6 replies to this topic

[CathyS]

I'm not sure where to post this information, so I'm putting it here. I just started a new blog called "World's Fair Fun" in which I'll be posting stories and photos from the 1939 NY and 1933 Chicago World's Fairs, mostly taken from my collection of daily and weekly papers published specifically for the fairs. I just posted my first entry yesterday, a story on Iraq Day at the 1939 Fair. If anyone is interested, the blog address is: worldsfairfun.blogspot.com

[Bill Cotter]

Looks great, thanks for the heads up.

[EPCOT Explorer]

Eager to see this! Always nice to see a fellow WF blogger.

[CathyS]

Thanks guys! I'm glad you like the blog. My goal is to create an online archive for the articles and pictures that appeared in some of the daily and weekly papers the fairs published. Not many of these papers survived and many of the ones I've collected are not in the greatest shape, so I thought this would be a good way to make them available and preserve the information for future researchers.

And Epcot Explorer, I like your blog as well! You cover my two favorite things--world's fairs and Disney. As I've mentioned on this board before, my master's thesis was a study on Disneyland, and that research led me to world's fair history. And now I'm hooked on both.

And BTW--was watching a documentary on Walt Disney on CNBC the other night and suddenly there was a "Bill Cotter" being interviewed! I said, "Hey, I know that guy!" and impressed my friends and family.

As I get the blog going, I'll post a list of new topics for the week or month on this board so that anyone interested can check them out.

[EPCOT Explorer]

Glad to see you liked the content.

What did you write about for Disneyland?

[CathyS]

EPCOT Explorer, on 16 September 2011 - 11:30 AM, said:

Glad to see you liked the content.

What did you write about for Disneyland?

First, I have to tell you that I loved your latest blog entry about the sexism at the 1964 Fair. I missed that entry before when I checked out your blog, I got lost in the Disney photos and just realized when I signed back on here that I didn't see this latest posting. That picture of the "ideal housewife" was too funny.
I have a few similar stories to tell about the ideas promoted at the 1939 Fair, I'll be sure and let you know when I post them.

According to my mentor's official description, my thesis "analyzed how Walt Disney created idealized environments that express the deep and often unarticulated hopes, dreams, fantasies and beliefs of our culture." My version is that I studied the original Disneyland to figure out why the Disney theme park became so popular. The thesis was titled "Forget the Prozac, Give Me A Dose of Disney." A condensed version of it was published last December in the book Disneyland and Culture put out by Kathy Jackson and Mark West.

But don't get the impression that I'm an academic! I leave the serious history for others now, this is all just a fun hobby for me and I like to focus on the light-hearted aspects of the fairs and go play at Disney. (Although Disney World hasn't been the same for me since they replaced Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and then took away the original Imagination and World of Motion. I loved those corny rides and they started to change them just as I memorized all the songs. Hmmm...you don't suppose my singing on the rides had anything to do with their demise? )

[EPCOT Explorer]

CathyS, on 16 September 2011 - 12:37 PM, said:

First, I have to tell you that I loved your latest blog entry about the sexism at the 1964 Fair. I missed that entry before when I checked out your blog, I got lost in the Disney photos and just realized when I signed back on here that I didn't see this latest posting. That picture of the "ideal housewife" was too funny.
I have a few similar stories to tell about the ideas promoted at the 1939 Fair, I'll be sure and let you know when I post them.

Oh, thanks so much. :-) That was a fun little video I found, and it needed to have something written about it. Very campy and bizarre.

That's not the latest post, BTW... I'm just lazy with that link. Heh. I should really update it, I posted a bit about COP today.

CathyS, on 16 September 2011 - 12:37 PM, said:

According to my mentor's official description, my thesis "analyzed how Walt Disney created idealized environments that express the deep and often unarticulated hopes, dreams, fantasies and beliefs of our culture." My version is that I studied the original Disneyland to figure out why the Disney theme park became so popular. The thesis was titled "Forget the Prozac, Give Me A Dose of Disney." A condensed version of it was published last December in the book Disneyland and Culture put out by Kathy Jackson and Mark West.

But don't get the impression that I'm an academic! I leave the serious history for others now, this is all just a fun hobby for me and I like to focus on the light-hearted aspects of the fairs and go play at Disney. (Although Disney World hasn't been the same for me since they replaced Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and then took away the original Imagination and World of Motion. I loved those corny rides and they started to change them just as I memorized all the songs. Hmmm...you don't suppose my singing on the rides had anything to do with their demise? )

Goodness. I would LOVE to read that. Right up my alley.

Horizons is my swan song for Disney... I still reel that EPCOT Center is no more, but Epcot, now... Painful.