Perisphere
Encyclopedia
The Trylon and Perisphere were two modernistic structures, together known as the "Theme Center," at the center of the New York World's Fair of 1939-1940
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
. Connected to the 700 feet (213.4 m) spire-shaped Trylon by what was at the time the world's longest escalator, the Perisphere was a tremendous sphere, 180 feet in diameter. The sphere housed a diorama
Diorama
The word diorama can either refer to a nineteenth century mobile theatre device, or, in modern usage, a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum...
called "Democracity" which, in keeping with the fair's theme "The World of Tomorrow", depicted a utopian city-of-the-future. Democracity was viewed from above on a moving sidewalk, while a multi-image slide presentation was projected on the interior surface of the sphere. After exiting the Perisphere, visitors descended to ground level on the third element of the Theme Center, the Helicline, a 950 feet (289.6 m) spiral ramp that partially encircled the Perisphere.
The Trylon and Perisphere became the central symbol of the 1939 World's Fair, its image reproduced by the million on a wide range of promotional materials and serving as the fairground's focal point. The United States issued a postage stamp in 1939 depicting the Trylon and Perisphere (pictured). Neither structure survives; however, the Unisphere
Unisphere
The Unisphere is a 12-story high, spherical stainless steel representation of the Earth. Located in Flushing Meadows – Corona Park in the borough of Queens, New York City, the Unisphere is one of the borough's most iconic and enduring symbols....
is now located where the Perisphere once stood.
The Theme Center was designed by architects Wallace Harrison
Wallace Harrison
Wallace Kirkman Harrison , was an American architect.-Career:Harrison started his professional career with the firm of Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray, participating in the construction of Rockefeller Center...
and J. Andre Fouilhoux
J. André Fouilhoux
Jacques André Fouilhoux was an engineer and architect from Paris, France who partnered with architects in Salem, Oregon and New York City. He was in the United States ca. 1904....
, with the interior exhibit by Henry Dreyfuss
Henry Dreyfuss
Henry Dreyfuss was an American industrial designer.-Career:Dreyfuss was a native of Brooklyn, New York. As one of the celebrity industrial designers of the 1930s and 1940s, Dreyfuss dramatically improved the look, feel, and usability of dozens of consumer products...
. The structures were built in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, New York and were intended as temporary with steel framing and plaster board facades. Both buildings were subsequently razed and scrapped after the closing of the fair, their materials to be used in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
armaments.
In popular culture
Composer (and Rhapsody in Blue orchestrator) Ferde GrofeFerde Grofé
Ferde Grofé was a prominent American composer, arranger and pianist. During the 1920s and 1930s, he went by the name Ferdie Grofé.-Early life:...
was commissioned by the World's Fair to compose a piece of symphonic music dedicated to the sculptured edifices.
The Trylon is mentioned in the 1939 Yip Harburg
Yip Harburg
Edgar Yipsel Harburg , known as E.Y. Harburg or Yip Harburg, was an American popular song lyricist who worked with many well-known composers...
song "Lydia the Tattooed Lady
Lydia the Tattooed Lady
"Lydia the Tattooed Lady" is a 1939 song written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg. It first appeared in the 1939 Marx Brothers movie At the Circus and became one of Groucho Marx's signature tunes...
", made famous by Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
.
The Trylon Theatre, located on Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, operated from December, 1939 through December, 1999. The theatre's decor included several references to the 1939-40 World's Fair.
In the 1942 WB
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
cartoon "Crazy Cruise
Crazy Cruise
Crazy Cruise is a 1942 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series. It was directed by Tex Avery and Bob Clampett, whose names do not appear on the surviving print of the cartoon. Because Tex left the studio in September 1941 before production was completed , Clampett finished it, and both...
", the Trylon and Perisphere are jokingly presented as being part of the pyramids of Egypt.
An episode of The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
featured a view of these structures from the air.
