KING OF CONEY ISLAND

[Music] [Music] expected to see a million people didn't you well midtown manhattan is strictly for the birds on hot summer weekends where does everybody go underground of course the greatest underground movement of our time takes place beneath the sidewalks of new york each summer weekend hundreds of thousands of people tunnel their way out of the city slip across the east river via the manhattan bridge then go underground again beneath the sprawling borough of brooklyn [Music] 10 miles and 30 minutes later escape is in sight escape from the melting pot of the big city all out for coney island where convention and care are cast to the wind where a million people a day let down their hair take off their toupees and join escapists from all walks of life the coney island boardwalk is nearly two and a half miles long and cost four million dollars hurry hurry hurry step right this way folks for the greatest attractions in the world [Music] it is believed that coney island means rabbit island since the dutch upon landing here found the place overrun with wild rabbits and the dutch word for rabbit is konyen no matter where the name coney came from coney island today means fun last bunny on these sands was john bunny romping with anita louise making an early vitagraph flicker see me standing back there i am a big wheel around coney king of all the amusements 150 feet high nearly an eighth of a mile around really a ferris wheel and roller coaster combined eight of my cars remain stationary while 18 others are free to coast on an endless zigzag track is it any wonder they've named me wonder wheel king of amusements a conventional ferris wheel beside me looks like a mere toy in fact coney island looks like groundwork under a christmas tree from way up here i weigh 200 tons and was built in 1921 for 200 000 but in spite of my king size there is another amusement that dares challenge my right to the crown there between my girders see it the parachute jump 275 feet high it's claimed to be a refugee from the dismantled new york world's fair of 39. people coming to these shores by ocean liners say this tower is their first site of america somehow i just can't believe that parachute contraption is taller than i am by 125 feet as for incoming ship passengers seeing it even before the statue of liberty i question the constitutional right of its being here at least that's the way i felt about the presence of the parachutes first along but then i got to realizing no single amusement is big enough to attract 40 million people a year the magic of coney island is all the amusements together the big and the little the fast and the creepy besides what would coney island be without the roar of and the hysterical cries from its roller coasters l.a thompson at rosa from elkhart indiana started it all right here when he built the world's first amusement railway on an undulated track inspiring the 60 mile an hour cyclone hurricane and tornado rides up today just as it takes all kinds of people to make a world it takes all kinds of amusements to make a world of fun the more the merrier and all that i've been going around in circles all my life too self-centered to realize this before back in 1895 george c tilley already had the right idea he spent his life saving to bring an assortment of amusements to coney and operate them together under the name steeplechase park you're seeing some of his nags race right now mr titius sure put his money on a winner when he dreamed up the steeplechase scores of amusements have come and gone since horses first rounded this track but nothing i suppose will ever beat the merry-go-round for all around popularity of course the merry-go-round got a head start on everything else the oldest ones here having arrived with the turn of the century today coney boasts 10 carousels no less that crazy little contraption down there all curled up around my base is called the virginia reel encroaching as it does on my territory i somehow never resented it being there original ideas like this and amusements that have proven themselves through the years you just can't help respecting and whether we want to admit it or not the attraction that's more popular than any of us is the beach this same show has been going on since the 1870s when the iron steamship company started running out here regularly from manhattan of course the cast has been enlarged and the costuming has been streamlined a bit can hide nor hair of a rabbit hasn't been seen since the hot dog came a far cry though all this from the day in 1830 when a band of pirates buried their loot here and the still father cried from the day in 1524 when the first white man exploring for the king of france set foot upon this beach [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] but even a happy-go-laughing paradise like this isn't immune to tragedy and heartbreak around 3 000 children get lost at coney every summer so cheer up sonny you're not alone in the world early in september though the tide of popularity sweeps away from the beach to surf avenue for them it's mardi gras time [Applause] nothing can compete with the spectacle of the mardi gras [Music] [Laughter] [Music] ah [Music] the end of day at coney is final a scattered litter slanting light and incoming tide would have it seem is only another beginning a transitory lull at most before the spell of night sweeps over the island as if the spectacle of kony at night isn't enough a first-class fireworks display is put on 13 times a year they shell out 2 800 for each show i hear which strikes me as kind of expensive [Music] seashells so there you have it folks a picture of coney island a bit different i'll admit from the self-centered one i started to give but who cares which amusement is called king these days it's the big wheel that people look up to and no one can deny i'm a big whale at [Music] coney you