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".  This was where 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 and observations on 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

The Administration and News Pavilion

The Administration and News pavilion was the nerve center of Expo 67.

Located in the Cité du Havre sector near Place d'accueil and the International Broadcasting Centre, the 3-storey structure housed the offices of Expo 67's administration and news services.

The award-winning building featured a stepped exterior, each floor overhanging the one below, providing maximum protection from direct sunlight.

Expo's 6 different administrative departments shared this space, including the public relations department (directed by Yves Jasmin),  Logexpo - the fair's housing bureau, and Expovox - its information centre. 

The building had 3 wings, each with its own entrance hall; the idea being that each area could be used separately if so desired.

The halls were decorated by large concrete mural sculptures, the work of leading Canadian artists.  Different artists gave each of the entrances its own distinct look. 

Impressive facilities were set aside for international journalists visiting Expo:

A bowl-shaped, 150-seat amphitheatre equipped with 6 television cameras was used for press conferences.  There were 4 studios reserved for filmed interviews, and 9 booths for radio broadcasting. Distinguished guests and newsmen had access to a special reception salon and a completely equipped press room.  Simultaneous translation facilities and interpreters were continually on hand. 

The building also featured a cafeteria, restaurant, bar, and underground parking.

The landscape area between the Administration and News pavilion and the International Broadcasting Centre contained a large reflecting pool and a sculpture.

Unlike most Expo 67 structures, the Administration and News pavilion was designed to be permanent.  The building still exists today, housing the offices of the Montreal Port Authority and the Maritime Employers Association...

images: (1) expo67.ncf.ca
(2-3-4) personal collection (Montréal magazine)

"Expo 67": What's in a Name?

Nowadays, it's commonplace for a world exhibition to call itself "Expo". Interestingly,  the appellation actually originated at Montreal's Expo 67.

In an email correspondence, Yves Jasmin recalls how the name came to be:

'The official name was "The 1967 Universal and International Exhibition in Montréal / L'Exposition universelle et internationale de 1967 à Montreal". A bit of a mouthful. It needed a more convenient name.'

"World's Fair" would have been the obvious choice, but the organizers of Montreal's exhibition did not want to call it a "fair".  Yves explains:

'The New York World’s Fair (1964-65) was in full swing and fairs have a commercial overtone while the Montreal event was thematic and NOT a fair.'

He goes on to credit Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau for the idea of "Expo 67":

'Mayor Drapeau suggested the name "Expo 67", recalling a 1937 Maurice Chevalier song "La p'tite dame de l'Expo", a girlfriend he had met at the spectacular 1937 "specialized" exhibition [Les Arts et Métiers] in Paris.  Drapeau's suggestion carried unanimity.'

Yves stresses that "Expo 67" had a chilly reception from the English press:

'I waged a three-year battle with the Gazette and the Montreal Star who fought hard to get Expo to change its name to 'Montreal World's Fair'.  For two of those years we were in direct conflict with the New York World's Fair, still the Montreal English speaking journalists fought "Expo" tooth and nail, saying that "Expo'' sounded like a new brand of cigarette, that "Expo" did not convey the significance of an exhibition, etc.'

The legacy of the word "Expo" would be assured in 1970, as Yves explains:

'When Japan had its 1970 World Exhibition, they asked our permission to call it "Expo 70". It was a very gracious move on their part. We didn't even have the creative rights of the name. And now Expo has become a household word all over the world'...

UPDATE (02-27): Some readers have commented that the Brussels exhibition in 1958 had also called itself "Expo".  Perhaps I was getting ahead of myself when stating that the term was "invented" for 1967.  "Expo" as a diminutive of "exposition" in French was nothing new by 1967, but the universal acceptance of the word in the English language remains attributable to Expo 67. 

Yves Jasmin quotes culled from John Whelan's Expo 67 website.

images: (top) alamedainfo.com

(bottom) library and archives Canada

Inside the Expo-Express

Each Expo Express train could shuttle up to 1000 Expo 67 visitors at a time.

Check out these ultra-rare shots of the Expo Express at Expo 67, North America's first fully automated rapid transit system.

To avoid visitor uneasiness, operators from Montreal's transit union were placed at the front of the train to give the illusion that they were conducting the self-sufficient Expo Express. Operators performed mundane tasks, such as opening and closing the doors of the train, to reduce boredom.

According to Wikipedia, there was a minor incident involving an Expo Express operator during Expo 67... at the La Ronde station:

"The conductor had pressed the button to close the doors and proceed, but his train had already sensed an oncoming express from Île-Notre-Dame and automatically delayed the go command to let it roll in. In the meantime, the driver realized he had forgotten his lunch. However, he could not exit though the passenger doors because his train was in a "wait" state and would not allow the doors to open. Instead, he crawled through the small cab window. By the time he had fetched his lunch, however, the oncoming train had pulled in and his train had taken off on its own. It crossed the bridge over the Le Moyne Channel, proceeded along the seaway, and came to a smooth stop at Île-Notre-Dame station where an Expo official was waiting. This person crawled back through the cab window and pressed the button to open the doors and let the passengers disembark."

The interior of Expo Express, looking towards the front.

A front view of the train at Place d'Accueil terminal.

The system's control console seemed straight out of Star Trek... Beam me up!

images: wikipedia.org

The Vienna Kindergarten

During Expo 67, some 3200 children attended the Vienna Kindergarten.

Located on Île-Sainte-Hélène near the China pavilion, the Vienna Kindergarten looked like a collection of giant red, green, yellow and brown building blocks with huge circular or half moon windows and skylights.

Sponsored by the city of Vienna, the building was designed by Karl Schwanzer, who was also responsible for the Austrian pavilion at Expo 67.

Pre-selected groups of 10 children, aged 3 to 6 and spanning all cultures, spent 2-week periods at the kindergarten. On a first-come, first serve basis, another 20 children could be accommodated daily, at an entry fee $2.50 per half-day, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Using the Montessori method, the Vienna Kindergarten at Expo 67 was a replica of one of more than 200 in the Austrian capital. Under discreet supervision by multilingual Austrian teachers, children's creative processes and problem-solving abilities were nurtured through a fascinating variety of activities: painting, drawing, building... whatever struck their fancy.

Most importantly, it was the child who decided what to do and how to do it.

A miniature cooking area in the brightly-lit playroom included a low-heat stove with tiny saucepans where various edible mixtures could be prepared. A large sunken area was devoted to water, where children could happily splash themselves. A spacious grassy playground included a sandbox, swings, and various modern playground equipment.






images: (1-5) personal collection
(2) flickr.com
(3) Dixon Slide Collection (mcgill.ca)
(4) Bill Cotter Collection