Promo Film for GM’s Futurama Ride at 1964 New York World’s Fair

This General Motors promotional film follows a boy as he visits the Futurama II ride at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. The ride, which was a sequel to the famed 1939 New York World’s Fair Futurama, showcased a vision of the “near future” through a succession of elaborate dioramas. The film is a glimpse into the mindset of mid-1960s America—it cheerfully predicted deep ocean mining and drilling, cutting down rainforests with lasers to make way for highways, and also, more highways (the ride was funded by General Motors after all).