For as long as I can remember, my mom was a Girl Scout Leader — long before I was old enough to be a Girl Scout myself, or even a Brownie. And for a few days in 1964, our community’s Intermediates and Seniors went on a bus trip to the New York World’s Fair. (Before there were Juniors and Cadets, there were Intermediates.) I got to go along since my mother was one of the leaders.
There are only a handful of things I remember about that trip. One was the GE Carousel of Progress exhibit. It was very cool the way the audience rotated around each of the stages. My favorite part was the dog. These were *animated* figures, and the dog would turn his head this way and that and wag his tail.
I remember *not* seeing It’s A Small World — the lines were always too long. I did finally see it a dozen years later at Disneyworld and must say it had lost much of its charm by then.
The most amazing part of the World’s Fair to my mother — and hence to me, was the viewing of Michaelangelo’s Pietà. There was a moving walkway so crowds couldn’t stop the progress through the viewing area. To see something actually created by Michaelangelo’s own hands was almost like witnessing a miracle. My mother loved great art. Our house was full of art books — you know, the kind you can always find nowadays in the “Bargain Books” section at Barnes & Noble or Borders. We would often go to the MFA when I was younger, and we’d spend hours creating “paint-by-numbers” masterpieces of our own.
But the one thing I will never forget is when we went to a restaurant for lunch. Each of the girls was given an allowance of $1. I guess the adults were thinking Woolworth lunch counter when they determined the amount rather than where we had ended up. About the only thing on the menu that was under a dollar was chowder. Clam chowder! Yes, that’s what I ordered. I anxiously awaited its arrival. It was a real treat to eat in any restaurant, let alone one in New York City!
Imagine my surprise when it was placed in front of me. From that moment on I never forgot the phrase “Manhattan Clam Chowder.”
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