The Katimavik Ashtray

The 'Katimavik' was a 1000-ton structure, with a hollow steel frame.

One of the things I love about Expo 67 anniversary years is the amount of unearthed information and never-seen-before archives that comes to light.

In the early days of this blog, I wrote about one of my favorite Expo 67 anecdotes: the fact that the Canadian pavilion's Katimavik was, in fact, inspired by an ashtray.

A recent cbc.ca article spoke to Caroline Robbie, daughter of Rod Robbie, one of the architects that worked on the Canada pavilion. Her father's firm Ashworth Robbie Vaughan and Williams won the bid for the pavilion's design; after many late nights, and (ahem) lots of cigarettes... From the article: 

Robbie and his partners were smoking up a storm one night as they grappled with ways to create a visually impressive vantage point for the pavilion without impeding the flow of foot traffic on the ground below.

The overflowing, four-sided ashtray with its sloping, upside-down pyramid design suddenly caught their eye.

"They started looking at the form of this ashtray on the table, and it was perfect," Caroline says. "It would touch the ground as little as possible and therefore not impede the flow of people around it, but it would also offer the greatest amount of vantage point for those who work their way through the pavilion and up to the top."

"You could look out all the way around that pyramid all over the grounds."

A Canadian pavilion hostess next to a scale model.

Caroline Robbie still has the infamous ashtray, tucked away in a box full of her late father's belongings.

Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado... THE ashtray:

"Do you have a light?"

And, finally, from the NFB, what it was like inside the Katimavik:

images: (1) Yvon Desjardins, via Facebook
(2) Gabriel Jacob, via Facebook
(3) Caroline Robbie, via cbc.ca
video: excerpt of 'The Canadian Pavilion', NFB

The CIBC at Expo 67

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce opened on May 15, 1867 in Toronto.  By 1967, both the CIBC and Canada were celebrating their centenaries.

The CIBC had an on-site branch at Expo 67.  It was located on Île Sainte-Hélène, next to an Expo-Services kiosk, and a stone's throw away from Cosmos Walk.  In the days before ATM machines, the branch served as many as 10,000 clients a day.

The staff, which exceeded 100, were trained to handle a variety of transactions and currencies.  Hostesses who cashed traveller's cheques had the most hectic job.  They stood at the front of the branch with trays of envelopes containing the cash equivalent of a $20 US traveller's cheque. In one day, they could cash as many as 4,500 cheques.

And speaking of ATM machines, the CIBC was the first Canadian bank to introduce a 24-hour cash dispenser, but that would only be in 1969...

images: (1) unknown source
(2-3-4) cibc.com

Eaton's Preview of Expo 67

Founded in 1869 by Timothy Eaton, the 'T. Eaton Co. Limited' was once Canada's largest department store.  The first Eaton's catalogue appeared in 1884 — 34 pages with no pictures, and nothing more than the item’s name and price.

Canada's population was mostly rural at the time, so catalogue and mail order retailing was ideal: it offered isolated settlements a selection of products that were otherwise unattainable.  Needless to say, the arrival of the latest Eaton's catalogue in these communities was a major event...!

As Eaton's grew, so did the catalogue, and it would become a Canadian cultural icon found in almost every household in its heyday.

For their fall and winter 1966 edition, Eaton's presented an "exciting preview" of Expo 67.  On backgrounds of artists' conceptions, an array of coats, clothing, luggage and cameras were shown, with the suggestion: "Plan to visit Expo 67".

Oddly, I don't know why Eaton's didn't wait for the spring 1967 catalogue for their preview.  Most of the clothing shown would have been way too hot for a typical summertime Expo jaunt... (Rabbit fur, anyone?)

Nevertheless, the layout is pure 60's fashion and Expo 67 eye candy. And, judging by the images below, we see that "Jade green" and "Camel" were hot colors for fall 1966...!

"Far left:  Two-piece walking suit in soft wool diagonal.  Long demi-fitted jacket has a detachable fur collar of bleached and tipped racoon.  Flap pockets with one fake pocket on right side.  Rayon satin lining and interlining.  Slim skirt with back leat is fully rayon lined.  Jade green only.  Misses sizes 8, 10, 12, 14, 16.

