sought to make this fair to change the fact that he was seen as a horrible person, Only to prove he was a horrible person every time something didn't go his way in the making of fair.
Sometimes the World's fair.
@@naturalnashuan👏 masterful wordplay
Walt Disney making a 600,000 dollar ride just to spite someone answering a question for him is peak mood
And it was a small world
@@TheCaliforniaHPif one ride had to be a spite attraction, it's fitting that it would be that one
This Robert Moses guy clearly lacked vision. He should have used the army of monster rats as beasts of burden to help build the fairground.
At least that would help with the garbage disposal problem! 🤣
Get Disney to bippity boppity boo them into singing free labor.
But he was using Union workers.
In an alternate universe, Kevin makes mention of monster rats:
"Despite their numerous distinctive features, Moses never gave them names like Scar, Stripe, or Goliath. That's because to him, they weren't special; they were special to rats."
Should've gotten those rats to clean up the Fresh Kills Landfill.
Hey, it's better than dumping the trash in the river.
'Moses's crusade against the spicy below the neck area angered perverts and local fun havers alike' has to be one of the greatest sentences 😆
Let's go Perverts! LMAO
Friend of the channel and frequent visitor, Local Pervert
xDDDD
The way you explained the ending made it sound like an oldschool Shyamalan twist.
"There was just one problem. Walt Disney was dead."
HE WAS AN ANIMATRONIC ALL ALONG
lol
Surely there is a work around🤔
"We can rebuild him..."
“We have the technology, we have the capability to create the world’s first animatronic Walt Disney”
Walt died in 66, fair ran 64 thru 65.
"It would not bear his name, and it would not be his legacy." I do love a happy ending.
Ok Morticia.
@@FeedScrn lmfao nice
I really like to see what was going on inside the mind of Robert Moses.
He hated middle class or below than that "peasants" which is like most of the population, but also wanted more people to come to the fair and spend money. It's like, what was he thinking? Kings and noblemen would flood in to the fair?
Yeah. His thought process is that his parks and fair were like one of those castle gardens in Victorian period stories.
Bigots don't tend to think very logically. That's why they're bigots.
Imo he didnt exactly hate them, but the city was going downhill and his infrastructural projects were an easy scapegoat- especially for those he displaced in slum razings in the 5 boroughs. Therefore most of the "underclass" showing up to the World's Fair regarding Moses were probably going to protest it (as was mentioned in the video- african americans, followed by jews and puerto ricans, were most displaced and financially harmed by the slum system's private to public transition.) Iirc public transit did lead to willets point boulevard (adjacent to the current corona park) decades before development had begun, but there was little other public transit from the bronx and manhattan (as well as other parts of queens) to the area because it was a literal dump. Jumping the shark wouldve been a bit of an overreach
@@antonioreconquistador Semantics.
@@antonioreconquistador Robert Moses was Jewish, and if the Jewish people of NYC were harmed by his policies, they clearly bounced back much faster than the Blacks or Puerto Ricans did. Also, I don't remember the video mentioning Jewish people at all, probably because it would over-complicate the video narrative.
Yesterday, I was talking with my dad, a lifelong Jewish Brooklynite in his late 60s who grew up in the kind of low-income housing that Robert Moses commissioned and who even went to the '64 World's Fair. I told him how much this series was teaching me about Robert Moses, and he let out an exasperated "Ohhhh boy...", like he wasn't so much angry at all of the terrible things Moses did as he was just in disbelief that he did them at all. Then he said "I'm not sure if he was actually Jewish, but I'm pretty sure he was and hid it."
To which I responded "For both our sakes, I'm GLAD he hid it."
EDIT: I should clarify, this is not to imply that Robert Moses wasn't a bigot just because he was part of a minority group, it's just that my dad and I have this weird obsession with finding out if certain famous people are also Jewish. And in this particular case, it was more embarrassing than cool.
Moses was born to German-Jewish parents. Makes sense he hid his Jewish background in order to get ahead, though. He went to Yale back when it had “Jewish quotas” and only a select few Jews, if any, were allowed into the school; a lot of other WASPy universities had this policy. Talk about selling yourself out.
@@maroonedexplorer6622 That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for clearing that up.
@@maroonedexplorer6622 IIRC from Robert Caro's book the elite assimilated German-Jewish community Moses came from tended to look down on the new Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe in the late 1800s, out of fear that their poverty and attendant social issues would make them look bad in the eyes of the WASP elites whom they socialised with.
