World's Fair Archives - Driving for Deco

Vintage 1939 New York World’s Fair postcard. From the collection of sjsu.edu.

Happy Birthday to me. And for my birthday this past December, Chris surprised me with a few souvenirs from the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Due to personal circumstances I have not be able to do much driving for deco this year. But to my surprise Chris was quietly picking up 1939 New York World’s Fair goodies for me throughout the year.

An Admission Ticket

Its not quite the “Golden Ticket” from Willie Wonka and Chocolate Factory, but I would be more than willing to use it to get into the fair. Well, that is, if someone would loan me a time machine.

A 1939 New York World’s Fair admission ticket. From the collection of the author.

Glass Bank

This piece was new to me. While I had seen and own the Esso glass block bank, this one was surprise. It is in great condition, and it even came with two pennies (one from 1937 and one from 1939) inside of it. Three bands of ribbing around its center gives it extra strength. And it has a small flat bottom to keep it from rolling away. Embossed on one side with the Trylon and Perisphere, the other side has the year and a banner reading “the New York World’s Fair”.

: Souvenir World’s Fair spherical bank. From the collection of the author.

: Other side of the spherical glass bank. From the collection of the author.

Syroco Wood Ashtray

Syroco Wood was a synthetic product of the Syracuse Ornamental Company (Syroco). The upstate New York company producing pieces molded from wood pulp with flour and other materials for binders, the finished products looked and felt like carved wood. Many 1939 New York World’s Fair souvenirs were made in Syroco Wood, and I have several, including bookends and a necktie rack. Even though I’m not a smoker Chris picked up this small Syroco Wood ashtray. The glass bowl is removable for easy cleaning. And like most World’s Fair souvenirs it has the Trylon and Perisphere on it.

Small Syroco Wood ashtray with removable glass bowl. From the collection of the author.

Textolite Letter Opener

This was another piece that was new to me. And the one that I found the most interesting. This letter opener is in the shape of the Trylon and Perisphere (of course) and has GE stamped on one side and TEXTOLITE on the other.

Textolite letter opener souvenir from the General Electric Pavilion. From the collection of the author.

The exterior of the General Electric pavilion.

Exterior view of the General Electric Exhibit at the World’s Fair. (Photo by ? Bettmann/CORBIS/Bettmann Archive)

Textolite is a phenolic material similar to Bakelite that General Electric first developed for electro-insulation. Eventually it came to be used for other purposes, such as counter tops. At the General Electric pavilion these letter openers freebie souvenir made right there on the spot.

Textolite souvenir letter opener making machine at the World's Fair.

Textolite letter opener machine in the General Electric pavilion. Image from the NYPL Digital Collections.

Copy tag on back of the Textolite letter opener machine photo.

Copy for the Textolite letter opener machine photograph. Image from the NYPL Digital Collections.

Reverse side of the Textolite letter opener.

Reverse side of the Textolite souvenir letter opener. From the collection of the author.

So, thanks to Chris, this ended up being a good birthday.

Anthony

Sources:

Antique Trader; New York Public Library; San Jose State University

In a follow-up to “Deco”dent Desserts, Dinners of Tomorrow – From Yesterday explores delicious dinner options suggested at the 1939-1940 World’s Fair. Now, many different vendors used the World’s Fair to advertise and promote their particular products. One of these vendors was Kraft Food.

1940 A Souvenir From Kraft

On one of my recent driving-for-deco adventure to the Golden Nugget Flea Market, I picked up this souvenir packet. It includes a booklet giving a brief history of the Kraft Company and a couple of pamphlets with a variety of appetizers and dinners suggestions. All made with Kraft products, of course! In this collection, Velveeta cheese and Philadelphia Cream Cheese are the stars.

…

Note the interesting tag-line on the following picture. These were obviously geared to appeal to the “average” 1940’s housewife!

A illustrated and condensed history of the company.