Near left:  Sleek two piece dress in wool double-knit to stand out in any crowd.  Straight and simple — with a rolled bias collar ending in flip ties.  Top has long back zipper; skirt has side zipper.  Jade Green or Winterberry Red.  Misses' 10 to 18."

Expo 67 preview:  (top) "Altlantic provinces ship building exhibit"
(bottom) "Quebec's glass pavilion built over water"

"Far right:  Sophisticated demi-fitted coat of wool diagonal has horizontal welt stitching and wrist length set-in sleeves.  Ornamental fabric trim conceals two-button closing.  Slash pockets.  Rayon satin lining, interlining and chamois.  Jade green only.  Misses 8 to 16.

Near right:  Fashion-bound two-piece suit in printed wool double-knit.  Demi-fitted jacket with pointed collar and five button closing has set-in sleeves.  Body of jacket and slim skirt are Rayon lined.  Jade green print only.  Misses' 10 to 18.

Fur felt velours fedora, grosgrain ribbon trim.  Up to 22½-in. headsize.  Jade green."

Expo 67 preview:  (top) "Western Canada's symbolic exhibit"
(bottom) "The Ontario pavilion at Expo 67"

"Kodak Brownie Fiesta outfit

1. The family fun camera. All you need to start taking good pictures — in one low-priced outfit. Take black-and-white or colour prints, or colour slides with economical 127 film.  Two batteries; one 4-shot Flashcube; one roll 12-shot black-and-white film.  With gadget bag.

Anscomatic Super 8 zoom camera

2.  Trouble free cartridge loading...  shoot 50 feet without reloading.  Fast f/1.7 zoom lens takes you right in where the action is.  Electric motor drive.  Built-in CdS electric eye exposure meter.  Reflex through-the-lens viewing; with one Kodak Super 8 colour film cartridge.  With pistol grip."

Expo 67 preview: (top) "Community and Health pavilion"
(bottom) "Air Canada's cantilevered pavilion"

"Youthful chic in a fun fur

Dyed rabbit in a striking imitation of lynx.  Double-breasted with sparkling buttons.  Rayon satin lining, underlining, inside pocket, ties.  Optional simulated leather belt.  Beige with white.  Misses' sizes 10, 12, 14, 16.

Streamlined fashion classic

Coat of wool and camel hair.  Saddle stitching trims the tailored lapels, envelope pockets, front closing, the shoulder seams and the optional tie belt.  Rayon satin lining, interlining, chamois.  Camel only.  Misses' sizes 10, 12, 14, 16, 18."

Expo 67 preview:  (top) "Main entrance gate to Exhibition"
(bottom) "A permanent display — the Montreal Aquarium"

"Pick your Skyway luggage here and be on your wonderful way!

1 to 5.  True-to-life buffalo hide?  No.  Koroseal vinyl, so forget all about stains and scratches.  No more fussing with keys either.  Just set and remember combination locks.  (Use your lucky number.)  Lift-O-Matic hinges; secure tongue and groove closures; inside, cushy, quilted linings; removable pockets.  Busy bag re-lined in plastic; petite case fitted with mirror, brush, comb, toothbrush.  Ready to go?  Try and stop you!  Topaz Gold; Dresden Blue; Cardinal Red."

Expo 67 preview:  (top) "Government of Canada exhibit"
(bottom) "Classically designed Swiss pavilion" 

"Detachable collar tops suede

Exciting newcomer to the fall and winter fashion scene!  An elegant coat of soft suede leather (sheepskin), with a detachable shawl collar of striking, natural lynx.  Styled with three-button closing, three-way belt, horizontal flap pockets, set-in sleeves.  Rayon satin lining, interlining.  Comes in sable (medium brown) only.  Misses' sizes 10, 12, 14, 16, 18."

