May 21, 1964 − Number 1 Song, Movie, and More from 50 Years Ago Today
Take a trip on the Crane’s Mill Courier wayback machine for a look at music, movies, and the 1964 World’s Fair!
Today we’re going back 50 years to May 21, 1964.
The number 1 Billboard song was the catchy Motown hit “My Guy” by Mary Wells.
The number movie at the box office was the Elvis Presley / Ann-Margaret smash Viva Las Vegas, which was about to have the biggest opening weekend of the year for all of 1964—an even $3,000,000. It went on to gross over 9 million dollars at the box office, equal to over 68 million in todays dollars!
World's Fair 5 Cent Stamp
In Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York, the 1964 World’s Fair was in full swing! Countries from around the world joined the USA and many states with expositions of food, culture, architecture, and more. Companies like Disney, IBM, Westinghouse, Bell, General Motors, and Ford showed off current and future industrial trends. Plus, the Sinclair Oil Corporation had an amazing display of life-size dinosaurs including a brontosaurus, triceratops, and tyrannosaurus rex—here’s a photo of the dinosaurs riding a barge on the Hudson River en route to the fair!
The World's Fair Unisphere at Night
Some of the Fair’s expositions predicted future technological advancements such as a “picture phone” (think Skype, FaceTime, and other video phone technology) along with the increasing importance of computers. If you’re reading this blog, surely you understand just how important computers are to our everyday life—for news, keeping in touch, research, and so much more. To predict even a fraction of what we can do in 2014 back in 1964 is nothing short of extraordinary!
What were you up to in May of 1964? Did you visit the World’s Fair? Click here to send an email to let us know! We may feature your answer in an upcoming Crane’s Mill Courier blog post! We’re excited to head out to Towne Square and ask our residents what their favorite songs, movies, and more were from 50 years ago.