The Midway Postcard Gallery Volume 11 The Pit Funhouse Revere Beach, MA

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Jan 032012
 

If there is one amusement park attraction that enthuses and is as attractive to me as roller coasters, it is the funhouse. I even have a Funhouse sign hanging above the entrance to my home. Sadly, the old fashioned walk-through funhouse is a thing of the past. I was lucky enough to experience four full sized antique funhouses. The first was at the park of my youth, the late Lincoln Park, North Dartmouth, MA. The defunct Whalom Park, Lunenberg, MA had an excellent one as well. Just a few years back, I went through one in the now closed Williams Grove Park in Mechanicsburg, PA. Finally, I have also walked through Kennywood’s Noah’s Ark, the only one on my list still standing. Very few funhouses have been portrayed on postcards. Most of them that are, are photos of the external structure, especially if it were highly and imaginatively decorated as many were. Only a handful depict what’s going on inside the structure.

The Pit from the outside

Herbert Ridgeway was an inventor. An inventor of amusements. He opened his piece de resistance, The Pit on Revere Beach in 1908. A huge structure along the beach, The Pit inside was an amalgamation of many small sized amusement devices, all patented by Ridgeway, which could be experienced as you walked through. When the idea of writing a postcard column came to me, it was this series of cards that made me want to do it. They are wonderfully wacky, and hearken back to a time when the feelings of personal responsibility were strong enough to allow amusements that couldn’t possible be replicated in the litigious society of today. They also are indoor close-ups of people which was quite unusual for their period (1908-1918). Of all the cards I own, these views are my favorites.

Firstly we have this nice overview of the building that really gives it some scale with the patrons (mostly men) were lined up along the walkways and seated around what is known as The Wheel of Fortune. Notice the padding around the support columns behind the wheel, and right in front, left and right.

Overview of the interior of The Pit

This next view is almost the same, except some women have been drawn in on the right on both levels, and the shot is a bit tighter. You can barely read “Ride at Your Own Risk” on the central wheel with a loupe.

Alternate view with painted-in ladies at The Pit

This next view is The Wheel Of Fortune in action. As you can see from the overview, this shot was taken standing to the right of the ride (in the overview), and the door that can be seen here upper right, is the door that can be seen far left in the overview (easier to see in the first overview). There is another Ride At Your Own Risk sigh on the wall upper left. Basically the patrons would sit on the wheel, and it would begin to spin, shooting patrons outwards towards the wooden walls and support columns (with padding). I have seen this card used, with a message about how the Governor’s son had died on the ride, but I was unable to verify that fact.

The Wheel Of Fortune in action

Next up is the Barrel of Fun, also known as The Barrel of Laughs. On this device you were to walk across a barrel that was slowly rolling. Having seen my wife spend sometime trying to maneuver in the one at Whalom Park, I guess it’s not as easy as I find it. Also, slipping and falling might put you in close contact to members of the opposite sex, certainly a plus of enduring some small amount of public ridicule.

The Barrel of Fun

We navigate the Barrel of Fun only to find ourselves at the Switch Back Chute, basically a wooden slide. All of the sliding surfaces made from laminated wood would have been highly waxed both to be as slippery as possible, and to help minimize splintering. I love the men in their hats, and women in their furs in this view. Also try to notice that all the close-ups in the set of views were shot using the same people.

Switchback Chute attraction at The Pit

Next we swing by the Leap Chutes, where we slide down a large wooden slide, and are ejected onto a sheet of canvas stretched tight, for a landing zone. You can see from this view that you come out with quite some force, and that you don’t have a tremendous amount of time to get off the canvas before more people are hurtling towards you, feet first.

Leap Chutes at The Pit


This next view of the Leap Chutes finish, gives a better idea of how there is at least room for someone to help you get out of the way of the oncoming sliders. Again this affords you the opportunity for close personal contact with members of the opposite sex, as well as chances to see knickers and other garments not normally shown off. Also note the viewing area to the right, and the meager padding on the pole front left.

Landing at the Leap Chutes


Next up is the Broncho Bridge, where one end of this bridge would move rapidly up and down, swinging up and down violently!

Broncho Bridge at The Pit


As we leave the Broncho Bridge, we walk down a set of stairs to an uneven surface below, we grab unsuspectingly to the metal rails on our right, much like the others we’ve used to steady ourselves through the funhouse, but these instead have a low level of electricity running through them. That’s right, we’ve encountered the Electrified Hand Rails!

Electrified Handrails at The PIt

Next is another attraction that probably broke more than a few bones in it’s day, The Incline Wheel. Ostensibly it is just a spinning wooden disc set inside a highly waxed inclined floor. It’s impossible to stay upright for long, just watch out for the flying limbs, and wooden walls! This was the first of these cards I found.

Incline Wheel at The Pit

Next we approach The Moving Staircase. It’s exactly was it purports to be, a set of moving steps. Most go up and down as you try to climb them, though some moved side to side instead. I believe just the section at the top was the moving part, not the seemingly more stable steps below.

Moving Staircase at The PIt

Next is a diabolical little number known as the Drop Seat. The rarest card in this series, the Drop Seat view captures the moment after the Drop Seat has been engaged. A high backed church pew type seat with a lever controlled seat that collapses, sending the person sitting in it to the floor. This one seems to have either independently collapsing seats, or collapsing seats on only one side . At Lincoln Park, their Drop Seat plunked you down onto a sheet of canvas where you slid down to the first floor, and the ride exit. Quite an exit, I’d say!

Drop Seat at The Pit


Another of the rarer cards in the series, is this one of the Tread Mill. I believe this to have been some sort of steps, or canvas roll, where getting one’s purchase and making it up the small incline was quite difficult. You can see the woman on top reaching out a hand to a fellow rider still entrapped by The Tread Mill.

Tread Mill at The Pit

Next up we see The Shaker Bridge with air jets. The Shaker Bridge was a small bridge one walked on, that would shake and shimmy violently from side to side and up and down as you walked across it. Since ladies (who all had skirts on) were holding on for dear life with both hands on the non-electrified handrails, a well placed air jet would blow up their skirts, showing the slips, knickers, bloomers, or lack thereof to all onlookers. Note where the young lady whose skirt is being blown up is about to step…

Shaker Bridge and Air Jets at The Pit


That’s right, she’s stepping right onto the Tricky Roller! Either the Shaker Bridge photo or this one has been reversed, as it is plain to see that where the young lady was stepping to our right, is the railings we see to our right in this photo. Perhaps there was a Tricky Roller on either end of the Shaker Bridge. In any case, you can see how it would be nearly impossible to get across the Tricky Roller without sliding down to the other level.

The Tricky Roller at The Pit

That is the last card in this 15 card series. I have seen one other view in another collection that was obviously of the era, and marked as being from The Pit in Revere Beach, but didn’t seem to be from the same photo shoot, or photographer. I have never seen it except in that gentleman’s collection.

Finally we have this unique card that someone has written on to give you a sense of The Pit. I’ll let you look at the front and back, and will list below it everything that’s written on it.

Front of interesting Pit postcard

Front
Oh Mother May I Go Out to Swim – Yes My Darling Daughter, but Don’t Go Near The Water

The Pit where you see the sights and also limbs.

Ladies please put weights in your skirt pockets – some breeze

Back of interesting Pit postcard. Mailed July 19th, 1915


Back
Boston’s choice fruit – Baked Beans

Jonah Was short so look out for the whale kid.

Bunker Hill Monument is a memorial and not souvenir so don’t try to slip it in your stocking

You Bum Barber at the foot of the class please

Rome Wasn’t Built in a ay, but Lizzie’s bathing suit was.

Oh You Mermaid

Life is too short to be guessing

Who’s who and why? Just because his hair was kordy (sp?)

Barber Barber Shave a Pig.

And in pencil beneath
“This will probably keep you guessing for a while. One fair guess”

Wow, wouldn’t you like to know what that was all about! Anyway, we have one more column on Revere Beach coming up next, and then we will continue on further with other parks in Massachusetts and beyond. Also the sideshow cards will return either next time or the column after. Until then, I’ll see you in the queue line.

Posted by Kimfair at 2:47 pm  

The Midway Postcard Gallery Vol 10 The Roller Coasters of Revere Beach, MA

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Oct 112011
 

This month, we will again be strolling along the shores of the first public bathing beach in the United States, Revere Beach, Revere, MA. We will start at the southern end of Revere Beach Boulevard, and walk north. I will describe what we would see along the way, and when we’d have had to have been there in order to see it. Our first order of business will be taking the narrow gauge railway from Boston a few miles to the shores of Revere Beach. Upon exiting the train station, we walk east towards the beach and boulevard.

Our first stop along the way is just south of Shirley Avenue to ride The Jack Rabbit roller coaster. This coaster was built in 1916, and survived until 1924. Remember in this age, each ride was individually owned and operated, unlike modern amusement parks. Rides came and went, sometimes very quickly, entirely dependent upon how much money they made. A ride which wasn’t profitable was a ride which wouldn’t be in operation for too long before being razed and replaced with a (hopefully) more profitable endeavor. Little has been written about the Jack Rabbit coaster, and this view of the ride is the only view I have ever seen.

As is obvious from the view, The Jack Rabbit was much like it’s contemporaries, a tame ride with gentle drops and curves. Under wheels, the wheels that grip the track from underneath, were not invented until the early 1920’s, so most coasters prior to that time were more gentle rides. It wasn’t until the under wheel system was invented that coasters were able to have sharp turns, and deep drops, as without them, such elements could potentially cause the trains to derail during the ride. Even then, no ride operator wanted his patrons to die onboard!

