NightSight; Where Were You in 62: 25th Anniversary of the Seattle Worlds Fair, Part 4

Where were you in 62. The Seattle Center 25 years after the fair very Messman looks at what the future holds for the center and Gary Gibson goes back in time tonight. Oh Nightside. Hi welcome to Nightside all this week we've been taking you back in time to 1962 25 years ago when the Seattle World's Fair first opened. We reminisced with you about the fair about Seattle in 1962 and we've been asking the pressing question where were you in 62. Now look ahead to the future. What's in store for the Seattle Center. The former World's Fair site. Well it hasn't changed much in the 25 years since Century 21 closed and plans are in the works to update the center facilities. Some of the buildings like the center House date back to pre 1962 and some that

were built for the fair were never meant to be permanent but they're still around. Barry mitzvahs got a report tonight on what's in the works for the Seattle Center as city officials debate its future. On almost any weekday you'll find dozens of seniors dancing up a storm in the center. There just a few of the six million people who visit and enjoy Seattle Center each year. Despite its continuing hype to Larry the Seattle Center is showing its age. City leaders and center officials agree that major improvements are needed if the center is going to continue to be Bigler for another 25 years there has been a lot of talk in recent years about the one subject and.

A good deal of. Marlowe's critical language about being caught being run down and all 11 if you know what I'd like to get out that I'd like to I'd like to move this thing forward and this place forward in the 2015 or center director doing well has a long list of problems he'd like to address. I would say we're probably. To 40 or 50 percent of the potential development of this place our entrances both West and East particularly are really very dismal places and we need to examine some of our old temporary buildings or still if you like to fly civilian here they set her house so there's nothing temporary about that it's built of solid concrete but it is a it was built as a as an armory and needs to be re-examined as to its future. The basic maintenance of the grounds did slip behind the roofs of these buildings you know then they started leaking and the landscaping with questions of public safety. Signage on the grounds or just there's a lot that needs to be a lot that needs to happen I think

underlying all of it is is the fact that we've got a 25 year old carnival over here and a home fourth we'd like to replace that with technology. Public entertainment has gone to a revolution in those 25 years. I want to bring this post up a bit I think the Seattle Center you need to have attractions to hooker and muttering in effect I don't think most of those adjectives idols are applicable and we have an opportunity to have a great urban park and I'd like to get started on that single so the time is right because the World's Fair anniversary has focused public attention on the Senate Thanh because they now want you to go enlarge the center ground bias for this vacant lot may not look like much but it could represent a promising future for Seattle Center. It's the former Metro bus barn just across the street from the center. It's city owned property and it now lies vacant. This site along with property north of Mercer that was donated by a private foundation would expand the center to 100 acres. But developing these parcels and making needed

improvements elsewhere in the center will cost 40 to 50 million dollars money the city just does not have. Seattle taxpayers already subsidize the center to the tune of four million dollars annually. So a private developer might be asked to invest in new up to date attractions at the center in exchange for a share of future profits. Who would develop the center. You know not Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck either but the Disney organization those masters of the themed amusement park. Mayor Charles Royer has led Seattle civic leaders on expeditions to Disney World in Florida to see what a real entertainment center looks like. Royer and doing well want to pay Disney a half million dollars to come up with a master plan for redeveloping Seattle Center. These people are highly successful designers and and they have a record which is without equal in the world as far as I'm concerned I like to deal with organizations like many people do you really think that you're

going to turn the center into a Disneyland. So any truth on that. There is absolutely not a shred of truth in what they are going to design here. It will be some ideas. For the development of a Pacific Northwest entertainment area. And I don't know what's going to be and that's not my area of skill but it will not be a replica of what they've done on either coast. It will not be a theme park. It will be it will be something it will be a series of recommendations I'm sure which really will relate very markedly to the Seattle Center as it is and how and how it can be improved. But public opinion is divided on the prospect of a Disney version of Seattle Center. I think Disney is a wonderful idea. I think some of the new modern ideas is is what would help. I don't think we need that. We need improvements maybe that we don't need that I mean actually I do. It's another dimension now to commercial I'd like to see it stay the same as it's always been.