Expo 67 preview: "Fountain and sculpture designed by Gerald Gladstone"

"1.  The dress.  Fully rayon lined.  Detachable checked hip belt, long back zipper.  Beige mix or Red.  Misses' sizes 10, 12, 14, 16.
2.  The Skirt.  Pleated tattersail skirt, side zipper.  Colour as shown.  Misses' sizes 10, 12, 14, 16."

Expo 67 preview: "The British pavilion designed by Sir Basil Spence"

"Thank you for buying from EATON'S" — The order envelope that came with the catalogue featured the Expo 67 symbol.



images: personal collection

The Story Behind the Expo 67 Theme Song

In my years as an Expo 67 aficionado, I've always wondered why there were 2 different "official" Expo theme songs: one by Donald Lautrec and one by (my beloved) Michèle Richard.

Written by Stéphane Venne in the months leading up to Expo, "Un jour, un jour" ("Hey Friend, Say Friend" in English) was in fact the winning submission in a contest organized by the Expo 67 Corporation and Ms. Jacqueline Vézina, then-head of the "Festival du Disque", ancestor of the current "Gala de L'ADISQ".

During an Expo-related event last winter, Stéphane Venne himself discussed the competition, as well as the Donald Lautrec/Michèle Richard duality.

"I was 25 years old at the time," remembered Venne, "I had been writing songs for 10 years. I learned to write much like a young hockey player learns to play: by practice.  So by 1966, I knew what I was doing. But I was still relatively anonymous."

That year, he received a letter with a participation form for the Expo 67 theme song contest from his songwriter's guild.  Venne said he'd never forget the day he got his idea:

"At one point in 1966, the 'La Presse' newspaper published an artist's conception of Expo 67 on its front page.  It was a prettied-up image, à la Walt Disney, meant to give readers an impression of what the Expo site would be like. [...] The image was huge: from one edge of the page to another".  It was then that inspiration struck: "The islands, the water, the colors, at once in the city and just outside the city.  The shapes, the dream, the future"...

Stéphane Venne submitted his song during the last hour of the last day of the contest deadline, slipping it under the door at 5 minutes to 5pm.  This was before the advent of cassette tapes, so the songs were submitted as musical partitions: musical notes and lyrics on paper.  Jacqueline Vézina had hired professional singers with accompanying pianists to perform the submissions before judges.  One of these pianists was Paul Baillargeon, a fellow who worked with lyricist Pierre Letourneau, a good friend of Stéphane's. 

When "Un jour, un jour" won out over the other 2,200 submissions, Letourneau knew immediately through Baillargeon and called Stéphane to tell him.  It was still a secret as the official announcement had not been made. "A few days before the official announcement, I knew," Venne admitted.

Donald Lautrec vs. Michèle Richard

A grand gala was organized by Radio-Canada to announce the winning theme song. Venne recalled the details:

"The director of this show, Maurice Dubois, had the habit of hiring Michèle Richard for all sorts of occasions and all sorts of reasons. I was not happy about this. I had a friend, [singer] Donald Lautrec, whose manager, Yvan Dufresne, I knew well. I called Dufresne a few days before the gala to confide in him: 'Yvan, I won the Expo song, the show is Sunday and you find that it would be fun if...' He understood immediately. The problem was: 'What do we do?' And the answer was: 'We work quickly, through the night, hiring musicians without telling them why, recording and manufacturing the records at full speed, so that they are in stores Monday morning after the Radio-Canada show...'"

This is how Donald Lautrec came to record the song, even though the Expo Corporation and Radio-Canada had chosen Michèle Richard...

On a side note, Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau was reportedly unhappy that Stéphane Venne's original lyrics made no mention of "Montreal" or "Expo 67".  One of the major differences in Michèle Richard's recording versus Donald Lautrec's was the inclusion of an intro and outro where she sang: "Expo, Expo, à Montréal... Expo, Expo de '67... Expoooooo à Montréaaaaal!"

No need to ask which one I like best.  And you, Expo Lounge visitor? Which version do you prefer...? 

images: expo67.ncf.ca

The Stéphane Venne quotes were culled from a written French transcript sent to me by Yves Jasmin, translated and edited for clarity by yours truly.

