Primary tabs
KVOS Webster Reports: Century 21 (Seattle World's Fair)
Collection Search
- [NO SOUND]
- It's a Canadian, Patty Conklin, who's
- been running the C&E Gayway since 1937,
- who's running the Gayway down here at the World's Fair.
- Patty, maybe a kind of a blunt question,
- but what will the prices be like?
- Are they going to be high, or are they
- going to be low or decent for the average family
- when they come to the World Fair Gayway?
- The prices are going to be extremely low.
- It may interest our viewers to know that there will be nothing
- more than $0.50, and only one attraction at $0.50,
- seven at $0.35, and 11 at $0.25.
- We're trying to make it within the reach of everyone,
- rich or poor, to have a little fun here at the Gayway
- at the World's Fair.
- There will be no especially high prices any days,
- or any special time at all?
- No, the price will be the same on the closing
- day as we're going to have on the opening day.
- Saturdays and Sundays, of course, we
- expect to have fabulous crowds of people,
- but the prices will be exactly the same.
- What can you have new for the Gayway, though?
- Gayways are Gayways the world over, aren't they, Patty?
- Is there anything really new in the Gayway behind us here?
- Frankly, we have 11 things that are
- going to be entirely new that have never
- been seen in the dominion of Canada or in the United States.
- All of these new riding devices and fun shows and fun houses
- are coming from Europe.
- And there's three of them being made right here, right
- in close proximity of Seattle, that have never been
- shown in the United States.
- And I'm happy to tell our viewers
- that 17 of the things that will be in the Gayway at the World's
- Fair that have never been seen anywhere
- in the state of Washington.
- Does this Gayway here make the one at C&E
- look small and just a trifling thing?
- Well, the C&E's been in business for 83 years,
- and I've been there since 1937.
- I'm occupying four acres of the 74 acres
- at the World's Fair grounds, and at the C&E
- I only occupy seven acres.
- So I would say it's very comparable in size.
- You're looking forward to making a lot of money?
- Well, no, I'm looking forward to having a lot of fun,
- the same as the people that are going
- to come out here and patronize and visit
- this great World's Fair.
- [NO SOUND]
- Well, here we are standing at the exit
- to the monorail in the shadow of the Space Needle.
- And with me is Hoge Sullivan, the Space Needle manager.
- Now Hoge, how close are you to being ready for opening day
- on April 21?
- Jack, we're running awfully close.
- Actually we get our final elevator April 20,
- which is the day before opening.
- We're working overtime, we're working seven days a week.
- As you've seen from the activity around here now,
- it's a pretty busy place.
- If you want to figure something unusual, if you look right up
- there there's 146 men working there right now.
- Actually, Jack, when you think of that number of people
- up there, you're looking at the base area.
- And on predictions that we have now,
- if you figure we're going to put an average of 10,000 people
- a day through the Needle--
- I say through the Needle, we have three elevators,
- as you know, that take the people to the restaurant
- or observation platform.
- But when you think of the small base area we have,
- we have waiting mazes and so forth.
- But getting the people to buy their tickets, to get in line,
- to get up and to average 10,000 a day--
- we'll be hitting 20,000 some days in August
- when the big crowds arrive.
- So there's a lot of work being done
- on paper that doesn't particularly
- involve the construction.
- Of course, the construction is a very important phase, too.
- How long will it take to go up in the bottom on the elevator
- right up to the circulating restaurant?
- Jack, the actual time on the two high speed elevators
- is 43 seconds from the base to the observation tower.
- We have a third elevator, which is a service elevator, which
- will be a little slower.
- This will be used for passengers probably 95% of the time,
- but this is also to supply the restaurant
- and get the restaurant--
- From the base to the tower is 500 feet?
- That's right.
- From the tower to the observation platform is what?
- Oh, from the restaurant to the observation tower
- is another 25, 30 feet.
- Is there any feeling of motion as just
- sitting there dining in the sky and the floor is going round?
- Oh, no.
- No, the floor there's no motion whatsoever.
- We've tested it with a half dollar
- on the edge and a cigarette on the edge, and they both stayed.
- And this is a privately owned project?
- That's right.
- Cost how much?
- It'll be about $4 million before we get through.
- Be a long while before you make your money back, even
- at the World's Fair.
- Yes, it's going to take a little while.
