July | 2012 | Amusing the Zillion

Archive for July, 2012

Video of the Day: Coney Island Lights by Jim McDonnell

Posted in amusement park, Amusement ride, video, tagged carnival lights, Coney Island, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, Jim McDonnell, Luna Park, Scream Zone on July 8, 2012| 2 Comments »

“Coney Island Lights,” a new video by photographer and self-described “footage guru” Jim McDonnell, is lyrical and bewitching. Lights from Coney’s various amusement parks and attractions come together fluidly thanks to masterful editing by Jim, who knows Coney Island and has a talent for distilling its essence into a short film.

Luna Park’s Air Race ride looks like its performing a ballet with the whirling pinwheels on the park’s lighted gate. You’ll also catch sight of the dancing lights of the landmark Cyclone and Wonder Wheel, Deno’s Carousel and the blinking red eye of the Spook-A-Rama Cyclops, 12th Street’s Saturn 6, Surf Avenue’s Eldorado, the new Boardwalk signs and Scream Zone rides, and the old school carnival rides in Cha Cha’s Steeplechase Park.

In 2010 and 2011, ATZ posted Jim McDonnell’s “Coney Island Dancing” videos. We’re looking forward to “Coney Island Dancing 2012,” which is being shot over the course of this summer.

Photo of the Day: Art on the Move in Coney Island

Posted in art, Photo of the Day, Photography, tagged Coca Cola billboard, Coca Cola Clock, Coney Island, design competition, Magic Clock, papier collé, Parachute Jump, Philip Tusa, Philomena Marano on July 6, 2012| 6 Comments »

Clock & Chute, Limited Edition Print by Philomena Marano on W 12th Street, Coney Island. June 9, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

On a recent Saturday, ATZ happened to see “Clock & Jump” by Philomena Marano, walking down 12th Street in Coney Island. We caught up with the artwork in front of a souvenir stand. It’s a limited edition print— one of 200 — made from the original papier collé, which is Philomena’s forte. The Clock in the print is the Coca Cola clock on a billboard that was a Boardwalk fixture in the 1950s and ’60s. The Jump is of course the landmark Parachute Jump, the sole survivor of Steeplechase Park.

“Coney Island has needed a clock since the hands fell off the Coca Cola clock some time ago. I guess in the late 70′s,” said Philomena in a comment on one of our previous posts about her work (“Art of the Day: Play Fascination by Philomena Marano,” ATZ, September 19, 2010). The face of the clock and the billboard are also long gone. “Philip and I are thinking about how to propose the clock project, seriously.”

In 2004, the artist teamed up with architect Philip Tusa to propose “A Pavilion with a Magic Clock” for the Van Alen Institute’s Parachute Pavilion design competition for Coney Island. There were 864 entries and cash awards of $18,000, but none of the entries won the commission to design the pavilion at Steeplechase Plaza.

Marano and Tusa gave their concept another go in 2008, when the Municipal Art Society asked the public to “Imagine Coney.” The section of their proposal titled “Reestablish Massive Clock” envisioned a clock that pays homage to Steeplechase with “a little Tilyou man at center, whose arms act as the arms of the clock and then will spin frantically every hour on the hour, perhaps accompanied by some whirring or whizzing sound.”

Philomena’s Magic Clock presented at BAM, November 17, 2008. Municipal Art Society Imagine Coney Island Idea #131 by Philip Tusa, Architect & Philomena Marano, Artist. Photo © Philip Tusa via flickr

Photo of the Day: Mangels Pony Cart Ride

Posted in Amusement ride, Photo of the Day, Photography, tagged childhood memories, Deno's Kiddie Park, Fourth of July, Pony Cart, William F Mangels on July 4, 2012| 7 Comments »

Fourth of July calls up memories of riding a Mangels pony cart on the carny kids float in a smalltown parade. When Colbert’s Fiesta played Manomet, Massachusetts for the Fourth, the carnival once made a float bedecked with Pony Carts from the Mangels Pony Cart Ride. The little carny kids, including me, got to ride in the carts on the float, wearing our Sunday best. I remember being awestruck by the teenage girls who suddenly looked like fairy princesses in their prom gowns and tiaras. We flung candy and carnival prizes to the crowd.

This classic pony cart ride at Deno’s Kiddie Park was manufactured a few blocks away at the Mangels Factory on 8th Street in Coney Island, which is now the Deptartment of Motor Vehicles Building. William F. Mangels also invented the Whip, which we had on the carnival too. Happy Memories and Happy Fourth of July!