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139-624: While production of the Novachord began in November 1938, it was first heard at the 1939 New York World's Fair . The Novachord Orchestra of Ferde Grofé performed daily at the Ford stand with four Novachords and a Hammond Organ . The first instrument was delivered to President Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 30, 1940 as a birthday present. The Novachord was not well-suited to the technique of organists or pianists and required frequent adjustments to controls on

278-501: A dividend to its bondholders. In large part due to inclement weather, some concessionaires considered closing their attractions, and the fair had recorded nearly 3 million fewer visitors during the 1940 season compared with the equivalent time period in 1939. The WFC planned to distribute posters advertising the fair, and bondholders agreed to waive $ 14.5 million of the WFC's debt. The WFC also began selling off materials and memorabilia from

417-446: A $ 4.15 million net profit. In the fair's last week, the WFC hosted extravagant shows such as fireworks displays. The fair had 537,952 visitors on its final day, October 27, 1940. The day afterward, passersby were allowed to tour the grounds for $ 2. In total, the fair had recorded 19,115,713 million visitors during 1940; even accounting for the second season's shorter duration, it had fewer daily visitors on average than in 1939. During

556-413: A Doubt (1943), Strangers on a Train (1951), I Confess (1953), and Dial M for Murder (1954). Here he used a lush style relying on solo violins and muted trumpets. He composed the score for the science fiction thriller The Thing from Another World (1951), which is considered his "strangest and most experimental score." He also worked with Howard Hawks on The Big Sky (1952) and Land of

695-516: A ballet troupe run by the Austrian ballerina Albertina Rasch . Tiomkin and Rasch's professional relationship evolved into a personal one, and they married in 1927. While in New York, Tiomkin gave a recital at Carnegie Hall that featured contemporary music by Maurice Ravel , Alexander Scriabin , Francis Poulenc , and Alexandre Tansman . He and his new wife went on tour to Paris in 1928, where he played

834-547: A centrally located Court of Peace, a Lagoon of Nations, and a smaller Court of States. The Hall of Nations consisted of eight buildings, which flanked the Court of Peace. Countries could build their own pavilions, lease space in the Hall of Nations, or do both. Most of the U.S. state pavilions were located around the Court of States, which had a lagoon, and replicated notable buildings or architectural styles in each state. Southwest of

973-578: A few cameo appearances on television programs. These include being the mystery challenger on What's My Line? and an appearance on Jack Benny 's CBS program in December 1961, in which he attempted to help Benny write a song. He also appeared as a contestant on the October 20, 1955, episode of the TV quiz program You Bet Your Life , hosted by Groucho Marx . He composed the music to the song " Wild Is The Wind ". It

1112-406: A film score have been analyzed and described by music experts. Musicologist Dave Epstein, for one, has explained that after reading the script, Tiomkin would then outline the film's major themes and movements. After the film itself has been filmed, he would make a detailed study of the timing of scenes, using a stopwatch to arrange precise synchronization of the music with the scenes. He would complete

1251-576: A little too far in the matter of expense, and went to Frank one day as he sat in the projection room [and explained the score.]... He looked shocked. "No, Dimi, the lama is a simple man. His greatness is in being simple. For his death the music should be simple, nothing more than the muttering rhythm of a drum." "But Frank, death of lama is not ending one man, but is death of idea. Is tragedy applying to whole human race. I must be honest. Music should rise high, high. Should give symbolism of immense loss. Please don't hate me." He worked on other Capra films during

1390-554: A month and a half before the fair's official opening, Whalen announced plans to spend $ 1 million on shows and miniature villages in the Amusement Area. The lights on the fairground were first turned on that April, three weeks before the fair's scheduled opening. In addition, La Guardia issued a proclamation declaring April 1939 as "Dress Up and Paint Up Month" in New York City. Sixteen thousand workers were putting final touches on

1529-484: A parade celebrating the opening. The fair received 600,000 visitors on its first day, far short of the 1 million visitors that the WFC had predicted. At the time, many major attractions in the Amusement Area were incomplete, and only 80% of the structures were ready. The fair accommodated one million visitors in its first four days. By mid-May, the fair was 90% finished, but many of the amusement attractions were still incomplete. The WFC's operations department oversaw

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1668-623: A pianist playing Franz Liszt 's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Berlin Philharmonic . He moved to Paris with his roommate, Michael Khariton, to perform a piano duo repertory together. They did this before the end of 1924. In 1925 the duo received an offer from the New York theatrical producer Morris Gest and emigrated to the United States. They performed together on the Keith / Albee and Orpheum vaudeville circuits, in which they accompanied

1807-511: A reflection of the steppes of his native Ukraine. So the cowboy becomes a mirror image of the Cossacks : both are primitives and innocents, etched on and dwarfed by a landscape of soul-stirring immensity and rugged masculine beauty. And as an exile himself, Tiomkin would have identified with the cowboys, pioneers and early settlers who people the world of the Western ... . [T]hose like Tiomkin who blazed

1946-473: A similar fair. The New York Times attributes the idea for the 1939 New York World's Fair to the civil engineer Joseph Shadgen , who had come up with the idea in 1934 following a conversation with his daughter. By early 1935, a group led by the municipal reformer George McAneny was considering an international exposition in New York City in 1939. Though the date coincided with the 150th anniversary of George Washington's first inauguration , Moses said

2085-759: A special upgrade to improve stability, which was no more than a low-power heater bolted inside the enclosure to reduce the effects of humidity. The instrument was not known for vacuum tube failure perhaps because the heater voltage was reduced from the typical 6.3 volts to 5 volts. Like its contemporaries, the Theremin , the Ondes Martenot and the Trautonium , the Novachord can be heard occasionally in horror and science fiction film scores including many genre films from Universal Studios and James Bernard 's ethereal music for Hammer 's The Gorgon (1964). Jerry Goldsmith used

2224-403: A tale of cowardice and conformity in a small Western town. Tiomkin composed his entire score around this single western-style ballad. He also eliminated violins from the ensemble. He added a subtle harmonica in the background, to give the film a "rustic, deglamorized sound that suits the anti-heroic sentiments" expressed by the story. According to Russian film historian Harlow Robinson, building

2363-531: A time bomb at the British Pavilion died when the bomb detonated; the bombing was never solved, and visitors were largely unaware that it had even occurred. Following the bombing, security outside European countries' pavilions was increased. Later the same month, the WFC began surveying the fair's buildings, with plans to demolish them. At the midpoint of the season, in August 1940, the WFC had to postpone paying

2502-590: A trail in Hollywood were actually winning the West all over again. Tiomkin alluded to this relationship in his autobiography: A steppe is a steppe is a steppe... . The problems of the cowboy and the Cossack are very similar. They share a love of nature and a love of animals. Their courage and their philosophical attitudes are similar, and the steppes of Russia are much like the prairies of America. Tiomkin's methods of composing