In complete transparency, we haven’t tried any of these yet. But some sure sound mighty tasty!

Original Kraft Cart that started it all (photo via stocktonheritagemuseum.org)

Started by James L. Kraft in 1903, he sold cheese wholesale door-to-door. The result of his hard work and dedication was the loss of $3000.00 and a horse in his first year. The business plan was sound and eventually took off. His brothers joined him in 1909 to form J.L. Kraft and Bros. Company.

…

By 1911, the company was advertising and in 1912, they established their New York offices in preparation for international sales. So successful was the company that by 1914 they sold 31 varieties of cheese throughout the United States.

…

A pasteurization process developed by the company in 1915 meant cheese did not need to be refrigerated and thus extended the shelf life. The process was patented in 1916. Approximately six million pounds of this newly developed cheese was purchased by the U.S. army as part of soldier rations in WWI.

…

The company changed their name to The Kraft Cheese Company in 1924. And by 1926, the demand for fresh ingredients led to an affiliation with the dairy industry.

Original 1930 packaging (photo via madeinchicagomuseum)

The Kraft Cheese Company made several acquisitions over the years. And the purchase of Phenix Cheese Company in 1928 means they now owned the very famous Philadelphia Cream Cheese and was renamed Kraft-Phenix Cheese Company.

…

And this is where our souvenir comes into play. Rather than write out each recipe, here are snapshots for you to enjoy. And possibly try!

: Versatile Velveeta

: As good as milk!

: Chicken Shortcake

: Shrimp Rabbit (no bunnies were harmed!)

: Open Face Sandwich

: Velveeta Crumpets

A great advantage of this product is that it melt extremely well. And therefore, is suitable for many sauces.

: Cauliflower De Luxe

: Salomon Timbales

: Kidney Bean Rabbit

: Asparagus with Velveeta Sauce

: Washington Salmon Roll

: Broiled Tomato with Velveeta Sauce

And then, there’s this very popular product.

: Philadelphia Cream Cheese

: Guaranteed fresh!

: Individual Sandwich Loaves

: Cream Cheese Pie

: Variety Becomes the Vogue

: Orange Nut Bread

: Tomato Rose Salad

: Frozen Fruit Salad

: Apricot Tarts

: Mystery Cake

: Baked Apples

Philadelphia Crackers

We’ll be trying some of the recipes soon. If you try them, be sure to let us know how they turned out!

….

Driving for Deco

We will drive anywhere to find great Art Deco.

Category Archives: World’s Fair

A World’s Fair Birthday

An Admission Ticket

Its not quite the “Golden Ticket” from Willie Wonka and Chocolate Factory, but I would be more than willing to use it to get into the fair. Well, that is, if someone would loan me a time machine.

Glass Bank

Syroco Wood Ashtray

Textolite Letter Opener

This was another piece that was new to me. And the one that I found the most interesting. This letter opener is in the shape of the Trylon and Perisphere (of course) and has GE stamped on one side and TEXTOLITE on the other.

Textolite is a phenolic material similar to Bakelite that General Electric first developed for electro-insulation. Eventually it came to be used for other purposes, such as counter tops. At the General Electric pavilion these letter openers freebie souvenir made right there on the spot.

So, thanks to Chris, this ended up being a good birthday.

Anthony

Sources:

Antique Trader; New York Public Library; San Jose State University

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Dinners of Tomorrow – From Yesterday

In a follow-up to “Deco”dent Desserts, Dinners of Tomorrow – From Yesterday explores delicious dinner options suggested at the 1939-1940 World’s Fair. Now, many different vendors used the World’s Fair to advertise and promote their particular products. One of these vendors was Kraft Food.

Note the interesting tag-line on the following picture. These were obviously geared to appeal to the “average” 1940’s housewife!

In complete transparency, we haven’t tried any of these yet. But some sure sound mighty tasty!

