The House of Too Much Trouble

Many people think of light and electricity when they think of...

maxathousand — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:25:54 -0400

Many people think of light and electricity when they think of old Coney Island. Thomas Edison famously electrocuted Topsy the Elephant at Coney Island, in 1903, during his AC vs DC current rivalry with George Westinghouse. (A terrible sight, which can be viewed through the Mutoscope at the Coney Island Museum). The illumination of Coney Island at night around the turn of the century, was a notable sight. The lights were so bright that they could be seen 4 miles out to sea. I have had several Brooklyn-born friends tell me their parents used to exclaim “turn off the lights! It looks like Luna Park in here!” Visitors would come from all over to see the “The Electric Eden.”

A somewhat more surprising electric attraction that predated all three major parks at Coney Island was the practice of “Electric Bathing.” The New York Times article (below) claims that Coney Island was first illuminated in 1878 (though by the pre-incandescent arc lamps), the very same year that Joseph Swan created the first incandescent light bulb, and Thomas Edison founded the Edison Electric Company. Lights were placed high on poles on the beach, in the water and on piers to light the water, and allow visitors to continue their fun into the night.

New York Times, September 7, 1924

In an article entitled “The Progress of the Electric Light,” dated August 8, 1880, the New York Times refers to electric light as the only thing that will appease “those lunatics that persist in bathing after nightfall.” This seems particularly dangerous, with modesty customs dictating that bathers wear full-length bathing costumes, the limited light these lamps offered, and the fact that water and electricity pose a serious electrocution hazard.

Scribner’s Monthly, July 1880

The fact that Coney Island’s illumination and the very popular electric bathing predated even the first Edison Electric power plant in New York City, and the adoption of the incandescent lightbulb, to me, is nothing short of astonishing. I can only imagine the wonder of people arriving at Coney Island for the first time and witnessing the glow of the lights.

When most people think of old roller coasters, they usually...

maxathousand — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:12:07 -0500

When most people think of old roller coasters, they usually think of something that looks like the above image - twisting and full of drops and peaks that give riders that thrilling stomach-in-throat feeling. (The coaster above was the Tornado.) It is no surprise that Coney Island had a large hand in the development and evolution of the roller coaster, but I didn’t know that there was a precursor to these iconic gravity-fueled rides practically in my back yard!

Image via Poor William’s Almanack

L.A. Thompson’s Scenic Railway was built in Coney Island in 1884 and was powered by gravity. Riders would climb into the seats, and ride down an incline up to another hill, where they would turn around and return to the beginning. This model lead to roller coasters of all kinds, including the Flip-Flap Railway (1895) of Sea Lion Park, and the Loop-the-Loop (1901).

Loop-the-Loop, circa 1903 (image via)

While working with the local history collection at the public library (the non-Coney Island part of my life), I came across mention of the Dunderburg Spiral Railway. This sounded vaguely roller coaster related! After looking into it, I discovered that anyone visiting the Hudson Valley can visit the remnants of an early roller coaster-related railroad that significantly predated L.A. Thompson’s Coney Island railways!

Modern sketched map of the Dunderberg Spiral Railway (image via)

The Dunderberg Spiral Railway was preceeded by the Mauch Chunk Railway of Jim Thorpe, PA, which was built originally for mine use in the 1870s. The Mauch Chunk became a popular tourist attraction. In 1889 the Dunderberg Spiral Railway Corporation intended to build a hotel at the top of Dunderberg Mountain. Visitors accessed the hotel by steam railway, and would leave by way of the spiral railway. Looping down the mountain, through tunnels and offering views of the hudson valley, the gravity-only powered spiral railway was to cover about 12 miles and reach a speed of 50-60 miles per hour.

Mauch Chunk Railway (image via)

Unfortunately, the Dunderberg Spiral Railway was never completed. Around 1891, the project ran out of money and construction stopped completely. Interested hikers can visit the site and find handmade tunnels, cleared paths and remnants of the early roller coaster intended to be hotel transportation.

One of the tunnels from the remnants of the spiral railway (image via)

I plan to take a hike once it gets warmer. For more information about the trails, visit the New York New Jersey Trail Conference.