2641-663: Is best remembered. His first Western was the King Vidor -directed Duel in the Sun (1946). In addition to High Noon , among his other Westerns were Giant (1956), Friendly Persuasion (1956), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), and Last Train from Gun Hill (1959). Rio Bravo (1959), The Alamo (1960), Circus World (1964) and The War Wagon (1967) were made with the involvement of John Wayne . Tiomkin received Oscar nominations for his scores in both Giant and The Alamo . He told TV host Gig Young that his aim in creating

2780-606: Is known to be in the United Kingdom. As of November 2017, there is one in Australia. Containing 163 vacuum tubes and over 1,000 custom capacitors , the Novachord weighed nearly 500 pounds and was roughly the size of two spinet pianos. The divide-down oscillator architecture, based on vacuum-tube monostable circuits, permitted all 72 notes to be played polyphonically by deriving several octaves of notes from twelve L–C tuned top-octave oscillators. Only one tetrode per lower note

2919-626: The 1964 New York World's Fair on the same site. The fair hosted many activities and cultural events. Participating governments, businesses, and organizations were celebrated on specific theme days. Musical performances took place in conjunction with the fair, and sculptures and artworks were displayed throughout the fairground and within pavilions. The fairground also displayed consumer products , including electronic devices, and there were dozens of restaurants and concession stands. The exposition spurred increased spending in New York City and indirectly influenced Queens's further development. Artifacts from

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3058-816: The Bolshevik Revolution . He supported himself while living in Saint Petersburg by playing piano accompaniment for numerous Russian silent films . Because the revolution had diminished opportunities for classical musicians in Russia, Tiomkin joined many exiles in moving to Berlin after the Russian Revolution to live with his father. In Berlin, from 1921 to 1923, he studied with the pianist Ferruccio Busoni and Busoni's disciples Egon Petri and Michael von Zadora  [ es ] . He composed light classical and popular music, and made his performing debut as

3197-610: The Crosley Corporation and WNYC both had radio broadcasting studios there. The WFC hired Exposition Publications to print a guidebook, souvenir book, and daily programs, and it promoted 17 other publications about the fair. The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) retroactively recognized the 1939 World's Fair as an official World Expo, even though the BIE's rules permitted official Expos to run for only one year. Whalen agreed to hire only union laborers to install exhibits on

3336-559: The International Convention Bureau endorsed the 1939 World's Fair, allowing the bureau's 21 member countries to host exhibits there, and Lehman also invited the governors of all other U.S. states. By the beginning of 1937, eleven hundred concessionaires had applied for concessions at the fair, and nine buildings were under construction. The WFC unveiled a model of the fairground at its Empire State Building headquarters that March. Workers had finished grading and filling

3475-513: The Trylon and Perisphere , the fair's symbol and primary theme center. The Trylon and Perisphere were the only structures on the fairground that were painted completely white; the buildings in the surrounding zones were color-coded . The fairground had 34 miles (55 km) of sidewalks and 17 miles (27 km) of roads, in addition to dozens of miles of sewers, water mains, gas mains, and electrical ducts. About 850 phone booths were scattered across

3614-466: The 150th anniversary of the first inauguration of George Washington . When World War II began four months into the 1939 World's Fair, many exhibits were affected, and some exhibits were forced to close after the first season. The fair attracted over 45 million visitors and ultimately recouped only 32% of its original cost. After the fair ended on October 27, 1940, most pavilions were demolished or removed, though some buildings were relocated or retained for

3753-473: The 1940 season, annuals and trees were added instead of the tulips, and a woodland garden was added. Despite the fair's futuristic theme, the fairground's layout—with streets radiating from the theme center—was heavily inspired by classical architecture . Some streets in the fairground were named after notable Manhattan thoroughfares or American historical figures, while others were named based on their function. A central esplanade called Constitution Mall

3892-530: The 1940 season, attendance had exceeded 100,000 on only 59 days. The fair had attracted just over 45 million visitors across both seasons. The 1940 season also recorded little crime, with 96 arrests and one violent crime (the July 4 bombing). The fairground was divided into seven geographic or thematic zones, five of which had "focal exhibits", and there were two focal exhibits housed in their own buildings. The plan called for wide tree-lined pathways converging on

4031-606: The 1940 season, while most of the exhibitors who had withdrawn were more likely to be renting space from the WFC. The commission also signed agreements with several trade unions to avert strikes and disputes; there was a brief strike in April 1940, while the fairground was preparing to reopen. The fair was rebranded as the World's Fair 1940 in New York for its second season. The WFC decided to focus more heavily on amusement attractions, and it added theaters and free shows. The Amusement Area

4170-455: The Amusement Area to emphasize the rides there. The corporation also tried to attract visitors within an overnight drive from New York City, rather than guests from further afield. At the requests of several U.S. state exhibitors, the WFC halved rent rates for U.S. state pavilions during the second season. Despite the uncertainty caused by the ongoing war, many European countries expressed interest in returning. In January 1940, Finland became

4309-594: The European premiere of American George Gershwin 's Concerto in F at the Paris Opera , with Gershwin in the audience. After the stock market crash in October 1929 reduced work opportunities in New York, Tiomkin and his wife moved to Hollywood, where she was hired to supervise dance numbers in MGM film musicals. He worked on some minor films, some without being credited under his own name. His first significant film score project

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4448-920: The Government Zone was the Food Zone, composed of 13 buildings. Its focal exhibit, Food No. 3, had four shafts representing wheat stalks. The Production and Distribution Zone was dedicated to showcasing industries that specialized in manufacturing and distribution. The focal exhibit was the Consumers Building (also the Consumer Interests Building), an L-shaped structure illustrated with murals by Francis Scott Bradford . Numerous individual companies hosted exhibitions in this region. There were also pavilions dedicated to generic industries, such as electrical products, industrial science, pharmaceuticals, metals, and men's apparel. The Transportation Zone

4587-604: The Mighty , and The Old Man and the Sea , and one for Best Original Song for " The Ballad of High Noon " from the film High Noon . Dimitri Tiomkin was born in Kremenchug , Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire (today part of Ukraine). His family was of Jewish descent; his father, Zinovy Tiomkin, was a "distinguished pathologist" and associate of Professor Paul Ehrlich , and later a notable Zionist leader. His mother, Maria Tartakovskaya,

4726-490: The Netherlands donated a million tulip bulbs to the fair, though the tulips were destroyed and replaced with other plantings the month after the 1939 season opened. The Washington Post estimated that the WFC spent some $ 150,000 (equivalent to $ 3,286,000 in 2023) on plants at the fair. There were also around 50 landscaped gardens. Some of these fountains included water features such as fountains, pools, and brooks. For

