See the fair, by all means, but keep in mind that Flushing Meadow is filled with hundreds of pavilions, rides, restaurants and hawkers, all competing for the fair-goer's attention, time and cash. The way to get the most for all three is to start with a plan. A few pointers: not all the best shows are at the end of the longest lines, and it can be safely assumed that the line will be half as long inside as out; admission to most pavilions is free, but where it is not, the charge is usually $1 or less; the restaurants are generally expensive.
PAVILIONS
U.S. SPACE PARK. The show put on by NASA and the Defense Department would be the fair's center of attraction if it were closer to the center of the fair. The most imposing array of rocketry assembled outside Cape Kennedy includes the TIROS and Telstar satellites, Scott Carpenter's Mercury capsule with a dummy of the astronaut inside, the 90-ft.-high Titan II-Gemini rocket and spacecraft, and a foretaste of the future: models of the butt end of the monster rocket Saturn V, its Apollo capsule, and Lem, the lunar excursion module that is supposed to put man on the moon.
FORD'S Rotunda is several city blocks long and, usually, so is the line waiting to see the show. Fords--new ones, old ones, open tops and sports models--are all over the place, even take the fairgoers through "the world that was."
CHRYSLER'S "car of the future" looks like a giant whitewashed Jeep, is 34 ft. high, has genuine bucket seats, and a lot of clabberdash on the dash. The whole show pokes fun at auto-mania, is one of the sprightliest in the transportation area.
GENERAL MOTORS' Futurama rolls along, riding 90,000 people daily past model cities of the future built in jungles, underwater and in outer space. After the trip, visitors can inspect a full line of today's G.M. cars and three sleek models designed for tomorrow's automatic highways.
TRANSPORTATION & TRAVEL. There are several movies here, 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.
VATICAN. The important thing here, of course, is the Pieta, Michelangelo's marble masterpiece of tenderness and compassion, poorly displayed. But not to be overlooked is The Good Shepherd, a magnificent early Roman sculpture in the chapel upstairs.
SUDAN. Some shoebill storks imported from the Sudan make like clowns, but the main attention getter is a fragile Madonna and Child painted on the mud walls of a church around the 8th century and discovered last year by U.N. archaeologists scurrying to preserve antiquities from the Aswan Dam backwaters.
JAPAN proudly presents its modern technological miracle, but never omits the ancient arts that grace its culture: flower arranging, woodblock printing, the tea ceremony. Top Sculptor Masayuki Nagare created the powerful stone wall that beautifies the pavilion.
JOHNSON'S WAX. Filmmakers Francis Thompson and Alexander Hammid traversed three continents to produce a movie that is fast, fresh and free of commercialism. To Be Alive! opens on Manhattan's midtown madness, then starts life over again and leads the spectator along the joyous paths of childhood.
GENERAL ELECTRIC. The genial genius of Walt Disney, which also perks up the pavilions of Pepsi-Cola and Illinois, is responsible for this amusing tale of what electricity has wrought in the home. Dad brags about his household appliances through three generations, but Mom, rescued from work, has the last word. Besides Disney's dummies, G.E. has a display of nuclear fusion.
IBM entertains you while you wait on the intertwining 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.
COCA-COLA. A clatter of rickshas and the chatter of Chinese start the visitor on a walk around the world: past a Hong Kong market to the Taj Mahal, on to the Bavarian Alps, through a Cambodian jungle, winding up on a cruise ship bobbing in Rio's harbor. Afterwards, thirsty voyagers can pause and refresh at Coke stands in the courtyard.
SPAIN. The pavilion is the most beautiful at the fair, suggests the courtyards of Castile and the filigreed palaces of Andalusia. To it, Spain brought the best she has: priceless paintings by Goya, El Greco, Zurburan and Velasquez, three prize Picassos, as well as folk dancers who perform in the gardens, bullfight movies and three fine restaurants.
CENTRAL AMERICA AND PANAMA. Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama bring together a handsome exhibition of contemporary paintings and colorful folk art. For 25-c-, fairgoers can sip Central American coffee and listen to a Latin rhythm combo in an open-air patio.
