

Walt saw the 1964 World's Fair in New York as an opportunity to try out new ideas. Other corporations, including Ford, General Electric, and Pepsi-Cola, would fund his experiments. Of great interest to him was trying out a new kind of technology called Audio-Animatronics: the use of moving mechanical figures -- of animals and people -- combined with voice or sound to create the illusion of life. Walt had been working on the idea for some time. The Enchanted Tiki Room in Disneyland had opened in 1963, full of simple Audio-Animatronic figures. But the World's Fair gave him the opportunity to bring the experiment a full step forward. His technicians had been working on a moving, talking model of Abraham Lincoln. When Robert Moses, who was in charge of the fair, saw some samples of this work, he wanted it exhibited at the fair, and the State of Illinois was willing to sponsor it. Abe had 48 body actions and 15 facial movements. When he was first shipped to New York, he trembled and sometimes smashed chairs into splinters when he sat down. "Every time . . . we had a drop in current, it was exactly like an epileptic fit," remembered one designer.

Soon enough, however, Mr. Lincoln had been tamed, and the exhibit was one of the hits of the fair. Walt's other contributions were similarly successful. They included General Electric's Carousel of Progress, a lighthearted look at the history of electricity in the home; the Ford Magic Skyway ride, memorable for its dinosaur scenes; and It's a Small World, sponsored by Pepsi Cola. It's a Small World -- featuring the infectious theme song by Richard and Robert Sherman -- almost didn't come to be. Pepsi Cola came to Disney only about a year before the fair was to open; Disney executives told the soft-drink company there wasn't enough time. But Walt insisted that anything was possible, including creating the incredibly complex and ornate Small World exhibit in only a year. And of course he was right. According to "The Man Behind the Magic," "By the time the Fair ended, nearly fifty million people had seen one of Walt's four attractions. The tough East Coast audience generally agreed that Walt's exhibits were among the best in the Fair. He brought It's a Small World, Mr. Lincoln, and the Carousel of Progress back to Disneyland."

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