this month marks the 75th anniversary of the opening of one of the greatest events in san francisco history. it was the world's fair on treasure island. officially known as the golden gate international exposition. seven months later on may 25, 1940 the show opened again with a new attraction designed to

draw bigger crowds and profits and it ran for another four months. in 1989, ktvu's bob mackenzie brought us a program tracing the history of the golden gate international exposition. the program was called affair to remember. and tonight we bring it to you again on a second look. it was beauty and culture, entertainment and recreation, all spread out in one glorious package. with something for every taste from the highest to the lowest. it was swing city, it was everybody's favorite place. it's about purpose to display the arts and cultures of the nation and the western states. its real purpose was to make a splash and show san francisco was a city that knew how.

that gave birth to this once in a lifetime spectacle. you need to know something about the bay area of the 1930s. the early 1930s were very hard years in the united states. a great depression had cast a chilling shadow across the land. a stock market crash, series of violent stocks and generally stalled economy had thrown millions of americans out of work. the unemployed were hopeless, those were jobs were afraid. a kind of outrage swept herbert hoover out of office. it would take more than -- optimism. but the wap did putmen back to

work. men who had work started feeling better about themselves. then word spread that things were looking up. even as massive boom doggers for loafers. no one said that about the mightiest project of all. one that the citizens of the bay area were paying for with their own money. the idea of bridging the golden gate had intrigued engineers for a century but had been dismissed. now the longest suspension bridge in the world. at almost the same time another bridge was being erected across the bay and was an equal marvel of engineering. probably because of the stimulus of the huge bridge project. the ferry boats. trembling slowly across the

bay. each morning disgorged a number of folks. and a new ford could be had for $600. a luxury model olds mobile plus a few hundred more. fisherman's wharf was reaping the bonanza ofen an unspoiled bay. even the pacific stock exchange began to look less like a mausoleum. those who had money were spending it. at high living like el grant hotels and even on world cruises on brand new luxury ships and brand new suits. civic leaders started talking about a celebration of sorts. how about a world's fair? two months after the bay bridge opened, ground breaking began. three years later it was ready.

in its way it was almost a stunning feat of engineering. a manmade island made on what had been dangerous -- it had cost $50 million. in a day when lam chops sold for 19-cents a pound. architects, artists and builders had come. the buildings housed exhibits of culture and progress some around the world but they were meant to be works of art in themselves. a few critics sneered at these towering take offs of cambodian temples. and that the sculptures some of them in cement. some thought that the statute

of pacifica looked more threatening than benign. but who cared what a few smart alecks thought. the fair had been built for people and people loved it. they loved its cascades of pools and canals and lakes. it's broad fields of blooming flowers. all of them seeming to involve pretty girls. they came in crowds, a cash register which apparently no one considered a symbol totaled up each day's attendance. 75,000 visitors didn't seem too many. most people came in ferry boats and certainly a bargain which cost 10-cents. but others came by auto paying a considerably more exorbitance which cost 15- cents. not to see the greatest

spectacle in the west. for those for whom a little culture went a long way there was plenty of entertainment. the gateway as it was called in those days featured a mile of entertainment. historians will note that jack benny was later to have more hair and less gray. thinning in his orchestra leader seemed to move around the stage a lot it wasn't only to keep the crowd's attention it was cold up there. along with the famous names there were some who's names weren't famous yet. a man named art inkletter who had been hired to promote the opening ceremony. >> it was a gateway to the pacific. it was a joyful beginning of

you might say the next couple of decades in the west. and at that time there was only a couple million people living from montana to san diego. >> inkletter would be fired by a director who liked his own ideas better. >> he said if you had any brains you would know that the bridge is like a giant harp. every once of those strands holding up that bridge is under a certain pressure and as the wind goes through it it plays a different note. all we have to do is put a microphone on it as it plays california. and i looked at him and said, you're nuts, and he looked at me and said mr. inkletter

you're fired. >> 300 actors, 200 animals and dozens of vehicles were employed by this extravaganza. which even featured two steam sized locomotives. nine actors backstage talking into microphones played all the parts of the people on stage. it was easy to tell who was supposed to be talking. he was the one waving his arms. when we come back, some other attractions of treasure island including the one that can be summed up in three words. girls, girls, girls.

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in 1939 before anyone had spoken the words rapid transit district there was a superb transit system that followed the bay area. from albany to east oakland from the pennsylvania. growing prosperity was putting automobile within reach of the working family. we're now competing for space with shiny new cars. with affluence had sprung up a novelty which hadn 't yet struck people. billboards. billboards featured big messages that could be read by someone driving by in cars. many bay areas still traveled

everywhere by train from oakland to san francisco. however many made the trip only half way. that dazzling new attraction the world's fair on treasure island. the exposition had promised to have something for everyone and indeed it seemed to. for those who like crowds, there was plenty of hustle and bustle. but with 30 acres, there was plenty of quiet corners. you could climb in a giant cage to be lifted high above the fair, take in the sights, take in the air and usually endure some sort of wind.

and transporting the lazy and weary but the fair was designed for walking and most people walked. visitors at the fair dressed for the occasion. men wore suits and hats, women wore hats, sometimes even gloves. nobody wore jeans except to ride horses or chop wood. most people owned two type of garments, work clothes or dress clothes. nobody would have thought of wearing work clothes to the world's fair. there was plenty of performances, but mainly about legs.