After getting off the Jack Rabbit, we walk just slightly north, and get in line to ride The Dragon Gorge, a scenic railway. Scenic railways were the predecessors of modern roller coasters, and had trains that would traverse gentle slopes (usually with an onboard brakeman), past murals of various scenic vistas (hence the name). Many amusement parks, including Coney Island, had scenic railways named the Dragon Gorge, and generally the entranceways of these rides were decorated with large, imposing dragons, made from wood, chicken wire, plaster, and paint. This view shows the one of the dragons, up close and personal.

Dragon Gorge Scenic Railway

This view, which shows the entrance, and tracks of the ride to the entrance’s left, is not marked Dragon Gorge, but rather Thompson’s Scenic Railway. This is the only card I have that doesn’t call it the Dragon Gorge, obviously an error, since, as we’ll see on our walk up the boulevard, there is already a coaster on the beach called Thompson’s Scenic Railway. Also this Dragon Gorge was built by John Miller, and not by LaMarcus Thompson, inventor of the scenic railway. You can’t really see the dragons in this view, except for the tips of their wings, but a quick glance at the structure makes it obvious it is the same ride.

Dragon Gorge Scenic Railway


This ride was built in 1916, and closed in 1926. By 1926 several more daring rides had been built along the beach, and the Dragon Gorge’s gentle hills and sights were no longer enough to draw the crowds. The Dragon Gorge was razed in 1926, and a new coaster was built on the same spot which it once occupied. If the public had felt the Dragon Gorge was too tame an experience, nothing could possibly have readied them for what was to come on July 9, 1927.

Noted roller coaster designer Harry Traver had built one coaster on Revere Beach (The Cyclone, about which we’ll talk about later), and wanted to build another. When the lot that Dragon Gorge sat on became available, he pounced, and began work on what was to be one of the wildest, most extreme roller coasters the world had ever seen. It was one of what was to become known as Traver’s Terrible Triplets, three almost duplicate roller coasters that opened in either 1927 (Revere Beach Lightning, Crystal Beach Ontario Cyclone), or 1928 (Palisades Park, NJ Cyclone). The Lightning closed in 1933, the Palisades Park Cyclone in 1934, and the longest lived of the triplets, the Crystal Beach Cyclone was razed in 1946. What made these rides, which only lasted 40 seconds after being released by the chain lift, so terrifying were the extreme angles, massive g-forces, steep grades, and sharp turns that these wood and steel monsters inflicted on their riders. Because there are more views available of The Crystal Beach Cyclone, and it is pretty much the same ride, I am including this view of that ride to illustrate the ridiculous first drop on these coasters.

Crystal Beach, ON Cyclone a twin of the Revere Beach Lightning

As you can see on the above view, the first drop curves sharply to the right, traveling all the way to ground level, where the track is nearly perpendicular to the ground. The track then swings upwards to the right again, while quickly shifting for a very fast left hand turn downwards. The S-shaped track you see next to the tree in this view happens later on the ride. The only piece of straight track on any of these rides was the loading platform. Even the return run to the station had undulating track so the coaster train would shift side to side as it approached the end of the ride. This view also illustrates well how Traver could accomplish these angles and turns. By using a steel superstructure under the wood track. Like all roller coasters of it’s day, The Lightning was a wooden coaster, meaning that it’s track is made of seven layers of laminated wood with a thin steel plate laid over which the wheels would roll. Generally then, as today, wooden coasters have wooden superstructures, but Traver’s triplets used steel superstructures due to the incredible forces that the trains exerted on the structure. A wooden superstructure would have been torn apart by such forces.

Revere Beach Lightning

This view of the Lightning (notice the misspelling on the card) shows that the rest of the ride was nearly as perilous to one’s health as the first drop. So perilous was the Lightning, that a young woman died on it’s opening day in 1927. According to eye witness reports, she either jumped in fright from the train, or hit her head on a support while leaning out of the train (which would have been unlikely). After 20 minutes to remove the body, and determine that the safety lap bars were working, the ride was reopened. Imagine that happening today! Because of it’s reputation it was said that when a young woman found herself in an unwanted family way outside of marriage, people would remark “Take her on the Lightning!”.

Revere Beach Lightning

This last view of the Lightning is my favorite, as it illustrates perfectly just how extreme all the elements and transitions on this (and her sister rides) really were. As seemingly dangerous as it was, The Lightning was a very popular ride at the beach, though it drew more non-paying crowds to watch it, than it did paying customers to ride it. The 1931, and 1932 seasons were especially non-profitable, and the ride was dismantled in March of 1933 so that it would not be assessed any tax for that year.

So we now find ourselves stumbling in delirium after exiting the Lightning, and we walk across Shirley Avenue, continuing north along the boulevard to stop at a far more restrained ride The Over the Top, or Giant Coaster. Owned by the Hurley family, who owned amusements along the boulevard from the turn of the century into the 1970’s, the Giant Coaster was built in 1917, and was dismantled sometime in the 1930’s, though I cannot find an exact date. It was probably a victim of the Great Depression when spending money on such frivolous pursuits as roller coasters was out of the question for many folks. This first view shows the ride during the daytime. You can see the “Over The Top” name along it’s front, even though the card indicates it is the Giant Coaster.

Giant Coaster or Over the Top

This next view is the Giant Coaster at night, and illustrates how the clever post card salesman could, with a bit of artistic license, use one view to create a second view of the same ride at night time. I especially like how the headlights of the car have been added in, and how both the woman in front, and man standing near the car across the street have had their clothing color changed from white to red.

Giant Coaster or Over the Top at Night


After an easygoing ride on the Giant Coaster, we stroll further north on Revere Beach Boulevard to ride the Derby Racer. The Derby Racer was a racing coaster, where two cars full of passengers would race each other along side by side tracks. There are still many racing coasters in existence. The first Derby Racer was built in 1911, and was dismantled sometime in the early 1930’s. Like the Dragon Coaster, the original Revere Derby Racer had an elaborate entrance with a smiling, almost evil looking figure looking down upon potential riders, as seen in this view.

Facade of Derby Racer entrance


This second view shows the ride in action with two trains racing along the dual tracks.

The Derby Racer in action


In 1937, a second version of the Derby Racer was built on the same lot. This linen view from the 1940’s shows the second ride. Note the different entrance (where the Racer sign is on the right). I also like the notation on the bottom, many years before that sentence would take on a whole new meaning.

The second Derby Racer

After traveling through time to ride two different sets of Derby racers, we continue up the boulevard to ride the politically incorrectly named Oriental Ride. This scenic railway was built by LaMarcus Thompson, and was his second scenic railway on the beach (we’ve yet to ride his first). It was a bigger, more elaborate ride than the first, and obviously took riders past scenes from various Asian countries. It was located next to the Metropolitan Police Station (seen in this first view) which still stands on the beach. Below the postcard view is a recent picture I took of the Police Station.

Oriental Ride next to Metropolitan Police Station


Metropolitan Police Station in 2011


The third view shows the Oriental Ride in more detail. I couldn’t find a notation of when the Oriental Ride was built, but I know (from another card) that it was in existence prior to 1921. It too, probably fell victim to the Great Depression in the 1930’s.

A few steps north of the Oriental Ride was the first Thompson’s Scenic Railway, built in 1910. I like how the ride was designed to traverse into the “mountains”, where various scenes would be depicted in murals n the wall. The second view shows the elaborate trains of the scenic railway, as well as the proper dress worn by park patrons in those early days.

Thompson's Scenic Railway


Thompson's Scenic Railway close up of loading station


A few short steps to the north we stand in front of the imposing structure of Harry Traver’s first Revere Beach masterpiece, The Cyclone. Built in 1925, the Cyclone was considered one of the worlds greatest coasters when it was built, rivaling the Coney Island Cyclone for East Coast supremacy. Full of Traver’s trademark swooping turns, this first view of the Cyclone shows most of the ride in all it’s glory.

Revere Beach Cyclone

The Cyclone was the last existing roller coaster on Revere Beach, giving riders their last thrills in the summer of 1969. The beach had become a rather frightening place by those years, with gangs of hoodlums, and other nefarious characters making the boulevard less of a place for families to enjoy a day at the beach and on the rides. Several smaller rides existed throughout the early 1970’s, but by the time the Cyclone, partially burned, was razed in 1974, the reign of Revere Beach as the Coney Island of New England was over. Curiously, this last chrome view of the Cyclone, published sometime in the 1960’s is a far rarer card than the first view, which was published some time in the 1930’s.

Revere Beach Cyclone 1960's

With sadness in our hearts we walk the final stretch of the boulevard to ride the last coaster on our trip, the furthest from our starting point, the Thunderbolt. Built by Dragon Gorge builder John Miller in 1920, the Thunderbolt lasted only 10 years, being torn down in 1930. It looks imposing, but was a fairly gentle ride compared to the Cyclone, and it’s placement so far down the beach, also helped to make it’s existence a short one. Here is a view of the ride, and a second view showing the inclines on the ride from the inside. Note the airplane ride that can be seen in the first view is more prominently featured in the second.

