Seeing the New York World's Fair can be dandy or disastrous. The difference is in the planning. Herewith, the best exhibits and a sampling of the rest. A word to the wise: the best is not always at the end of the longest line.
PAVILIONS
GENERAL MOTORS' Futurama ride through the moon's mountains, a shadowy underwater world, a steaming jungle and an ultramodern city seems all too plausible in an age already deep into space, both inner and outer. What really stirs the imagination is the three dream cars in the lobby. Only models, they look as though they should be ready to roll, say, next year.
U.S. SPACE PARK. Off the beaten track, with no waiting line, here fairgoers can wander among satellites (everything from TIROS to Telstar), see the Mercury capsule that took Scott Carpenter into orbit, the 90-ft.-high Titan II-Gemini rocket and spacecraft, as well as models of the butt end of the monster rocket Saturn V, its Apollo capsule, and Lem, the lunar excursion module that will land on the moon.
FORD. The long wait ends with a ride that is comfortable, interesting--and too short. Mustangs, Mercurys, Falcons, Comets, Thunderbirds and Lincoln Continentals carry 38,000 people daily through a dark tunnel into "the world that was," where dinosaurs chomp seaweed and volcanoes spew red-hot lava.
CHRYSLER'S Autofare is one big witty spoof on automania. A 34-ft.-high "car of the future" has giant bucket seats made of real buckets, an airmail box on the dashboard and, under the hood, a hot-water bottle. More fun is poked at machines in a puppet-movie, in the Auto-Animal Zoo and in the Engine Fun House.
TRANSPORTATION & TRAVEL. There are several movies in this building, but the one to catch is From Here to There, a short short created by Saul Bass for the United Airlines exhibit. It shows the unique view of the earth that the airplane affords.
MEXICO. The handsome pavilion is designed so that most of it can be viewed from couches and comfy basket chairs. From the ceiling sombreroed skeletons dangle drolly; paintings by Tamayo, Rivera, Velasco and Siqueiros are upstaged by a superb Orozco hung on the same wall a floor above the others. And outside the pavilion, the "Flying Eagles of Papantla" scale a 114-ft. pole four times a day and float back down to earth.
SPAIN. The fair's blue-ribbon pavilion puts on a five-star show of art and culture: in the gallery, Goya's great majas and paintings by El Greco, Velasquez, Picasso and Miro; in the breezy interior terraces, sculpture and murals by modern abstractionists; in the Market Plaza, native-costumed folk dancers.
IBM. Waiting is half the fun. Entertainers sing and clown while you queue up for a ride on the "People Wall." The moving grandstand slides you up into the Big Top to see a fast and furious film showing how IBM, and all of us, solve our problems.
GENERAL ELECTRIC. The Carousel of Progress opens on an old-fashioned kitchen in the 1880s. Robins chirp in the window, Rover wags his tail, Mom is working hard, and Dad brags about the wonders of the age--a hand pump in the kitchen, an ice box and coal-burning stove. Time passes, the scenes change, until it's Mom sitting on the couch, bragging about the wonders of the modern home--and Dad can hardly get a word in. But then, he is only a dummy anyway.
JOHNSON'S WAX has the most-talked-about movie, a short, 17 1/2-minute film produced by Francis Thompson and Alexander Hammid. It plunges the viewer into Manhattan's midtown madness, then plops him into the cool stillness of a wooded pond. To Be Alive! is a lesson on how to live, taught by the world's children.
JAPAN. Masayuki Nagare's magnificent hand-carved stone wall encloses an impressive array of technological savvy. But the real kudos go to a robot that walks around outside huckstering Japanese watches, and to the girls--105 of them--fluttering about in bright-colored kimonos like butterflies.
NEW YORK STATE. The Tent of Tomorrow has an art exhibition of yesteryear that includes works by New Yorkers Thomas Cole and George Inness, but the waggish scene stealer is John Quidor's Ichabod Crane at a Ball at Van Tassel's Mansion (1855). A fast, glass-elevator ride to the top of the towers gives a spectacular view; in the Theaterama, a movie about the Empire State is guaranteed to discombobulate whoever stands in the center of the 360DEG panoptic screen.
VATICAN. Michelangelo's 465-year-old, 6,700-lb. Pieta is a marble masterpiece of tenderness and compassion, but not to be overlooked is the early Roman statue of The Good Shepherd in the chapel upstairs.
