The New York Fair: Jul. 31, 1964

It is well to remember that Flushing Meadow is filled with hundreds of pavilions, rides, restaurants and hawkers, and every one of them is competing for the fairgoer's attention, time and dollar. The one good way to get the most for all three is to have a plan. A few pointers: not all of the best shows are at the end of the longest lines (it can justifiably be assumed that the line will be half as long inside as out); most pavilions are free, but those that charge usually are less than $1; the restaurants are generally expensive.

PAVILIONS

JOHNSON'S WAX. In the copper-colored clam suspended over a reflecting pool is a short film of surpassing excellence. To Be Alive! sets off on a breathless safari to explore the joys of human experience. The triple-screen montage compiled by Alexander Hammid and Francis Thompson is fast and fresh.

SPAIN'S pavilion is a gentle interlacing of courtyards and corridors filled with surprises. The attractions include prized paintings of old and modern masters (most spectacularly, Goya's Majas), an impressive showing of young avant-garde artists, a display of Dali's jeweled doodads, bullfight movies, and folk dancers.

MONTANA. Cowgirls and cowpokes go drawling and poking around the lodgepole corral. There is a museum with memorabilia of the Old West and a rootin'-tootin' nickel arcade complete with player pianos, games and peep shows.

INDIA. Water cascades down the exterior of the glass pavilion, a quote from Gandhi is carved in pink marble, and sari-clad girls welcome the visitor to view such Indian art objects as the palace doors of Rajasthan, Hindu temple hangings, Buddha sculptures and miniature paintings.

PROTESTANT AND ORTHODOX CENTER. A small circus troupe travels along a country road and a clown, white from head to foot, brings up the rear riding on a donkey. Parable is a wordless but colorful film that lets the viewer draw his own parallels as it follows the clown about his good-will way, winning friends and earning enemies, until finally he is symbolically crucified.

IBM entertains you while you wait on the spiraled ramps—no other exhibit can make this claim. Once in, the People Wall whisks you up into the giant egg where the Information Machine reveals that you too can be a computer, of sorts.

TRAVELERS INSURANCE. Under the red-umbrella roof is a walk-through exhibit that portrays the history of man with arrested-action scenes showing cavemen painting on walls, Roman gladiators in bitter battle, the bubonic plague decimating a medieval city.

BELL SYSTEM. Inside the building, plopped beside the Fountain of the Planets like an upside-down flatiron, a soothing voice says "Fasten your seat belts and adjust your earphones." The floor seems to churn, the roof to fall as the chair-ride jogs along into a spooky tunnel where the spectator sees a 3-D drama on communications. The exhibits include Picturephones on which you see whomever you talk to.