You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's Jewish Rye
Well that clears it all up then. He could not possibly be a racist as he was a member of an oppressed minority himself. Everybody knows this.😊
“Angering local perverts”.
Add that to each video please.
It has been a bit of a running theme in this whole series about stuff in New York.
This goes far beyond Eugene and Rusty.
Belgand (nervous laughter)
Lol I had to go replay it. I thought I heard wrong
detest your local perverts the american way. your local sex offender registration list on the net helps you do this. don't let them molest the family dog, cat, or hamster. they will take kinky sex any way they can get it.
"If he died then in 1959, he would certainly be known as the man who destroyed New York"
...dies in 1981, still known to many of us NYers as the man who destroyed New York
What you you think of Hitler if he died in1938?
@@paulherzog9605 systematic persecution would had still been going on for five years
@@paulherzog9605 he would have just been as bad as Trump at that point just a hateful bigot stiring up idiots who don't know any better.
@@tylerstears4445 Everybody's a racist if they won't hand their paycheck over to you.
@@tylerstears4445 as bad as trump? You trump derangement syndrome loonies never cease to amaze
As a 19 year old in April of '64, I worked at the World's Fair for several months as a waitress in the Brass Rail Steakhouse. Having come to New York from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I found the Fair beyond anything I had known, and was inspired by its many attractions. My favorite was the movie, "ToBe Alive!" shown in the S. C. Johnson pavilion. I, along with some five million other people, stood in lines, sometimes in the rain (especially in April) to see it. The wait was worth it, every time. So, in spite of all its mismanagement, including its failure to turn a profit, for me, the Fair was a success.
Oh I bet it was so cool! I’m way to young to have gone to any of them but I wish i could’ve
@@AlicesOdyssey Thanks for your enthusiasm! If you ever get a chance to attend a world's fair, do it. So much to see, experience, and wonder about. Good luck to you!
That’s so cool! I live close to the park and collect worlds fair ephemera. I have a bunch of the brochures and booklets and postcards that were given out
Was the Brass Rail Steakhouse the 4 story restaurant with different levels on 7th and 49th. I think I saw a vintage post card of it. Thank you.
@@dspirea Nope. It was a ground floor restaurant very close to the huge block of cheese from Wisconsin. 😊
I love the drama of the last phrase
"It was the project that Walt has been dreaming, this would be he's contribution to society, this would be Walt Disney legacy, there was just one problem, Walt Disney was Dead"
Oh no, not more Robert Moses.
Edit: "After all, he was Robert Moses" should be played after each case of him doing real life Disney villain things.
He like a real Mister Burns.
Yeah, I wonder why in the 1950s until the late 60s that so many city planning individuals did a lot of "Disney villain things". In most cases, they destroyed the cities for short-term gains or left the cities in ruins by never finishing the projects.
Norbert Moses
the new Michael Eisner for Defunctland.
@@mhfromnh1421 A much more worthy villain for such a great channel
BIE rejecting Moses has the same energy as Bender from Futurama getting kicked out of (insert unnamed theme park that I mistakingly identified as Ponyville here I sᴡᴇᴀʀ I'ᴍ ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ ʙʀᴏɴʏ ᴏɴ ɢᴏᴅ)
*"I'm gonna go build my own World's Fair! WITHOUT blackjack; and WITHOUT hookers!"*
Accurate
"You know what forget the fair entirely! I just want a park."
But... but... blackjack and hookers!!! (Love Bender)
Bender wouldn't even be allowed in Equestria, period, let alone Ponyville.
@@FizzieWebb Bender has no Magic.
I went to that fair with my family. I was probably 13. I remember seeing Lincoln and tasting for the first time what I now know as teriyaki. We had a great time. I obviously remember it.
I remember going to the World's Fair twice when I was 4 or 5 living in nearby Hollis, Queens. I loved it, except for remembering a guy dressed in some kind of straw outfit that my mom called a witch doctor. I bumped into him and ran screaming the other direction. I also learned only in the past 13 years that Robert Moses wouldn't allow Branch Rickey to build a new stadium for the Dodgers in Brooklyn, instead offering a site in Queens. Rickey said "we are the Brooklyn Dodgers, not the Queens Dodgers." Moses continued to say no. Then Rickey's team became the Los Angeles Dodgers. Robert Moses is the perfect embodiment of "what goes around comes around." Total lack of self-awareness.
Excellent comment
Wants to make Low income New Yorkers visit his park to improve his public image but stops the expansion of the subway because it will bring low income New Yorkers to his park.
