Revisiting “Wonder Bakers at the World’ Fair” (1939)
<p>It’s fun to revisit something you first saw many years ago- and Eshbaugh, to me, is always interesting.</p>
<img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-13040" decoding="async" height="82" sizes="(max-width: 403px) 100vw, 403px" src="https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/tb_logo.jpg" srcset="https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/tb_logo.jpg 403w, https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/tb_logo-300x61.jpg 300w, https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/tb_logo-150x30.jpg 150w" width="403"/>
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</p><p>First, in the Thunderbean land:</p>
<p>We’re finishing off sending the current batch of special discs, and starting to prep the next batch. We’ve also launched a new official Blu-ray set called “American cartoons: 1929” The pre-order is at <a href="https://www.thunderbeanshop.com/product/thunderbean-presents-american-animated-cartoons-1929-blu-ray/" target="_blank">the Thunderbean shop</a> for a limited time.</p>
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<p><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-88878" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" height="187" sizes="(max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px" src="https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-bakers-frame-300.jpg" srcset="https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-bakers-frame-300.jpg 275w, https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-bakers-frame-300-150x102.jpg 150w" width="275"/>One of the things I love about collecting 16mm films has been all the odd little things that show up.</p>
<p>The 1939 World’s Fair seems to be one of those things that a lot of people shot home movies of. A really great reel was just <a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/116437940016?_skw=16mm+world%27s+fair&itmmeta=01JJ8B5Y8TNGFYWH842ATN0JZH&hash=item1b1c3df730:g:6i4AAOSwfTtnepNp&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKkCEXswN6M7gRQzrkgTFzF3X4Z48nnFx7OMsE1%2B5Wq9oO62sNFbFnAfnFaT8yjEeL%2BbS95WZ9qwt%2F7lV3XMWhpGEL0MvfQVOQhERe7sOtWUNpXt%2BIQMJbSZ1ICB1NQPUAW%2FlmNRkqhPxt4wtyXAyClgPw5H6ehxSC0kaghjJwPUcCyTG50dsc9K3fB4TUol%2BnxNvbx5aVAKAlLteaaBAbMOW%2BCbLAnMMVtrtHGqh%2BoeLCau01et7PB7jTLW%2Bba0N2c%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8jkl4uSZQ" target="_blank">auctioned on Ebay</a> a week or so back – scroll down to see some of the pictures:</p>
<p>I was thinking a lot this week about different uses for animation other than in theatrical cartoons over the years, and how there’s a much better chance of a lot of this sort of material being lost since it often wasn’t distributed outside of the original exhibit or the like. There’s some films I’ve been working with that were produced for this sort of industrial use, but it got me thinking about one of the first things I posted for Thunderbean Thursday: <em>Wonder Bakers at the World’s Fair</em>. So, now, 20 years after doing the scan of this little film, I thought it would be fun to do an update with what has shown up since on the internet.</p>
<p>Back in 2013, <a href="https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/eshbaugh-ii-wonder-bakers-at-the-world-fair/" target="_blank">I wrote a little post</a> about <em>Wonder Bakers at the World’s Fair</em> (1939) with animation by Ted Eshbaugh, who did lots of this sort of industrial film stuff through the years.</p>
<p></p><center><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K5mtuunYTMw?si=seh_U4MHSdsbvhr1" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></center>
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</p><p>Cartoonist and animation expert Mark Kausler has what appears to be a workprint of some (or all?) of the animation from this short, in a fair 16mm Kodachrome print. We own him a debt of gratitude for sharing it. I’m hoping to borrow it again and, using all this fancy new-fangled technology, try to get a little better version from this otherwise lost material. Perhaps if I’m agile enough to catch a lizard or two Mark will let me borrow it again.</p>