The "Carrefour International"

Most national pavilions at Expo 67 had integrated gift shops and restaurants to satisfy the visitor's desire for folkloric souvenirs and exotic foods.

For those that didn't want to face the hours of queuing required to enter said pavilions, another area at Expo offered a one-stop international shopping and dining experience: the "Carrefour International".

Located at the northern tip of the La Ronde amusement area, the Carrefour International was a vast plaza of shops and restaurants, operated by many of the same countries as those found in the rest of Expo 67.

The complex was a series of triangular units with walls of plywood skin and pyramidal roofs; the visual emphasis was on pictorial graphics and lighting. Courtyards, fountains and trees dotted the entire area.

The Carrefour was comprised of 40 small shops and boutiques, some 400 square feet each. Sit-down restaurants included a Bavarian Beer Garden (seating 750), an English pub (seating 175), a Swiss fondue restaurant (seating 170), a Czechoslovakian restaurant (seating 150), a Dutch restaurant (seating 100), and a Hawaiian theatre-restaurant with Polynesian food and entertainment.

8 snack bars and 7 food shops specializing in foreign items completed the Carrefour's gastronomic offerings.

One of the prominent features of the International Carrefour was an elaborately decorated antique carrousel, already over 100 years old by 1967. Built in Belgium, it had been completely restored to its original splendor, though the original steam power had been replaced by electricity. Visual and sound effects ensured that the old time charm of steam operation was preserved.

From Expo Inside Out, a shopper's guide to Carrefour International:

"The easiest and best place to shop is in Carrefour International on Ile Ronde - amidst the restaurants, merry go round, post-office and bank. The best boutiques are:

Morocco ★★★★★
– excellent leather: hassocks, shoes, purses, wallets – rugs – brass.
Iranian Handicrafts ★★★★★
– carpets – fur hats – mitts – jewelry – linens. All at very reasonable prices.
Tunisia ★★★
– Leather shoes – perfume – silver jewelry.
Cuba ★★★
– Cigars – humidors – straw bags.
Africa ★★★
– Skins - beads – wood carvings.
Yugoslavia ★★★
– Suede Coats – shoes – linens.
The following boutiques have a few interesting items: Germany ★★ has knives, dolls, and stuffed animals but most of these items can be bought in department stores in Montreal, anytime. U.S.S.R. ★★ has wooden toys and dishes and amber. The Swiss Fondue Pot ★★: after enjoying Swiss Fondue in the restaurant, you can buy fondue pots and cheese to take home. Swiss candy is also on sale. And Thailand ★★ has a selection of jewelry and silver."

The video below shows footage of this "Swiss Fondue Pot" restaurant located in the Carrefour. Legend has it that the popularity of cheese fondue in 60's Quebec is directly related to its presence at Expo. The video's narrator even states that chocolate fondue was a dessert specially created for Expo 67...!



images: (1) Dixon Slide Collection
(2 and 4) expo67.ncf.ca
(3) personal collection, from the Man and His World 1968 guide
With special thanks to DC Hillier for his retouching skills on photo 1.

Betsy McCall at Expo 67

 

In 1951, McCall's women's magazine introduced a paper doll called Betsy McCall; a spunky little girl with a pug nose, brown eyes and a brown bob.

An instant hit, the editors of McCall's had rightly guessed that mothers would be even more inclined to buy their magazine if it contained a nice little extra for their daughters. Each month, little girls across America begged their mothers for the very latest Betsy. Additionally, for a small fee (25¢ in 1967) paper dolls printed on cardboard could be ordered by mail.

Appearing in most issues of the magazine from 1951 to 1995, each Betsy McCall installment came with a set of paper dolls and clothing, as well as a fun little story meant to inspire children as they played. Sometimes Betsy would be helping Mom around the house, working in the yard, or celebrating a holiday.

In August of 1967, Betsy and her family visited Expo 67. She wrote to her cousin Linda of her Expo adventures:

 

"All five of us have been touring the fair - the twins in a pushcart like zillions of other babies," wrote Betsy. "It's hard for me to describe the buildings very well because they are like nothing you've ever seen, so I'm sending snapshots Daddy took."

 

"We rode on the monorail, which is a railroad in the air; it slips through the United States pavilion and comes out the other side - Daddy says it's like a squiggly worm going through an ENOURMOUS apple..."

original image source: thebleudoor.com

"Design For A Fair"

Much has been said over the years of Buckminster Fuller's iconic design for the exterior of the U.S. pavilion at Expo 67. Perhaps lesser known (but equally as important) were the designers of the pavilion's interior: the American architecture firm Cambridge Seven Associates.

Led by Peter Chermayeff, Terry Rankine and Ivan Chermayeff, the Cambridge Seven Associates were responsible for the overall concept, interior architecture, and exhibits of the United States' pavilion at Expo 67.

The pavilion's interior was a composition of towers and open exhibit platforms, connected by escalators and stairs, all never touching the 250-foot sphere.

 

A celebration of the creative spirit of Americans, the exhibition contained a wide range of objects and artifacts: from NASA's space exploration technology to the movies of Hollywood, pop-art painting and sculpture, as well as a wide range of inventions, musical instruments, and folk art.

 

Interesting to note, it was the Cambridge Seven Associates team that required Expo authorities to route the Minirail through the sphere at the equator, adding another unique experience to the space.

 

Together with Buckminster Fuller's dramatic transparent dome, the overall effect created was an extraordinary experience, allowing different views inwards and outwards, day or night.

Narrated by Cambridge Seven's Peter Chermayeff, "Design for a Fair: The United States Pavilion at Expo '67 Montreal" (top) offers an inside look at the planning of the interior exhibit of the U.S. pavilion.

Check it out, above!

images: (1) expo67.ncf.ca, montage by author
(2) personal collection
(3 & 4) flickr.com
(5) screen capture

The Expo 67 Memorial Album

 

Of all the Expo 67 books ever published, this one was the Grand Poo-bah.

Released in 1968 by Thomas Nelson and Sons (Canada) Limited, the Expo 67 Memorial Album was the definitive descriptive and pictorial record of Montreal's world's fair.

 

Designed by Gérard Caron and edited by Jean-Louis de Lorimier, this large, boxed coffee-table book featured a stunning mixture of color and black & white and photography, all interspersed by lengthy articles on and observations of Expo 67.

The 368-page document was divided into 10 sections, including an eloquent preface written by Expo's Commissioner General, Pierre Dupuy, and an extensive index for easy reference. All texts and titles were in Expo's ubiquitous Optima font and presented in both French and English.

 

Pigeons taking up residence at Place des Nations.

An introductory chapter by James Gladstone called "Magic Island" offered a unique and intimate portrait of Expo. In this picturesque example, the author describes the quiet morning hours before Expo's opening:

"An Expo-Express train rumbles into the elevated station and three maintenance workers step aboard, their night's work done. The sound of the train disappears across Concordia Bridge. A pigeon flutters down from the huge concrete Expo symbol at the end of the square and flops heavily onto the deserted podium, the sound clear above the hushed rush of the river."

 

Expo's Deputy Commissioner General Robert F. Shaw penned the chapter "How Expo Was Built". Shaw credited the Critical Path method for keeping Expo's extensive construction on schedule:

"Probably the most important technique introduced by the Installations and other departments was the critical path method and schedule. [...] The critical path method of scheduling is based on breaking down any given project into specific elements and assigning deadlines for the progress and completion of each element. The method is, of course, only as good as its programming, and all personnel involved were therefore trained to feed their collective skills into this important part of the project, and to receive from it reports on the results of individual performances on a day-to-day basis."

 

An aerial view of Expo's man-made islands under construction.

 

A stunning photo of the groovy Pulp and Paper pavilion.

The album's largest section was the chapter dedicated to "The Participants".  Divided into 3 parts - National Participants, Private Participants, Sponsors - this was the pavilion-by-pavilion overview of Expo 67. Listed in alphabetical order, an in-depth description and lavish photographs accompanied each and every pavilion and exhibit. The section was over 200 pages long.