- [NO SOUND]
- The performing arts events at the Seattle World's Fair
- will be the biggest in the history of the world ever put
- on by one group.
- Again?
- That's right, it's going to cost $20 million
- in a six month period.
- To put on your cultural entertainment?
- That's right.
- From the plans I see it's going to be
- a kind of four ring circus in different cultural grades,
- right?
- That's right.
- We'll have an arena, and in there we'll
- have big name bands--
- Count Basie, Benny Goodman, things like this.
- We'll have a 12,000 seat stadium where we'll have
- free attractions all day long.
- There will be circus acts, horse shows, everything like that.
- Then we'll have the opera house, which will
- be kind of our long hair thing.
- And in the opera house we'll have--
- for instance, we're going to open it
- with Van Cliburn and Igor Stravinsky.
- And then we have a nice little intimate playhouse
- with 800 seat houses--
- or 800 seats rather.
- And in there we'll have for instance
- Hal Holbrook will do his famous one man show, Mark Twain
- Tonight.
- What is the hottest attraction on your menu at the moment,
- culturally speaking?
- Culturally speaking it's probably the Van Cliburn
- opening concert.
- And right after that comes the Old Vic Company from London.
- Now when you say $20 million project,
- this frightens me about prices.
- What about prices-- are they going
- to be sky high and frighten us away?
- They'll be the cheapest you can find in the country.
- They'll be much lower than you would pay at a normal theater.
- For instance, the Old Vic Company,
- you'll be able to get to see it for around $2.75.
- Your top price will be what?
- Oh, the Old Vic will be $5.00.
- Now, why are the tickets for these events not
- on sale yet up in Vancouver and out of the way points?
- The only place you'll be able to get the tickets for people
- in Vancouver will be here at the Fair.
- And you can get those by writing into BOX 9000 QA.
- What's your deficit going to be on your entertainment budget
- when you wrap up at the end of the six months?
- That's a hard question to answer.
- We're hoping to break even.
- We know we won't make money.
- But you're going to have fun.
- We're going to have fun, right.
- I can--
- [NO SOUND]
- Interesting to note that for every request
- we get from 48 states, we must get at least 25
- from California.
- Well, they're the traveling--
- the people with most eye on the World's Fair at the moment.
- I think--
- [NO SOUND]
- Mr. Lee, there's one facet which I know is worrying you--
- a national news magazine said bluntly in black and white
- that Seattle's nearly totally sold out for lodgings.
- What is the truth of the lodging accommodation
- for visitors from BC or anywhere else for the six month
- period of the World's Fair?
- Oh, Mr. Webster, we have accommodations
- for all periods of the Fair.
- We have yet to refuse accommodations
- to any single inquiry.
- Now, we're aware of the magazine article,
- and we did take some action to get a correction on that,
- but unfortunately they were unable to publish it
- in the letters to the editors.
- It'll be reverse good publicity--
- you're now able to stress that there is ample accommodation.
- There are ample accommodations, and we're
- very confident that we will have accommodations
- all through the Fair at anytime that people wish to come.
- At what prices, though?
- This kind of worries the people from BC, perhaps, you know?
- Well, for two people we go from $7.00 low to $17.00 high,
- which we think is a price area that would be--
- would compare to any area at any time.
- No real increase from last year.
- Up a little bit, maybe.
- Well, there's no increase.
- We have the same rates right now that
- were established for the 1961 tourist season carried through.
- What kind of bookings do you have now?
- Your expo lodging actually conducts bookings
- for individuals, does it?
- That's absolutely correct, for individuals and groups,
- and convention groups also.
- Then, of course, we are finding that this Fair, apparently,
- is going to be the greatest attraction for youth
- groups of any Fair that we've ever had in the past.
- We have many, many of those.
- Let me give you just a small example of what we go through.
- In a five day period of last week,
- we had 5,100 requests by mail for accommodations.
- And these involve 30,600 nights that people
- would be staying in Seattle, which
- gives us an average stay of six days per request.
- Is there any comfort for British Columbia accommodation owners?
- Are any Americans going to stay up there and come down
- to the Fair?
- Oh, we have these requests all the time.
- Anytime that people indicate to us that they're
- going to spend five to six days in this area,
- it certainly indicates the balance of their vacation
- is going to be in the Pacific Northwest.
- How many inquiries from British Columbia?
- British Columbia is the second largest area
- that we have inquiries from.
- The first, of course, is California.