4865-435: The New York City area. The final week was celebrated with a Mardi Gras –themed festival. When the first season ended on October 31, 1939, the WFC had recorded 25,817,265 paying guests. Attendance had exceeded 100,000 on 114 days, or about 62% of the season. At the peak of the first season, the WFC had directly employed about 8,500 people, and exhibitors had employed another 16,500. Including workers on temporary permits,

5004-625: The Novachord in his Kammersinfonie op. 69 (1940). Dimitri Tiomkin used the Novachord to create the unusual percussion quality for " The Ballad of High Noon ", the Oscar-winning opening song in the 1952 film High Noon . Other films with soundtracks featuring the Novachord include This Island Earth , Cat People , and Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca ; it also appeared in the soundtracks of television series such as The Twilight Zone , One Step Beyond , The Outer Limits , and Hawaii Five-O . The Novachord can be heard on many recordings of

5143-510: The Novachord in several of his film scores and is known to have held the instrument in high regard. It was also used for the entr'acte music in Gone With the Wind (1939). Composer Heitor Villa-Lobos included a part for the Novachord in his Symphony Nº. 7 (1945). In December 1939, Kurt Weill wrote incidental music for Elmer Rice 's comedy Two on an Island for Novachord solo. Hanns Eisler used

5282-519: The Pharaohs (1955), with John Huston on The Unforgiven (1960), and with Nicholas Ray on 55 Days at Peking (1963). In addition to the cinema, Tiomkin composed for television, including such memorable theme songs as Rawhide (1959) and Gunslinger . Although Tiomkin was hired to compose the theme for The Wild Wild West (1965), the producers rejected his music and subsequently hired Richard Markowitz as his replacement. Tiomkin also made

5421-585: The Queens County Court was temporarily expanded to hear additional criminal cases relating to the fair. For the 1939 season, the WFC charged 75 cents per adult and 25 cents per child; the agency also sold season tickets, multi-visit tickets, and souvenir ticket books. Manhattan borough president Stanley M. Isaacs had wanted the WFC to give students free admission, but Moses opposed the proposal. Whalen began selling discounted advance tickets in February 1939;

5560-508: The Russian Revolution. In 1929, after the stock market crash , he moved to Hollywood, where he became best known for his scores for Western films, including Duel in the Sun , Red River , High Noon , The Big Sky , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , Rio Bravo , and Last Train from Gun Hill . Tiomkin received 22 Academy Award nominations and won four Oscars, three for Best Original Score for High Noon , The High and

5699-448: The Sea (1958), adapted from an Ernest Hemingway novel. During the 1955 ceremonies, Tiomkin thanked all of the earlier composers who had influenced him, including Beethoven , Tchaikovsky , Rimsky-Korsakov , and other names from the European classical tradition. The composer worked again for Zinnemann on The Sundowners (1960). Many of his scores were for Western films, which were extremely popular in this period, and for which he

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5838-556: The U.S. government issued stamps depicting the fair's Trylon and Perisphere . World leaders delivered "greetings to the fair" as part of the "Salute of the Nations" radio program, and the WFC also broadcast 15-minute-long "invitations to the fair", featuring musical entertainments and a speech by Gibson. In addition, the WFC distributed a promotional film, Let's Go to the Fair. The WFC's board of design reviewed several proposed master plans for

5977-577: The WFC began selling discounted "combination tickets" with snacks and admission to multiple attractions, as well as "bargain books" with food vouchers and admission tickets. At the request of amusement-ride operators, the WFC also considered reducing admission prices. At the beginning of August, admission was reduced to 50 cents during weekends, and the WFC started selling discounted 40-cent tickets at night. The WFC also began allowing railroads to sell 50-cent tickets to groups of 500 or more passengers. With daily attendance averaging 129,000—less than half

6116-450: The WFC leased out the last vacant sites in the fair's Government Zone. Exactly one year before the fair's expected opening, the city hosted a parade with 1 million spectators on April 30, 1938; the WFC also hosted a fireworks show the next week. That May, the WFC began allowing visitors to inspect the fairground on weekends for a fee. By then, many of the buildings were under construction. The structures were all supposed to be completed by

6255-412: The WFC opened more restaurants late that May. Within a month of the fair's opening, several exhibitors had alleged that labor unions had charged exorbitant prices for labor at the fair, and the government of Nevada canceled their exhibit due to high labor-union costs. Due to concerns over sexually explicit content, several of the fair's shows were raided as well. That June, to accommodate high demand,

6394-635: The WFC rescheduled the fair's nightly fountain performances at the Lagoon of Nations, which attracted up to 60,000 observers a night. The same month, the WFC established a committee to oversee the amusement area, and amusement concessionaires agreed to offer discounted ride tickets once a week. The WFC also sold discounted 50-cent tickets to organizations and businesses who bought at least 500 tickets. Lower-than-expected attendance prompted Whalen to fire hundreds of employees in July 1939, and there were also proposals to reduce performers' salaries. The same month,

6533-477: The WFC signed construction contracts for the fairground's first building. At that point, only a small number of fairground buildings had been approved. In November 1936, France became the first nation to announce its participation, and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt urged other nations to join the fair. The city government also began selling bonds for the fair that month, and several nations and hundreds of businesses had expressed interest. That December,

6672-508: The WFC to break even. In contrast to the more formal atmosphere that had characterized the first season, the second season had a more informal, "folksy" atmosphere. Additionally, the international area included exhibits from 43 countries, plus the Pan-American Union and League of Nations . Adults paid 50 cents, while children paid 25 cents; children's admission was reduced to 10 cents on "Children's Days". To entice people to attend

6811-448: The World's Fair site by April, and they began planting trees on the fairground. That month, AT&T became the first company to lease a pavilion at the fair, and work officially began on the first building, the administration structure. In addition, the WFC began auctioning off the fairground's concession spaces, and workers also began planting trees in early 1937. Whalen predicted that

6950-424: The actors. He would also talk with them individually, noting the pitch and color of their voices. Tiomkin explains why he took the extra time with actors: The music has the function of helping describe the characters. It helps paint the portraits... [giving an example] It was my job to soften her face, to make her look more Continental, more refined. We did it with the music which accompanied her every appearance on

7089-400: The administration building, was completed by the next month. At the time, 89 buildings were under construction, and 86% of the fairground sites had been leased. Utah became the first U.S. state to lease space in the fair's Hall of States that September, while Missouri was the first state to lease space for a standalone building. Whalen also traveled to Europe to invite European countries to

