By James H. Burns: On the East Coast, our in-person introduction to a Walt Disney vision of the future came at the extraordinary 1964/1965 World’s Fair in Flushing, Queens, New York (where the baseball Mets still play) —

With the absolutely miraculous Ford Motor Company’s Magic Skyway.

Seated in an actual Ford automobile, you journeyed from prehistoric times, to the far future…

While doing some research for a new short piece, I came across the marvelous website www.nywf64.com and this bit of narration, from Disney, at the end of “the ride”:

“Here we are, on the threshold of tomorrow. Man’s achievements in science and industry have carried us here. And like the blast-off of a space vehicle for the moon and beyond, man’s achievements have challenged our hopes and rocketed our dreams beyond the horizon.

“Perhaps, some day, we’ll be riding rocketships like those flashing overhead to anywhere in space. Perhaps, some day, we will drive jet-powered vehicles over weather controlled highways in the sky like the spiraling tubes around you.

“But all such dreams begin in the minds of men. Men of vision, faith and imagination. Men of science and industry, education and the arts.

“As we have seen along the Magic Skyway, man is always on the move, searching and dreaming beyond the horizons of today and bringing the promise of tomorrow ever closer to reality.”