John Miller's Thunderbolt Roller Coaster


Big Inclines on the Thunderbolt Roller Coaster

Our trip is completed, and we’ve ridden ten different coasters that existed on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean on Revere Beach. There were three other coasters that existed on the beach as well, but I don’t have any postcards of them, nor have I seen many images of them. They were all located in the same vicinity of the Oriental Ride. They were known as the Musical Railway, opened in 1906, closed ?, and the Pell Mell Coaster, open only for a year from 1915 to 1916. The final coaster that appeared on Revere Beach was an exception to the rule that early coasters were all gentle rides. This ride was known as the Loop the Loop coaster, built in 1900, and removed probably no later than 1905. I have several views of this type of ride at Coney Island but not of this ride at Revere. The reason why these rides were so short lived (the Coney Island rides were also gone by 1905 or so), was that designers used a perfect circle for the loop. On modern looping coasters, the loops are clothoid or tear drop shaped. This is because the forces on the necks of riders in a perfect circle loop are very great, and many riders experienced whiplash. Though I don’t own (nor have I seen) any postcards of this short-lived ride, I was lucky enough to purchase a admission ticket for it on eBay, back when things like this could still be had for a modest sum. This beautiful ticket shows the rides cars (each car was individual) with riders having a great time on the front. The back of the ticket shows the cars going through the circular loop. The string attached would be wound about a button to show the ride attendant you had paid your fare, and provided you with a nice souvenir. Very few of these tickets exist, as most were thrown away after a while. I have only seen one other example of this ticket in my years of collecting.

Front of Revere Beach Loop the Loop Coaster Ticket


Back of Revere Beach Loop the Loop Coaster ticket


That concludes this column on the roller coasters of Revere Beach, MA. Join me again soon for a trip through The Pit, Revere Beach’s masterful walk through fun house attraction illustrated by my favorite postcards in my collection. Until then, I’ll see you in the queue line!

Posted by Kimfair at 8:53 pm  Tagged with: , ,

The Midway Postcard Gallery Vol 9 Wonderland Park Revere MA

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May 032011
 

It was Memorial Day May 30th, 1906 that an amazing place opened to the public for the first time. A mystic city by the sea, Wonderland Park in Revere, MA. The brainchild of business men John Higgins and Floyd Thompson, Wonderland was to be the biggest, grandest amusement resort the world had ever seen. It had spectacle, entertainment, shows and rides, and it cost it’s investors over one million dollars to open. It was situated a mere two city blocks from Revere Beach, the country’s first public beach which was then a pristine stretch of sand and surf, featuring amusements of it‘s own.

Let’s take a journey into Wonderland, shall we? Using photographs and postcards as reference, I have created a schematic of how the park was laid out. We’ll be entering via the Beaver Street entrance, since we, like many patrons have strolled up from the beachfront to enter the park. There are several nice bird’s eye views of the park, but all of them are drawings, and none are accurate. Several different ones even contradict each other. Take the two examples here. The first seems much more accurate, as the Chutes ride (flume-like ride center left) and Fire and Flames exhibit (the smoke rising middle right), are correct , but the area at the foot of the Chutes ride is indistinct, and not indicative of how it actually looked.

Artists Rendering Birds Eye View of Wonderland

Artists Rendering Birds Eye View of Wonderland

In the second, the Fire and Flames is erroneously placed behind the Chutes ride, and the circle of buildings (center front) never materialized.

Artists Rendering of Birds Eye View of Wonderland #2

The map I’ve drawn is not to scale, and is as accurate as the information I had available to me allows it to be. There are several acts and attractions that I have seen advertisements for that I have no idea where they’d be located in the park. Also several attractions were changed or modified in the time the park was open for business. It is an approximation of what a trip through Wonderland might have been. The bold letters represent where we are on the map at any given time. I hope you enjoy your journey.

Schematic of Wonderland

A We start at the upper right corner of the schematic at the Beaver Street entrance on the map. Note the ornate entrance gate and added glitter to the card.

Beaver Street Entrance of Wonderland

B As we enter the park, we curl left onto the midway. On our immediate left is the circus tent which holds the Ferari Trained animal exhibit, extolled on the card as “The Largest, Grandest, Most Complete Show Of It’s Kind in This Or Any Other Country”.

Animal Show Tent Front

In this next view, Ferari’s animal show can be seen on the left, with the turnaround of the scenic railway behind it. To the right of the tent is a souvenir photograph building, then there is Princess Trixie Queen of the Educated Horses. The crowd gathers around to watch the airships ride.

Airships Ride with attractions in background

C A better view of the Princess Trixie show front, and the front of the funhouse called the Third Degree. This funhouse contained wooden slides, uneven floors, moving stairs, and other attractions that would make a modern day ambulance chaser drool.

Princess Trixie and The Third Degree

D This view shows the Airship ride, touted as being the largest in the world. Behind is the Third Degree and Princess Trixie exhibits.

Airships Ride

E To the left of the airships was the Arcus ring, where circus artists like acrobats and trapeze artists would stage several shows daily. From left in this view can be seen, the scenic railway building entrance the airships, the Third Degree, a Palmistry shop, The tower of the Nautical gardens (not in Wonderland, but on the beach), and the beginning of the Japanese exhibit.

Arcus Ring Wonderland

F Next on our tour is the Japanese Village, complete with it’s own Mount Fuji replica, made from the soil that was removed to create the central lagoon and basin of the Shoot the Chutes ride.. At this time in history, exhibits like these, which depicted different cultures and different peoples from around the world were common.

Japanese Village Entrance

Here also patrons are seen climbing on the Royal Arch.

Royal Arch Japanese Village

I am also including a non-postcard piece of ephemera, called a cabinet photo. This would have been taken by a photographer in the park, to be picked up (and paid for) by the subjects at a later time. It shows a dandy family dressed to the nines, in front of the Japanese village with Mount Fuji in the background.

Cabinet Photo taken in Front of Japanese Village dated 1906

G After touring Japan, we take our best girl (or boy’s) hand in ours and we take a ride on Love’s Journey, New England’s first tunnel of love, where the cars would wind slowly through a maze that was sometimes light, sometimes dark, and an ending where the riders were showered with confetti. Remember, many early amusement devices were designed to put men and women in closer physical contact than they’d be able to usually in public. There is a card of just Love’s Journey, but I have not found one to add to my collection. Also visible in this card is the Fatal Wedding, and Children’s theatre which entertained the little ones with clowns and acts like Gillet’s Dog and Monkey Circus. In 1908 the Children’s Theatre was replaced by Pilgrim’s Progress a walk through fun house attraction featuring clowns, tilted floor rooms, barrels of fun and such.

Love's Journey, Fatal Wedding, and Children's Theatre

H A close up view of the Fatal Wedding attraction. This was a show which used mechanical and electrical illusions to transform volunteer couples from the audience into skeletons and back. The faux wedding ceremony was based on an ancient Egyptian legend.

Fatal Wedding Attraction

I Here we have circled around the park to the main entrance and administration building. Note how much larger and more ornate this main entrance facing Walnut Street is compared to the Beaver Street entrance we came in.

Wonderland Main Entrance Walnut Street

J Next to the administration building is the Infant Incubators. These were exactly what they sound like they are. Because incubators were unproven, and expensive, hospitals didn’t jump on the bandwagon right away. Ingenious park owners decided to buy incubators, hire medical staff to man them, and helped prove that incubators were a valid method of caring for premature infants. Curious onlookers paid a fee to peer at the tiny babies, families were always allowed in for free.

Infant Incubators and Pop Korn stand

K After we stop in for some popcorn at the stand next to the Infant Incubators we eat it as we stroll by the roller skating rink, and stare at Wonderland’s biggest thrill ride, the Shoot the Chutes. Much like a modern flume ride, you would get into a boat at the bottom, it would lift you to the top with a roller coaster style lift hill, and then you would plunge down the slide towards the water, where you’d skip along the surface (not getting wet, patrons then didn’t want to be soaked), and finally end at the end of the lagoon for debarking. Unlike modern rides, the flat bottomed boats did not ride on any kind of rail or track, but rather just slid down the slide into the water.

Much like the bird-eye view, some early cards are artists renderings and aren’t accurate. In the first Chutes view, note the red building on the right. This is the Hell Gate attraction, but since the artist didn’t know what it would look like, he drew a sculpture of a kneeling devil on the front, which was common at the time.

Artists Rendering of Shoot the Chutes Ride Wonderland

In the second photographic view, the building at right is the carousel, also marked K on the map.

Photo of Shoot the Chutes Wonderland

L These next two views are overviews of the park from the top of the Chutes, first a printed card, and then a real photo postcard. Notice Mount Fuji in the center background of each. We entered the park to the left of Mt Fuji walked by the end of the lagoon, and down what is the right side of the card seeing the park’s attractions. After a quick run down the Shoot the Chutes ride, we’ll hit the carousel, and then the next big attraction…

Printed photo of Wonderland from the top of the Chutes

 

Real Photo Postcard of Wonderland from the top of the Chutes

M Hell Gate. Hell Gate was one of the main attractions at Wonderland, and was revolutionary for it’s time. As you can see by this view, the really cool figural devil found in the artists view of the Chutes is nowhere to be found here. The ride was a dark boat ride, where your boat would enter the building (a large octagonal structure), and be sucked into a whirlpool, which was actually a chute that would drop you down into the underworld. There the boat would pass several eerie, hellish displays of static and moving figures, until you would finally have an interaction with the devil himself before escaping unharmed back outside. It must have been quite thrilling in 1906, though probably quite tame by today’s standards.