10/10 Logic
I don't know if this part is true, unless the subway was expanded after this, the fair is only a 3 block walk from the nearest station. That being said, the park itself is actually used mainly by minorities nowadays, with the neighborhood it's located in being mostly Hispanic, as well as being next to another neighborhood that's mostly Asian.
That was definitely a later development.
TacticusPrime After looking it up, it seems the line was already active a decade before the opening of the 1964 World’s Fair, unless there’s something I’m missing.
@@Hanson032 At the time, all those train lines were failing. They weren't bought up by the city and converted into something like the modern integrated system until a few years after the fair.
TacticusPrime I don’t know where you got that information from, but even if it’s true, the 7 line to the World’s Fair was and has been active since even the 1939 World’s Fair. My point was that the reasoning for Robert Moses not expanding the line to the World’s Fair itself was not rooted in a hate for minorities as Defunctland claims, but rather, it wasn’t even necessary.
Very well done! I visited the Fair as a boy in 1964. It was quite impressive for a youngster like me. One bit of trivia: The Coca-Cola Pavillion served a recipe for the soda that was far sweeter and tastier than their regular product.
They offered free coke, too. I loved the intimacies of the Coca Cola Pavillon with various world scenes.
Likely a consumer test of New Coke recipe
The irony of this situation is the most amusing. You had these people who thought they could control progress only for progress to prevail and prove they couldn't control it. You also have a guy named after someone who delivered people to the promised land actually bringing people into debt and pocketing the change. Amazing. Great storytelling, I'm really obsessed with these videos.
Great comment. I'm writing a horror story around these concepts as they horrify me each time I think about them. Partly inspired by Venture Bros, Adventures in Odyssey, The Shining, Free Masonic lodges, Epstein and the attitudes around and after the assassinations of the 60's.
Kevin you forgot to mention, another very interesting event during Walt Disney and the 1964 World's Fair. Osamu Tezuka (creator of Astro Boy, Kimba, and Unico) actually meet Walt Disney during the 1964 World's Fair. According to some of his sketches and doodles recounting seeing Walt in person. He actually geeked out seeing his idol on opening day. Walt made an agreement with Tezuka on creating a manga adaptation of "Bambi". Another story mentioned from his doodles was that he and Walt were discussing on working on an animated film as a collaboration. But that idea quickly died after Walt's death in 1966.
(True Story)
Tezuka's own words talking about his once in a life time opportunity on meeting Walt.
"I was lucky enough to get a chance to talk to him. I came across him leaving the stage just after delivering the speech."
"I got nervous but somehow introduced myself to him."
Tezuka: "I am a head of a Japanese animation studio."
Walt Disney": Nice to have you here."
Tezuka: "I am the one who made Astro Boy."
Walt Disney: "Really? I know Astro Boy. I saw the work in Los Angeles. It’s a great work."
Tezuka: "Thank you very much. My staff would be honored. Well, may I have your comment about the work?"
Walt Disney: "It’s a very interesting Sci-Fi story. Future children are looking toward the space. So I, myself, think about making Sci Fi, too. If you have time, visit me in Burbank."
My gosh, Walt's death really put many projects either reworked, on hold, or outright canned.
Walt Disney is an inspiration to Japan and some of the giants of Japanese entertainment used to deal with Disney. Take Hiroshi Yamauchi, legendary President of Nintendo, struck a licensing deal with Disney which allowed him to sell Disney-themed playing cards...
You got a citation?
God, a collab between them would've been awesome.
I knew Tezuka was inpired by Disney for Astroboy but I didnt know this amazing story, thanks for bringing it into attention. And the Tezuka doodle is awesome.
Just realised that mostly every episode of Season 3 are literally all the things and events that inspired Walt Disney.
Only just realized?
I've been unofficially calling this season "WHY was Walt Disney?"
mostly literally
Season 4 needs to be the raise and fall of Michael Eisner
@PrimusVsUnicron
I would like to think the videos about Extra Terror-estrial, Disneyland Paris, Disneyland Hong Kong, Disney's America, DisneyQuest and California Adventure sums up a great amount of Eisner's rise and fall within the Disney Company. I'm fairly certain there are many more tidbits of Eisner within a good amount of other videos like Tales of the Okeefenokee (first off the top of my head). Although these videos aren't all in order, it gives us a good idea of what it must've been like to work for him.
But if you mean following his career before the Disney Company when he was still in ABC or Paramount, then that would be interesting.