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7228-500: The amusement area deterred visitors with more refined tastes. In September 1939, the WFC began inviting foreign exhibitors to return for a second season. At the time, Harvey D. Gibson, who led the WFC's board of directors, did not anticipate that the WFC would encounter any financial issues between the two seasons. The same month, the Carrier Corporation was the first industrial exhibitor to renew its lease. Southern Rhodesia

7367-460: The ash mounds; excavating Meadow and Willow lakes; and diverting much of the Flushing River into underground culverts . The dirt from the lake sites was used as additional topsoil for the park. Workers also transported soil from Westchester County, New York , to the fairground. Four hundred fifty workers were employed on three eight-hour shifts. The rebuilt landscape was to be retained after

7506-442: The attractions were in the central exhibit area, covering 390 acres (160 ha). The pavilions were mostly illuminated by artificial light; most of the illumination came from 30 miles (48 km) of fluorescent lighting tubes, though some attractions used mercury lamps or fluorescent pylons. Additional pinwheel-shaped lights and 10,000 more lightbulbs were installed for the 1940 season. The Trylon and Perisphere theme center

7645-578: The aviation, railroad, and maritime industries. The Amusement Area was located south of the World's Fair Boulevard, covering 230 acres (93 ha) or 280 acres (110 ha) on the east shore of Fountain Lake. This area was shaped like a horseshoe surrounding Meadow Lake, and it lacked a traditional midway ; instead, it was divided into more than a dozen themed zones. The Amusement Area contained numerous bars, restaurants, miniature villages, musical programs, dance floors, rides, and arcade attractions. Due to

7784-454: The city already owned 586 acres (237 ha) nearby. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia pledged financial support for the fair that October; at the time, Moses estimated that it would cost $ 5–7 million to prepare the fairground and build transit to the fair. The New York World's Fair Corporation (WFC) was formed to oversee the exposition on October 22, 1935, and the Board of Estimate allocated $ 200,000

7923-452: The city finalized its lease of Flushing Meadows to the WFC in June 1936. Work on the World's Fair site began on June 16, 1936, and a groundbreaking ceremony for the fairground took place on June 29. The WFC established seven departments and thirteen committees to coordinate the fair's development. The fair was planned to employ 35,000 people. The construction of the fairground involved leveling

8062-529: The city government to formally lease the Flushing Meadows site to the WFC. Moses warned that the fairground's completion could be delayed due to funding issues; by then, the fair was estimated to cost $ 45 million. That February, McAneny announced that he would organize a committee to devise an architectural plan for the fairground. The committee initially advocated for a single massive building. Brownell requested funding from New York governor Herbert Lehman

8201-483: The city to lease out Flushing Meadows. In April 1936, Grover Whalen replaced McAneny as the WFC's chairman; he was later elected as the agency's full-time president as well. J. Franklin Bell was hired to draw up preliminary plans for the fair, and the WFC appointed a committee of seven men to devise a plan for the fairground. At the end of the month, the city government announced plans to sell $ 7 million in bonds, and

8340-529: The completion of Horace Harding Boulevard , the opening of the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge and Whitestone Expressway , the extension of Grand Central Parkway , and the widening of Queens Boulevard. Markers were placed at intersections throughout the city to direct motorists to the fairground, and several highways to the fairground were outfitted with amber lights. Maps also touted the fairground's proximity to five airports and seaplane bases. During

8479-429: The corporation wanted to sell at least $ 3 million in advance tickets. A thousand retailers in the New York metropolitan area sold advance tickets. The fair initially did not distribute free tickets to anyone, although journalists could visit the fairground free of charge. Advance ticket sales were supposed to have ended on April 23, 1939, but the WFC had to print additional souvenir books due to high demand. Though there

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8618-465: The date was "an excuse and not the reason" for the fair. That September, the group announced plans to spend $ 40 million to host an exhibition at the 1,003-acre (406 ha) Flushing Meadows site. The New York City Board of Estimate approved the use of Flushing Meadows as a fairground on September 23, and Moses directed municipal draftsmen to survey the site. The Flushing Meadows site had been selected because of its large size and central location, and

8757-502: The early 20th century. New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses first conceived the idea of developing a large park in Flushing Meadows in the 1920s. Although the neighborhoods around Flushing Meadows contained residential developments, the meadow itself remained undeveloped and isolated. Meanwhile, the 1933 Century of Progress exposition in Chicago had boosted that city's economy, prompting businesspeople in New York City to consider

8896-566: The end of March 1939, giving one month for exhibitors to fit their pavilions out. The WFC awarded contracts to 30 amusement-ride operators in June 1938, following months of disputes over the concessions. Work was delayed for three weeks in July during a labor strike. and the delivery of materials was delayed that September during the New York City truckers' strike . The WFC continued to issue concessions for eateries and amusement rides. By late 1938, workers were painting murals on buildings, and

9035-486: The era. Many songs sung by Vera Lynn , including " We'll Meet Again ", were accompanied by Arthur Young on the Novachord. One of the most notable recordings to feature the Novachord is Brother Bones ' recording of " Sweet Georgia Brown " on Tempo Records . The Novachord is used for the bass line on that track, but can be more prominently heard on the B side of the record playing the melody on "Margie". American jazz musician Slim Gaillard and his Quartette also recorded with

9174-512: The existing Q-type Queens subway cars were rebuilt to provide additional service on the Flushing Line. A Long Island Rail Road station (now Mets–Willets Point ) was built next to the Flushing Line station. In addition, Queens-Nassau Transit Lines bought 55 buses to serve passengers heading to the fairground, and a water taxi service traveled to the fair from City Island, Bronx . There were also several modes of transit traveling around

9313-453: The fair and flew it around the world in 1938. Helen Huntington Hull led a women's committee that helped promote and develop the fair. New York license plates from 1938 were supposed to have slogans advertising the fair, but a city judge deemed the slogans unconstitutional. New York license plates from 1939 and 1940 also advertised the fair. Local retailers also sold more than $ 40 million worth of merchandise with World's Fair motifs, and

9452-435: The fair had recorded 32.79 million visitors. At the end of the first season, the WFC owed bondholders $ 23.5 million, and it had $ 1.13 million on hand. In addition, the fair had handled 8.52 million phone calls and 3.3 million pieces of mail. Around 150 fairgoers had been arrested during the first season, only one of whom was charged with a felony. After the 1939 season ended, many exhibits were removed for safekeeping, and

9591-641: The fair still exist, and the event has also been dramatized in media. New York City had hosted the United States' first world's fair, the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations , in 1853–1854; the city did not host another world's fair for 85 years. The site of the 1939 World's Fair, Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens , was originally a natural wetland straddling the Flushing River before becoming an ash dump in

9730-564: The fair structures. In addition to the pavilions and amusement rides, the fairground had a marina, as well as hundreds of fountains, toilets, and benches. The fair had about 375 buildings, of which 100 were developed by the WFC; the commission reserved about 500,000 square feet (46,000 m ) for its own structures. The buildings included design features such as domes, spirals, buttresses, porticos, rotundas, tall pylons, and corkscrew-shaped ramps. Many buildings' steel frames were bolted together so they could be easily disassembled. Most of

9869-482: The fair would attract 59 nations. Shadgen, who had devised the idea for the fair, was ousted from the WFC that year. Whalen announced plans in June 1937 for a 280-acre (110 ha) amusement zone at the south end of the fairground, and Moses proposed adding a trailer parking lot and a community interests zone. Work on the first non-commercial pavilion, the Temple of Peace, began in July. The fairground's first structure,

10008-440: The fair's master plan that October, which called for a $ 125 million exposition themed to "the world of tomorrow". The city, state, and federal governments would spend $ 35 million; the WFC was to spend $ 30 million; and the remaining funds would come from individual exhibitors. There were to be ten zones, an amusement area, a central tower with paths radiating away from it, and extensive public-transit improvements. Later that month,

10147-422: The fair, several local business groups and hotels randomly gave 170 automobiles to visitors. The World's Fair reopened on May 11 and recorded 191,196 visitors on that day. The reopening ceremonies were broadcast on radio stations across the U.S., and La Guardia sponsored a citywide celebration for the fair's reopening. In the first few weeks of the 1940 season, the WFC sold off most of its outstanding debt from

10286-537: The fair, the Civil Aeronautics Authority temporarily banned most planes from flying over the fairground, except for planes taking off or arriving at the nearby airports. The fair was themed to "the world of tomorrow". The colors blue and orange, the official colors of New York City, were chosen as the official colors of the fair. The fair's official seal depicted the Statue of Liberty with her torch, which

10425-430: The fair. The city, state, and federal governments also worked on 48 infrastructure-improvement projects, such as highway and landscaping projects, for the fair. To promote the fair, the WFC established advisory committees with members from every U.S. state. Several baseball teams wore patches promoting the fair during the 1938 Major League Baseball season , while the businessman Howard Hughes named an airplane after

10564-719: The fair. A special subway line, the Independent Subway System 's (IND) World's Fair Line was constructed; it operated as a spur of the IND Queens Boulevard Line and was dismantled after the fair ended. The Willets Point station on the Flushing Line was rebuilt to handle fair traffic on the Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) and Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit (BMT) systems. A special fleet of 50 World's Fair Lo-V subway cars were built, and

10703-413: The fair. Daily attendance increased gradually, and the fair recorded the ten-millionth visitor of the season at the end of August. By then, Gibson said the fair had made over $ 2.5 million in profit, despite Moses's claim that the fair was about to go bankrupt. The WFC had drawn up detailed plans for clearing the site by the beginning of October, and the corporation's executive leadership agreed to oversee

10842-493: The fair. The WFC reported in October that 62 construction contracts had been finished and that another 63 were in progress. Various fairground buildings were rapidly being developed, as well as the Trylon and Perisphere , the fair's icons. That December, the Ford Motor Company became the first automobile manufacturer to lease space at the fair; by then, the WFC had received commitments from 60 nations. The WFC awarded

10981-458: The fair. In addition, visitors could rent one of 500 rolling chairs, each of which had space for one or two people. Boats also traveled around Fountain Lake (now Meadow Lake), stopping at seven piers. For a fee, visitors could ride a 40-passenger motorboat across Meadow Lake to the Florida pavilion. Several highway and road improvements were conducted in advance of the World's Fair. These included

11120-441: The fairground itself. General Motors manufactured 100 buses specifically for the fair; Exposition Greyhound Lines operated the buses, which connected with each of the fairground's entrances. The original plan called for two bus routes, though this was expanded to seven routes soon after the fair opened. There were also tractor trains that traveled along the fairground's paths, as well as tour buses that gave one-hour-long tours of

11259-403: The fairground was more than 90% complete, but although 95% of the buildings were under construction, work on one-third of the amusement concessions had not started. The fair had attracted 1,300 industrial exhibitors and 70 concessionaires. In addition, 62 nations and 35 U.S. states or territories had leased space at the fair; their flags were flown atop a hill on the fairground. In March 1939,

11398-476: The fairground's utilities were turned off. Most of the fair's 2,800 employees were reassigned to other positions, though the WFC hired a skeleton crew and allocated $ 3.3 million to maintain the fairground during the off-season. The FDNY and NYPD watched over the fairground, and many exhibitors also hired their own security guards. Because of lower-than-expected attendance, the WFC agreed to reduce adult admission prices to 50 cents. The WFC agreed to redesign

11537-469: The fairground, of which more than 97 percent survived the 1939 season. There were no evergreen trees because it was not open during the winter, and the site also did not have rare plants. The fairground contained 1 million plants, 1 million bulbs, 250,000 shrubs, and 10,000 trees. The site had 7,000 American camassias , 48,000 scillas , and 50,000 narcissi , and there were several formal gardens as well, with roses, yew, and other plants. In addition,

11676-464: The fairground, the Flushing River was dredged to create Meadow and Willow lakes. Several of the fair's fountains had water jets with gas burners, which were illuminated by colored lights. Nightly light shows, with music, took place at the Lagoon of Nations as well. Pavilions and attractions generally fell into one of three categories: exhibits sponsored by the WFC or private companies; government exhibits; and amusement attractions. The WFC subleased

11815-412: The fairground. There were 11 entrances to the grounds during the 1939 season and 13 entrances during the 1940 season. From the start, Moses wanted to convert the site into a park after the fair, and the fairground's landscape architect, Gilmore David Clarke , had designed the fairground with this expectation in mind. The central portion of the old Flushing ash dumps became the main fairground, while

11954-441: The fairground; in exchange, several trade unions agreed to buy the WFC's bonds. Free emergency services were provided on site by dozens of doctors and nurses, and there were six first-aid stations, a mobile X-ray machine, and five ambulances. The fairground was covered by a temporary New York City Police Department (NYPD) precinct and a temporary New York City Fire Department (FDNY) battalion with 118 firefighters. In addition,

12093-447: The final score after assembling all the musicians and orchestra, rehearse a number of times, and then record the final soundtrack. Tiomkin paid careful attention to the voices of the actors when composing. According to Epstein, he "found that in addition to the timbre of the voice, the pitch of the speaking voice must be very carefully considered..." To accomplish this, Tiomkin would go to the set during filming and would listen to each of

12232-625: The first country to agree to reopen its pavilion, while West Virginia was the first U.S. state to lease additional space. More than thirty nations had agreed to return to the fair by the end of the next month. Several exhibits were also added, including a China pavilion and a European center. Conversely, 11 nations—several of which had been invaded during World War II—did not return, and nine U.S. states also withdrew. Most commercial exhibitors agreed to reopen their exhibits, and some planned to enlarge or modify their exhibits. Almost all major exhibitors with their own pavilions renewed their leases for

12371-523: The first fair concession in January 1938; by then, Whalen was making plans for the fair's opening ceremony. Whalen wanted to have 100 buildings under construction by the end of April, and the WFC planned to spend $ 10 million on upgrading the fairground's utilities. Work on the Perisphere, the fair's theme building, began in early April, along with work on the first foreign-government structure. The same month,

12510-446: The first season. WFC officials claimed that the late opening date would coincide with warmer weather and the end of the school year. Following requests from organizations, the WFC agreed to open the fair two weeks earlier. The fair's police force was downsized for the 1940 season due to low crime rates, and the overall number of staff was reduced to 5,500. According to Gibson, at least 40 million visitors needed to attend during 1940 for

12649-485: The following decade, including the comedy You Can't Take It With You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Meet John Doe (1941), and It's a Wonderful Life (1946). During World War II , he continued his close collaboration with Capra by composing scores for his Why We Fight series. These seven films were commissioned by the US government to show American soldiers the reason for United States' participation in

12788-631: The front panel to create new sounds. Like many later analog synthesizers, it was much better-suited to producing "otherworldly" timbres. The instrument found its niche some years after production, shaping the sound of many science fiction film and television scores. Production stopped because of a shortage of parts in 1942 and poor sales kept it from being built after the war. It is estimated that fewer than 200 Novachords are still in existence and considerably fewer are still in operation. The vast majority of surviving examples are in North America, although one

12927-474: The greatest impact on Hollywood films in the following decades up until the present. With many of his songs being used in the title of films, Tiomkin created what composer Irwin Bazelon called "title song mania." In subsequent decades, studios often attempted to create their own hit songs to both sell as a soundtrack and to enhance the movie experience, with a typical example being the film score for Titanic . He

13066-578: The instrument on their 1947 instrumental release "Novachord Boogie" (Parlophone R 3035) 1939 New York World%27s Fair The 1939 New York World's Fair (also known as the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair ) was an international exposition at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens , New York City, United States. The fair included exhibitions, activities, performances, films, art, and food presented by 62 nations, 35 U.S. states and territories, and 1,400 organizations and companies. Slightly more than 45 million people attended over two seasons. It

13205-427: The land to exhibitors, charging different rates based on the sites' proximity to major paths. There were 1,500 exhibitors on the fair's opening day, representing about 40 industries. Because the fairground was built atop swampy land, many of the largest buildings had to be placed on steel-and-concrete decks, pilings , or caissons . Thousands of Douglas fir timbers were driven into the ground to act as pilings for

13344-558: The movie." Another music expert, Mervyn Cooke, agrees, adding that "the song's spectacular success was partly responsible for changing the course of film-music history". Tiomkin was the second composer to receive two Oscars (score and song) for the same dramatic film. (The first was Leigh Harline , who won Best Original Score for Disney's Pinocchio and Best Song for "When You Wish Upon a Star". Ned Washington wrote its lyrics as he did for "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin".) The song's lyrics briefly tell High Noon ' s entire story arc,

13483-549: The nature of his film work when compared to the classical composers. "I am no Prokofiev, I am no Tchaikovsky. But what I write is good for what I write for. So please, boys, help me." Upon receiving his Oscar in 1955 for The High and the Mighty , he became the first composer to publicly list and thank the great European masters, including Beethoven, Strauss, and Brahms, among others. Music historian Christopher Palmer says that Tiomkin's "genius lay in coming up with themes and finding vivid ways of creating sonic color appropriate to

13622-509: The next day for preliminary work. The WFC elected McAneny as its president, and two contractors were hired that December to conduct preliminary surveys. Several foreign exhibitors had expressed interest in the fair before the end of the year, and the WFC and the New York City Board of Transportation devised plans for public transit lines to the fair. State lawmaker Herbert Brownell Jr. proposed legislation in January 1936, allowing

13761-413: The only Russian to have become a Hollywood film composer. Other Russian-born composers, such as Irving Berlin , wrote their scores for Broadway plays, many of which were later adapted to film. Tiomkin was the first film score composer to write both the title theme song and the score. He expanded on that technique in many of his westerns, including High Noon and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in which

13900-414: The original estimate of 270,000—the WFC was unsure if the fair would run for another season. The fair's financial standing was so bad that, by mid-August the WFC was asking bondholders to lend it more money, and the bondholders agreed to forgo their right to collect a portion of the fair's admission revenue. A writer for Variety magazine said local residents tended to avoid the fair's restaurants and that

14039-659: The popularity of nude or seminude performances at the Golden Gate International Exposition , similar shows were presented in the Amusement Area. There were two focal exhibits that were not located within any zone. The first was the Medical and Public Health Building on Constitution Mall and the Avenue of Patriots (immediately northeast of the Theme Center), which contained several halls dedicated to health. The other

14178-473: The premiere of Bock and Harnick's Fiddler on the Roof , is informed by a rich musical legacy from Yiddish folk tunes (for example Mark Warshavsky's "Di milners trem," The miller's tears: and Dimitri Tiomkin's "Do Not Forsake Me." High Noon) ... " Tiomkin won two more Oscars in subsequent years: for The High and the Mighty (1954), directed by William A. Wellman , and featuring John Wayne ; and The Old Man and

14317-462: The previous season. By the end of June, the WFC wished to reorganize itself and pare its workforce due to lower-than-expected revenue; as such, 500 employees were dismissed. In addition, due to an increase in federal tax rates, amusement concessionaires increased the ticket prices for their rides. The fair's restaurateurs generally absorbed the losses from the higher taxes instead of raising food prices. On July 4, 1940, two NYPD officers investigating

14456-431: The remainder of the construction. In early May, the WFC began selling 10-cent children's tickets once a week, which helped increase children's attendance significantly. At La Guardia's behest, the New York City Board of Education operated guided tours in which school classes could visit the fair for free. Concessionaires in the Amusement Area asked the WFC to consider offering reduced-price tickets after 9 p.m., and

14595-655: The revolution and found work under the new regime. In 1920, while working for the Petrograd Military District Political Administration (PUR), Tiomkin was one of the lead organizers of two revolutionary mass spectacles, the Mystery of Liberated Labor, a pseudo-religious mystery play for the May Day festivities, and The Storming of the Winter Palace for the celebrations of the third anniversary of

