What’s old is new again. Specifically, 50′s and 60′s style architecture are back and in fashion once again. I could very well see my architect friend Chris designing a building much like this one.
This is an ad from the Seattle World’ s Fair Official Souvenir Program
showing the Bell System Pavilion. And the rendering was
true to life. Any Vintage Seattle readers who stepped foot inside the actual pavilion that want to tell us what is was like — come join us in the comments. Click for higher res.
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| Communications… key to universal understanding. Bell Telephone System. Official Souvenir Program, Seattle World’ s Fair 1962. |
Bell Telephone actually put together a nice little film from the 62 World’s Fair which shows (among other things) some of the upcoming innovations (like touch-tone dialing) in telephones that were on display in this pavilion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4Iu3JEsoQY
I used to have a fairly extensive collection of memorabilia from the world’s fair. One of the items was a little plastic souvenir “Princess” telephone from the Bell pavilion. Written underneath the phone were the words, “It’s little, it’s lovely, it lights”.
I just found a picture of one in pink:
http://www.porticus.org/bell/images/fairphone.jpg
Brian, thanks for the Century 21 film link. What a fun filled romp of wonderment through the fair with the zany mime kids. Looks like the 21st Century is going to be thrillingly swell! Brick sized pagers! Can’t wait!
I have one of those little Princess phones on my keychain. I got it from my grandma. It’s not from the Fair, though, it’s just general Priness phone swag.
Why are my comments getting moderated recently? Is it something I said?
RPH: Sometimes the spam filter gets confused. It’s kinda dumb.
Look! Front and center…it’s Jackie Kennedy and little John-John!
Isn’t some of what was in the pavilion now at the Museum of Communications in Georgetown? http://www.museumofcommunications.org/
As a kid, I recall visiting the Science Center (late 60′s/early 70′s) and there were all these cool displays involving telephone communications. For instance, I remember one particular display (please correct me if I’m wrong) where you would speak into a telephone receiver, it would record your voice, then you would pick up another phone receiver and it would play how your voice would’ve sounded with phone technology from, say, the 1930′s. There was an array of phone receivers from different eras you could try (20′s, 30′s, 40′s, etc…)
I’m wondering if that phone display and others like it at the Science Center had been part of the Bell System Pavilion. Anybody?
Thanks for the link Brian. I especially liked the groovy song at the end.
I’m familiar with the “Century 21 Calling” film…it was given the MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 treatment (for those who don’t know, that was a TV program where wisecracking commentary by a man and two robot puppets was added to old movies and short subjects like this particular one).
As I remember, a council for the deaf wanted the Bell System Pavilion for after the Fair, but Bell refused and it was torn down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgCQWEyvdl4 Century 21 Calling…but all I got was heavy breathing!