It was really cool to see the development of the first true animatronics! I knew disney was big in animatronics, but I had no idea Imagineers *INVENTED* them! And from one clip, it looked like the Lincoln Bot’s motion was being programmed by a person in a rig going through the motions himself and the bot mirroring. A lot of modern robots, including industrial bots that have to follow a precise path and have delicate motions, are also programmed this way. Robotic surgery uses a similar control technique in real time, and I know of a few prosthetic limbs that use an intact limb on the other side to “train” the motion of the prosthetic. Such cool tech and its amazing that it seems to have started with Theme Park entertainment lol.
I was surprised by how much of the development work Disney allowed to filmed.
Yo pyro...do you not know about da vinci's lion? And there ain't nothing new about mechanised talking heads either....
@@naturalnashuan Disney always was trying to get projects in development on film. For one thing, it was footage of something working you could show in case something was broken, but also you got the feeling that Walt just thought things like animatronics were cool. It wasn't until large firms started controlling the majority of shares that the culture of secrecy we know today kicked in.
I love that Brennan Lee Mulligan made Robert Moses the villain in the Dimension 20 season "The Unsleeping City"
I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned out to be a lich IRL he’s already a real life supervillain.
I'm starting to think this Robert Moses guy was kind of a jerk.
He was best remembered for building the NYC highways and parkways like this one which is a driving simulation of I-278 of the BQE with the RFK Bridge which was first opened in 1936 originally called the Triborough Bridge, and also the home of Robert Moses office of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority.
ua-cam.com/video/JNWkQGkyutk/v-deo.html
The lesson here is that if you're gonna be a racist, power-hungry, egocentric old man don't work in politics. Just work in the entertainment industry.
@@millicentchuyin6763 if only a certain someone had heard that advice about 5 years ago!
He thought he could part the waters of Long Island Sound.:)
.... Kinda ?! 🙄😐😐🤔
"But he was only able to deliver his speech a total of seven times, which was technically six more times than the real Lincoln had." This is a memorable quote!
the globe at flushing meadows has become one of the most famous skateboarding spots ever. super cool to see it carried on and become historic for something else. i had no idea it was built for the worlds fair! rad.
What is the parkland in Flushing (hahaha) like today?
I remember the globe at 9 yrs. Old. from Deer Park L. I.
Flushing Meadows Park is where they hold the US Open for tennis.
@@karenryder6317 well it's a decent park but very large. It's got a few nice lakes, a small zoo, and a tiny (very tiny) amusement. Obviously it's known for the US open and Mets stadium. One thing tho is that all of the pavilions in this video are gone.
Love these documentaries. This one was really good, especially the shade thrown at Robert Moses. Sweet, candy coated shade that we know is extremely bad for us, but goes down sooo good.
In comparison, it made Disney seem like less of a jerk to me.
Man. Defunctland is too quality for UA-cam. He should be makin that History Channel money.
Edit: I now see the error of my ways; Netflix/Disney+ money.
He'd actually be better than a lot of the stuff on there.
History channel is barley real history, this should just be on Netflix
I actually saw his shows on cable access and was so surprised!
Alexis B how do you mean that? like for real?
No. He NEEDS the freedom that the internet and this platform provides. Freedom to cover the topics that HE wants to cover, cover them in the WAY he wants to cover, make his episodes as long or as short as he likes, say whatever he wants in them, and so on and so forth.
Most of all, content of this quality being 100% free and available for literally every single person on Earth to enjoy at any time they so choose is a massive gift to humanity. Taking that away from us and hiding it behind a restrictive paywall - one that can only be accessed by people living in certain parts of the world, and even then only if they pay up, would be downright _criminal._
Excellent documentary. I attended the 1964 season of the fair, when I was 4. We rode the cars past living dinosaurs. I saw children from all over the world dancing together in the Small World attraction. From my perspective, it was sheer magic. Moses may have been a huge jerk, and the fair a financial failure, but it thrilled those who experienced it. I still have my doll from the Korean Pavillion.
I was 10 and because I lived within 10 blocks of the park I was always in there . We used to walk in through a gap in the fence.
Meet me at the Smoke Ring! I was there too, age 5
@@dancingnature my grandpa did something similar he somehow talked his way into the fair 🤣
You didn’t have to talk your away in because the gap in the fence on Roosevelt Ave was unguarded and was actually like a gate post with no gate. It’s not there anymore. They decided to close it up sometime during the late 80s or 90s . But in 1964 it was wide open!
@@dancingnature Typically adventurous children. Those were the days when children were clever using their own imaginations, not the spoon fed nonsense.
