Miss Futurama (1940)
Wednesday, December 30, 2009 at 3:05PM ;)
Wearing a dress of the year 1960, Miss Futurama, Betty Crain, presents Harvey D. Gibson, chairman of the board of the New York World's Fair, with the General Motors streamlined car of 1960 in these photos from 1940.
The top photo is from the book Exit to Tomorrow: World's Fair Architecture, Design, Fashion 1933-2005. The bottom photo is from the New York Public Library.
;)
From Leo Casey, Director of Publicity for the World's Fair of 1940 in New York:
Indiana girls, employees of General Motors, stand by as "Miss Futurama" Betty Crain, of Kokomo, Indiana, presents Harvey D. Gibson, chairman of the Fair Board of Directors with a model of a 1960 streamlined automobile during the celebration of General Motors Day at the World's Fair of 1940 in New York.
Left to Right -- Evelyn Reason, of Anderson, A.J. Schamehorn, Director of the G.M. exhibit at the Fair, Miss Crain, Mr. Gibson, [unreadable] Edwards, also of Anderson, Evelyn Harger, of Muncie, Myrtle Short, of Indianapolis, and Jean Stines, of Anderson. The girls all wear dresses of glass, rubber, acetate and rayon, known as "Dresses of 1960."
Previously on Paleo-Future:
- Official Guidebook: 1939 World's Fair
- All's Fair at the Fair (1938)
- Bearded Men of the 21st Century (1939)
- Super Highway of Tomorrow (1939)
- Railroads on Parade (1939)
- Dawn of a New Day (1939)
- Real Picturephone? (1939)
- Metal Man Comes to Life (1939)
- Memory of 'Tomorrow' (New York Times, 1941)
Reader Comments (5)
Did they really expect women in 1960- only 20 years later- to wear those things?
Maybe, considering all the fashion changes which had happened in the previous 20 to 30 years, it seemed a reasonable guess.
I think the chairman looks more interested in the see-through dress than the streamlined car...
Very good posting. I just love it.
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Those dresses still look pretty avant-garde -- I could see them on an haute couture runway now!
I wouldn't like to say it but that clothes that she is wearing. Those look like something that Lady Gaga designed (if she is the one behind those clothes). I don't think is a good idea to chose her for the next online pharmacy ad campaign.