So, yeah. Let's see... where to begin. *pulls out 1939 NYWF Guide Book* :lookaroun
You could, I guess, start with the fact that, like Project Florida in the late 60s, the actual act of getting the 1939 fair up and running was a gigantic land reclaimation project. The area was an ash dump, and millions had to be spent. It was, at the time, the largest such building project ever attempted.
The original Futurama (1939/40) was the granpappy of them all. It focused on the importance of a network of interconnected high-speed highways across America. A lot of the ideas for traffic flow and highway systems would late manifest themselves in Walt's visions for E.P.C.O.T. (the city). Most notably, the original Futurama opted for pedestrian traffic to be isolated from vehicle traffic, just like Walt's ideas for a multi-tiered transport system that kept cars below ground while Pedestrians walked on the main level. At Futurama, this was shown not only in model form, but was even built out in full size for the exit of the attraction.
Another interesting corrolary is that, in 1939, Futurama was not considered the "theme center" (ride intended to best-exhibit the fair's ideals). That honor, instead, went to "Democracity," which was housed inside the Perisphere (imagine a huge, gypsum board Spaceship Earth). Democaracity used models and also huge projections inside the top of the sphere to show a model city of tomorrow (which looks pretty darn EPCOTty) and was narrated by H.V. Kaltenborn, who was a prominent newsman in his day. Yet the privately-funded Futurama stole the show as one of the most popular rides, and was seen by many as the highlight of the fair.
Fast forward some four decades or so to 1982. Horizons was not considered the "theme center" of EPCOT Center. That honor, instead, went to Spaceship Earth. It used models and animatronics and also huge projections inside the top of the sphere to show the history of communications and was narrated (eventually) by Walter Cronkite, who was a prominent newsman in his day. Yet the GE-funded Horizons stole the show as one of the most popular rides, and was seen by many as the highlight of EPCOT.
While we're talking about The Perisphere at 1939, it's worth noting there was a huge tall pointy thing next to it called the Trylon. And there were a LOT of gripes from some folks that it ruined the scale, simplicity, and grandeur of the Perisphere. Those arguments would be echoed years later about the wand versus SSE.
Futurama II (1964/65) was much more visually and thematically like Horizons. It featured better-living-thru-science (and yes, science helps us get rid of those pesky rainforests) :lookaroun And it also offered glimpses of life underwater, in space, etc. Some of the scenes from Futurama look like they could be dropped straight into Horizons (or, for that matter, an episode of The Thunderbirds :lookaroun).
There's also little tidbits of 1939 and 1964 elsewhere around EPCOT Center. The Heinz pavilion had an animatronic-style Mr Tomato... not far off from the animatronic food in Kitchen Kabaret. A huge man-and-his-health pavilion was at the 1939 fair (much better received than Wodners of Life, though). And so on. There are plenty of other similarities.
Also in 1939, there was the Electric Utilities building where visitors would watch two scenes; one showing life before electricity, and another showing life after electricity arrived. Very CoP in nature.
And of course Disney did a Mickey movie for Nabisco in 1939's fair (search youtube for "Mickey's Surprise Party") as well as Circlevision/Circarama films for Canada in a couple of different expos over the years.
Oh, and sincesome one brought up the 1900 fair in Paris... they
did have a huge globe there too.
As always, for the definitive Masterwork on 1939 vs Epcot (well, definitive until I start writing a book :lookaroun), I always suggest a visit to 2719hyperion.com where Jeff Pepper has a whole series of articles dedicated to it. :wave:
