(2 of 2)
High Prices. Moses is taking a chance. The major cause of the fair's financial problems was that 1964's paid attendance of 27 million was fully 13 million less than fair officials had predicted. Exaggerated reports of New York hotel-room shortages and racial disturbances during the summer discouraged some out-of-towners, but most of the fault lay with the fair itself. Many exhibits were still under construction when the fair opened. Prices for food, transportation and entertainment were often too high, a fact that served to increase the size of the mile-long lines in front of free exhibits. Moses' commandments decreed high rents, high maintenance costs. Four shows, the Top of the Fair restaurant and the Transportation Pavilion went bankrupt, and many exhibits sank deeply into the red.
Moses is collecting $100,000 each year for seven years for his presidency of the World's Fair Corp., and three of his top aides draw between $35,000 and $45,000 annually—salaries reasonable enough for the officers of a large corporation. But Moses allowed the fair staff to burgeon unrealistically, and costs skyrocketed. Moses tacitly admitted the situation last October by slashing the permanent payroll. He promises a "new and brighter show in 1965," says of the present crisis that "we have survived worse weather." Nonetheless, the forecast for the fair in 1965 remains cloudy.