I do think they have the expertise to handle a situation like that I just hope that. It doesn't become a commercial enterprise here that it becomes. And remains public. That's a concern shared by some members of Seattle's city council. No business is going to come up here want to run the center and figure that they get their money back out of it with a good bonus you know. Disney does not become a great one of the big businesses of the world. Without. Extracting dollars from the local populace. There's no question about it. Approval from the city council is needed. It just needs to be brought in. But United Williams is one member who plans to vote no. The Seattle Center is Seattle. It's the spirit of the city. You don't think the Disney organization could reflect the regional values that you want the center to embody. They have not been a peer they don't know the people. They have no feel for what the city is about in order to draw visitors to the center from around the

world. Don't we need a bit of that Disney glamour. I don't like the word Disney clamor because I think they're so wonderful North-West clamber up here. We are tend to downgrade ourselves and I think that's very unfortunate. You know it's as if you were saying that there's nobody locally that can do anything about this it has to go down to somebody like Disney with their expertise. To. Be able to do it now while the head of the center is negotiating with the Disney organization over a contract. Do you think he's going outside his authority at this point. I think he is. I think he's raising expectations of a large expenditure of money which if I can read it correctly is not to be received at this point. The mayor and city council made a deadlock over the Disney plan and that could prove fatal for the center. According to Bruce Hillier who heads a citizens commission investigating how the center is governed. I don't think anyone could look at the center now and not see that. It needs and it needs some change. Helier says that as a city agency the center suffers from a bureaucratic

paralysis and we found that Cialis areas hamstrung because it has to comply with the centralized requirements of the city bureaucracy regarding purchasing regarding public works contracting regarding personnel and that sort of thing. So hill years and mission may recommend that center managers be given greater freedom from city council control. We would like to see a more entrepreneurial spirit at the center so that within the policy direction given by the Seattle City Council. Private capital could be involved in and sprucing up the center. That's just what Mayor Roy and you and wall have in mind. I think that on a well-defined plan having a Disney organization here produces some of their entertainment magic would be very good for Seattle and for Seattle Center and I like to see it up so the center is going to be very different 25 years from now from what it is today. It has I can't promise to be around looking at her but I bet it will be very different. Measuring Century 21 happen in Seattle was made possible to a great extent by good old

fashioned salesmanship. Crowley talked to five of the people who put their feet in a thousand doors and refused to take no for an answer. Here's walk. As the deputy director of Century 21. A lot of your sales work was really aimed at selling the federal government on this affair. I mean the same it was to shake some money out of the tree. Unfortunately we had a U.S. senator Warren Magnuson. Who saw the 14th you're there and also was canny enough to see that the only way it was going to be sold to Congress was with an emphasis on trade and science particularly science. This is right in the Sputnik period when we were feeling very defensive about we weren't able to put something into space. The Russian said why can't

we. Scientists were very insistent that we couldn't have a United States science Brazillian sciences International doesn't have a flag and this should be all nations should be participating in a course that went over very big to some of the congressmen you mean we're going to go we're going to spend our money to provide the Russians with the space to show how much better they're doing in science and we forget it was ridiculous. So of course inevitably it became the USA really and. There was a lot of controversy. Early on in the affair as to whether you sold it as education or sold it as an overgrown Carnival which side of that debate where you are. I think most of us came down on all sides of that debate. There's no way we could sell this as an. Educational variance alone it just wouldn't work. On the other hand I don't think you could sell.

A circus in Seattle has being a reason to drive 500 or a thousand miles or take an airplane to come to Seattle. The Space Needle was the Star of Your First Life magazine cover and you had to and that was quite an achievement. What difference did Life magazine make made all the difference in the world. People forget the impact of the Life magazine cover in those days. And when that cover appeared of the Space Needle in the Space Needle wasn't quite finished and had the Olympics in the background. And on a very sunny day in Seattle that was the primary sales tool that that we had had up till that time and probably the best sales tool we had for the whole fair. I learned a lot about selling in that regard. First you learn that no doesn't necessarily mean you know. Where World's Fairs are concerned. Probably because affair is never in any corporation's

budget they don't plan for this kind of thing. They have to be convinced that they must put it in their budgets. Then they have to be convinced that if they don't go into the fair all of their competitors will and they'll be left out. And in a way this is how we put the fashion pavilion together. We wanted to sponsor. That had a lot of prestige and that amounted to one of the two then leading women's fashion magazines Vogue or Harper's Bazaar. Where approached Harper's first for no particular reason but we had to start somewhere. They showed a distinct lack of interest in the whole idea. And so we read to Vogue and without without saying so let Vogue believe that Harper's was considering it very seriously. And so ultimately Vogue snatched the opportunity after 25 years of the the apocryphal stories become history

