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From the time I
became aware of them, I wanted a set of the Official Slides
of the New York World's Fair. But being 11 years old in 1964
made that, along with many other requests, just another dream.
Time went on, the Fair ended and I forgot all about it. Then
in the late 1970s my interest in the Fair rekindled, and a vague
memory began to resurface of an ad in the guidebook for slides.
I dug out my old guide, searched through it and actually found
the ad. I wrote to the company at their 1964 address, waited,
heard nothing, and forgot about it again. Eventually, however,
they replied. The letter had somehow been forwarded to their
new address in Tustin, California. The slides were no longer
available they said, but for $1 each they would be willing to
retrieve the masters from their vaults and make me copies. I
ordered the whole set, and the results are here for all to see.
Some of the shots are badly faded, a lot are off balance, but
most look pretty good.
Wolfe Worldwide Films advertisement
in the 1964 Official Guide to the New York World's Fair.
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Along with the slides,
Wolfe sent a photocopy of the catalog pages that listed their
1964/65 New York World's Fair slides. This provided the descriptions
I use below the large slide images. Some of the catalog descriptions
were just plain wrong (i.e., "night scene" where the
shot was obviously taken during the day, or "view from Gate#1"
when it was apparently taken from the base of the New York State
towers). These I corrected where I could. Some of the hand written
numbers on the plastic slide mounts were wrong (i.e., two different
slides with the same number), but were correctible by studying
the list. And some slide numbers were simply not on the list
(i.e., most of the Space Park slides). In these cases I just
added '1' to the last good slide number of the same subject to
get a new number. There are gaps between some catalog numbers,
but it is not clear if the missing slides where ever offered
for sale, or simply represent the photographer's original shots
that were edited out when the staff was compiling the series.
The small slide
images on page two are fake-outs. The slides were delivered to
me in grey snap-together plastic mounts. However, when I started
making this feature I discovered that a few had been sent in
their original cardboard mounts, apparently "new old stock".
I chose the one that was in the best condition, and used it as
a template for all the small slide images. I tried to adjust
the brightness and contrast of these slides to make it look as
if they are in a lighted display, like the kind we used to see
in the early 60s in the photo department at Korvettes when our
family would go to the mall on Saturday nights.
Wolfe Worldwide
Films seems
no longer to exist. Their product, like ViewMaster's,
was a direct descendent of the 19th century magic lantern shows
and stereopticon cards that allowed people to view scenes from
around the world without ever leaving home. Their time has come
as well as gone. Still, there is something exciting about a little
2x2 square of cardboard and cellulose that glows when held up
to the light. At least for me.
Bradd Schiffman
February, 2002
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