World's Fair Celebrates Queens Week In May 1939

Bronx-Whitestone Bridge. Photo copyright 2004 Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Get into a conversation with a longtime Queens resident and you're likely to discover a subscriber of the Long Island StarJournal, a daily paper that informed the community about local and world news until it folded in 1968. A banner across the Star-Journal masthead reminded readers that the newspaper's name came from the merger of the Long Island Daily Star (1876) and the North Shore Daily Journal--The Flushing Journal (1841).

Welcome to May 1939!

The World's Fair opened on April 30, and the event dominated the news for the month of May. A crowd of 600,000 attended. The opening made it clear that the Fair was indeed a New York Fair, not a Queens Fair. At the ceremony, President Franklin D. Roosevelt welcomed foreign delegations on behalf of the nation, Governor Herbert Lehman welcomed for the state and Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia welcomed for the city. Borough President George U. Harvey was neither on the program nor on the President's platform. He sat directly in the rear of the stage.

Public domain photo: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Gottscho-Schleisner Collection; reproduction number LG-G613-35557 The Pennsylvania Railroad S1 6-4-4-6 steam locomotive was one of the many attractions at the New York World's Fair, July 15, 1939. Nevertheless, the week beginning May 1 was designated "Queens Week", and seven days were set aside for local participation. Day one, designated "Borough Day", featured the first stage of a contest to select the "Typical Queens Girl." The winner was chosen on Saturday night, May 6. Seventeen-year-old Anne Cvirka of Thomson Hill was chosen over 50 other contestants to represent Queens in the contest for "Typical New York Girl."

The Bronx-Whitestone Bridge opened on April 29, and carried 40,000 cars, most of which were bound for the Fair during the first two days of the event.

Joseph F. Shadgen, a Jackson Heights engineer who first conceived the notion of a World's Fair, did not attend the Fair's opening festivities. In the fall of 1938, Shadgen had settled a $1,000,000 lawsuit against the World's Fair Corporation for $45,000. The suit alleged that his idea for a Fair had been stolen. The suit was settled out of court, and Shadgen relinquished all claims against the Fair Corporation.

On May 4, Queens Sheriff Maurice A. Fitzgerald visited the Fair to determine if the "girlie" shows there lived up to the publicity that the Fair had distributed about them. The ads touted the Fair's "nude lane" as "sensational, shocking, nerve tingling." Upon viewing some of the shows, Fitzgerald's comment was, "Why, they're no better nor worse than 90 percent of New York's night club shows. I can't see how they'd even corrupt a kindergarten."

Mrs. Adeline Cady, 93, visited her daughter, Mrs. H. L. Walker, in Flushing. She also wanted to inspect the World's Fair, since she remembered the Chicago Fair of 1892, where her daughter performed solo on the piano at the Minnesota Building. Walker was known throughout the nation as a composer. She wrote her first work, "The Exposition Waltz", at the age of 12, and it was played by the Seventh Regiment Band at the 1892 Chicago Fair.In recent years, Walker had composed only sacred music.

On May 5, the "Big Top" came to Long Island City. Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus pitched a huge tent into place next to the Madison Square Garden Bowl on Northern Boulevard. The tent was a marvel because it was air-conditioned. The circus was to open the following Monday and perform for a week. Its attractions included Gargantua the Great (a large gorilla), 50 lions and tigers, an elephant herd, 70 thoroughbred horses and more than 2,000 circus performers. From Long Island City, the circus was scheduled to hit the road with its four trains, a total of 80 Pullman cars, stock cars and flat cars.

At around 5:40 a.m. on May 8, a 400-pound tiger escaped from the circus and, according to the Star-Journal, "terrorized" the residents of Woodside. The "man-eating" animal, named "the Colonel", gnawed its way out of a wooden crate in the main tent near Woodside Avenue. Those few residents about at the early hour were stunned to see the tiger dart onto Woodside Avenue, hesitate briefly and then sprint off again toward Roosevelt Avenue. Patrolmen, all bearing rifles, arrived in droves and the Hunters Point emergency squad rushed to the scene. This commotion awakened many Woodside residents, who had the unique experience of having their day begin with the spectacle of a tiger dashing down the street. The tiger was finally captured when it leapt into a tree in the backyard of 38-29 53rd.St It was returned to the circus, put safely back in its crate and shipped to Massapequa by train. There was also a "big game"

hunt in Hunters Point. On May 18, at about 8 a.m., a crowd of about 50 people looked on as what was thought to be a large rat was trapped on a fourth floor fire escape on a building at 45th Road and 21st Street. Building residents shut their windows in horror to prevent its entry into their apartments. Sam Armfield, a gas station employee who had a reputation in the neighborhood for catching rats, was summoned. Armfield, based on his dealings with certain game in his native South, debunked the rat myth by realizing that the animal was actually an opossum. Apartment dwellers threw open their windows with joy upon learning that the animal was not a rat. Armfield and a tenant captured the beast, crated it and took it to the gas station, where the S. P. C. A. wagon picked it up.

The Queens County Bird Club announced that in one week during the month, more than 80,000 birds had been observed in their northward migration patterns through Queens County. Field notes recorded 145 different species. The most birds observed were Dowitchers, a species of sandpiper. Unusual or rare birds included Lawrence's warbler, observed in Alley Pond Park, and seven wood ducks.

The Federal Housing Administration revealed that Queens homeowners had borrowed $64,547,358 to finance the purchases of their homes since 1934. This amount was fully onethird of the mortgage aid given by the agency to the entire state of New York. The figures also showed a total of 58,523 loans had been made in the county since the FHA was created.

Playing at the movies were "Dark Victory" starring Bette Davis; "Stagecoach" starring John Wayne and Claire Trevor; "Love Affair" starring Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne; and "Huckleberry Finn" starring Mickey Rooney.

That's the way it was in May 1939!

Greater Astoria Historical Society exhibits are open to the public on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. at Quinn's Gallery, 4th floor, Thomas M. Quinn & Sons Funeral Home, 35-20 Broadway, Long Island City. Save the date! Peter Vallone Sr. book signing event: June 5 at 7 p.m. =For more information, call the Greater Astoria Historical Society at 718-2780700 or visit www.astorialic.org.