much of this would look sexist and exploitive today. but in those times a girl who had good legs was only being smart by showing them and it was thought that a nice pair of gams could take a woman any place. on the other hand a woman would think twice of taking a job in this attraction. the ranch. women could be seen wearing costumes that would be considered skimpy. the women would be seen playing ping-pong some just sat around the table playing poker. they changed shifts every 40 minutes and had 20 minute breaks to recover from these exertions. in one week 65,000 people paid

25-cents a piece to see this quaint recreation of the midwest. in the same vain but with some what less in the way of production values was a numerous girl shows. on the outside the performers displayed the merchandise and promised to reveal a lot more of it inside. those gearing souls who paid the dime to get inside found that the performers were absolutely naked the only catch was, they could not move. the law allowed this type of show as long as they were motionless. there was one girl who did not show her body, this one. and when we come back, the world's fair applique. ♪

at kaiser permanente we've reduced serious heart attacks by 62%, which makes days with grandpa jack 100% more possible. join us at kp.org and thrive. in 1939 the rumble of war in europe was becoming more audible to americans. having swallowed up many of his

european neighbors were pushing toward friends. thoughtful people were wondering where the u.s. could or would stay out of the war. but fdr insisted that american boys would not be sent to fight in foreign wars and most americans believed it. with the depression beginning to seem as though it had never happened and world war seeming too unthinkable to happen, americans were enjoying more prosperity and mobility. many factories were going full steam again. in 1939, box office records hit an all time high of 80 million tickets a week. in the east bay, the albany theater was packing them in. although money was still tight enough that the big draw of the week was groceries. hard as it is to believe now the bay area was easy to get around in 1939.

with 1/4 of population and 1/10 as many cars. with a dime anybody could go any where. give the kid a dollar and they could ride the rides until they were sick. still this form of entertainment was passing. the world's fair so popular there was even a song about it. >> ♪ i sailed away to treasure island ♪ >> reporter: what the song didn't say and what most of the customers didn't know is the fair was not a financial success. the fair fell 1.5 million short

of the number of visitors projected. rose was a producer that specialized in -- into it jumped squads of lean and curvacious new bodies. rose had assembled a bevie of beauties that were accomplished. then, came the center piece. a 17-year-old competitive swimmer who had hoped to compete in the olympics, rose had chosen her out of hundreds. her name was esther williams. she would go on to become famous. today she is a still beautiful woman and a lot of stories to tell about many men in her

life. including billy rose. >> billy was very resourceful. he got to close all the other acts. sally ran. all of those things were going on while our box office was open. we had crowded standing room only crowds every single night. >> at every performance, esther would perform an aquatic duet with johnny wismuller. wismuller was already a star. having been picked out of an acting pool to play tarzan. >> reporter: mgm gave their hunk on a film. >> the world champion swimmer. >> hey girls, how about

grabbing yourselves an -- and let's play swimming tag. >> according to esther williams he did plenty of cavorting in and out of the pool and it was not so innocent. he says that he used to follow her around and could not play his trunks on. >> johnny didn't play tarzan, he thought he was tarzan. once he learned that line, me tarzan, you jane. everybody was jane. >> reporter: what she didn't know is that her agent was collecting $500 a week. by the time she signed with mgm in 1941 she had a new agent who got only 10% of her $350 a week. >> millions of people go by. but they all disappear from view. >> reporter: if you were young in 1940 and lucky enough to have a job at the world's fair you would only remember the experience as the highlight of

your life. recently some fair employees joined us at the island to reminisce. >> it was the most fabulous and wondrous thing of how they could all do this. >> they had the trucks coming down from the sierra. and they put it on the ski jump. and then people couldn't believe that, there was snow in san francisco. >> if something was spectacular to look at sooner or later it was likely to be seen at the world's fair. another airborne attraction that had no connection with the world's fair but was based on the island was a fleet of pacific clippers. they were the first intercontinental commercial plane s and they took off and landed. pressure island would become san francisco's municipal airport. but history was about to change everyone's plans. weights.

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nothing remains of the world's fair except the administration building behind me and a few hangers. treasure island would never become san francisco's airport, the island would be needed much more urgently. the hall of the western states would become a barracks. the food and beverage building would become the largest mess hall in the world. treasure island would become the navy staging ground for a furious war in the pacific. but none of that was known in 1940, in 1940 there was still time. time to linger after dark in a fairy land of lights. to stroll with someone special past a forest of fountains. and views of a future to enjoy a suspended moment in a world that was about to become vastly

more complicated. >> it was a big part of our lives for two years we just lived a fairy land. >> i can't explain it to you. it's memories that you have that will never never die. they are just absolutely fantastic. >> you're there, but it almost doesn't seem weird. and you hated, hated it when it ended. that was the saddest part of all. >> i've never seen anything like it since then. and i know darn well it will never see anything like it again. there's no, no place that they could put anything that would take the place of 39-40 world's fair. and that's it for this week's second look. we hope you enjoyed the glimpse

at the san francisco's world fair 39-40. i'm frank somerville. we'll see you next time. [ dad ] looks pretty good, right? [ girl ] yeah. [ male announcer ] add a u-verse wireless receiver today. ♪

[ male announcer ] add a u-verse wireless receiver today. playing) (cameron) this week, the world lost a great man, and i lost a mentor. for nearly 60 years, professor ringmaster al uzielli helped young hopefuls like me find their clown persona. "professor ringmaster"? it's a very prestigious title at clown college. one step below piemaster general. where's lewis? who knows? okay, guys, it's just us. lift on three. (honks horn three times) ♪ (slide whistle slowly descends)