ENTERTAINMENT
TEATRO ESPANOL in Spain's pavilion has sparkling performances by Rosa Duran and the Zambra flamenco dancers, and Virtuosos Antonio Gades, Manuela Vargas, and Nana Lorca. It is the best entertainment at the fair, and only $1.
OREGON puts on a logger jubilee on the banks of the dank, dark Flushing River the likes of which hasn't graced its scented waters before. Husky lumberjacks clomp about like junior Paul Bunyans, chop through giant timber in jig time, jostle each other into the water, and sport atop towering Douglas firs.
AFRICA. You can sit in a tree house sipping cool drinks or stand in a gravel clearing surrounded by African huts and cages containing monkeys and listen to the jungle drums and watch warrior dances.
JAPAN. The ancient Japanese ritual of chanoyu takes place in a little teahouse beside a stony brook rimmed with flowers. Guests learn how to kneel, bow, and savor the subtleties of the venerable ceremony while munching sweet cake and sipping bitter green tea.
CARIBBEAN. At night, torches blaze in the breeze, couples congregate at thatched-roof tables, while brown-skinned babes in tighter-than-skin pants gyrate to the hot blasts and calypso beat of bongo drums and steel bands. There is no place to dance, but the itchy-footed shake or shuffle outside on the sidewalk. It's better not to mention the food, but there is a $3 minimum after 6 p.m.
CHILDREN & TEEN-AGERS
PEPSI-COLA. Children seem to like the boat ride through Walt Disney's doll land better than anything else. French dolls cancan, Iranian dolls fly on Persian carpets, Scottish dolls climb steep plaid mountains, Indian dolls charm snakes, and all 350 of the prodigious puppets sing the praises of a small world.
MINNESOTA brings a bit of the Big Woods to Flushing Meadow. Through winding waters and twisting tunnels, you can paddle your own canoe or, from a wooden bridge, fish for trout too well-fed to be much interested in dry flies.
HALL OF SCIENCE. Only the basement is completed, but Atomsville, U.S.A., has become a 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, learn where uranium is or how atoms interact. Other displays explore the sea and the human brain.
SINCLAIR'S ginkgo-tree grove is filled with dummy dinosaurs. The monster brontosaurus, stegosaurus and their extinct relatives stand around and blink back at all those odd-looking two-leggers ogling them.
RESTAURANTS
TOLEDO. The Spanish pavilion has three restaurants. The first-class Toledo serves fine French food in an elegant decor, and the service is superb. $5-$25.* The Granada features an all-Spanish menu at slightly lower prices. In La Marisqueria, you can lunch as the Madrilenos do on tapas--small dishes of seafood delicacies--and red wine or sherry.
DENMARK. The Danish modern pavilion of glass and latticed woods has a fine restaurant that serves the traditional grand cold table for $6.50.
SWEDEN also has an excellent smorgasbord, but here you serve yourself. $6.
FESTIVAL OF GAS is operated by Restaurant Associates, specializes in authentic American dishes. The menu varies but often includes such entrees as lobster Newburg or broiled duckling. $6-$12.
THE MILLSTONE. From the colonial atmosphere of the New England pavilion's restaurant, you can look out on a millpond while enjoying down-East specialties like johnnycakes with hot maple syrup, clam chowder and blueberry slump. $5-$9.
FOCOLARE is a handsome dining room in the Mexican pavilion that serves good Mexican food (chicken, tacos and enchiladas). Mariachis serenade the diners as well as the cocktail crowd in the Cafe Alameda, a floor below.
MARYLAND'S restaurant overlooks a fisherman's wharf with eel pots dangling in the water. On the menu: soft-shell crab, terrapin, shad roe and, of course, fried chicken Southern style. $3-$10.
INDONESIA has one of the most exotic dining rooms at the fair, includes a center stage full of Balinese and Sumatran dancers. The food does not quite match the surroundings, having been watered down for the American taste. $7.75.
* Dinner prices per person.
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