14734-595: The same decade, he won two more Oscars and his film scores were nominated nine times. In his lifetime, Tiomkin became known both for a memorable 1954 awards acceptance and for his ability to learn language . During his televised 1954 Oscars acceptance speech for " The High and the Mighty ", it was noted that Tiomkin thanked classical composers Bach , Brahms , Beethoven , and Debussy rather than his modern-day colleagues. A 1957 New York Times article stated that Tiomkin had learned to speak Russian, German, Polish, Ukrainian, French, Italian, Yiddish, and English. He

14873-535: The same month for "basic World's Fair improvements"; the city and state governments were each supposed to spend $ 5 million on site preparations. The project remained stalled during early 1936 because of disagreements over the fair's location and financing. There was a competing proposal to relocate the fair to Marine Park in Brooklyn. but the New York State Legislature ultimately voted in April to allow

15012-505: The score around a single folk tune was typical of many Russian classical composers. Robinson adds that the source of Tiomkin's score, if indeed folk, has not been proven. The Encyclopedia of Modern Jewish Culture , on page 124, states: "The fifty-year period in the USA between 1914, the start of the First World War and the year of Irving Berlin 's first full score, Watch Your Step , and 1964,

15151-704: The score for Giant was to capture the "feelings of the great land and great state of Texas." Although influenced by European music traditions, Tiomkin was self-trained as a film composer. He scored many films of various genres, including historical dramas such as Cyrano de Bergerac (1950), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), and Great Catherine (1968); war movies such as The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955), The Guns of Navarone (1961), and Town Without Pity (1961); and suspense thrillers such as 36 Hours (1965). Tiomkin also wrote scores for four of Alfred Hitchcock 's suspense dramas: Shadow of

15290-755: The screen, by developing a delicate, graceful theme. Dimitri Tiomkin died in London, England, in 1979 two weeks after fracturing his pelvis in a fall. He was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California . During the 1950s Tiomkin was the highest-paid film composer, composing close to a rate of a picture each month, achieving his greatest fame during the 1950s and 1960s. Between 1948 and 1958, his "golden decade," he composed 57 film scores. In 1952 he composed nine film scores, including High Noon , for which he won two Academy Awards. In

15429-433: The sharp attack transients of a harpsichord or piano. Despite its historical importance, the Novachord did not enjoy commercial success. That was partly due to instability problems, as well as the onset of World War II limiting the availability of parts and decreasing demand. The poor reliability was mainly the result of the tight tolerances of the operating parameters of hundreds of custom components. Hammond soon offered

15568-406: The site by mid-April, and foreign nations were delivering $ 100 million worth of exhibits to the fair. Thousands of additional workers were employed toward the end of April. The fairground ultimately cost $ 156,000,000 (equivalent to $ 3,417,000,000 in 2023), and Whalen anticipated that 60 million people would visit. Five major newsreel companies were hired to provide newsreel coverage, and

15707-400: The site, and the corporation had relocated the last occupants of the fairground site by August 1936. The WFC launched a design competition for several fairground pavilions that September and selected several winning designs two months later. Before the final master plan was revealed, Whalen said the fair would likely be dedicated to the past, present, and future. The WFC announced details of

15846-459: The site-clearing process. To promote the fair, hundreds of American newspapers printed discounted tickets that could be redeemed on October 6; the promotion attracted nearly 350,000 visitors on that day. The city government also provided free tickets to adults who were receiving welfare payments through the Home Relief program. By the middle of that month, the fair's second season had recorded

15985-420: The song's popularity, the studio released the film four months later, with the words sung by country western star Tex Ritter . The film received seven Academy Award nominations and won four awards, including two for Tiomkin: Best Original Music and Best Song . Walt Disney presented him with both awards that evening. According to film historian Arthur R. Jarvis Jr., the score "has been credited with saving

16124-465: The southern section of the dumps became the narrow Amusement Area, located on the shore of Meadow (Fountain) Lake. The fairground used up to 400,000 cubic yards (310,000 m ) of topsoil from the New York City area, as well as salty, acidic soil dredged from the bottom of Flushing Meadows Park's lagoons. The fairground included 250 acres (100 ha) of lawns and a wide range of topiary and deciduous trees. Around 10,000 trees were transplanted to

16263-430: The state pledged $ 4.125 million for the project. In addition, the WFC was to sell $ 20 million in bonds; the WFC eventually ended up issuing $ 26,862,800 worth of bonds. The New York City Board of Estimate appropriated $ 308,020 to begin landscaping the site that May, and city officials acquired another 372 acres (151 ha) through eminent domain . The WFC dedicated the fairground site on June 4, 1936, shortly before

16402-564: The story and visual image, not in his ability to combine the themes into a complex symphonic structure that could stand on its own." In addition he speculates how a Russian-born pianist like Tiomkin, who was educated at a respected Russian music conservatory, could have become so successful in the American film industry: He came from a Big Country, too, and in America's vastness, particularly its vast all-embracingness of sky and plain, he must have seen

16541-464: The subway stations serving the fairground were being completed. That October, the Heinz Dome became the first commercial exhibit to be completed, and 80% of the fairground's 3 million square feet (280,000 m ) of exhibit space had been leased. Leasing lagged in the amusement zone; by that December, only two-thirds of the ride concessions had been leased. Whalen announced in January 1939 that

16680-544: The theme song was repeated as a common thread running through the entire film. For the film Red River his biographer Christopher Palmer describes how the music immediately sets the epic and heroic tone for the film: The unison horn-call is indeed an invocation: the gates of history are flung wide and the main theme, high and wide as the huge vault of the sky, rides forth in full choral-orchestral splendour. Because of this stylistic contribution to westerns, along with other film genres, using title and ongoing theme songs, he had

16819-442: The upgrades would cost $ 8 million. The WFC began selling one million souvenir ticket books on April 11, 1940, and the next week, it began selling discounted tickets to students across the U.S. By the end of April, all of the attractions in the Amusement Area had been leased, and half a million advance tickets had been sold or ordered. Originally, the second season was supposed to open on May 25, 1940, and be one month shorter than

16958-447: The war. They were later released to the general US public to generate support for American involvement. Tiomkin credited Capra for broadening his musical horizons by shifting them away from a purely Eurocentric and romantic style to a more American style based on subject matter and story. Following his work for Fred Zinnemann on The Men (1950), Tiomkin composed the score for the same director's High Noon (1952). His theme song

17097-489: Was "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'" (" The Ballad of High Noon "). At its opening preview to the press, the film, which starred Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly , did badly. Tiomkin writes that "film experts agreed that the picture was a flat failure... The producers hesitated to release the picture." Tiomkin bought the rights to the song and released it as a single for the popular music market, with singer Frankie Laine . The record became an immediate success worldwide. Based on