One of the many ways that Coney Island has left a long-lasting...

maxathousand — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:01:07 -0500

One of the many ways that Coney Island has left a long-lasting stamp in American popular culture is in song. It has inspired songwriters for well over a century, and continues to do so. More recent songs include at least three very different songs titled “Coney Island Baby,” by Lou Reed, Tom Waits, and The Excellents, “Coney Island” by Death Cab for Cutie, “Coney Island Shuffle,” by Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire and many many others.

We have a fair number of leaflets of sheet music and old records of songs about Coney Island in the museum collection. At the time I started working here, I had not heard any of them, and we had no means for playing the records. The elaborate covers of the sheet music were especially interesting as art objects. At the time, sheet music was promoted as “in the style of” or “as popularized by” various performers.

Probably the best known of these old songs is “Meet Me To-night in Dreamland,” written by Beth Slater Whitson and Leo Friedman, and published in 1909. It was performed by many, including a young Judy Garland in the 1949 movie In the Good Old Summertime.

Here is a 1910 recording, by Henry Burr, of the same song, digitized from an Edison wax cylinder.

Now, thanks to massive audio preservation projects, like the Internet Archive, and the Library of Congress’s National Jukebox, many historical recordings have been digitized and made available to the public. While I understand the mechanics or early recording and playback, for me, it is still nothing short of magic to hear these early recordings.

Another less popular recording is “Meet Me Down At Luna Lena,” composed by Henry Frantzen. Below is a 1905 recording by the Haydn Quartet, with Billy Murray as the lead vocalist. To hear it, click here.

It seems that many of the early songs written about Coney Island involved innocent, and not-so-innocent trysts at the beach and amusement parks. To me, while hearing these songs, it is pretty easy to imagine people meeting up on the boardwalk during Coney Island’s heyday.

I had the exciting opportunity last week to visit the Columbia...

maxathousand — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:55:55 -0500

I had the exciting opportunity last week to visit the Columbia University Rare Books and Manuscripts library to view a collection of Coney Island memorabilia, papers and drawings. While, I ultimately did not find what I was looking for, I had an incredible time sorting through boxes and boxes of notes and papers, often containing little snippets of information I hadn’t come across before. While reading one of the letters, I saw a reference to “the parachute jumps in Russia.” Taking mental note of it, I decided to dig a little bit into the history of our beloved Parachute Jump, and see if I could find out more about its origins.

The idea of the Parachute Jump was originally conceived by Stanley Switlik and George Palmer Putnam (Amelia Earhart’s husband), as a training tool for soldiers. Switlik formed the Switlik Parachute Company, and with Mr. Palmer, built a 115 foot tower on his property in New Jersey, from which Amelia Earhart was the first jumper.

New York Times, June 3, 1935

The original “Russian Parachute Jumps” I saw referenced in the archives, were precursors to Switlik’s structures, though they were made of wood, and were rather dangerous, as jumpers were known to collide with the towers. Several of these towers were eventually built on military bases all over, including those in New Jersey and Georgia. They offered new paratroopers safe training on the towers, before making actual parachute jumps from airplanes.

image via

The existing Parachute Jump was built as an amusement attraction for the 1939 World’s Fair, and was originally sponsored by Life Savers Candy. It was extremely popular among fair-goers.

image via

New York Times, May 28, 1939

The structure was eventually purchased by George C. Tilyou to become an attraction at Steeplechase Park, where it remained in operation until 1968. It has narrowly escaped demolition a handful of times. Fred Trump wanted to demolish it to make room for condominiums, and it was failed to be bid upon in auction in 1971, and in 1977. It received National Landmark status federally in 1980, and in 1989 by the city. Thankfully, the “Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn” is safe and protected. Now to get it up and running again…

George C. Tilyou’s Steeplechase Park, collection of...

maxathousand — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:52:00 -0500

George C. Tilyou’s Steeplechase Park, collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (image via)

Everyone who is at all familiar with Coney Island history is aware of its influence in so many facets of American culture - from film, to literature, to art. I would like to occasionally highlight some of the important American artists that used Coney Island as inspiration. The 1910s through the 1950s were an important period in the introduction of Modernism in American art, and are also often considered the larger heyday of Coney Island. With the huge crowds, the diversity of the people, the (at times) vice-filled activities, and the large, beautiful amusement parks, it is no wonder it was such a frequent subject for artists of the time.

image via

The artist that is probably the best known for his depictions of Coney Island beaches, amusements, burlesque shows, and rides is Reginald Marsh (1898-1954). Born in Paris, and raised in New Jersey, Marsh studied at Yale, where he became the illustrator for the Yale newspaper. He later studied at the Art Student’s League in New York, where he was taught by George Luks. He used a variety of media, including oil, lithograph, drypoint etching, and egg tempera. He kept many sketchbooks during his summers spent in Coney Island. Marsh rejected the modernists, and referred to himself as a Social Realist.

