Of all the statues of Expo 67 I remember this one best. It was centrally placed. And rust-coloured.

I mentioned that I had no Internet as a kid, but I did have Expo67. For six months. The Montreal World's Fair.

Yesterday, I visited YouTube to look at home movies of Expo, which are fun, but very fuzzy and only exterior shots.

And I found something wonderful, inside shots of the pavilions that don't appear to be made for TV.

Here's the proof Expo was indeed my Internet. The exhibits do not look dated, especially the audio visual. Expo was indeed way before its time. (The visitors do look dated in their psychedelic prints and all so thin.)

My grandmother visited us for the first and only time in 1967, which is the subject of my play Looking For mrs. Peel. My father, who worked for Expo, brought her to see the British Pavilion, avoiding the long-line up because employees could do that.

She wasn't impressed by the pavilion, but then she lived in Kuala |Lumpur in 1967.

Funny, Danny Boyle's opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics was, in spirit, very much like the exhibit at the British Pavilion at Expo67.

Half Serious History/ part pop culture, part whimsy. The Beatles figured back then as they did three weeks ago! There was no Kenneth Branagh but there was Sir Larry Olivier doing Othello..

Here's the brochure:

I mean very much the same! Here's a link to a website all about the British Pavilion at Expo Designing Britain/the British Pavilion

And here's a link to a YouTube video showing the inside exhibits:

Inside the British Pavilion at Expo67

The Queen came to Expo, and so did Twiggy, wearing plain pants and blouse! The British PM didn't make it due to Crisis in the Middle East.

Anyway, this person who has recently posted many videos showcasing Expo67 pavilions is doing me a favour. Where did I first see the Kouros type statues. In Art History Class? At College? On TV? No at Expo!

In the Greek Pavilion. Today, with my 'trained eye' for I have studied Art in University and been to Athens and seen all there is to offer about Greek Art on the Internet, I can see that the statues in the pavilion were casts, pale imitations.

The Art Exhibit at Expo had a real statue of Kouros from the British Museum.

Time Magazine claimed this art exhibit alone was reason to come to Montreal.

(Looking through the guide book of the exhibit , I'm not sure if I am impressed.  The exhibit had breadth, that's for sure. It was meant to be international. Picasso's Acrobat with a Ball.  It had a couple of Munches. The Dance of Life being one of them. And some great portraits, including the Perov of Dostoyevsky.

( I don't think I ever went to it, but I do recall hearing my mother wax ecstatic about it late one evening, while I was in bed. So she went. Matisse's Nasturtium's dance was included in the exhibit and that would have been my first taste of Matisse. I'm sure I would have liked it best. (The second was in high school. A friend had Blue Nude on her bedroom wall.)

The video on the Czech pavilion, which my mother also loved for all the art glass, shows the famous movie done in moving cubes.

Well, I noticed that the movie at the Canadian Pavilion at the recent 2010 Shangai Expo was very similar (although higher tech). Probably an homage of sorts itself.

This is a Manzu

I remember this Expo statue too. I wonder why :) It's probably the only 'naturalistic' one that impressed me. I preferred the abstract ones.

this is a Chadwich

I think in 1967 they couldn't show a married couple on TV sleeping in the same bed, so imagine how these some of these statues seemed to me.

A Braque.

Ernst

Expo was a very sensuous experience... and very cerebral. I recall liking the pavilion Man and the Community best. Looking at YouTube videos of this pavilion, I can see why.

An exploration of the spirit of the urban environment of 1967, with all its fascinating, problematic complexities.

Man and the Community Tour

And the Venus Probe in the USSR pavilion. Today it is Curiosity on Mars.