in SAG and. I can remember when and I think dang you were probably part of it. The group went to see the Russians and and made a presentation about coming to the World's Fair and in Seattle. In Washington. And apparently the Russians listened very patiently and very courteously and showed great interest and then and then finally as our people thought they were about ready to make a sale the Russians said but tell us which side of the Potomac River is really going to be build on. And at which time we got a call back in Seattle say I think we have to redo the slide presentation and put a map in there and tell them where the state of Washington is and I think apocryphal or not I think that is the kind of a challenge that the people selling the World's Fair head. And which one of you had to manage Gracey hands people. I don't think anybody can sit

in front of me Traci has her own free spirit. And did a fantastic job to get her there and all of our people promoting the fair wanted to work on the Gracie Hansen account but it was just strictly out of a sense of duty. Tension Absolutely. You hired on seven days after the fair had opened with the assignment of linking up special events. Well several special events were planning with the form pavilions there their international weeks like the India week or Mexico where we also were doing such things as flying farmers the American Indian Day. Thats when we put a bonnet on top of Roy Rogers head and almost had an Indian war and then you were finally responsible for the finale of the fair the closing ceremonies on October 21st and you staged it here and I mean real stadium we had. We boosted it up so we could have 18000 people inside the stadium. We had 600 batsmen at one point during the ceremonies. Fans were

seated on the floor of the stadium when the 1812 Overture with. When it's going down. The concussion coming out of the cannons we're right behind the scaffolding held those four story high fireworks displays and every time a gun went off the thing's startling moment. And fortunately everything held together till the other brother. The public was asked to leave the grounds by about 10:30 or 11:00 and they did so the first death which was down to minimal at that point. Tentative we all gathered in a national fountain and one lone piper a leftover from a bunch of pipe bands were moved onto the site and sort of played the last hyper as a kid and these became very foggy that night and the sound went dead as it was supposed to 11:30 turn fog and all the lights the dance with. Which was sort of amazing in a sort of a quiet way. The next morning all the leaves fell off the trees. Next up tonight a tour of public art at the Seattle Center with art critic Matthew Kang us

and Gary will be along with a tour of pop culture vintage 1962 the 1962 World's Fair left a rich legacy of cultural boosterism and inspiration for the city of Seattle to live up to. And in the intervening 25 years Seattle Center it's become the home for several dozen paintings sculptures and fountains by local national and internationally known artists. This sculpture here is by a Boston artist morning and it's called the endless gate. Another way it greets visitors to Seattle Center depending upon whether you're walking east or west. There's a different message to read. It's kind of a postmodern Burma-Shave sign isn't the space needle itself is probably the largest sculpture in Seattle Center. As designed by John Graham associates of the late architect Victor Steinbrueck was responsible for the final design and he once told me to do great Romanian modern sculpture. Constantine was his

inspiration. When you're inside the Space Needle you can look down on another large outdoor work of the Iliad by Alexander Liberman. So he trained as an artist and has created many sculptures Lieberman is also the publisher in charge of Vogue and Vanity Fair magazine. I missed the humorous summer's night off that was here during the World's Fair but I think the Olympics looks a lot better now that they fill the pond with water again. You know Mayor Reuters downtown plan calls for tearing all those other buildings down and having a sculpture park that opens out to Broad Street. Ronald blade is Big Black Lightning is perfectly suited to accompany the heavy metal rock concerts of the Coliseum. It looks a little grim in the winter but once spring comes around in the flowers and the trees fell out it's a wonderful counterpoint. Inside the Coliseum is an unusual solution to a drainage problem on the roof. Bill Moss just completed the

suspended fabric sculpture. I wonder what the great modernist architect of the Coliseum Paul theory thinks of it. And just north of the Coliseum is Randy Hayes is cool. It too is a special solution to a difficult site right here between the two public restrooms. It's meant to incorporate the men and women signs as a part of an illusionary public swimming pool. And it looks great at night because it's fully illuminated. Toni Smith's Moses was one of Seattle's first important abstract sculptures that's been re sited near the Bagley Wright theater and also greets viewers as they enter the grounds from the west side. Inside the opera house are for new works that are part of the Seattle arts Commission's Northwest special collection. Patti washiness a procession uses the images of about 40 local artists and a critic or two to create a celebration of the art process and the people who make art. It's all incredibly delicate painted and glazed.