Hell Gate Wonderland

N Next to Hell Gate was the amazing Wonderland Ballroom and restaurant. This huge building offered elegant dining on the first floor, and dancing to live music on the second.

Wonderland Ballroom and Restaurant

O In between the Ballroom and the Thompson’s Scenic Railway was the Bewitching Orient. Advertised on it’s front, below the four minarets as “A Congress of Strange Oriental People”, it was an exhibit exploring the East, including caravans, bazaars, and dancing girls.

The Bewitching Orient

P Our final ride at Wonderland will be on the Thompson’s Scenic Railway. Precursors to the modern railways, scenic railways were much like roller coasters, except they had much slower speeds and smaller drops. They also usually employed an on-ride brakeman, and went in and out of buildings past murals of interest. The scenic railway probably did not exist as I have drawn it. I know that it went outside, then through a building, which I placed where it is placed in both artists birds-eye views. However, neither of those views shows coaster track near the animal exhibit, which is clearly there in the view showing the airship ride in action near where the Princess Trixie and Third Degree are. I also know that it was advertised (probably an exaggeration) as being three miles long. I wanted to include the known portion of the ride in my schematic, and that’s how I decided to incorporate it. The Palmistry building can be seen in the background more clearly than in the previous Third Degree card.

Thompson's Scenic Railway

Q After an exhilarating ride on the scenic railway, we come around the corner to Wonderland’s premier attraction, The Fire and Flames. Originally displayed at the St Louis Exposition of 1904, the promoters decided to spare no expense in bringing the same spectacle to Wonderland. After paying your admission you entered a town square filled with modern multi-story buildings. There was a grandstand that seated 3500 people who watched as performers at first moved about as if everything was normal.

Then as fire breaks out in one of the buildings, all 350-400 actors, stunt people and firefighters would spring into action.

Fire and Flames Wonderland

Horse drawn fire trucks, armed by actual firefighters rush into the scene, running into burning buildings to save people and to valiantly put out the scorching, multi-building blaze. Twice a day this spectacle took place to enormous crowds. Unfortunately, the massive expense of the show, some $75,000 to operate for the 1906 season alone, doomed it to be a one season wonder, operating only for the 1906 season.

Fire and Flames Wonderland

After two great seasons in 1906 and 1907, with more than 2 million visitors each year, 1908 saw attendance drop in half due to a poor economy. Wonderland still spent lavishly on top notch performers and free entertainment, but it became obvious that the average person could no longer afford to spend money on such frivolous entertainment. More and more, lower level performers and acts were booked, and the cleanliness of the park, once it’s hallmark, began to decline. It became obvious by the middle of the 1911 season that Wonderland would shutter it’s doors forever. It’s last day was Labor Day, 1911. As a final piece of ephemera, I have an admission ticket for Wonderland. I believe it was given in exchange for putting up posters with ads for Wonderland. I have two of the same but different colors.

Admission Ticket Wonderland

Several rides continued to operate at Wonderland for a few more years, and eventually it was converted into a dog racing facility which it continued to be until dog racing was banned in Massachusetts. At that point it became a satellite horse racing venue, which it still reamins as today. A sad end for a once proud mystic city by the sea.

 

This article is the first of four installments on Revere Beach, Massachusetts, the focus of my collection. Though I collect amusement park rides views from places around the US and the world, my primary focus is on the cards of Revere Beach, the Coney Island of New England. We will next be exploring the roller coasters of Revere Beach, followed by an installment that is the reason I decided to write this series. I won’t spoil the surprise! Finally there will be a catch- all column at the end. The sideshow cards will return with the final catch-all Revere column. None of these Revere Beach columns would be possible without the use of the following references.

Revere Beach’s Wonderland: The Mystic City By The Sea by Edward & Frederick Nazarro 1983 self published
Revere Beach Chips by Peter McCauley 1996 self published by the Revere Historical Society
Memories of Revere Beach by Peter McCauley 1989 self-published
Pictorial History of Revere Beach Volume One by Peter McCauley 1980 self-published
Images of America Revere Beach by Leah A. Schmidt 2002 Arcadia Publishing

GLOSSARY:
The type of card will often help one judge its age, as postcard manufacture went through several phases and changes over the years. The terms below will be what I use to describe cards, and will inform you what time frame those cards are from.
Private Mailing Card: 1850’s-1900 Marked on the back as such, only an address allowed on the back.

Undivided Back: 1900-1907 Most cards printed in Germany, address only on back of card, front may have space for message. All cards after 1907 are divided back, meaning both a message and an address may be written on the back

Early Chrome: Mostly German printed cards that have printing to the edges of a photographic image that’s been colored or a drawn image. 1900-1918.

White Border Cards: Mostly American printed starting 1918-1930’s. Generally inferiorly printed, especially the earlier ones, as American printing presses had not yet caught up with the superior German ones. Obviously World War 1 ended German dominance of the then very lucrative postcard printing market.

Linen Cards: These cards are characterized by a thin layer of linen that is glued over the paper prior to printing, giving them a non-smooth surface to the touch. 1940-s-early1950’s.

Chrome Cards: Postcards like you are used to today. Printed photographs on glossy stock. These date from the mid 1950’s until present, and are almost 100% of all new postcards made since the 1970’s. Chrome cards prior to the 1970’s are called Standard Size, which indicates the pre-1970’s postcard size of 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches. Almost all postcards printed since the 1970’s have been 4 inches by 6 inches or what is known as Continental Size. Since I do not actively collect continental sized postcards, all my images are of standard sized cards.

Real Photo Postcard RPPC: This is a card which is an actual photograph printed on actual photographic paper, generally made in limited numbers by small independent photographers. They may date from 1900 until present day, and can be dated approximately by the markings on the back. They are the rarest and most sought after postcards by collectors

Posted by Kimfair at 2:11 pm  

The Revenge Of William Gaines

 Comics, Features  No Responses »
Apr 062011
 

Submitted by Manphibian

The ever-present stamp of the Comics Code Authority.

William Gaines must be rolling in his grave — with laughter.

To be fair, the late publisher of EC Comics has probably been tumbling in his tomb for some time. It’s been decades since the once reviled output of EC has become revered as some of the best comic books ever produced. Now the thing that killed the entire EC line — with the exception of MAD — has joined Gaines in the great beyond.

The Comics Code Authority is no more.

With the decision of Archie Comics, the last line to carry to the familiar stamp, to drop the Code as of February, the Comics Magazine Association of America has nothing to do. Marvel dropped the Code in 2001. Bongo dropped out last year, and in January, DC dropped the seal from the few books that still carried it.

When I first started reading comics in the 1970s, I took the seal of the Code, the big “A” designed to look like a stamp, as part of the cover design of all comics. It was just there; by then, it meant little or nothing to the reader, although, as I later discovered, publishers still subscribed to its tenets and continued to be hamstrung by its strictures. It wasn’t until I delved into the history of comics that I learned of the fear that had created the Code and the havoc it had wrought.

I’m not going to tell the whole story here; to learn the nitty gritty details, check out “Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code” by Amy Kriste Nyberg. After Dr. Fredric Wertham published “Seduction of the Innocents” in 1954, blaming comics for juvenile delinquency, and hearings were held by the U.S. Senate and other government agencies, comic publishers decided to forestall any sort of government censorship by forming the Comics Magazine Association of America in September 1954 and adopting a code — largely based on an earlier unenforced code — to reassure parents that comics were safe reading for kids. It was the Patriot Act of the comic book industry.

The initial Code criteria outlawed torture, gore and glorifying criminals; it banned the words “weird,” “horror” and “terror” from titles, killing two of EC’s best-selling books; and it prohibited zombies, vampires and werewolves, thus wiping out the best that EC and other publishers had to offer in what we now lovingly know as the “pre-Code” era of horror comics.

The Code was modified in 1971, which allowed the classic horror comics of my era, such as Tomb of Dracula, Werewolf By Night and Swamp Thing. Other changes at that time allowed the portrayal of drugs — only in a negative light, of course — after Marvel published a three-issue Spider-Man arc showing Harry Osborn on dope. It went on the stands without the seal and still sold well.

Changes to the comic book industry in the 1980s, including the explosion of the direct market and the gradual decline in importance of newsstands, made the Code largely irrelevant. Publishers like Dark Horse eschewed the Code. The major publishers launched imprints designed for adults, and then began using their own rating system for their regular lines. In the end, not even Archie was submitting its comics to the CMAA for review; they simply slapped the seal on the books. After all, Dell had never subscribed to the Code, and heck, what parent today would suspect anything inappropriate from an Archie comic? (Although I’m not so sure about those Archie gets married story arcs, and Betty and Veronica always seemed pretty “grown up” for teens, nudge nudge wink wink.)

Did the Comics Code Authority save America’s children from degenerate publishers like William Gaines? Probably. According to Nyberg, the other publishers insisted the horror comics had to be sacrificed “as proof the industry meant business.” Gaines didn’t see it that way and refused to join the association. He eventually caved, since distributors refused to carry non-Code approved comics. He tried a number of “New Direction” titles that failed to take hold before devoting all his resources to MAD, which converted to magazine format to avoid the Code.