17236-657: Was a musician who began teaching the young Tiomkin piano at an early age. Her hope was to have her son become a professional pianist, according to Tiomkin biographer Christopher Palmer . Tiomkin described his mother as being "small, blonde, merry and vivacious." Tiomkin was educated at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory , where he studied piano with Felix Blumenfeld , teacher of Vladimir Horowitz , and harmony and counterpoint with Alexander Glazunov , mentor to Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich . He also studied piano with Isabelle Vengerova . He survived

17375-410: Was an upcharge fee for some of the exhibits and attractions, three-fourths of the original attractions did not charge any extra fees. On April 30, 1939, exactly 150 years after Washington's first inauguration, the fair formally opened with a speech by President Roosevelt. Twenty-eight United States Navy men-of-war arrived in New York City for the fair's opening, and 20,000 people participated in

17514-530: Was available in multiple color scheme. The fair's official flag was originally a triband with a blue bar flanked by orange bars; there was a white seal in the center of the blue bar. Dimitri Tiomkin Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a Russian and American film composer and conductor. Classically trained in Saint Petersburg before the Bolshevik Revolution , he moved to Berlin and then New York City after

17653-576: Was based on "the world of tomorrow", with an opening slogan of "Dawn of a New Day". The 1,202-acre (486 ha) fairground consisted of seven color-coded zones, as well as two standalone focal exhibits. The fairground had about 375 buildings . Plans for the 1939 World's Fair were first announced in September 1935, and the New York World's Fair Corporation (WFC) began constructing the fairground in June 1936. The fair opened on April 30, 1939, coinciding with

17792-598: Was designed by Wallace Harrison and Max Abramovitz ; the Trylon was a 610-foot (190 m) tower (originally designed to be 700 feet tall), while the Perisphere was a sphere 180 feet (55 m) across. North of the theme center was the Communications and Business Systems Zone, which was centered on the Communications Building, a structure flanked by 160-foot-high (49 m) pylons. The Community Interest Zone

17931-558: Was for Paramount 's Alice in Wonderland (1933). Although Tiomkin worked on some smaller film projects, his goal was to become a concert pianist. In 1937 he broke his arm, injuring it so much that he ended that possible career. He began to focus on work as a film music composer. Tiomkin received his first break from Columbia director Frank Capra , who chose him to write and perform the score for Lost Horizon (1937). The film gained significant recognition for Tiomkin in Hollywood. It

18070-523: Was honored in the Soviet Union and Russia. In 1967, he was a member of the jury of the 5th Moscow International Film Festival . In 2014, his theme songs to It's a Wonderful Life and Giant were played during the closing ceremony for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi , Russia. Beginning with Lost Horizon in 1937, through his retirement from films in 1979, and until modern times, he is recognized as being

18209-428: Was located just east of the Communications & Business Systems Zone. The region's exhibits showcased several trades or industries that were popular among the public at the time, such as home furnishings, plumbing, contemporary art, cosmetics, gardens, the gas industry, fashion, jewelry, and religion. The Government Zone was located at the east end of the fair, on the eastern bank of the Flushing River . It contained

18348-646: Was located west of the Theme Center, across the Grand Central Parkway. It was connected to the rest of the fairground by two crossings known as the Bridge of Wheels and the Bridge of Wings. The focal exhibit of the Transportation Zone was a Chrysler exhibit group. The Transportation Zone also included large exhibits by companies such as Ford Motor Company and General Motors , in addition to buildings for

18487-858: Was needed. A basically similar design was adopted in both combo organs and polyphonic synthesizers released more than 30 years later such as the Polymoog . The Novachord featured an early implementation of envelope generators , with seven attack/decay/sustain envelope shapes selectable by a rotary switch and release time controlled by the sustain pedal. It also utilized three parallel band-pass filters , one lowpass filter, and one highpass filter with fixed cutoff frequencies per voice and an electro-mechanical 6-channel vibrato unit operating on pairs of adjacent oscillators. Each channel's vibrato frequency (~7 Hz) differed slightly. The oscillator inductors used cores mounted on flat springs. The resulting sonic palette ranged from dense, sustained string- and vocal-like timbres to

18626-758: Was originally recorded by Johnny Mathis for the film Wild Is the Wind (1957). He's a Russian-born gentleman who has written just about the most American-sounding tunes you and I have ever heard. — Gig Young , TV interview with Tiomkin in 1956 Although Tiomkin was a trained classical pianist, he adapted his music training in Russia to the rapidly expanding Hollywood film industry, and taught himself how to compose meaningful film scores for almost any story type. Film historian David Wallace notes that despite Tiomkin's indebtedness to Europe's classical composers, he would go on to express more than any other composer, "the American spirit—its frontier spirit, anyway—in film music." Tiomkin had no illusions about his talent and

18765-526: Was planned as part of the fairground, running between the Grand Central Parkway to the west and Lawrence Street in Flushing to the east. A curving road named Rainbow Avenue connected the color-coded zones, linking the paths that radiated from the theme center. At the eastern end of the mall was the Central Mall Lagoon, an 800-foot-long (240 m) elliptical lake with fountains. In the southern half of

18904-497: Was reduced in size and rebranded as the " Great White Way ", a reference to Broadway theatre . The transportation zone was renovated for more than $ 2 million. Several exhibits were added or expanded, and some pavilions were repaired due to deterioration. Twenty thousand hotel rooms were added in New York City prior to the 1940 season, and La Guardia promoted low-cost hotel rooms to fairgoers. Low-cost eateries were also added. The fair's construction superintendent estimated that

19043-458: Was released the same year that he became a naturalized US citizen. In his autobiography, Please Don't Hate Me! (1959), Tiomkin recalls how the assignment by Capra forced him to first confront a director in a matter of music style: [H]e gave me the job without reservation. I could write the score without interference, and he would hear it when it was done. Lost Horizon offered me a superb chance to do something big... I thought I might be going

19182-514: Was the Science and Education Building, just north of the Medical and Public Health Building. The administration building was at the western end of the fairground, and there was also a Manufacturers Trust bank branch. Whalen predicted in late 1936 that these lines needed to be able to handle as many as 800,000 visitors per day, though he predicted an average of 250,000 daily visitors. As such, several public transit lines were built or upgraded to serve

19321-454: Was the first exhibitor to shutter its pavilion entirely, and other exhibitors curtailed their operations. Whalen also traveled to Europe, asking exhibitors to return in 1940. At the end of September, the WFC notified the city government that it intended to lease the land for a second season, and the WFC reduced admission fees to 50 cents for the rest of the season. In the final weeks of the 1939 season, visitors increasingly came from outside

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