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Video of the Day: Eldorado Auto Skooter at Coney Island (2011)

Posted in Amusement ride, video, tagged Auto Skooter, Bumper Cars, Coney Island, Eldorado, Gordon Lee, Scott Fitlin, Sheila Buxbaum Fitlin on March 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

If you’re feeling nostalgic for the Eldorado Auto Skooter and yearn to go for the first ride of the year, this HD video will intensify those feelings. Please be patient and send positive vibes to 1218 Surf Avenue in Coney Island.

On Tuesday we talked again with Gordon Lee, who operated the bumper cars and arcade for the Fitlin family last year. He affirmed that he is preparing to open up within the next couple of weeks. We have faith that Lee can make everything come together so that the famed marquee will light up again for one glorious last season of “Bump, Bump, Bump Your Ass Off” rides before it closes forever.

As ATZ reported last week, Sheila Buxbaum Fitlin and Sandy Fitlin, whose families have operated businesses in Coney Island for more than six decades, sold the building that houses the Eldorado to Thor Equities. Their son Scott Fitlin was the DJ extraordinaire of Surf Avenue’s legendary disco palace of bumper cars and his untimely death at the age of 48 left the attraction’s future in question.

“It is with deep regret that I sold Eldorado,” Sheila Fitlin told ATZ. “Due to my advancing age, the fact that I live in Texas, and, of course, Scott’s death, I could no longer continue.” It was a gift to Coney Island and a tribute to his memory that the Eldorado reopened in 2011. We’re hoping for a second gift to Coney Island in 2012.

UPDATE April 12, 2012:

Good news! Gordon Lee of Coney’s Eldorado Bumper Cars phoned to say he’s operating the ride today & open for business! The arcade will also open this weekend for the season. Hours at the Eldorado are “12 noon till closing.”

ATZ Review: Love Never Dies in a Phantasmal Coney Island

Posted in film, video, tagged Andrew Lloyd Webber, Coney Island, Love Never Dies, musical, Phantom of the Opera, review, theater on March 7, 2012| 3 Comments »

The Beauty Underneath from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, Australian Production. Photo via Facebook.com/LoveNeverDiesAU

In 2010, when Love Never Dies premiered in London and was expected to open in New York, our first thought was the sequel to Phantom of the Opera would bring tourists to Coney Island, where the musical is set. Imagine people coming out of a Broadway theater humming “The Coney Island Waltz” and being lured out to the real, live Coney to trace the Phantom’s footsteps. It could still happen, thanks to a new film version of the successful Australian production of the musical. According to the recently debuted Facebook page Love Never Dies: Broadway, “It is destined for Broadway, so stay tuned for news!”

ATZ went to see the first-ever U.S. showing of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies on the big screen last week. The film of the critically acclaimed Melbourne production will be shown again in theaters across the U.S. on Wednesday, March 7th at 7:30 pm and a DVD will be released on May 29.

The musical is set in 1907, ten years after the fire at the Paris Opera. As the impresario of “Mr Y’s Phantasma,” a vaudeville extravaganza in the heart of Coney’s Electric Eden, the Phantom commands a phalanx of gorgeously costumed–okay, we’ll say it–phreaks! A trio of them are sent to greet Christine, who has traveled from Paris with her husband Raoul to sing an aria for Phantasma’s closing show of the season. What she doesn’t know is that it is the lovesick Phantom who has paid a fortune for the command performance.

Bathing Beauties from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, Australian Production. Photo via Facebook.com/LoveNeverDiesAU

The Phantom fled here with the help of Madame Giry and her daughter Meg, the ballerina turned “Sweetheart of the Midway.” Meg is delicious in “Bathing Beauties,” a saucy stereoview card brought to life. She also has one of the best Coney lines ever: “Well, here’s the way it works on Coney Island: They make you pay for every little crumb.” But we can’t tell you why without giving away the ending. The twists and turns of the story are over the top, but the haunting melodies, high-caliber performances and lavish costumes and sets kept us entranced.

The set design is a marvel of catwalks that resemble roller coaster tracks and a tent that reveals a whirling carousel. One of our favorite scenes is “The Beauty Underneath,” in which the Phantom takes Christine’s 10-year-old son on a tour of his phantasmagorical world. Set to the throb of electronic rock, the song asks “Have You Ever Yearned To Go, Past The World You Think You Know? Been In Thrall To The Call Of The Beauty Underneath?” Human curiosities writhe inside glass prisms as the lights of Luna Park-like towers and rides glimmer in the background.

Saturday Matinee: Bluto & Popeye, Kings of Coney’s Mardi Gras

Posted in video, tagged amusement park, Bluto, cartoon, Coney Island, James Taylor, Mardi Gras, Popeye, roller coaster, Shocked & Amazed!, sideshow on March 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Coney Island had a Mardi Gras celebration every September until 1954, but ATZ had no idea that Popeye the Sailor Man and his rival Bluto were once part of it! Many thanks to sideshow historian James Taylor, publisher of Shocked & Amazed! On and Off the Midway, for sharing this fun find.

In this 1935 cartoon, Popeye and Bluto perform duelling sideshow acts against the backdrop of Coney’s rides and amusements. “Oh, I’m King of the Mardi Gras, in fact I’m the whole bloomin’ show,” sings Bluto as he struts onstage in front of his awesome banner line.

I run the whole works here at Coney, What power supreme I enjoy!
Hey, speaking of kings,
I’m one of those things.
In fact I’m the real McCoy!

A few steps away, Popeye blusters on a makeshift stage and steals Bluto’s audience by resorting to dirty tricks.

“So the message is that, if you screw with a guy’s act, you’re the hero of this thing? Jeez,” writes Taylor on the Shocked & Amazed! Facebook page. “Still, how often you get to see Popeye AND sideshow together?” The sideshow acts and roller coaster climax are well worth the price of a ticket.