Had the horror and crime trend that had taken over the industry after superheroes fell from grace after World War II continued, who knows where the industry might have ended up. More likely than not, another trend would have come along. One thing is certain: to work within the Code, comic book creators had two choices. They could pump out bland, inoffensive stories such like the late 1950s DC superheroes (ever try to really read an issue of Batman or Superman from 1956? Painful) or the Dell, Harvey and Archie kiddie stuff, or write the sort of silly monster comics that Stan Lee and his gang pumped out at Marvel, until they hit upon the formula that led to the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man and ushered in the Silver Age of comics (yes, I know the Silver Age actually began with Showcase #4, but the storytelling and art didn’t truly define a new “age” until the Marvel superheroes hit their stride; my opinion).

The Code will forever belong to a long era of comic book history, its stamp indelibly marking hundreds of thousands of covers, from the excruciatingly awful to the sublimely wonderful. It was a product of its time, like the movie rating system implemented a decade and a half later, but lacked the wherewithal and popular support — or recognition — to overcome industry changes. Maybe the changes the movie industry is going through now, with on-line distribution and instant streaming cutting out distributors and exhibitors, will eventually make the MPAA system moot as well.

The Code certainly won’t be missed; it hasn’t been for years. I doubt many parents after that first generation knew or cared about the code. Mine certainly didn’t. By the mid-1970s, it was largely irrelevant. But it will remain forever fixed in my mind as a part of the comic books I loved the most.

Not something William Gaines would ever say. But he’s too busy laughing anyway.

Posted by Manphibian at 1:47 am  Tagged with:

Review by Haiku: White Zombie (1932) by Cary Christopher

 Reviews by Haiku  No Responses »
Mar 302011
 

White Zombie (1932)

199092_1020_A A young woman falls under the spell of an evil voodoo priest in this horror classic.

The Review:

Bela Lugosi
His beard in White Zombie rules!
I must grow one too!

 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Posted by Cary Christopher at 5:21 pm  Tagged with: , , ,

The Midway Postcard Gallery Volume 8 March, 2011

 Features  No Responses »
Mar 292011
 

The Midway Postcard gallery Volume 8 March 2011

There was once a time that I didn’t particularly care for amusement parks. In fact I was downright frightened of even the idea of riding a roller coaster. In college when I started dating my wife, she insisted that I accompany her to a local amusement park called Paragon Park in Nantasket Beach, Nantasket, MA. After much cajoling, and questioning of my manhood, she finally got me on the big wooden coaster, known ominously as The Giant Coaster. It was a harrowing ride, but when the train slammed to a halt in the station after the seemingly endless two plus minutes were over, I breathlessly looked at her and said “Let’s ride it again!”.

Such was the beginning of my love affair with amusement parks. It all started at this traditional trolley park that opened in 1905, and closed in 1985, only one year after my love affair with it began. Thankfully the roller coaster was saved, purchased by a park near Washington DC, that has since been folded into the Six Flags chain. It was renamed The Wild One. I’ve been lucky enough to ride it in its current home, but nothing will replace the feelings I have for that ride when it resided in a sleepy seaside town a mere 30 minute drive south of Boston. Because Paragon Park was so long lived, there are many postcards available from there, spanning from the undivided back era to the modern chrome era. This months column will show examples of cards from Paragon Park throughout the years.

First up is an example of what many of the early amusement park cards showed, ride or show buildings. The view is of the Trip to the North Pole attraction, a ride through scenes of the North Pole and its fauna and denizens. Notice the faux icicles hanging from nearly every surface, and the igloo and ice bound boat visible on the roof of the loading platform. This attraction was located around a central lagoon, a common set up of parks of that time frame. To the left of the Trip to the North Pole ride, is the Johnstown Flood attraction. This was a common attraction in amusement parks at the turn of the century, and was a show which illustrated with models, lights, and special effects, the devastating flood which affected Johnstown Pennsylvania in 1889.

The Trip To The North Pole Ride Paragon Park Nantasket Beach

Our next view is a beautiful close up image of riders about to take off on the Traver Airship Swing. Manufactured by the Traver amusement company of Beaver falls, PA, the Airship Swing was another common ride of the time. Much like modern rocket or swing rides, the cars would spin around a central point, which started out low to the ground and gradually raised until it was higher up in the air. Cards like this are highly sought after as they show the ride in relative close up, and allows you to see the riders dress and park signage, like the Fish Pond sign just to the right of the main car center.

Traver Airship Swing Paragon Park Nantasket Beach

This next view is another close view showing a now defunct ride called The Witching Waves. A prototype of bumper cars, the Witching Waves ride would propel the cars forward in an aimless fashion with wooden or steel rollers installed under a rubber mat like floor. As the cars were propelled forward they would hit other cars on the ride. These rides were short lived, probably due to the invention of bumper cars, which allowed the rider the freedom of propelling their car towards another patron, preferably a member of the opposite sex. As you can see this ride was situated on the center island which was surrounded by the lagoon.

The Witching Waves Paragon Park

Though it wasn’t the first roller coaster at Paragon Park, The Giant Coaster was the biggest. After a fire nearly destroyed the park in 1916, the ownership invested over $100,000 in building the Giant Coaster in time for the opening of the 1917 season. It was this beautiful behemoth that I first rode some 67 years later for the first time. As you can see the coaster was very close to the beach.

The Giant Coaster in the 1930's Paragon park

This view shows you what I looked out upon as I crested the top of the lift hill for the first time 27 years ago. The turnaround in front of you in this card, is the same part of the ride closest to you in the previous view. Both cards are excellent examples of views which have a great deal of eye appeal. Neither is particularly rare, but because they are both such attractive views, they usually are priced at $10-15 each.

The Giant Coaster from the top of the lift hill

The next view is a linen view of the beach, with park in the background which was mailed in 1942, with World War II in full swing. I’m including this card more for the back than the front, however. Because postcards can have such attractive views on the front of them, and those views are the reason people collect them, it’s easy to forget that postcards were a means of communication. A way for a friend, or relative to send a few lines to a loved one about what they were doing, or feeling at a certain point in time. My wife loves reading the messages on postcards, even more than the view on the front sometimes, and is often disappointed when the cards are unused. Most messages are rather prosaic, telling the recipient they are enjoying themselves, or asking a mundane question. They generally have little to say about the subject of the card itself, but every once in a while the message is so interesting, touching, or funny, that one wonders why anyone would have let it out of their possession. This is my wife’s favorite message on any card I own. It’s legible, so I won’t type what is written here, but the last sentence gets her every time.

Paragon Park and Beach at Nantasket, MA

Message found on previous postcard

This next view from the 1940’s is also an interesting story. It shows the street that runs along the back of the rides, and illustrates the many arcades, and games of skill and chance that littered the boardwalk. Also, the top of the coaster can be seen as well as the Traver Airship Swing at far left. This card was given to me by a man who was a patient of mine many years ago. He was a contractor, and was demolishing a wall in a house to increase the size of someone’s kitchen, and it fell to the floor at his feet when the wall fell. Many times in older houses, newspaper or any other available paper was used in the walls as insulation. I was touched that he remembered the conversation we’d had a few months earlier about amusement parks, when I had told him I collected postcards. He passed away a few years later, but I’ll always have this card to remember him by.

Linen view of Paragon Park game and arcade buildings

The last three cards I’m presenting this month are all chrome cards from the 1960’s. These cards are the closest images I have to how I remember this classic amusement park. The first is a nice view showing the lift hill and first drop of The Giant Coaster in the background. In front of the coaster can be seen a classic rocket ride with the distinctive silver rocket cars. The domed building to the left is probably the carousel building, the only ride that still resides at Nantsaket Beach today, saved by locals who didn’t want the park to be erased forever. Finally up front, on the left can be seen a small roller coaster known as a Mad Mouse. These popular rides can still be found in many amusement parks, some newer versions spin as they descend the tracks. The shtick behind a Mad Mouse is that the front end of the car will seemingly go off the edge of the tracks when the car makes very sharp turns, usually on a gently sloping upper section. If you look at the red, white, and blue car on the tracks, you can see how set back the wheels are from the front of the car, increasing the illusion that the car is about to come off the tracks.

Chrome view of The Giant Coaster, Mad Mouse and other rides at Paragon Park

Our next view shows a few more of the rides at Paragon, including a sad looking miniature train ride (not much scenery to see on that ride!), a Flying Scooters ride center back, still commonly seen at parks today, and The Looper, center left. In this diabolical ride, the circular cars would travel in a circle like a carousel, but the riders could move bars inside each car to cause them to spin in a clockwise fashion, while the entire platform spun. Excuse me, I’ve got to go hurl!

Assorted rides at Paragon Park

In the last view the Giant Coaster dominates the background, while in the foreground a Caterpillar ride can be seen. This is a rare ride now, though common in the past. There are about 6 left in the world, and only three still have the fabric covering that slides over the heads of riders as it spins. One of the three can be found at Canobie Lake Park in Salem NH. Behind the Caterpillar is another rare ride today that was common in the past, The Tilt-A-Whirl. To the right of the Tilt-A-Whirl can be seen the carousel building and a different angle view of The Flying Scooters. It’s a shame that Paragon Park closed, especially since it was still a viable commercial enterprise at the end, unlike many of its contemporaries. Paragon Park fell victim to greed, as the land was sold off to build seaside condominiums, many of which sat unsold for many years, until the state purchased them to use for elderly and affordable housing.

Giant Coaster, Caterpillar, and Tilt-A-Whirl at Paragon Park

Our sideshow postcard section features two cards that feature Betty Williams, the girl with four legs and three arms. The first view shows Betty as a 15 month old baby on one side, and is if to balance the limb books, has limbless phenomenon Freda Pushnik on the other side of the card.

Betty Williams and Freda Pushnik sideshow performers

The second card of Betty Williams also shows her as a young girl. It more clearly illustrates her condition, which resulted from a twin which did not fully separate from her in utero, and protrudes from her abdomen.  Many times these growths are known as vestigial twins, and are almost always a combination of arms and legs, though occasionally heads or partial heads could be present as well.

Betty Williams the girl with four legs and three arms

GLOSSARY:
The type of card will often help one judge its age, as postcard manufacture went through several phases and changes over the years. The terms below will be what I use to describe cards, and will inform you what time frame those cards are from.
Private Mailing Card: 1850’s-1900 Marked on the back as such, only an address allowed on the back.

Undivided Back: 1900-1907 Most cards printed in Germany, address only on back of card, front may have space for message. All cards after 1907 are divided back, meaning both a message and an address may be written on the back

Early Chrome: Mostly German printed cards that have printing to the edges of a photographic image that’s been colored or a drawn image. 1900-1918.

White Border Cards: Mostly American printed starting 1918-1930’s. Generally inferiorly printed, especially the earlier ones, as American printing presses had not yet caught up with the superior German ones. Obviously World War 1 ended German dominance of the then very lucrative postcard printing market.

Linen Cards: These cards are characterized by a thin layer of linen that is glued over the paper prior to printing, giving them a non-smooth surface to the touch. 1940-s-early1950’s.

Chrome Cards: Postcards like you are used to today. Printed photographs on glossy stock. These date from the mid 1950’s until present, and are almost 100% of all new postcards made since the 1970’s. Chrome cards prior to the 1970’s are called Standard Size, which indicates the pre-1970’s postcard size of 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches. Almost all postcards printed since the 1970’s have been 4 inches by 6 inches or what is known as Continental Size. Since I do not actively collect continental sized postcards, all my images are of standard sized cards.

Real Photo Postcard RPPC: This is a card which is an actual photograph printed on actual photographic paper, generally made in limited numbers by small independent photographers. They may date from 1900 until present day, and can be dated approximately by the markings on the back. They are the rarest and most sought after postcards by collectors

Posted by Kimfair at 5:42 pm  

The Midway Postcard Gallery Volume 7 February 2011

 Features  No Responses »
Mar 012011
 

The Midway Postcard Gallery Volume 7 February 2011

This month we move south from Maine, stop for a brief minute in Maryland, and move back north into Massachusetts. Since I live in Massachusetts, I have more cards from here than any other state. This first month, I’ll be presenting cards from smaller parks where I may only have a card or two. In the next 4-6 months I will be presenting cards from Massachusetts by specific park, including at least three months just on Revere Beach, MA. The sideshow cards are back this month as well. So without further ado we move onto Glen Echo Park, located in Glen Echo, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. The first card here is an excellent example of a drawn linen card. It depicts the U-Run-’Em Motor Boats ride, and is obviously a drawn representation rather than a photograph. This was a ride where each rider would guide their boat around a course, much like the old fashioned car rides prevalent in modern amusement parks. Also note the airplane ride behind the buildings.

U-Run-'Em Boat Ride Glen Echo Park, MD

Next is another Glen Echo Park card. A gorgeous close-up linen view of riders enjoying the Coaster Dips roller coaster. Close-up views like this are always sought out by collectors. Postcard collecting, like all collectibles, is a game of supply and demand. Also like some collectibles, sheer attractiveness to the eye, also can raise a postcards value. This view is the epitome of a card with high eye appeal. Coupled with it’s relative rarity, this card usually retails for $20-25.

Glen Echo Park Giant Dips

With that we move onto to the smaller Massachusetts parks. With all the focus in recent years on building roller coasters across the country, many may think that we are living in high times for amusement parks. Before the Great Depression, however, there were thousands of trolley parks scattered around the country, many of which had a roller coaster or two among their cadre of rides. There are currently somewhere close to 500 roller coasters currently running in the US. At the height of amusement parks popularity there were over 2500 roller coasters in the US. A book I have on New England amusement parks lists over 60 parks that have existed in Massachusetts alone. Currently we have only Six Flags New England (once Riverside Park). The next four cards are from Highland Park in Brockton, MA. Brockton is a working class enclave about 30 miles south of Boston. Highland Park was around at the turn of the century, as is evident from the cars and dress of the people in the views, but I can’t find any information on when it exactly opened or closed. Since every card I’ve seen from there is pre 1910, I would assume it didn’t last much longer than that. Here you can see the entrance (a popular card subject), as well as the roller coaster at left, and a nice antique car. I have two other view of the entrance and coaster from a slightly different angle.

Highland Park Entrance showing Roller Coaster Brockton MA

This next view shows the entrance again. Notice the ladies at the left of the little girl in the white dress, as well as the detail of the shrubbery to the right of the front gate. Also notice the white area on the right of the card for a message. This is an undivided back postcard, so it was not allowed to have a message on the back. This card was mailed in 1908. The message at right reads “I Just heard about the Costume Party. I Suppose you are going. M.A.P.”

Entrance to Highland Park Brockton, MA

Next we have the same view, but instead of full color, this one is printed in a monochrome greenish tint. The limitations of this printing method are obvious, as the women to the left of the little girl have disappeared, as has the definition of the shrubs to the right of the gate. This card was not mailed, but someone has written in pencil in the white space right “B.M.D. Oct 11, 1906”

Highland Park Entrance Brockton MA

Finally we have one last variation of this view, which is the same as the previous card, except with the addition of edging glitter. If you look around the gate to the park, you will see that a thin line of glue was added to the card followed by dipping the card into glitter. There is also some glitter on the wall to the right of the entrance. This was a very common way of gussying up a card so that a premium price could be placed on it. Other than the glitter, this card is identical to the previous card. I bought both of them at a flea market for $1 each.

Highland Park Entrance with glitter

Next we move west to Mountain Park in Holyoke, MA. About 60 miles southwest of Boston, Mountain Park was situated at the base of Mount Tom and started as a trolley park in the late 1800’s. The roller coaster was installed in 1929. In this late 30’s, early 40’s card, the coaster can be seen curling it’s way around the park’s periphery, with a Traver Circle Swing seen in the back, as well as trolley tracks, and several amusement buildings along the midway.


The next card is another view from Mountain Park. This is a chrome card from the 60’s and it shows the Funhouse, which advertises a Magic Carpet on it’s side. The Magic Carpet was a sofa type seat on the second floor of a two story walk through funhouse. A lever is pulled, and patrons flop down onto a moving belt that transports them over bumps below to the first floor to exit. This was the next step from the Drop Seat which simply dropped your seat from under you and plopped you down on the floor. This card is hard to come by, as I’ve not seen another copy of it since I bought this one about 10 years ago. This card was mailed in 1968.

Mountain Park Holyoke, MA Funhouse

Further to the south in Fall River, MA, there was Sandy Beach., another late 1800’s to early 1900’s era trolley park. Trolley parks were so named because the owners of trolley lines would build parks at the end of trolley lines as a means to have people ride the trolleys on weekend as well as to commute. It was the prevalence of these small trolley parks that accounted for the vast number of roller coasters and other rides accessible to our forefathers. Some trolley parks, like Riverside in MA became larger, and lasted, most like Sandy Beach, succumbed to the automobile age, where one could travel to whatever place one wanted, and not be beholden to the trolley owners and their choice of destination. This is a really nice real photo card of the figure eight roller coaster. The figure eight roller coaster was the most common roller coaster found in parks in the teens and 20’s. Of the hundreds of them that were built, only one remains, Leap The Dips at Lakemont Park in Altoona, PA Notice the four person individual cars rather than a tradition train of connected cars. The A.V. Dubois Pro along the bottom is the publisher (and probably photographer). This card was mailed in 1910.

Sandy Hill Fall River, MA Figure Eight Roller Coaster RPPC

The next park was also a trolley park, Lakeview Park in Dracut, MA, near Lowell, about 30 miles northwest of Boston. It opened for business in 1889, and by the 1910’s had a merry go round and figure eight roller coaster. The Deep Dips roller coaster, seen here traveling over the entrance to the park, was built in the late 1920’s. This card, which is in near mint unused condition was published in the 1930’s. It is another card with a generous helping of eye appeal.

Deep Dips Roller Coaster and Entrance to Lakeview Park Dracut, MA

Finally I’ll close with two more sideshow performer cards. These are two more images of armless woman Frances O’Connor, the Living Venus De Milo. The first is a classic real photo card that was printed no later than 1942. Since Frances was born in 1914, this means she is in her 20’s in this card, no older than 28. As is all her cards, it is autographed on the back.

Frances O'Connor RPPC

The last Frances O’Connor card is a little later, as she appears to be in her 30’s. It is a printed photograph, not a real photo card. She retired at the end of the 40’s when her mother passed away, so this card probably comes from that era. I love the way she’s holding the drinking glass in her foot. Again it is autographed on the back. I have one more Frances O’Connor card from this same sitting (same outfit, different pose), but it is fairly rough condition compared to these.

Frances O'Connor The Living Venus De Milo

GLOSSARY:
The type of card will often help one judge its age, as postcard manufacture went through several phases and changes over the years. The terms below will be what I use to describe cards, and will inform you what time frame those cards are from.
Private Mailing Card: 1850’s-1900 Marked on the back as such, only an address allowed on the back.