ENTERTAINMENT
FLAMENCO. Spain raided Madrid's famed Zambra Flamenco Stage, brought its dancers and guitarists to the fair. In the plush Teatro Espafiol, First Ballerina Rosa Duran and company put on a magnificent show of fast and fancy footwork to the rhythm of guitars, castanets and intricate hand-clapping. The slim senores and saucy senoritas have won several international prizes, should easily win any contest for Best at the Fair. Ole!
FIREWORKS. The Fountain of the Planets is a sight to see on any balmy evening from 9 to 9:20. It rises in sprays of myriad colors; fireworks explode in the night sky, then fall in spangled cascades back into the florid waters.
TEA CEREMONY. The ancient ritual of chanoyu takes place in a little teahouse beside a stony brook rimmed with flowers behind the Japanese pavilion. It gives a quiet moment and a glimpse of an old custom. Guests learn how to kneel, bow, and appreciate the subtleties of the venerated ceremony while munching sweet cakes and sipping bitter green tea.
CHILDREN & TEENAGERS
AVIS. The kids (and oldsters, too) steer bawdy-colored custom-made flivvers around curves, up hill and down dale. The old gasoline put-puts are lots of fun, and hundreds of fairgoers stand around for hours--just watching.
HALL OF SCIENCE. Only the basement is completed, but Atomsville, U.S.A., may become the favorite of the younger set. For one thing, the entrance is only 5 ft. high, and adults are reduced to watching on closed-circuit TV. For another, kids can press buttons and twist knobs to their heart's content. The sea and the human brain are explored in other displays.
TIVOLI GARDENS PLAYGROUND. Parents can park their progeny here, then, unfettered, enjoy the adult attractions. Created by 13 top Danish artists and architects, the playground has everything to charm a child: fireflies flitting in trees, tiny-tot tables and chairs, shallow canals with paper sailboats, a hide-and-seek maze with magic mirrors, an S-shaped slippery slide in a giant sandbox, and legetanter (play aunts) to share the fun.
PEPSI-COLA. A water jet whips through a Disney dollhouse filled with belly dancers, French cancan girls. Cossacks and slinky Egyptian beauties, singing, twisting and kicking like kwazy.
MOBIL'S game sends 36 people at once on a mock-up cross-country race to see who is the best driver. The participant soon finds himself swooping around curves, skidding past a train, then whammo! smack into the truck ahead. The scores? Twenty-three is tops, but one fellow, who can't even drive a hard bargain, rated 19.8 just by sitting there too mixed-up to move.
RESTAURANTS
THE MILLSTONE. From the colonial atmosphere of the New England pavilion's restaurant, you can look out onto a millpond while enjoying Down-East specialties like johnnycakes with hot maple syrup, clam chowder, fresh sea food, blueberry slump and apple grunt,$5-$9.*
TOLEDO. Spanish Chef Francisco Gon zalez from Madrid's Jockey Club turns out fine food (sea bass in parchment, tournedos, partridges with grapes of Almeria). Like the rest of the Spanish pavilion, the decor is elegant, and there is a small armada of trim, bolero-jacketed waiters. $5-$25. The pavilion's No. 2 restaurant, the Granada, serves an all-Spanish menu that features cold gazpacho soup, paella, sangria (red wine with soda) at slightly lower prices than the Toledo.
HOUSE OF JAPAN. Shoeless, seated at a low table, the happy diner is served hot sake, then a kimonoed doll of a waitress kneels and cooks sukiyaki. Meanwhile, entertainers in the colorful costumes of samurai, geisha and fishermen dance every thing from kabuki to the twist, and an Oriental chanteuse, Momotaro Akasaka, sings sonorous torch songs. $5.45-$6.50.
INDONESIA. The dinner menu is a table d'hote Indonesian feast (Kambing Masak Bugis, Ajam Panggang) served by candle light while Balinese and Sumatran dancers perform to the twangs and gongs of the gamelan orchestra. $7.
DENMARK. The modern Danish restaurant has a sumptuous det store kolde bord (cold table) that includes herring, salads, lobster, salmon and eight different meats. The akvavit comes packed in ice -- and packs a wallop of its own. $6.
SWEDEN, too, has a smorgasbord, but here you help yourself. $6.
FOCOLARE. Midst elegant accouterments --thick wine-colored carpets, long flowing cerise draperies and pillowed armchairs --rather ordinary Mexican fare (chicken, tacos and enchiladas) gains a magical allure. $4-$15.
*Dinner prices per person.
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