''The Wonderful World of Chemistry'' is a 1964 industrial musical revue by Michael Brown. Regular performances were a feature of the

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

Pavilion at the

1964 New York World's Fair The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair was a world's fair that held over 140 pavilions and 110 restaurants, representing 80 nations (hosted by 37), 24 US states, and over 45 corporations with the goal and the final result of building exhibits or ...

. The extravaganza of mid 20th century American material optimism extolled the virtues of DuPont products such as

nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...

mylar BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and aro ...

, and

corfam Artificial leather, also called synthetic leather, is a material intended to substitute for leather in upholstery, clothing, footwear, and other uses where a leather-like finish is desired but the actual material is cost prohibitive or unsuitab ...

, featuring characters such as the Happy Plastic Family. The production was an early example of a multimedia production, as the players interacted with actors in film clips in parts of the show, this requiring split-second timing for the actors to remain in sych with the films. The 28-minute show, which was presented live 42 times a day by six different casts (with two running simultaneously in separate theaters) also traced the

history of chemistry The history of chemistry represents a time span from ancient history to the present. By 1000 BC, civilizations used technologies that would eventually form the basis of the various branches of chemistry. Examples include the discovery of fire, e ...

from Ancient Greece forward, and also featured players wearing high-end designer clothes made of DuPont fabrics (designers included

Oleg Cassini Oleg Cassini (11 April 1913 – 17 March 2006) was a fashion designer born to an aristocratic Russian family with maternal Italian ancestry. He came to the United States as a young man after starting as a designer in Rome, and quickly got ...

, Ceil Chapman, and

Donald Brooks Donald Brooks (January 9, 1928 – August 1, 2005) was an American fashion designer and creator of the "American Look" founded in the 1950s and 1960s. He had an immense passion for stage and film, designing well over 3500 costumes. His effo ...

). The original production was directed as well as written by Michael Brown, with musical direction by Norman Paris and choreography by Hugh Lambert, Dorothy Love, and Buddy Schwab.

Elliot Unger and Elliot EUE/Screen Gems Ltd. is an American film and television studio production company that owns and operates facilities in Wilmington, North Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; and Miami, Florida. The company collaborates with other studios and producers fo ...

produced the films, and animation was done by

Ernest Pintoff Ernest Pintoff (December 15, 1931 in Watertown, Connecticut – January 12, 2002 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles) was an American film and television director, screenwriter and film producer. He won the Oscar for Best Animated Short for ''The ...

. The soundtrack was released by DuPont in 1964 on

7" vinyl In music, a single is a type of Art release#Music, release, typically a song Sound recording, recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for record sales, sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most ca ...

, credited to the Norman Paris Quintet & Orchestra with backing vocals by the David Carter Singers. No revivals are known to have been staged since the original run.

Musical numbers

* "E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Company" * "With Antron And Nylon..." * "The Happy Plastics Family" * "We're Gonna Have Shoes" * "Better Things For Better Living"

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , editor1-last=Debolt , editor1-first=Abbe A. , editor2-last=Baugess , editor2-first=James A. , title=Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture and Counterculture , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JscEZeXBsZYC&pg=PA465 , accessdate=October 17, 2021 , year=2011 , publisher=Greenwood , isbn=978-0313329449, page=465 {{cite web , url=https://www.timidfutures.com/2012/05/worlds-fair-wednesday-wonderful-world-of-chemistry/ , title=World's Fair Wednesday – Wonderful World of Chemistry , author=ds , date=May 30, 2012 , work=Timid Futures , accessdate=October 17, 2021{{Better source needed , reason=We have no idea who Timid Futures even is , date=October 2021 {{cite web , url=https://digital.hagley.org/FILM_1995300_FC204 , title=The Wonderful World of Chemistry, part 1 and part 2 , website=Hagley Digital Archives , accessdate=October 17, 2021 {{cite web , url=https://pressblog.uchicago.edu/2012/05/23/the-wonderful-world-of-chemistry.html , title=The Wonderful World of Chemistry , author=Admin , date=May 23, 2012 , work=The Chicago Blog , publisher=University of Chicago Press , accessdate=October 17, 2021 {{cite web , url=https://www.worldsfairphotos.com/nywf64/dupont.htm , title=Du Pont - Chemical Comedy , work=WorldsFairPhotos.com , accessdate=October 17, 2021 {{cite journal , url=https://www.worldsfairphotos.com/nywf64/articles/misc/du-pont-sept-oct-1964.pdf , title=First Year at the Fair , author=Charles E. Petty , date=September–October 1964 , journal=DuPont Magazine , publisher=E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , accessdate=October 17, 2021 {{cite journal , url=https://www.worldsfairphotos.com/nywf64/articles/misc/business-screen-dupont.pdf , title=Wonderful World of CHEMISTRY , journal=Business Screen , volume=23 , number=3 , date=May 1964 , page=37 , accessdate=October 18, 2021 vi
Hagley Digital Archives
/ref>

External links

The Wonderful World of Chemistry
at the Hagley Digital Archives 1964 musicals Sponsored plays and musicals 1964 New York World's Fair DuPont