Undivided Back: 1900-1907 Most cards printed in Germany, address only on back of card, front may have space for message. All cards after 1907 are divided back, meaning both a message and an address may be written on the back

Early Chrome: Mostly German printed cards that have printing to the edges of a photographic image that’s been colored or a drawn image. 1900-1918.

White Border Cards: Mostly American printed starting 1918-1930’s. Generally inferiorly printed, especially the earlier ones, as American printing presses had not yet caught up with the superior German ones. Obviously World War 1 ended German dominance of the then very lucrative postcard printing market.

Linen Cards: These cards are characterized by a thin layer of linen that is glued over the paper prior to printing, giving them a non-smooth surface to the touch. 1940-s-early1950’s.

Chrome Cards: Postcards like you are used to today. Printed photographs on glossy stock. These date from the mid 1950’s until present, and are almost 100% of all new postcards made since the 1970’s. Chrome cards prior to the 1970’s are called Standard Size, which indicates the pre-1970’s postcard size of 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches. Almost all postcards printed since the 1970’s have been 4 inches by 6 inches or what is known as Continental Size. Since I do not actively collect continental sized postcards, all my images are of standard sized cards.

Real Photo Postcard RPPC: This is a card which is an actual photograph printed on actual photographic paper, generally made in limited numbers by small independent photographers. They may date from 1900 until present day, and can be dated approximately by the markings on the back. They are the rarest and most sought after postcards by collectors

Posted by Kimfair at 6:31 pm  

Review By Haiku: Altered (2006) by Cary Christopher

 Reviews by Haiku  No Responses »
Feb 082011
 

Altered (2006)

Alteredcover

Three men who were abducted by aliens as kids capture an E.T. to get revenge. Not knowing what to do next, they seek the help of their estranged fellow abductee.  Directed by Eduardo Sanchez (Blair Witch Project).

The Haiku Review:

Rednecks get revenge
Intestines are strewn about
This film is awesome!

Rating: 4 out of 5

Posted by Cary Christopher at 10:43 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

The Midway Postcard gallery Vol 6 Jan 2011

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Jan 192011
 
When I started collecting antique amusement  park postcards, I shopped at local New England antique stores mostly, and grabbed what was available. That was usually the less expensive common cards. Maine has two small amusement parks now, but in it’s heyday there was only one place of note, Old Orchard Beach, or OOB (Oh-Oh-Bee) as the locals call it. There are a ton of OOB cards, and even though I generally only buy views with rides on them, there are plenty of those as well. I’m always looking for roller coasters of course, but I also like cards featuring dark rides and funhouses, like the Noah’s Ark ride at OOB. My wife hails from the great state of Maine, so we would travel up there often for weekends to visit her family. Antique shops in Maine were a treasure trove of OOB cards.

The Noah’s Ark ride was once a ubiquitous sight along the midway of American and European amusement parks. The ark would rock slowly back and forth as if on waves, while the “riders” walked through the structure (including stairs and moving floorboards). They are obviously an ambulance chaser’s wet dream. Where once there were hundreds, now there are just two. One is at Blackpool in the UK, the other is at Kennywood near Pittsburgh, PA. There was also one at OOB.

There for many years, cards of the ark were something I’d always see. Many of them were only a buck or two, so I’d pick them up here and there. Then I noticed something. Cards that I thought I might own already were actually slightly different from what I had, with different angles, or slightly different cloud formations, maybe a different paint job on the ark. Due to the longevity of the OOB Noah’s Ark attraction, you see cards of many different types and ages, from white border 1930’s cards to modern chromes from the 1960’s, each type with variations.

I started collecting antique amusement park postcards in the early-nineties, and the trend of finding strange and unique Noah’s Ark cards continues to this day. Over the years I have amassed 75 different postcards that show the OOB Noah’s Ark, or some portion of it, from it’s origins in the 1930’s until it’s demise in the 1969. By far and away more cards than I have on any other single attraction or ride.

The sideshow performer images will return next month, so that I can highlight fifteen of my various OOB Noah’s Ark views this month. When I started this hobby, I couldn’t have possibly have known that I would amass so many cards on such an seemingly arcane subject. Such are the vagaries of collecting.

First is the common “Greetings” postcard. This one is a multi-view showing the ark, pier, and beach, along with some comely lasses in those risqué bathing suits. This card was posted in 1938.

Noah's Ark OOB Greetings card

A second “Greetings” card, this one a chrome card from the 60’s.  It shows the ark, the pier, the entrance to the pier, and the beach. In addition to these two, I have 3 more “Greetings” cards from OOB featuring at least part of the ark.

Chrome Noah's Ark OOB Greetings view

This is an overview of the amusement area. In addition to the ark, you can see the Skooter ride (bumper cars), and the carousel on the second level above the Skooter. Note the great antique autos and the faux stone “Mount Ararat” the ark sits upon.

Overview of OOB pier

An unusual view as only the bow of the ark is seen, with the main focus being on the carousel building and the entrance to the pier. One can grasp a sense of scope of size of the mountain and ark from the adults and children seen nearby.

Carousel and Ark OOB

Another angle showing inside the carousel building, with the ark behind. There are far fewer cards that show the ark from the pier towards inland. Most views show either the ark straight on, or from the ark’s right towards the pier. This is a more expensive card since it is a rarer view, and it features the carousel, which is a whole branch of postcard collecting on it’s own.

Carousel and Ark OOB

This next one was the first close up view I owned (this is an upgrade from that card), but it still remains one of my favorites. It has a great sign at right that states “Noah’s Ark Bughouse Freaks”.  That was the sign for the freakshow inside part of the ark building. Also part was the entrance for the Coal Mine, a donkey drawn ride through a replica Kentucky coal mine. The Coal Mine was notable for Sadie, the donkey who worked the ride. Most pictures of Sadie show her as light colored, so it’s unlikely the donkey seen in this view is Sadie.

Noah's Ark and Bughouse Freaks OOB

The next two will illustrate one of the ways that variations can manifest. Both are American Art Postcard Co views printed in the 1930’s. Both are ostensibly the same image with very slight variation. See if you can note the four differences in the two views.

Ark variation number one

Ark variation two

First, the easy ones, the card number has been moved to the right. Next, the title of the card is now centered. Third the cloud formations have changed, and fourth, the overall color of the view has lightened from view one to two.

This next view is a close-up linen era card, showing the ark with red and white stripe motif. Note the Coal Mine attraction, as well as the roller coaster slide ride behind the ark  This card was mailed in 1941.

Red and White striped ark OOB

Another linen view at night highlighting the great neon and lit signage. This card also comes in a daytime variation, as well as with two different borders (white linen and orange linen).

Linen night view of ark OOB

This may be the rarest view of the ark I have. I bought it at a show for $4 years ago, and have never come across it again. It’s a postcard, not a real photo, but is a photograph. I would guess it is mid-60’s judging from the cars, but perhaps a bigger car nut than I could help us there.

Black and white photo of Ark OOB

This next view is a 1960’s chrome view, and since it has the same paint job on the ark, it must be of around that same vintage.

Chrome view of ark OOB

This scalloped edge chrome card is also hard to find. Again, I’ve not seen this card except for the time I won it on eBay. I paid somewhere around $5 for it.  The Coal Mine also perseveres, as does Sadie. Not sure if she’s the original Sadie or not.

Chrome scalloped edge view showing Sadie of the Coal Mine

I have a number of cards like this that I call “Find the Ark!” cards. Usually tucked into a corner or behind something, they make up a small proportion of the total ark cards I own.

Find the ark!

My final card is also a rare card that I‘ve seen just twice in my collecting time, and that is a close-up view of the donkey Sadie, of the Coal Mine attraction. Unfortunately, the Coal  Mine as well as the OOB Noah’s Ark was destroyed by fire in 1969.

Sadie of the Coal Mine

GLOSSARY:
The type of card will often help one judge its age, as postcard manufacture went through several phases and changes over the years. The terms below will be what I use to describe cards, and will inform you what time frame those cards are from.

Private Mailing Card: 1850’s-1900  Marked on the back as such, only an address allowed on the back.

Undivided Back: 1900-1907 Most cards printed in Germany, address only on back of card, front may have space for message. All cards after 1907 are divided back, meaning both a message and an address may be written on the back

Early Chrome: Mostly German printed cards that have printing to the edges of a photographic image that’s been colored or a drawn image. 1900-1918.

White Border Cards: Mostly American printed starting 1918-1930’s. Generally inferiorly printed, especially the earlier ones, as American printing presses had not yet caught up with the superior German ones. Obviously World War 1 ended German dominance of the then very lucrative postcard printing market.

Linen Cards: These cards are characterized by a thin layer of linen that is glued over the paper prior to printing, giving them a non-smooth surface to the touch. 1940-s-early1950’s.

Chrome Cards:  Postcards like you are used to today. Printed photographs on glossy stock. These date from the mid 1950’s until present, and are almost 100% of all new postcards made since the 1970’s. Chrome cards prior to the 1970’s are called Standard Size, which indicates the pre-1970’s postcard size of 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches. Almost all postcards printed since the 1970’s have been 4 inches by 6 inches or what is known as Continental Size.  Since I do not actively collect continental sized postcards, all my images are of standard sized cards.

Real Photo Postcard RPPC: This is a card which is an actual photograph printed on actual photographic paper, generally made in limited numbers by small independent photographers. They may date from 1900 until present day, and can be dated approximately by the markings on the back. They are the rarest and most sought after postcards by collectors
Posted by Kimfair at 7:05 pm  

The Midway Postcard Gallery Volume 5 Nov/Dec 2010

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Nov 302010
 

The Midway Postcard Gallery Volume 5 November/December 2010

Due to the busy holiday season I have posted this installment for both November and December. I will return to a monthly format in January.