<p><a href="https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-Bread-Pavillion-1939.jpg" rel="prettyphoto[88871]" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-88880" decoding="async" height="296" loading="lazy" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-Bread-Pavillion-1939-300x296.jpg" srcset="https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-Bread-Pavillion-1939-300x296.jpg 300w, https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-Bread-Pavillion-1939-150x148.jpg 150w, https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-Bread-Pavillion-1939-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-Bread-Pavillion-1939.jpg 557w" width="300"/></a>My guess is that the print, at some point, belonged to Eshbaugh himself, since it’s similar in quality to (for a while) the only color print available of Eshbaugh’s <em>Wizard of Oz</em> cartoon. Eshbaugh gave that 16mm Kodachrome reduction print of <em>‘Oz</em>’ to film historian William K Emerson, who had worked for Eshbaugh in New York in the 60s. Many moons later, Everson sold that 16mm print to film collector Tom Toth, who made 16mm prints of it using a better soundtrack (pulled from Jeff Missinne’s good black and white print of the short) and it was the best copy of that film in circulation until we scanned the 35mm Technicolor print at the Library of Congress back in 2014. Toth also sold a lot of public domain cartoons to companies like Goodtimes Home Video and Amvest for the cheap VHS kids tapes so many people grew up with. That is how that version of <em>The Wizard of Oz</em> got circulated. He also sold it to Warner Home Video as a bonus feature for a DVD release of the classic 1939 feature.</p>
<img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-88874" decoding="async" height="466" loading="lazy" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" src="https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-bakery-sign0600.jpg" srcset="https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-bakery-sign0600.jpg 600w, https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-bakery-sign0600-300x233.jpg 300w, https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-bakery-sign0600-150x117.jpg 150w" width="600"/>
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</p><p>There’s a home movie of the ‘Wonder Bakers’ pavilion offered as stock footage at <a href="https://dissolve.com/video/Wonder-Bread-pavilion-1939-New-York-World-Fair-boasts-royalty-free-stock-video-footage/001-D378-38-540" target="_blank">the link below</a>. It’s sort of fun— especially the bizarre scarecrow made out of a female mannequin. The World’s Fair seems both slick and not-so-much sometimes! In the circle of characters there appears to be the John Tenniel designed rabbit from <em>Alice in Wonderland</em>. Seeing the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ theme on the outside makes me wonder why they didn’t use an Alice in Wonderland theme in the animation or larger as part of the theme of the company.</p>
<p><a href="https://dissolve.com/video/Wonder-Bread-pavilion-1939-New-York-World-Fair-boasts-royalty-free-stock-video-footage/001-D378-38-540" target="_blank">https://dissolve.com/video/Wonder-Bread-pavilion-1939-New-York-World-Fair-boasts-royalty-free-stock-video-footage/001-D378-38-540</a></p>
<p>LOC has a picture and even notes the <em>Alice in Wonderland</em> Characters:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/gsc.5a30878/">https://www.loc.gov/resource/gsc.5a30878/</a></p>
<p>There’s a nice shot of the characters ‘walking’ at 6:16 in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-cZM2Ez8T0">this color footage</a>, posted by Larry Urbanski: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-cZM2Ez8T0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-cZM2Ez8T0</a></p>
<p>I wish there was some footage inside the building just to see what it was like. Here’s <a href="https://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/tribune/trib00000000/trib000000001143.pdf" target="_blank">a page from the <em>Chicago Sunday Tribune</em></a> (courtesy of Michigan State University) that at least gives some idea of what the tour looked like. I’ll bet the film was displayed from a 16mm print either in a small auditorium setup or back projection on screen.</p>
<img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-88881" decoding="async" height="367" loading="lazy" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" src="https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-Bread-Fair1939-illo-600.jpg" srcset="https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-Bread-Fair1939-illo-600.jpg 600w, https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-Bread-Fair1939-illo-600-300x184.jpg 300w, https://cartoonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wonder-Bread-Fair1939-illo-600-150x92.jpg 150w" width="600"/>
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</p><p>From all the different home movie footage of the fair, you can get at least some impression of what it was like. </p>
<p>(A side note: For fun, look up Dali’s <em>Dream Of Venus</em> to see something truly bizarre.)</p>
<p>Have a good week all!</p>
Revisiting “Wonder Bakers at the World’ Fair” (1939) Not quite the greatest thing since ...
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