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[Chris Davis]

It occurred to me this probably hasn't been discussed here before.  I remember my Grandparents used to talk about the World Fair many years ago. 
Here was an early example of  large-scale corporate-sponsored exposition and productions.  Later on, this idea was successfully developed at Disney Parks/ Epcot Center, as well as corporate sponsorship with our sports stadiums and arenas, mass media, and elsewhere.

Rather than look at the business side of things, I would be interested to learn more about the productions they had, any technical detail, and how they went about achieving it in that day.  Maybe someone has some actual information/pictures of technical crew that they might be willing to pass on/share? 


This is just a crazy idea I had, I personally haven't made the time to look myself.


Here is a teaser:
http://www.1939nyworldsfair.com/worlds_fair/wf_tour/theme-2.htm

[John Roberts {JR}]

From the wiki page on Rudy Bozak

Bozak moved to the East Coast in 1935 to work for Cinaudagraph out of Stamford, Connecticut. Two years later he was chief engineer. At the 1939 New York World's Fair, a tower topped with a cluster of eight 27" Cinaudagraph loudspeakers in 30" frames with huge 450 lb. field coil magnets covered low frequency duties for a 2-way PA system at Flushing Meadows. The loudspeakers were mounted into horns with 14' wide mouths and were each driven by a 500 watt amplifier derived from a high-power radio broadcast tube. In June, 1940, Electronics magazine published an article that Bozak had written about the design of the 27" loudspeaker. 

I recall seeing one of those old drivers around the factory in Norwalk Ct and believe the weight estimate...

It seems 500W and a 14' horn mouth might make some serious bass, even today, while those drivers were not as efficient as modern stuff.

JR

[Chris Davis]

Hi, thanks for that.  That yields some interesting looking search results which I will have to have a further in-depth look at.  There's also some private movie footage on Youtube, presumably taken by visitors.  It would be cool though to see some behind the scenes footage.

[bob schwarz]

When I started in the PA business, I purchased a number of RCA folded-horn speakers that were introduced in the '39 Fair. They consisted of a 15-inch rear-firing woofer and a 2-inch hf driver. The original woofers were converted in the late 40's from field-coil magnets to Alnico magnet drivers.I guess they also were used extensively on aircraft carriers for entertaining the troops.They were frequently used with 15-25 watt amplifiers onboard the ship. I helped do a Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in 1964. The System used two of these speakers, along with a pair of Racon 20 by 20 hf horns and all was powered by two 80 wpc Altec Amplifiers outdoors. The crowd was estimated to be more than ten thousand.

[Chris Davis]

Hi Bob, thanks for replying.  That sounds interesting. 

A full orchestra combined with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir would put out some sound level on its own. So, would you say that you amplified the concert over its acoustic levels a noticeable amount?  Or was it closer to what we might consider today as "gently augmenting" the sound?  (with what was essentially 1940's speaker technology)

[bob schwarz]

Hi Bob, thanks for replying.  That sounds interesting. 

A full orchestra combined with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir would put out some sound level on its own. So, would you say that you amplified the concert over its acoustic levels a noticeable amount?  Or was it closer to what we might consider today as "gently augmenting" the sound?  (with what was essentially 1940's speaker technology)
[/quote]
It certainly was "gently augmenting" the sound alright, but it was an interesting challenge nevertheless,  in a Hollywood Bowl-type environment which offered no acoustic advantage at all. The shell basically kept the rain off some of  the performers. By the way, the board was a custom built 10 input Western Electric and fed by 10 RCA ribbon mics.

[Tim Padrick]

My Sunbeam T-9 toaster was introduced at the '39 fair :-)

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