1939 San Francisco World's Fair 100 Movie Views for Pathegrams, 3 Film Strips

Description

1939 G. G. I. E. World's Fair
(Golden Gate International Exposition)
100 Movie Views for Pathegrams, Cine Vue
No. 101, Nos. 5-6-7
Published by Pathegrams, Inc.
Very Good Antiquarian Condition. The outer and inner boxes are clean, intact, unmarked, no stains, no fading. Some light surface and edge wear from age, use, storage and handling. The three film strips are all present and in excellent condition.
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Box with a set of three souvenir film strips, for the Pathegram Cine Vue handheld viewing device, from the 1939 San Francisco World’s Fair. The set advertises over 100 movie views. "Pathegrams” were for the home movie division of Pathe, the pioneering newsreel company. Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. During the first part of the 20th century, Pathé became the largest film equipment and production company in the world, as well as a major producer of phonograph records. Pathé is the second oldest operating film company behind Gaumont Film Company which was established in 1895. The company was founded as Société Pathé Frères (Pathé Brothers Company) in Paris, France on 28 September 1896, by the four brothers Charles, Émile, Théophile and Jacques Pathé. In 1908, Pathé invented the newsreel that was shown in cinemas before a feature film.
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The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) (1939 and 1940), held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936 and the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937. The exposition opened from February 18, 1939, through October 29, 1939, and from May 25, 1940, through September 29, 1940.
The idea to hold a World's Fair to commemorate the completion of the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge started from a letter to The San Francisco News in February 1933. Architects W.P. Day and George Kelham were assigned to consider the merits of potential sites around the city, including Golden Gate Park, China Basin, Candle Stick Point, and Lake Merced. By 1934, the choice of sites had been narrowed to the areas adjoining the two bridges: either "an island built up from shallow water" north of Yerba Buena Island which would go on to be named Treasure Island, or the Presidio, which had previously been used in 1915 for the Panama–Pacific International Exposition. Yerba Buena Shoals was chosen as the site in February 1935. In August 1935, a  million proposal using federal WPA funds for construction work was advanced, and in October of that year, Leland W. Culter, president of San Francisco Bay Exposition, Inc., announced that President Roosevelt had approved US,000,000 (equivalent to ,630,000 in 2020) to help fund the cost of reclaiming land at Yerba Buena Shoals. San Francisco Bay Exposition was incorporated on July 24, 1934. Initial schedules called for the fair to open on February 18, 1939, and to close on December 2, 1939, hosting a projected attendance of 20,000,000 people. Construction would employ 3,000, and running the fair would require a workforce of 10,000.