 

The Memorial Album covered each and every Expo exhibit. Here, Monaco.

 

An aerial shot of the impressive U.S. pavilion.

 

Over the years, this book has remained my number one research tool for pavilion posts on Expo Lounge. Highly sought after, it is one of my most prized Expo 67 treasures... as much for its beauty as for its usefulness.

 

Photographs by Michael Francis McCarthy, used with permission.
Check out his ultra-fab blog: designKULTUR

Toronto's "Mini-Me" Expo 67

Aerial views of Ontario Place (top), Expo 67 (bottom).

In the early 1970's, the city of Toronto was having a little Expo-envy. Initiated by the Government of Ontario, Ontario Place was Toronto's answer to Montreal’s Expo 67.

Like Expo, Ontario Place was built on man-made islands along the city's waterfront. Officially opened on May 22, 1971, the park encompassed 96 acres of which 51 acres were land fill.

Ontario Place's pods (top) and Expo's Quebec pavilion (bottom) floated on water.

The original Ontario Place consisted of 5 glass-and-steel pavilion pods elevated above the water, each pod being suspended from tension cables anchored to a central column. Glass staircases and walkways connected the pods, islands and shore. The overall transparency of these structures created a feeling of floating in open space between water and sky. [To me, squarish structures floating above water call to mind the Quebec pavilion, while open spaces, tension cables and transparent membranes recall the German pavilion...]

Ontario Place’s five pods were offset by 2 focal points: the Forum, an open-air concert bowl [Autostade, anyone?], and the Cinesphere, the world's first permanent IMAX theatre, housed in a geodesic dome. [Comparisons to the U.S. pavilion are obvious, while the origins of IMAX can also be traced back to Expo 67...]

Boutiques and restaurants dotted the Pod/Cinesphere complex, including a fine dining restaurant called The Trillium.

Toronto's Cinesphere (top), Montreal's Biosphere, 1974 (bottom).

Ontario Place was originally rather sparse, awaiting future development. Early brochures presented Ontario Place as a "work in progress" that would be ever-changing. [Expo 67's follow up permanent exhibition "Man and His World" was also supposed to be an ever-changing "work in progress"...]

All this free space meant that like Expo 67, Ontario Place visitors could take refuge in large, park-like rest areas. And like Expo, graphics and pictograms in brilliant primary and secondary colors guided visitors throughout the site.

Fireworks booming above Ontario Place (top) and La Ronde (bottom).

In the early years, Ontario Place was a success: during its short May-through-September season, the park drew some 2.5 million visitors annually... establishing it as the fifth-most popular theme park in the world.

In 1972, The Children’s Village was unveiled, featuring an interactive play environment for kids. It quickly became Ontario Place's top attraction, and a water play area opened in 1973; featuring water cannons, spray bridges and pedal-powered deluge fountains. [La Ronde had its own Children's Village, while interactive games and water play were key features of the Vienna Kindergarten...]

The Girls of Ontario Place

Ontario Place guides (left) Man and His World, 1968 hostesses (right).

Like Expo 67, Ontario Place's pretty hostesses drew a lot of attention:

Toronto Week magazine claimed: "There’s a lot to see at Ontario Place, and some of the easiest things on the eye are the attractive guides.”

The Globe and Mail did a photo spread of the girls, writing: “The 100 girls who are the hostesses at Ontario Place for the summer… have hot pants and pantsuits, a midi, a jacket and a stretchy yellow-and-white bubble blouse. Most popular are the hot pants. One girl commented ‘I’ve just got to shorten them.’”...

The Ontario Place theme song (above) was written by Dolores Claman, of Hockey Night in Canada fame. [Doesn't it sound just like A Place to Stand?]

images (1-3-5-7) robertmoffatt115.wordpress.com

(2) flickr.com

(4) archives de montréal

(6) chamblycounty.com

(8) alamedainfo.com

(9) montage by author