Started by James L. Kraft in 1903, he sold cheese wholesale door-to-door. The result of his hard work and dedication was the loss of $3000.00 and a horse in his first year. The business plan was sound and eventually took off. His brothers joined him in 1909 to form J.L. Kraft and Bros. Company.

By 1911, the company was advertising and in 1912, they established their New York offices in preparation for international sales. So successful was the company that by 1914 they sold 31 varieties of cheese throughout the United States.

A pasteurization process developed by the company in 1915 meant cheese did not need to be refrigerated and thus extended the shelf life. The process was patented in 1916. Approximately six million pounds of this newly developed cheese was purchased by the U.S. army as part of soldier rations in WWI.

The company changed their name to The Kraft Cheese Company in 1924. And by 1926, the demand for fresh ingredients led to an affiliation with the dairy industry.

The Kraft Cheese Company made several acquisitions over the years. And the purchase of Phenix Cheese Company in 1928 means they now owned the very famous Philadelphia Cream Cheese and was renamed Kraft-Phenix Cheese Company.

And this is where our souvenir comes into play. Rather than write out each recipe, here are snapshots for you to enjoy. And possibly try!

A great advantage of this product is that it melt extremely well. And therefore, is suitable for many sauces.

And then, there’s this very popular product.

We’ll be trying some of the recipes soon. If you try them, be sure to let us know how they turned out!

Chris and Anthony (the Freakin’ ”Tiquen Guys)

Like this:

An Admission Ticket

Its not quite the “Golden Ticket” from Willie Wonka and Chocolate Factory, but I would be more than willing to use it to get into the fair. Well, that is, if someone would loan me a time machine.

Glass Bank

Syroco Wood Ashtray

Textolite Letter Opener

This was another piece that was new to me. And the one that I found the most interesting. This letter opener is in the shape of the Trylon and Perisphere (of course) and has GE stamped on one side and TEXTOLITE on the other.

Textolite is a phenolic material similar to Bakelite that General Electric first developed for electro-insulation. Eventually it came to be used for other purposes, such as counter tops. At the General Electric pavilion these letter openers freebie souvenir made right there on the spot.

So, thanks to Chris, this ended up being a good birthday.

Anthony

Sources:

Antique Trader; New York Public Library; San Jose State University

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In a follow-up to “Deco”dent Desserts, Dinners of Tomorrow – From Yesterday explores delicious dinner options suggested at the 1939-1940 World’s Fair. Now, many different vendors used the World’s Fair to advertise and promote their particular products. One of these vendors was Kraft Food.

Note the interesting tag-line on the following picture. These were obviously geared to appeal to the “average” 1940’s housewife!

In complete transparency, we haven’t tried any of these yet. But some sure sound mighty tasty!

Started by James L. Kraft in 1903, he sold cheese wholesale door-to-door. The result of his hard work and dedication was the loss of $3000.00 and a horse in his first year. The business plan was sound and eventually took off. His brothers joined him in 1909 to form J.L. Kraft and Bros. Company.

By 1911, the company was advertising and in 1912, they established their New York offices in preparation for international sales. So successful was the company that by 1914 they sold 31 varieties of cheese throughout the United States.

The company changed their name to The Kraft Cheese Company in 1924. And by 1926, the demand for fresh ingredients led to an affiliation with the dairy industry.

The Kraft Cheese Company made several acquisitions over the years. And the purchase of Phenix Cheese Company in 1928 means they now owned the very famous Philadelphia Cream Cheese and was renamed Kraft-Phenix Cheese Company.

And this is where our souvenir comes into play. Rather than write out each recipe, here are snapshots for you to enjoy. And possibly try!

A great advantage of this product is that it melt extremely well. And therefore, is suitable for many sauces.

And then, there’s this very popular product.

We’ll be trying some of the recipes soon. If you try them, be sure to let us know how they turned out!

Chris and Anthony (the Freakin’ ”Tiquen Guys)

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