[Bill Cotter]

I just got word that Arcadia will be publishing my newest work, "Century 21: The 1962 Seattle World's Fair," this year.

Now all I have to do is write it.

Any Century 21 fans interested in signing up for research or proofreading duty?

[Joey Chernov]

Bill Cotter, on 21 January 2010 - 05:37 PM, said:

I just got word that Arcadia will be publishing my newest work, "Century 21: The 1962 Seattle World's Fair," this year.

Now all I have to do is write it.

Any Century 21 fans interested in signing up for research or proofreading duty?

Yay! I was waiting to hear that wonderful news! I was hoping for quite some time that you'd make a book regarding the Century 21 Exposition!! I will be more than glad to help Bill!

[Yadda Yadda]

Sign me up Bill!

I have some recent photos of the fairgrounds that you may (or may not) want to use as well...

Best Regards,
Kevin

PS - How's the weather down there?
From what I've seen on the news lately, it looks more like winter in Portland than L.A.

[Bill Cotter]

Thanks, Joey and Kevin. I'll be in touch.

Kevin, I would love to see what you have. I'm planning a trip there to do some research and some new photos shoots but the more the merrier.

Our weather is nowhere near as bad as the news makes it sound. I have seen far worse in the years I've been here. Yes, a lot of rain, but overall it's not really that bad. I haven't heard of a single house lost, for example, while in past years there were many such problems. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the people in worse areas than I am, but so far it's typical press hysteria.

Knock wood.

[Yadda Yadda]

Hi Bill,

Glad to hear things aren't as bad down there as the media is making them out to be...

I'll try to send you a PM with some of my better Seattle Center photos over the weekend. Also, if you can give me enough advance notice of when you'll be in the Seattle area doing your research/photo shoot, I might be able to drive up there and lend you a hand...

Best Regards,
Kevin

[Bill Cotter]

I would love to meet up with you, and what a great spot to do it. I'll keep you posted.

[Bill Cotter]

Here's a question or anyone with knowledge of the 1962 Fair.

The stadium was best known for the "It's the Water" show, featuring water skiing by Tommy Bartlett and sponsored by Olympia Brewing. I have dozens of shots of these hows. However, the show is not listed in the guidebook.
I have undated shots of the stadium showing a solid field that stretches from one end to the other, with demonstrations by the fire department, no water trough anywhere in sight. Does anyone know when the water skiing show was added?

Thanks

Bill

[Randy Treadway]

although they are undated, are there are other indicators in the photos that show that it was during the World's Fair? This stadium has been in use for many years both before and after the World's Fair. Today it is covered in astroturf (or similar artificial grass).

The stadium was built in 1946.

[Randy Treadway]

The stadium's life may be approaching its end:

http://crosscut.com/...crosscut/19206/

[Bill Cotter]

A very good question, Randy. There are plenty of fair images in the background of the "no ski show" shots, including the Spanish Village, Skyride, special lights, etc. So they're from the Fair for sure, but no water trough anywhere in sight. It seems the 1964 Fair wasn't the first one to have a water ski act added after opening day.

[expoboy]

Aren't there pictures of the stadium with water skiers in the "National Geographic" coverage of the fair? My copy is stored somewhere but I distinctly remember shots of the water ski show and I would assume the pictures were taken shortly after the fair's opening to guarantee timely coverage during the 6 month run.

[Bill Cotter]

I'll look for my National Geographics CDs. Thanks for the suggestion.

Here's one of the shots, not yet restored. In another the Century 21 Band can be seen, so this is during the Fair, as the Skyride would also indicate. I see a set of brackets that could be there for the trough wall, and a forklift in the back, so perhaps work was underway whenever this took place. No Olympia signage as can be seen later.

[Randy Treadway]

expoboy, on 27 January 2010 - 12:29 PM, said:

Aren't there pictures of the stadium with water skiers in the "National Geographic" coverage of the fair? My copy is stored somewhere but I distinctly remember shots of the water ski show and I would assume the pictures were taken shortly after the fair's opening to guarantee timely coverage during the 6 month run.

I thought the same thing because of photos on picture postcards.

How about viewmaster- are there any 3-D pictures of the water ski show in viewmaster (reel) format?

[Bill Cotter]

How's this for confusing?

Here's an article that says the water show was there on Opening Day: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5v8ZAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nQ4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4812,5122786&dq=seattle+world's-fair+bartlett&hl=en

But the pictures sure show the stadium during the fair without the show.

Now here's another possibility - perhaps it didn't run the length of the fair and was taken out? There was one picture that looks like it was after closing of a street in the fair, so perhaps the show had left town by the date these shots were taken. The people in the stands are wearing coats, so it looks either early or late in the fair.

I've made contact with the Tommy Bartlett company, who produced the show, and they said they will be available next month to discuss the Fair. I'll keep you all posted.

[Randy Treadway]

Bill Cotter, on 27 January 2010 - 05:34 PM, said:

Now here's another possibility - perhaps it didn't run the length of the fair and was taken out? There was one picture that looks like it was after closing of a street in the fair, so perhaps the show had left town by the date these shots were taken. The people in the stands are wearing coats, so it looks either early or late in the fair.

You may be right Bill.
Dick Pope of Cypress Gardens fame was chosen to head up the Aquacade conversion between the 1964 and 1965 seasons and come up with a big time attraction, and he hired Tommy Bartlett to produce the water ski show. Although the stadium conversion was finished two weeks ahead of schedule, the show wasn't scheduled to open until May 3rd- two weeks after the Fair opened it's gates for season #2.
Bartlett's skiers used the extra time to acclimate themselves to the facility with a lot of practice.
Source: Florida Pavilion final report (1966)

Why did they schedule the show to not open until May 3, 1965? Perhaps lessons learned from Seattle about weather and water skiing.