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Posts Tagged ‘Dick Zigun’

Video: The Museum of Wax by Charles Ludlam

Posted in film, video, tagged Charles Ludlam, Coney Island Film Festival, Dick Zigun, Everett Quinton, horror film, Rob Leddy, silent film, Wax museum, World in Wax Musee on September 27, 2010| 1 Comment »

On opening night of the Coney Island Film Festival, the first film up was Charles Ludlam’s silent horror short “The Museum of Wax,” shot in the late 1970s in Coney’s World in Wax Musee. It is a little gem, but seeing Lillie Santangelo’s long-vanished museum was eerie and sad, especially now that the Henderson Building, where it was located for more than 60 years until closing in 1984, is being demolished to make way for Thor Equities’ strip mall.

Equally eerie and sad was seeing the late and much-missed Charles Ludlam‘s brilliance on the silent screen. Ludlam’s over-the-top performances in campy melodramas like “The Mystery of Irma Vep” at his Ridiculous Theatrical Company in Sheridan Square were a must-see for us in the 1980s.

Unfinished at the time of Ludlam’s death from AIDs in 1987, this rarely seen 16 MM film was remastered by Queer/Art/Film as part of the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. OutfestLA has also made the 20-minute film available in three parts on their YouTube channel.

At Friday’s screening, Coney Island USA founder and artistic director Dick Zigun referred to the film as “a work of film genius” and noted that it was last screened in Coney Island on Halloween in 1981. The occasion was a day-long theatrical extravaganza called “Tricks or Treats,” which Zigun curated at the Wax Musee. The film was shot in a few days after Zigun introduced Ludlam to Lillie Santangelo, the elderly proprietress of the wax museum. “It was a 100 percent found location,” says Zigun, who had discovered fifty wax heads, which appear in the film, in the museum’s storage area.

“Not much was planned. It was just go for it,” recalled actor Everett Quinton, who was Ludlam’s partner and muse. Quinton, who appears as the second convict in the film, compared it to “the unfinished Michelangelo sculptures that lead up to the David. It is unfinished.” According to Outfest’s website, until the recent digital re-mastering and the addition of a new score by original composer Peter Golub, “Museum of Wax” had not been seen in over 20 years.

In an act of programming genius by Coney Island Film Festival director Rob Leddy, “The Wax Museum” shared the opening night bill with “Shape of the Shapeless,” a new documentary exploring the gender bending life and performance art of Jon Cory aka Rose Wood, and the effervescent “Dirty Martini and the New Burlesque,” which won best documentary feature.

Luna Park NYC Halloween Gig for Famed Haunted House Creator

Posted in Events, tagged Coney Island, Coney Island USA, Dick Zigun, Halloween, Haunted House, Kate Dale, Luna Park, Timothy Haskell on August 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Timothy Haskell, the Off-Broadway theater director whose annual Nightmare Haunted House in NoHo bills itself as New York’s Most Horrifying Haunted House is coming to Coney Island for Halloween. On August 11, Haskell tweeted: “got the gig to turn Luna Park in Coney Island into a Halloween wonderland. Opens October 15th. Pretty cool.”

Yesterday, Haskell had a meeting with Zamperla/Central Amusements International, the operators of Luna Park, according to his twitter feed: “Going to Luna Park (coney island) to discuss my concepts for the haunted theme I will be implementing. It’s going to be scarecrows!”

Although Luna Park has yet to announce details of their Halloween festivities, the amusement park, which is open daily through Labor Day, will remain open weekends through Halloween, according to a recent post on the Luna Park NYC Facebook page. When reached for comment, Valerio Ferrari, who is president of both CAI and Zamperla’s United States branch, said in two weeks they’ll know for certain if the project is a go for Halloween 2010.

In October Coney Island USA will stage their annual Creepshow at the Freakshow haunted house tour of CIUSA’s building. The show is written and directed by CIUSA founder and Mermaid Parade creator Dick Zigun, who says this year’s theme is “The Ride Inspector’s Nightmare”! The Creepshow’s designer is Kate Dale, whose fabulous creations for the Mermaid Parade have won her “Best Mermaid” and “Best Float” more times than anyone else in the history of the parade.

Let the countdown till Halloween in Coney Island begin!

Happy Halloween!! From Coney Island Creepshow at the Freakshow. Photo © Norman Blake?Coney Island USA

UPDATE September 7, 2010:

Luna Park Presents Nights of Horror…Here to Haunt You is set for Halloween 2010. This banner advertising the event was on display in Luna over Labor Day Weekend…According to a flyer, the event is scheduled for October 15- 31, on Fridays and Saturdays from 5 pm – 12 am, and on Sundays from 5 pm -10 pm.

Banner for Luna Park Presents Nights of Horror...Here to Haunt You, October 2010. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i

Video: A Friendly but Urgent PSA from Coney Island’s ‘Mayor’

Posted in Redevelopment, tagged City Council, Coney Island, Dick Zigun, rezoning, Save Coney Island on July 9, 2009| Leave a Comment »

In the video, Dick Zigun, founder and artistic director of Coney Island USA and the permanently unelected “Mayor” of Coney, asks YOU to contact your City Councilmembers to deliver the message “Don’t Kill Coney! Fix the Plan!”

“The City came up with an acceptable master plan, but at the same time, a private developer, Thor Equities, came in and purchased most of the property on the south side of Surf Avenue,” Zigun says in the video. “Thor Equities started lobbying and pressuring the city, and suddenly, the plan changed…there are some things in there that are frankly no good, and that’s the plan that’s going to be voted on at the end of July.”

Zigun’s recommendations include moving the 27-story high rises north of Surf Avenue, a change endorsed by the Borough President and Community Board; expanding the acreage for outdoor rides and amusements; and protecting Coney Island’s historic structures instead of creating financial incentives for tearing them down.

“Politicians DO listen to the public. Make some noise; July is the month,” says Zigun, who rallied on the steps of City Hall last month with the grassroots group Save Coney Island.“The future of Coney Island is being decided now. It’s an American treasure; let’s develop it the right way, the good way.”

To find your City Councilmember, type in your street address and borough on the City Council’s About page.

An email blast posted on Coney Island USA’s website urges people to make three phone calls by Monday, July 13, the City Council’s deadline for requests for changes to the City’s plan.

Call #1:
If you want to help save Coney Island, PLEASE CALL your City Council member TODAY (the sooner the better!).

Call #2:
Call your friends. If everyone forwards this to three friends and the chain continues, we can affect change to this plan!

Call #3:
If you REALLY want to Save Coney Island, also call Speaker Christine Quinn and deliver the same message.
Christine Quinn’s legislative office: (212) 788-7210.

PASS THIS ON TO YOUR FRIENDS. WE NEED ALL THE HELP WE CAN GET!

If you are not a New York City resident, ATZ suggests that you phone and leave a comment for Christine Quinn, the Speaker of the City Council. Legislative Office Phone (212) 788-7210. We also recommend calling 311 (1- 212-NEWYORK outside of NYC) and leaving a “Don’t Kill Coney! Fix the Plan” comment for the Mayor.