https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/5c048904-24ea-40f8-aae3-b42dd88dc3f4 Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCddem5RlB3bQe99wyY49g0g/join Want to learn more about Periscope Film and get access to exclusive swag? Join us on Patreon. Visit https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Visit our website www.PeriscopeFilm.com Dating to 1939 and shot in Technicolor, "The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair" was directed by Robert R. Snody and produced by Westinghouse for the company's exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair. The film stars Marjorie Lord as Babs, Jimmy Lydon as Bud, Ruth Lee as Mother, Harry Shannon as Father, Adora Andrews as Grandma, Douglas Stark as Jim Treadway, George J. Lewis as Nicholas Makaroff and famed African American actress Georgette Harvey as the Maid. The plot of the film centers around the Middletons, a family of five, as they venture from grandma's house in Long Island to the New York World's Fair. The son, a young man named Bud Middleton, is struggling to find his place in the world and secure a job. His father, Tom, takes him to the World's Fair specifically to show him the opportunities and innovations that exist. The daughter Babs is changed by the fair, souring on her foreign-born, anti-capitalistic boyfriend (who rants against mechanisation and the cheapening of human labor) in favor of a hometown electrical engineer who works at the Fair. The whole family enjoys the gleaming sights, especially the futuristic technologies located in the Westinghouse Pavilion which include television and a robot. The script explores themes of hope, opportunity, and the challenges faced by young people entering the workforce. It also touches on the generational differences in perspectives on work and success. The World's Fair serves as a backdrop for these discussions, showcasing technological advancements and the promise of a better future. Visual highlights: 8:33 the Trylon and Perisphere were iconic symbols of the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair. The architectural pairing represented the fair's utopian theme, "Building the World of Tomorrow." 9:05 The Westinghouse Pavilion 10:33 a time capsule 14:07 a television camera is shown 14:45 "Playground of Electricity" attraction 15:30 Phantocycle photoelectric-enhanced riderless bike 21:47 a new electric dishwasher is shown off to an admiring crowd 25:06 a mechanized loom is shown, capable of making fabric rapidly 32:04 kitchen of tomorrow is shown, with many electric appliances 34:13 talking robot Elektro is shown to the public. 44:00 More shots of the exterior of the Westinghouse Pavilion 44:06 tickets for " Letters Home from World's Fair", a radio performance piece put on by Ray Perkins at the Westinghouse Pavilion and broadcast nationally. 46:32 daytime shots of Times Square in Manhattan 46:46 storefront of a radio shop in Manhattan, part of the Radio Row or radio district 46:57 Magic shop in Manhattan, looking at tricks sold by a magician at the shop 54:00 fireworks at the Fair as the film draws to a close. Elektro was built by J.M. Barnett, Jack Weeks Sr., Harold Gorsuch and other engineers at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation's Mansfield, Ohio, facility between 1937 and 1938. He is seven feet tall (2.1 m), weighing 265 pounds (120 kg), humanoid in appearance, he could walk by voice command, speak about 700 words (using a 78-rpm record player), smoke cigarettes, blow up balloons, and move his head and arms. Elektro's body consisted of a steel gear, cam and motor skeleton covered by an aluminum skin. His photoelectric "eyes" could distinguish red and green light. Elektro was on exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair and was joined at that fair in 1940, with "Sparko", a robot dog that could bark, sit, and beg to humans. Elektro toured North America in 1950 in promotional appearances for Westinghouse. He now resides at the Mansfield Museum in Ohio, near where he was born. Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. For almost two decades, we've worked to collect, scan and preserve the world as it was captured on 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have endangered films you'd like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTK7vhcNDPo Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Sat, 13 Jun 2026 13:22:36 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/41a6fee9-7f57-42d0-a5fc-5db4f1af2e31.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/5c048904-24ea-40f8-aae3-b42dd88dc3f4 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.