Our family went to this fair when I was a kid, taking a 2-week driving vacation and camping along the way. What a grand place for a youngster! I didn't realize that Walt Disney had worked with the crew building this place. I DO recall the huge globe at the fair, our meeting point if we got separated.
An animatronic Lincoln doesn’t seem like a big deal to us in our time but man, think about how insane it was for them to see back then! It’s like when we had holograms of Tupac etc. perform on stage live.
are we not gonna talk abt how moses literally yelled a man to death,?
Sounds like _my_ boss was taking notes from him. Glad I'm leaving before he kills me.
@Dylan Draper You'll need to find some old ruins with power words carved into them, but sure!
Was it Krii Lun Aus?
@@thuranz2773 Sounds like, which means he's also part of the dark brotherhood!
Fus roh dah
Something about "watching" a terrible man try to make a great legacy for himself by acting more and more horrible, and continuously get hit by karma for it, over and over again until the end.... this really is one cathartic episode to watch.
Kudos to the superb narrator. Normally i would lose my focus in a documentary after some time, but I couldn't stop watching and had me kept engaged until the very end. Amazing storytelling!
Spanish Pavilion was wonderful, offering splendid color, music, singing and dancing of various cultural experiences of this country. Memorable and stunning.
I worked at the Hawai’i pavilion. Most days off, I visited the fabulous Spanish pavilion, made friends there.
After the fair ended, I decided to travel to Spain, visit my new friends. It changed my life in many, many ways.
Since then I have traveled/lived around the world. Life is good.
St. Louis Mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes loved the Spanish Pavilion so much he had it moved to St. Louis after the New York World's Fair ended. Unfortunately it turned out to be a money pit. The question then was what to do with it. I liked one solution that was proposed -- make Cervantes live in it and pay its bills.
"as a young boy, Walt Disney had dressed as Lincoln and delivered the Gettysburg address. His knowledge on the president had evolved little since, but his childlike appreciation had not wavered." ---- That's my favorite burn in this episode.
Not sure how that is a burn
Should we tell him? 😂
@@b.c4440 i dont think that was a burn. Sounds like a genuine statement
@@nero0168 should we tell him?
@@thisaccountisntreal107 Yes
I was under the assumption those were real flying saucers and the world’s fair was just a cover up for them landing there. Why else would they hold it in Queens?
I understood that reference
Lol. Love Men In Black.
You raise a good point. I'm afraid I can't let you go. You know too much.
*puts on sunglasses*
It's kind of remarkable that both Walt Disney World AND Universal Orlando have features derived from the 1964 World's Fair.
Don't forget to push the red button... I mean the Subscribe Button.
What an incredible experience in 64 and 65. I will never forget it!
My family drove all the way from Kentucky to see the World's Fair in 1965. It was my father's idea. I vividly remember arriving on the outskirts and us finding a parking place. The first thing we saw was the giant metal globe (Unisphere) and all the water fountains. I was 17 years old and VERY impressed. We went to see the Lincoln exhibit and he worked! I sat attentively watching him speak and then stand up! I'll never forget it. We also saw the Disney exhibit of the Carousel and I was amazed with it because I could hear it's gears working under the floor as it it turned us in a very slow 360' circle. We rode the Ford convertibles which were on a track very high up. It was a cool trip. Went to the Vatican exhibit and got on a conveyor belt that slowly moved us to a room where the Pieta was on exhibit. The room gave off a glow of blue and the amazing piece by Michelangelo was sitting behind a bullet proof glass. SO inspiring! We saw the cars that could drive across the lake and then come out of the water onto dry land and continue on. I loved the boxy design of them. Speaking of designs, for someone my age, I look back on it and am amazed that one thing that really stood out to me was the multi colored lights coming from the parking lot into the whole fair grounds. They were interspersed throughout. They has a unique design of perfect rectangles of different color plastic with a regular white lightbulb inside, attached to each other and most lamp posts were different because of how many rectangles were on them. To this day, I still think these were one of the most creative things I saw at the fair! I went to the Korean exhibit and filled out a "Pen Pal" form and actually received letters from a Korean boy! I wrote my name on a paper that was put in the Time Capsule so someone 5,000 years from now will rejoice upon seeing it! :) I think the fair was fabulous and a success in its own right. I'm glad this Moses fellow brought it all to fruition. I still have my fair booklet they gave us when we bought our tickets, plus the Guide Book that I bought. If you want the 100% scoop on the World Fair, go to this site. It is filled with history and details, plus what happened to many of the buildings and how some were torn down and put back up elsewhere. nywf64.com/
Great post, you're fortunate to have been there at an age where you remember more stuff. I only recall a little bit from age 6.
