image: From the Collections of The Henry Ford

Even at world's fairs, where glimpses of a science-fiction future can overpower anyone's attention span, an old-fashioned live stunt often reigns supreme. At the 1939-40 New York World's Fair, the Ford Motor Co. purposely shut down its revolving “Cycle of Production” exhibition. Then the automaker restarted it with a stunt P.T. Barnum might have envied. Dr. Christopher Coates, curator of the New York Aquarium's tropical fish department, along with two helpers, connected Electra the electric eel to the exhibit's giant turntable, which the elongated fish promptly restarted with a 500-volt jolt.