Time Capsule and Henry (Enrico)

Dear Henry Enrico Albert,

I read a book about time travel. I remembered the 1939 Time Capsule. I went looking for it. It wasn’t where it was. I couldn’t find it. The Police and Parks people couldn’t find it.

It wasn’t lost. They hid it. I found it.

In 1939 there was a World’s Fair in Flushing Meadow Park in New York City. It was wonderful and thanks to one of my favorite people. His name was also Henry (Henry was Mayor of New York City).

The Mayor of New York City in 1939 was Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia; December 11, 1882 – September 20, 1947) (often spelled La Guardia [la 'gwardja]) was Mayor of New York for three terms from 1934 to 1945. He was popularly known as "the Little Flower," the translation of his Italian first name.

The Time Capsule was buried in the middle of the World’s Fair. A round capstone, set in the middle of a small circular plaza, marked the resting-place of two time capsules buried here by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation -- one in 1938 (the first time capsule ever) and the second in 1965. They are packed with artifacts such as a slide rule (1938) and a Beatles record (1965).

The capsules themselves, 50 feet underground, have remained safe since their burial, although the capstone has occasionally been vandalized*** with graffiti. Some time capsule fans fret that global warming will leave this spot 30 feet underwater in 5,000 years (which is how long the capsules are supposed to remain buried). This will make them difficult to spot in the 70th century. Why did they put the 1965 Time Capsule on top of the 1939? Marty (my cousin, your grand-uncle) and many people were not happy about the things they put in the time capsule. They were disgruntled. They were afraid the people 6,938 would dig it up, look at the stuff and think we were a bunch of schmucks.

So, in 1961, a group of disgruntled took action***. They only had minor success. Some were gruntled, some remained disgruntled but nobody was caught. (Ask your Mommy or Uncle Mike or Marty about this.)

After the 1964 World’s Fair, the 1939 Time Capsule seemed to disappear. In 2008, we could only find the marker for the 1964 Time Capsule. The 1939 one was stolen or disappeared or was hidden. It is a big thing to steal and disappeared like go poof is weird. So where can you hide it? We can learn from the chicken.

Ancient proverb: To hide a prized chicken. Put the prized chicken under an ordinary chicken.

If you see a chicken would you think of lifting up the chicken to see if there is another chicken under the chicken you see? Aha!

When I was a little boy, things were very different. There was no TV, no internet, no i-pods, no CD or DVD players and a lot of other stuff. We used to make our own toys out of wooden boxes old bike, roller skates and whatever we could find. We did have radio and people read newspapers and books. On Sunday, the newspapers had comic strips.
On Sunday morning, Mayor LaGuardia read and described the adventures in the comic strips on radio. There was Dick Tracy and Li'l Abner and Shmoos and a lot of others. All us kids listened and they named an airport after him.

Anyway …. They buried the 1934 Time Capsule under the 1964 Time Capsule.

Also, Enrico is a nice name.

*** No mention of dynamite!