@@robertsmithers9059 Well, at least you can say, "I've been there!"!!!!! Thanks for the comments.
“Lincoln, the first president to suspended Habeas Corpus, was not available for comment.” He’s getting shadier every episode, right? I’m dead. I can’t.
There was so much shade, it dipped under 100 here.
The shade is giving me life!!
Fewer people are more deserving of such witty displays of shade than Robert Moses haha!
What Lincoln let Sherman and Grant do to the south would be a war crime today.
I just remarked to my wife that as the years have gone by since the first episode, his snark level has grown exponentially.
Dislike because no clip of the army of monster rats. What a tease.
I respect that
Clearly anyone who stopped long enough to take pictures of them was devoured by the R.O.U.S's
@@weldonwin Rodents of Unusual Size? I think they don't exist.
Monster Rats vs C.H.U.D.s?
@@weldonwin There should be like, 4, 5 of them in a cave somewhere in Vegas
I live in the New Jersey suburbs, and learned more about Moses here than I have in almost 20 years as an area resident. Well told story. As a 10 year old, my family took me to the World's Fair in 1965, where I remember a fraction of these exhibits.
I was able to attend the ‘64 worlds fair. I can remember those exhibits that were shown in this video. Thanks for the memories.
I lowkey forgot how evil Robert Moses was until I got to 9:19 where I was reminded that he did NOT want people like me to be anywhere near his work. A whole supervillain.
Yep. A man who was racist to his very core
@@jamesduncan6729 His nickname was the Dark Prince of Hollywood, supposedly not the cheery public image.
I wonder how he felt about his last name
@@jeffg.8964 Are you talking about Moses, or Disney? What did Moses have to do with Hollywood?
@@roberthenleynola Walt Disney
"Fine, I'll make my own World's Fair - with very little blackjack and absolutely no hookers." -Robert Moses, probably
and also very little black
If anyone has ever watched "The Flintstones", they might remember the time machine episode where they visit a lot of different time periods, including the 'present' (when the episode was made) and they actually at the NY World's Fair!
I was 6 years old when I attended the Fair and it was MAGICAL. I would give any thing to go back in time and revisit it
So Robert Moses tried to secure his legacy but it failed due to him being an asshole who got angered quite easily while Walt Disney succeeded due to being a flawed but amicable man who could control his temper most of the time. What a shock. :P
Except the fact that Walt is a disillusioned patriot who blames people for his problems instead of realizing his overambitious errors and would rather pay you less than what you earned.
@@pluna3382 That's what I meant by "flawed".
@@pluna3382 ah, yes & if you also follow Clownfish tv you'd understand why that's still pretty much the same today... but with instagram walls
Have you ever seen a film about Robert Moses? Watch here!
ua-cam.com/video/QTwHlYg7-6w/v-deo.html
The fact that no one has signed you on for a major televised event is absolutely insane. You are a master of Documentaries
Right now we have the ideal situation: he produces what he wants, how he wants, and doesn't have a boss. His high-quality stuff is available for free to the world.
If TV companies want to buy his stuff and broadcast it, then great. But if someone hired him and messed with his process to the point where he'd be making the same garbage as everyone else, that would be awful.
I'd love to see him get the payday, but network goons normally ruin content of this caliber. So, if he had full control, sure.
He has his Patreon in the description, no ones stopping you from supporting him
@@S.O.N.E Maybe not the nicest way to say that… But, in any case, yes: I highly encourage supporting people and channels (like this one!) who put in serious effort to make content that you really appreciate.
Patreon (and similar services) are a pretty great way to support people who make great stuff. 🙂
Coming up after the break, (da da dummmmm) proof that aliens are already here (dumm dummm da da dummmmm)
It pleases me greatly to know that The Fair was a financial disaster for Robert Moses, and that he died a very despised man. He was absolute evil personified.
"The Power Broker" is an amazing and exhaustive biography. Highly recommended.
Currently reading it now.
"People didn't even know how to pronounce 'Seattle'... and worse, to the people of Seat-el"
Seattle is the anglicized version of the Lushootseed chief's name Si'ahl. In other words, Seattle itself is a mispronunciation.
But they knew how to appreciate a good fair. And Seattle put on a splendid world's fair. And it made a profit.
Dingwall: "People didn't even know how to pronounce Seattle..."
Moses: "I can't believe I lost to Seetle!"