And Lois Graham's Sargasso stirrer contains my crystals as well as oil paint. It's what you see when you leave the opera house and I think it creates a wonderful triumphant mood after a concert. The two jacks of all painted wood carvings on the side the elevators on the boxes and lodges level. Their abstracted landscape scenes that also function as a witty commentary on theatre scenery. Thirteen Ways of Looking at a black bird is a long painting by Michael Spafford. He's the fourth of the distinguished Northwest artist chosen and already a major public artist in his own right. It's based on a 1917 poem by Wallace Stevens. But each image has a strength of its own. Michael Spafford nor was Graham jacks of Ollie and Patty was

a part of our region's most precious cultural asset. Living artists and it's a tribute to them and to the citizens of Seattle that their art and art of the art at Seattle Center is displayed in places of on are. I'm asked you can guess for Night site Seattle thought the Space Needle was the axis for the earth and one thousand sixty two and some people would be surprised that the world continued to turn outside the fairgrounds in a year more notable for the Jackie Kennedy looked an international detente. The revolutions of 62 turned out a pop culture based on healthy bank accounts the nuclear family and wholesome youth. It was a year on a bus trip and it was carrying a mixed bag of. Barbie dolls birth control pills Teddy and rock. It still had a role in it. In April Chubby Checker was at Seattle's Orpheum Theater along with Joey Dee and the star

liners for a twist party elsewhere. Girl groups like the sure rounds were falling on teen heart strings while across the ocean. Then five member group called The Beatles picking up fans in Hamburg England. Folk music was alive and well. Coming out of a Joan Baez mold in 62 as Dylan released his first album in the Weavers made an appearance in Seattle at the Moore Theatre. With. Best seats $3. 1962 is not a year that Hollywood remembers fondly. It was recovering from Dollar Dreyer's like Cleopatra and Mutiny on the Bounty but it was still a year that enticed crowds to get away from the World's Fair to see state fair at the Fifth Avenue theatre with Ann Margaret and Patty West Side Story at the Music Box. All seats was there and the man who shot down the Paramount prize. You know he sang the theme song.

The theme song for visual artists was let's not get too serious. New subjects like soup cans and new materials like burlap and plaster are creeping into studios continuing the wave of pop art while New York celebrated because it was 80th birthday. The Seattle Art Museum had the paintings drawings and sculpture of Kenneth Callaghan. At the university's Henry gallery. The 10th annual Northwest craftsman show was sharing space with the figure in modern painting including the work of Alden Mason. If you wanted a kickback in your living room and watched the two about have good news and bad news for you the bad news is 62 TV is still in black and white. But the good news is no one's decided TV is bad for you. You could feel free to pull out that TV dinner switch on your elegance without ostentation Philco and see the likes of What's My Line.

SULLIVAN All right a young queen for a day and that heart throb doctor killed there. During commercials you might read through your weekly Life magazine or laugh to Alfred E. Newman is 25 percent mad warm Fuzzy's were available on the pages of happiness as a warm Poppy and Rob McEwen listen to the warmth or you might take your bookmark out of your stereo and strap in Catch 22. And if that TV dinner didn't quite cut it and you were hungry you could pile the family into the new Rambler put on your best from Seattle's world's largest panties and head for a picnic at the new soccer Juhi a park or you and the missus could dine at the Golden Lion dining room at the Olympic Hotel. Or try that you restaurant in Pioneer place that's decorated like a mine shaft and serves Cornish pasties to the ambient sounds of ore cars for your 1962 singles 21 and party line have phones at all the

tables. Just so you can call a dish in another booth. And then there's always bowling at the new law anyway. Thanks to places like deluxe junk here in Fremont if you're more comfortable living with Ziggy lamps than track lighting or if you prefer the feel of naugahyde to unbleached muslin and if you have long teeth bugles again out of a lazy susan you still can. As for me I'm starting the long trip back to 1987 before I forget about the spread. Oh well backs and who I am. Going to give soon for night say goodnight. To you. Well that's our show for tonight. Tomorrow night we can review will be back with more discussion of the future of the Seattle Center in this panel of journalists we'll look at the maneuverings between Mayor Roy in the city council of the plans evolve.

And I want a little and I will be back with a look at Hanford on the one year anniversary of the true noble nuclear disaster is Hanford ageing and reactor a novel waiting to happen. Watch Barry tomorrow and we'll see you again Monday. Good night. Oh girl you know. I'm a grubby little no good middle to your birthday every. Right Little believe me. Well overjoyed you.