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A Midway for the Seattle World's FairIn 1959, Patty Conklin decided to do something new and challenging: provide a midway for the upcoming Seattle World's Fair. Conklin knew that he wanted Jack to contribute to this avant-garde fair. Together, Jack Ray, Patty Conklin and Harry Batt of Ponchartrain Park in New Orleans developed a proposal that
couldn't be denied. Illustrations by Jack Ray were key to the proposed midway layout, and a promotional tool on postcards and in magazines.
They were the first sole operating group to be given complete control over a world's fair midway. The news took the outdoor amusement world by surprise. They had a $2 million contract to present "the most expansive Gayway ever assembled for a world's fair" (Seattle Daily Times, June 14, 1961, p. 1).
They were ideal partners, Batt flamboyant and dapper, always impeccably dressed and groomed, down to his pencil moustache, and Conklin, eleven years his senior, dishevelled and rumpled, often in need of a haircut. Batt worked the inside, handling the paper work and the telephones to get the equipment and staff
in place, and arrangements with contractors secured. Patty worked the outside, ensuring that the rides were located where he wanted them, erected properly and well maintained. Soon after they secured the contract they went to Europe to look for attractions and "purchased or booked more than a million dollars' worth
of rides." They had "negotiated for a new and better location for the fun zone than was originally offered" and with Ray "created a plan and design favourable to the compact five acres allotted them" (Amusement Business, May 12, 1962, p. 22). The group eventually brought in 19 rides, none of them new in concept,
although some were new versions of older rides and some had only been introduced at the Canadian National Exhibition in recent years. Eleven were German. They also put up buildings for 40 or so concessions.
Jim Conklin has a version of how the deal began: "My uncle and I tried to talk my father out of this venture. The logic behind our thoughts was-why risk a reputation at age 70 on an amusement venture at a World's Fair? World's Fairs up till then had been losers for outdoor amusements. My father's answer was a swift-if
you guys don't want to join; I'll do it on my own! From then on we were very supportive." (Carnival News, May 1998, p. 12). Others wondered why Patty and Harry would risk reputation and money, when they needed more of neither. The answer was two words, challenge and ego. "Both men have thrived on a sense of
accomplishment and this, undoubtedly, has contributed greatly to their success" (Amusement Business, May 12, 1962, p. 22).
Jack Ray designed the midway and dressed up the fronts, updating the designs he had been using for over 20 years to fit the vision of the future embodied in Century 21's iconic Space Needle. With impressive designs and themes that visually linked the midway to the Space Needle and other pavilions, Jack
incorporated the Gayway 21 into the rest of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. Gayway 21 had no side shows. Because they included nudity, even in a puppet act, the few shows at the fair were relegated to a dark alley well away from the family midway and lost money. Structural elements that adorned buildings at the 1962
World's Fair by Jack Ray always incorporated the building into the futuristic theme of the fair, and his designs for the midway mimicked the shape of the Space Needle.
When noticed at all in the deluge of publicity, the Gayway drew favourable comments. It was small by most standards, but Conklin, Batt, Ray and Hughes had made sure that it met expectations and complemented the fair's theme. To outdoor showmen, it was a landmark to equal the Space Needle, especially when it
turned a profit, something no other world's fair midway had done before, or has done since. It grossed well over the $2 million invested in it and more than the partners had expected. The Concessions and Amusement Division, including food, turned over to the fair $600,000, more income than any other area except
admissions. Conklin and Batt, having talked the fair commission into accepting a small 15 percent of the rides gross, added significantly to their own fortunes, netting $190,000 between them. After the close of the fair, Patty said that he was "tired of making money" (Amusement Business, Dec. 1, 1962, p. 22).
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Map of the Gayway 21 for the Seattle World's Fair.1962
1962 Seattle World's Fair, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Credits:North American Carnival Museum and Archives (NACMA)
John C. (Jack) Ray
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Letter from George K. Whitney to Jack Ray.21 June 1961
Belmont Park, Mission Beach, San Diego, California, United States of America
Credits:Washington State Archives, Puget Sound Branch, Century 21 Exposition Collection (1957-1962) Box 230 VII-1-3 ltr1961-6-21
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Page one of a press release for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair.1 August 1961
Century 21 Offices, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Credits:Washington State Archives, Puget Sound Branch, Century 21 Exposition Collection (1957-1962) , Box 301 XI-2-86 press 1961-8-1 p1
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Page two of a press release about the 1962 Seattle World's Fair.1 August 1961
1962 Seattle World's Fair, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Credits:Washington State Archives, Puget Sound Branch, Century 21 Exposition Collection (1957-1962) , Box 301 XI-2-86 press 1961-8-1 p2
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Letter to Jack Ray about press coverage of his drawing for the Seattle World's Fair.19 October 1961
1962 Seattle World's Fair, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Credits:Washington State Archives, Puget Sound Branch, Century 21 Exposition Collection (1957-1962) , Box 301 XI-2-86 ltr 1961-10-19
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Page 1 of a letter between Jack Ray and George K. Whitney about the Seattle Fair.5 October 1961
1962 Seattle World's Fair, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Credits:Washington State Archives, Puget Sound Branch, Century 21 Exposition Collection (1957-1962) , Box 301 XI-2-86 ltr 1961-10-5 p1
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Page two of a letter from Jack Ray to George K. Whitney.5 October 1961
1962 Seattle World's Fair, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Credits:Washington State Archives, Puget Sound Branch, Century 21 Exposition Collection (1957-1962) , Box 301 XI-2-86 ltr 1961-10-5 p2
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Map of the Gayway 21 for the Seattle World's Fair.1962
1962 Seattle World's Fair, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Credits:North American Carnival Museum and Archives (NACMA)
John C. (Jack) Ray
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Jack Ray design at the Seattle World's Fair.1962-1963
1962 Seattle World's Fair, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Credits:North American Carnival Museum and Archives (NACMA)
Jennifer Walker
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The Seattle World's Fair Midway designed and built by Jack Ray, Patty Conklin and Harry Batt1962
1962 Seattle World's Fair, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Credits:North American Carnival Museum and Archives (NACMA)
J.W. (Patty) Conklin
Glenn Charron
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Patty and Edythe Conklin at the Seattle World's Fair.1962
1962 Seattle World's Fair, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Credits:North American Carnival Museum and Archives (NACMA)
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