> 15:35
@@295g295 Not all heroes wear underwear
That girl in the Brady Bunch saying "Seattle" 😆
“one often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it” -master Oogway
Very applicable to Moses here.
I was a kid, 10 years old, I was there for two days with my family. I loved it! "Small, Small World" for real.
I was 10 also, visiting Grandma in New York from California, what a wonderful experience. The most memorable exhibit, to this day seeing was The Pieta by Michelangelo. My god I can still see it in my mind like it was yesterday.
Defunctland has such pretty thumbnails. They have such a unique style.
Agreed
@D Zuke I like how more names are being seen as unisex. It's not a bad thing.
@D Zuke - Calm down Ashley, Addison, Cassidy, Dana, Leslie, Lindsay, Madison, Shelby, Stacy.
(All originally popular boys names in the past, this isn't a new idea)
Literally a highly contributing factor for why I checked out my first video a while back.
D Zuke stop being a snowflake, boomer
"Local perverts and general fun havers alike"
I resemble that remark.
I did a spit take at that.
My Nana would tell me stories of the 64’ world fair and how as a little girl she was in awe. I miss you Nana ❤
I enjoy these videos as I hear what Walt Disney accomplished but never who he was as a man, I sort of find it sweet he loved Abraham Lincoln so much.
Edit: This sounds like a movie where you have the man just trying to follow his dream while not knowing the main villain is using him for his devious plans.
Studying Walt Disney the man likely doesn't live up to his image as a Lincoln lover.
So many things made me go "oof" in this episode.
"We can't have people working 3-4 hour shifts.... Imagine how much we'd have to pay them!"
I can't imagine having to work a 3-4 hour shift for a livable wage! Outrageous!
at least then they didn't have the word/phrase/slang "oof!" and people were actually willing to take big shifts and places didn't have endless staffing issues without bringing in workers from overseas like they do today.
27:51 - One detail about Lincoln's voice that I rarely hear mentioned ( and have only seen in Jim Korkis's well researched books ) is the input of an impersonator who heard Lincoln speak in person. This boy heard Lincoln speak in person back in the day and as an old man he'd had the fortune to lend his impression to a wax recording. While his voice wasn't a match, the cadence became known as the standard for how Lincoln paced his words. In a world before any form of recording device, a really good impersonator ended up being the next best thing.
"This boy heard Lincoln speak in person back in the day and as an old man he'd had the fortune to lend his impression to a wax recording. "
By "fortune" do you mean he'd gotten together the money to record his Lincolnesque voice, or did happen to meet someone who knew someone...?
@@choptanktuxent2 I think he means, "He had the good fortune, the opportunity...."
Didn't Pinky and the Brain poke fun of that in one of their episodes of the show?
Lincoln apparently had a high-pitched, nasally voice from accounts of the time. Which honestly just kinda make me think of Gilbert Gottfried.
@@SeruraRenge11 I'd love to hear the Gettysburg Address done in Gilbert Gottfried's voice, lol.
Thanks, this was really informative for me. I remember watching TV coverage of this fair on TV in my childhood, which was as close as I would ever get to the fair, living in the opposite side of the country at the time. I especially remember seeing the episode about Disney's "It's a Small World."
Flushing Meadow and My Life In 2020 are both known as The Corona Dump.
So many ppl have commented about the inconsistent look of the pavilions and attractions, maybe it's because I'm looking at it through history, I for one LOVE the different looks, and they still have a mid-century modern style.
I like the pavilions and the look of the fair. But it was poorly run and went bankrupt in the end.
I am 90 - was a designer of the interior of the Tower of Light, sponsored by power companies., our animation was very good on a minimal budget' - I was the designer of the World Design Center , 100 foot dia dome constructed of Eurathane foam displaying products from around the world. It was proclaimed by the New York Times as the only truly modern future building method . Our land lease was taken by Moses to construct a modular steel building "Off the Shelf" , not approved by the fair. - It was an Excellent Experience !
Masterful and witty historical information here. Also, to know that Robert Moses is spinning in his grave when the film, The Wiz came out and the opening scene in OZ takes place in Flushing Meadows. I didn't realize it was a real place till many years later. Also to be seen for it's masterful use of a certain lost landmark when they went through the gate into the Emerald City itself.
After almost 60 years, a lot of the fair’s processes and politics behind it are still relevant. Good job on doing a lot of research no matter how ugly it is
It's funny you say that. I thought the concern about corporate and products being the future of this country was right on the nose. What was feared came to fruition.