We begin this month’s column in the Hoosier state of Indiana at a small park called The Enchanted Forest Amusement Park in Chesterton, IN. This is a 1960’s era chrome postcard. This park doesn’t hold much interest for me, but the ride this postcard depicts does. Called the “Swinging Gym” in Indiana, I knew this ride as “The Flying Cages”, at the park I grew up near, Lincoln Park in North Dartmouth, MA. One or two people would get in each cage, and by working together (or with the movement of the cage if alone), you could get the cages to go around repeatedly. This card has the best close up image of this defunct(?) ride that I’ve ever seen.

Swinging Gym in Chesterton, IN

Astute gapingmediahole readers may recognize this next Indiana icon, the Santa Claus statue at what is now Holiday World, but what was known when this linen card was printed as Santa Claus Land, in Santa Claus Indiana. Not many people have traveled to Santa Claus, but I’ve been there three times. The park is run by the nicest owners you can imagine, and you should see how well they get their many teenage employees to behave. It’s a problem at many parks, but Holiday World knows what they’re doing. They have three top notch roller coasters. They also have free soda, and suntan lotion. Check them out, it’s well worth it.

Santa Claus statue at Santa Claus Land, Santa Claus, IN

I don’t have many cards from Iowa, only two in fact. The other is from Arnolds Park, and is a nice, unspectacular chrome general view. This is a nicer card, however, from Riverview Park in Des Moines, showing the roller coaster turnaround to the right, as well as the bathhouse, bathing beach, and water slide as well. This card was posted in 1930.

Riverview Park Des Moines, IA

Until Six Flags sunk their talons into Jazzland, turning it into the doomed Six Flags New Orleans, Louisiana hadn’t had a major amusement park since the demise of Ponchartrain Beach in 1983. This aerial view shows the roller coaster, named Zephyr, as well as other amusements and buildings along the shoreline. Six Flags New Orleans fell victim to Hurricane Katrina, but Ponchartrain Beach closed due to neglect and lack of local support.

Ponchartrain Park from the air

Heading northeast from Louisiana, we go to Maine, and to a small amusement park just outside Portland, Maine, called Riverton Park. My wife’s brother, our sister in-law, and our nephew live a short drive away from where this majestic roller coaster, The Riverton Flyer once stood. This is a rare card, as I’ve only seen it twice in my years of collecting. It’s always nice when a view like this offers more than a side view, and shows you much more of the ride from its interior.

Riverton Flyer at Riverton Park, Portland, ME

A little south of Portland, also along the shore line is a place long popular with Mainers, as well as a staggering number of French Canadians in their banana hammock swimwear. This grape snuggling magnet is called Old Orchard Beach. Mostly an amusement area near, and around a pier, the fortunes of the area have waxed and waned over the years. Once the pier jutted out 3 times as far as today, but the enemy of many seaside amusement areas, storms and fires, have conspired to leave the place a shadow of it’s heyday’s heights. It’s now nothing but a broken palace with a decidedly seedy undertone. There are just a small number of amusements still standing, but plenty of t-shirt shops and tattoo parlors. If you every get there, do get some pier fries (only from the one near the pier not on the pier), douse them with vinegar, sprinkle some salt, on ‘em, and sit looking at the water eating them. As good as it gets.

Anyway, Old Orchard, commonly called OOB (Oh Oh Bee), by locals, has had a long amusement history starting at the turn of the century. Here is a quality view of Peck’s Prancing Ponies, a steeplechase ride where riders sat astride mechanical horses and raced each other. Riders can be seen at left, just coming up the last hill, into the end run turn, which you see before you. The station and lift hill are seen on the right.

Peck's Prancing Ponies at Old Orchard Beach, ME

Our next OOB card is a nice close up of riders on The Caterpillar ride. Another ride common to parks from the 20’s to the 60’s, but rarely seen today, The Caterpillar goes around with small hills, as you can see, but the green fabric that is can be seen here circling around the inside of the ride, would come over the riders like a canopy, sealing them in total darkness, as the ride continued spinning. Finally the canopy would uncover, and it would be time to debark. Canobie Lake Park in Salem, NH, a park my wife and I try to visit at least once a year, still has a working Caterpillar ride. I can’t ride it, though. They don’t nickname these type of rides spin and pukes for no reason. This card was posted in 1928.

Caterpillar Ride at Old Orchard Beach, ME 1928

The next card, also from OOB is a beautiful real photo card that I completely lucked upon on eBay. There are tons of OOB cards, most of them are “commons”, cards that you see multiple copies of everywhere, from eBay to flea markets, to postcard shows. There are a few that are rare, however, and this is one of those. I happened to look at an auction that had as its description just the words Old Orchard Beach, starting bid $8. I figured I’d see what crazy common card the seller thought was worth $8. It was this real photo postcard, and a second, real photo postcard showing a different, older roller coaster at OOB. I put it a $25 bid, waited out the two days left, and took both home for $8 plus shipping. To illustrate just how good a deal that was, I had in my collection a reprint real photo of this card that I paid $1 for years ago. It was clearly marked as a reprint, and I sold it on eBay as a reprint. I got $32 for it! If they only knew, suckers!

Cyclone Roller Coaster and Airplane on beach at Old Orchard Beach, ME

This next card is not as common as most OOB cards, but still comes up pretty often, which is why it can usually be had for less than $10. Generally a high quality view like this one, with a close up of the station, riders in the train, track work, the brakeman on the platform to the left of the train, the patrons waiting to board, would bring a premium, maybe $20-30, but in this supply and demand collectible world, there’s a lot more supply of this view.

Interior of Roller Coaster Station Old Orchard Beach, ME

Our last OOB card this month is another real photo card with an all too familiar theme as I stated before. It shows firefighters trying to put out the massive blaze that destroyed the Cyclone roller coaster in 1948. This postcard dates from sometime after 1950, as it has a Kodak back, and that trademark was not used on real photo postcards prior to 1950.  Kodak is basically the only company that still produces any real photo cards at all.

Firefighters try to save the Cyclone Old Orchard beach, ME

This month, our two sideshow cards are of the same performer, The Living Venus De Milo, Frances O’Connor. This beautiful young woman was born in 1914 in Minnesota, perfect in every way but one. She had no arms. Learning to use her feet at an early age as hands, Frances could do most household tasks. She toured, with her mother as her manager in the Al G. Barnes Circus, Cole Brothers, Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey, and the circus she worked for in this card, Sells-Floto. The stamp box marking on this real photo card dates it to no earlier than 1926, when Frances would have been 12. From her looks in the picture, I’d say she was between 12 and 14 , so this card dates from between 1926 and 1930 or so.

Frances O'Connor The Living Venus De Milo age 12-16?

As with all of her postcards, Frances always autographed the back of each one with her feet. Her penmanship is astounding considering her situation. This autograph is from the back of this Sells-Floto postcard.

Frances O'Connor autograph, back of card

This last card depicts Frances as a slightly older young woman, probably late teens, early twenties. Notice her now wearing a skirt, as to show a bit more leg than was common at the time. This no doubt endeared her to her male audience. In this postcard she holds a glass. Frances was one of the stars of a classic film, Freaks, which was originally released in 1932. The story takes place in a circus sideshow, and director Tod Browning chose to use actual contemporary sideshow performers. In addition to Frances they included such luminaries in the sideshow world as Harry and Daisy Earle, the limbless Prince Randian, Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, Schlitzie the Pinhead, and the so called King of the Freaks, Johnny Eck, the legless wonder.

Frances O'Connnor The Living Venus De Milo

GLOSSARY:
The type of card will often help one judge its age, as postcard manufacture went through several phases and changes over the years. The terms below will be what I use to describe cards, and will inform you what time frame those cards are from.
Private Mailing Card: 1850’s-1900 Marked on the back as such, only an address allowed on the back.

Undivided Back: 1900-1907 Most cards printed in Germany, address only on back of card, front may have space for message. All cards after 1907 are divided back, meaning both a message and an address may be written on the back

Early Chrome: Mostly German printed cards that have printing to the edges of a photographic image that’s been colored or a drawn image. 1900-1918.

White Border Cards: Mostly American printed starting 1918-1930’s. Generally inferiorly printed, especially the earlier ones, as American printing presses had not yet caught up with the superior German ones. Obviously World War 1 ended German dominance of the then very lucrative postcard printing market.

Linen Cards: These cards are characterized by a thin layer of linen that is glued over the paper prior to printing, giving them a non-smooth surface to the touch. 1940-s-early1950’s.

Chrome Cards: Postcards like you are used to today. Printed photographs on glossy stock. These date from the mid 1950’s until present, and are almost 100% of all new postcards made since the 1970’s. Chrome cards prior to the 1970’s are called Standard Size, which indicates the pre-1970’s postcard size of 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches. Almost all postcards printed since the 1970’s have been 4 inches by 6 inches or what is known as Continental Size. Since I do not actively collect continental sized postcards, all my images are of standard sized cards.

Real Photo Postcard RPPC: This is a card which is an actual photograph printed on actual photographic paper, generally made in limited numbers by small independent photographers. They may date from 1900 until present day, and can be dated approximately by the markings on the back. They are the rarest and most sought after postcards by collectors

Posted by Kimfair at 1:01 pm  
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