Trylon and perisphere are mentioned as generic concepts by the main character as he is introduced in the beginning of Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg is an American author, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple nominee of the Hugo Award and a winner of the Nebula Award.-Early years:...
's 1972 novel Dying Inside
Dying Inside
Dying Inside is a science fiction novel by Robert Silverberg. It was nominated for the Nebula Award in 1972, and both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1973.- Summary:...
.
In the DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series All-Star Squadron
All-Star Squadron
The All-Star Squadron is a DC Comics superhero team that debuted in a special insert in Justice League of America #193 . Created by Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway.-The concept:...
(debuting in 1981), the Squadron used the Perisphere as their headquarters.
Howard Waldrop
Howard Waldrop
Howard Waldrop is a science fiction author who works primarily in short fiction.Waldrop's stories combine elements such as alternate history, American popular culture, the American South, old movies , classical mythology, and rock 'n' roll music. His style is sometimes obscure or elliptical...
's 1985 short story "Heirs of the Perisphere" describes the excavation of the time capsule
Westinghouse Time Capsules
The Westinghouse Time Capsules are two time capsules prepared by the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company: "Time Capsule I", created for the 1939 New York World's Fair; and "Time Capsule II", created for the 1964 New York World's Fair. Both are buried 50 feet below Flushing Meadows Park,...
which was buried at the 1939 World's Fair.
In Robert Stone's novel Outerbridge Reach
Outerbridge Reach
Outerbridge Reach is a 1998 novel by American novelist Robert Stone.-Plot:Stone's incisive, haunting novel follows the story of a copywriter who enters an around-the-world solo boat race.-Commercial success:...
(copyright 1992), the deconstruction of the Trylon and Perisphere are seen as an allegory for America's sacrifice in World War II.
Singer/songwriter Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann is an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist.-Early life:Aimee Mann grew up in Bon Air, Virginia, graduated from Open High School in 1978 and attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out to sing with her first punk rock band, the Young Snakes...
created a song called "Fifty Years After the Fair" for her 1993 album Whatever, the subject of which is the 1939 World's Fair. The song references the Trylon and Perisphere while suggesting how little of the Fair's bright vision of the future had actually been realized in the "decades ahead" now passed.
In the 1995 episode Aubrey
Aubrey (The X-Files)
"Aubrey" is the twelfth episode of the second season of The X-Files television series. "Aubrey" features a detective discovering the body of an FBI agent who disappeared investigating a series of murders 50 years ago; murders that start occurring again soon afterward.- Plot :In Aubrey, Missouri...
of the TV series The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
, the protagonist has visions of Trylon and perisphere leading the detectives to an important clue.
A photo of visitors on the walkway between the two structures is used as the cover art of the 2000 album Deltron 3030
Deltron 3030 (album)
Deltron 3030 is the 2000 debut album by hip hop supergroup Deltron 3030. It is a rap opera concept album set in a dystopian year 3030.-Album information:...
.
In the 2004 movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a 2004 American pulp adventure science-fiction film written and directed by Kerry Conran in his directorial debut. The film is set in an alternative 1939 and follows the adventures of Polly Perkins , a newspaper reporter, and Harry Joseph "Joe" Sullivan ,...
, whose title references the fair, the two structures are briefly seen in the Himalayas.
Further reading
- Cohen, Barbara. Trylon and Perisphere. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, New York, 1989.
- Gelernter, David. 1939: The Lost World of the Fair. The Free Press, New York, 1995.
- Newhouse, Victoria. Wallace K. Harrision, Architect. Rezzoli International Publications Inc. New York, 1989.
- "New York World's Fair, 1939." Architectural Forum, June 1939. vol. 70, pp. 393-462.
- "The World's Fair will put on a 6-minute show inside its perisphere." Life, Aug. 1938. pp. 55-58.
- "Aerodynamics of the Perisphere and Trylon at World's Fair." American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. 65 Issue 5, 1938. pp.887-906.