**This episode in an nutshell**
Walt Disney: Haha look at this animatronic parrot! It can talk!
Robert Moses: SHIIIII-
TIKITIKITIKITIKITIKI TIKI ROOM! Yea!
Smile! You're on TV Tropes!
My favorite story about the animatronic Abe Lincoln, though I'm not sure if it's true, is about one of the earliest tests.
Abe stood up, started to speak, and then a hydraulic line ruptured. Abe immediately collapsed back into his chair with bright red hydraulic fluid pouring out of his chest. Supposedly, one of the men present (It might have been Walt or Moses, I don't recall) quipped "This is great, you recreated his assassination!"
This whole scenario is so complex and bizarre that it's nearly impossible to believe that it really happened that way.
It’s a shame that the majority of people that go to that park today only go north of the subway station to go to a Mets game. They don’t go south to explore the grounds and learn about the site and the fair that was once there. Also a shame how many buildings have remained after the fair. They should’ve kept more. Especially the General Electric dome
Well said Mr. Eisner, well said.
What
wait whuttt
Even when Michael Eisner is completely uninvolved Michael Eisner shows up.
Last year I actually made a point of going there to see the huge scale model of the city (I'm from San Diego). I'd recommend that to any visitor.
"Never let Robert Moses do you a favor. He'll use it as a way to destroy you."
47 seconds in I just feel the need to say thank you for creating so much great work man. All of your videos are easily digestible, memorable, funny, fun, interesting, and well done. Thank you for such great work
Well, say what you will about Moses, but this kid loved the '64 World's Fair. My school.went there in May of '64 and my friends and I took buses there all summer long whenever we earned enough money for the entrance fee. As a science nerd I still remember the DuPont exhibition where the demonstrator dropped a rose into liquid nitrogen, took it out, then shattered it. He dipped a string into a liquid and pulled out a infinite strand of nylon. We loved the GM world of tomorrow and Ford exhibits (I never got to ride in the mustang...but I bought one years later!). We marveled at James Bond's Aston Martin and the Belgian waffles which our budgets rarely allowed. Yep, complain all you want, but this retired physicist...and many of his friends...were glad it happened.
The level of anxiety the entire time thinking Kevin was going to play that song..........
I forgot the name of the song Some Jerk with a Camera (the guy who voiced the man who left early during Walt’s party) played whenever the Small World song played.
@@DoswarePictures Found it for you. It's Moxy Früvous live cover of Psycho Killer by the Talking Heads.
Andy Knapp thanks.
Zack Lunas and killing his mother by accident.
*Robert Moses:* "I want to be viewed positively!"
*Me:* "Then why don't you try actually helping lower income and minority communities instead of destroying them?"
*Moses:* "What are you, crazy?"
Otaking Mikohani it’s too much work! And he would’ve had to *gasp* talk to them! ;-)
But in all seriousness, this man had severe lack of self awareness and just...a failure of a human.
wow did u really get to talk to robert moses u must be so lucky
@@ladylover1134 I wouldnt say lucky, Moses seems like a prick, he did shout at a man until he had a heart attack and died after all :/
These world fair things always seem so cool. I really do wonder why they dont seem as big and wacky and dramatic as they were back then.
Because they don't let just one egotistical blowhard run everything anymore. Helps the finances, blands the flavor.
"And worse, to the people of 'Seetle'." I love all the little jabs in the script XD
I get it now! All the Zoom interviews with people that had "The Power Broker" on their shelves were foreshadowing this Defunctland video!!!
“Amazingly, the figure worked and was able to speak
for a short time before the mechanics caused its skin to rip off”
Scott Cawthon: WRITE THAT DOWN, WRITE THAT DOWN!
I'm 63 now and I remember the Fair eidetically... especially "It's a Small World". I rode the ride again when I was 8 at Disneyland but was too old for it then. Tomorrowland was the hip scene for an 8 year old, not Fantasyland! The Carousel of Progress was one of the most formative experiences of my life, and still is today. VIVA WALT!
This is incredibly interesting. I remember my art history class touching a bit this topic but, of course, there was just too much history for us to get to dive in. Thank you for all your hard work and for helping us examine “the forest through the trees.” (Professor Deyasi, to my best knowledge)
"Threatening the world with a -bad time-" has the same energy as "I shall make problems on purpose."
There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of every day.
One of my father's first memories is being on his father's shoulders at the 1964 World's Fair at 2 years old. I don't think he or I ever knew any of the crazy background to the fair or how downright evil and impossible to work with Robert Moses was.