Superman vs. Cyclops at the World's
Fair
The 1964 World's Fair was probably best
symbolized by the colossal Unisphere
globe and the Jetsons-like
towers of the NY State Pavilion. Over at NASA's "US
Space Park," you could see full-scale models of
a Titan II booster and Atlas rocket, the actual Mercury
capsule flown on the second American manned orbital flight
and a full scale model of the three-man Apollo Command module.
At the Bell Telephone pavilion, you could make a call on
a "Picturephone,"
foreshadowing modern videoconferencing. At the various international
pavilions, you could sample culture and cuisine from many
nations.
But of course these were petty distractions compared to
the glory of the Superman wax figure, locked in combat with
the mighty Cyclops:
I found this ad some time ago in an old comic and always
wondered about the exhibit. Thanks to the miracles of the
internet, I managed to find a tidbit on Walter's
Wax Museum at the nywf64.com
website, including this image of patrons entering the exhibit,
no doubt eager to see Superman in action:
Even before I knew much of anything about the Fair (which
seems more and more awesome the deeper I dig), it struck
me as humorous that a wax figure would be considered a major
draw at such a huge event. I could just imagine some kid
out in Montana or Oregon trying to talk his parents into
a cross-country car trip to see a pair of dummies dressed
up like Superman and the Cyclops. Or some youngster actually
at the Fair, stamping his feet impatiently at the giant
mock-up of a Saturn V rocket or the world's biggest automoble
in his eagerness to see a cheesy wax museum display.
Information on the museum is hard to turn up, again as
you might expect for one of the less spectacular attractions
at an event as colossal as the World's Fair, but I did turn
up a brief blurb here,
apparently lifted from the souvenir brochures handed out
at the Fair. (It's interesting to note Superman takes second
billing behind Cleopatra, at that time the subject of a
major motion picture starring Liz Taylor). The excellent
nywf64.com website also offers a map of attractions revealing
the location
of the museum relative to the other exhibits (look for
location A12 on the map). But beyond that, not much.
I can't help thinking comic book fans would have felt right
at home at the Fair, where a ferris wheel shaped like a
giant
Uniroyal tire could hold 96 fairgoers at once, the Chrysler
Pavilion took the shape of a 55-foot-high
car engine and Design Island housed an 80-foot-long
automobile. It's easy to imagine Batman
and Robin in a running battle here with
the Joker or the Riddler.
If there's anyone out there with first-hand memories of
the Superman vs. Cyclops diorama, or what else we might
have seen in Walter's Wax Museum, or even who "Walter"
was, I'd love to hear from you. Of course actual photos
of the figures would be fantastic.
In the meantime, here's some great links dealing with the
fascinating history of the 1964 World's Fair:
www.nywf.com: A fantastic
storehouse of facts, photos and concept art
Westland.net's
World's Fair page
Worldsfairphotos.com
"Modern
Ruins": Phillip Buehler's Photos of what remains
of the fairgrounds today