What, to me is most remarkable was his ability to capture the energy of the people - the crowds, the movement and the interaction. The paintings almost writhe with action!

Coney Island 1936, Syracuse University Art Collection (image via)

image via

While Marsh’s painting above, was made several years after the above photograph, the effect of the crowd is the same. It perfectly captured the spirit of the area. I hope to revisit the work of other iconic artists and their depictions of Coney Island in future posts.

Despite how long I have been researching Coney Island history...

maxathousand — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:25:12 -0500

Despite how long I have been researching Coney Island history and writing this blog, I am forever surprised at where my research takes me. Rarely do I end up writing the post I intend to write, because in gathering information, I always come across something I never thought of, or knew about. Those surprising little tidbits tend to become the topics of my posts, and I have to learn to begin my research with an open mind.

I intended on investigating the imagery on a postcard in our collection depicting a revolving airship tower, that to me, looked like a fantasy illustration of an existing ride. I did not find any information on the “Rotating Air Ship Tower, but upon further digging, I found out more about Coney Island’s connection to early flight.

I did come across the top image via Shorpy of the “Revels of Japan” Japanese Teahouse, with a sign advertising an Airship! What was this?! It turns out that in the gardens of the teahouse, was a parked airship available for visitors to view. It was build in 1903 by Brazilian aviator and inventor, Alberto Santos-Dumont, and was named Airship #9, or “La Baladeuse.” It was designed to be an easy way to travel, and Santos-Dumont was known to make personal visits with it.

image via

Aviation was the craze at the time, with the Wright Brothers also making their first flight in 1903. This fascination is reflected in many images in Coney Island souvenirs, with postcards and souvenir photographs of people posed inside fake airplanes and airships.

The romanticism of air travel, at the time, seemed to fit in perfectly with the fantasy of Dreamland.

Puck Magazine, February 21, 1914 (image via) As everyone...

maxathousand — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:20:49 -0500

Puck Magazine, February 21, 1914 (image via)

As everyone knows, yesterday was New Year’s Day, and with that comes the annual Coney Island New Year’s Day swim. It is organized every year by the Coney Island Polar Bear Club and has always raised money for charity. It also brings luck and a good year to those that jump in every January 1st.

While I knew that every year, hundreds and sometimes thousands come to Coney Island for New Year’s Day, what I didn’t know is that winter swimming has a very long history in Coney Island, and was extremely fashionable around the turn of the century.

New York Times, January 8, 1908

The Coney Island Polar Bear Club is the longest-running winter swimming club in the United States. It was founded in 1903 by Bernarr Macfadden, the self-titled “Father of Physical Culture,” who promoted winter swimming as a health-building activity.

Bernarr Macfadden (photo via)

He began the magazine Physical Culture, in 1899, in which he published many of his ideas about good health and fitness. Among them were the promotion of exercise, the drinking of milk, sleeping on hard surfaces, regular sex, and fasting. He warned against the dangers of eating white bread, wearing corsets, drinking, smoking, taking medication and wearing glasses.

The cold baths were supposed to promote vigor, strength, good circulation and better overall health, though today I think most do it for the fun of it.

So, in the spirit of a freezing-cold New Year’s day plunge, I hope everyone has a happy, healthy, vigorous New Year.

For more information about Coney Island USA and our hurricane recovery efforts, please visit www.coneyisland.com.

I fully intended on writing a post a couple of weeks ago about...

maxathousand — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:47:00 -0500

I fully intended on writing a post a couple of weeks ago about how we have packed up the Niagara Falls Museum collection, and are preparing to go dark for renovations during our off-season. I wanted to include some funny remarks about the things I never foresaw being able to put on my resume. Unfortunately, I got sidetracked and the post was never completed. Now there are much more serious issues at hand.

Coney Island USA has been very hard hit by Hurricane Sandy. The combination of the rising storm waters from the ocean, and the flooding of the Coney Island Creek brought 4-5 feet of toxic, sewage-filled water into the first floor of our building. Everything is destroyed. Miraculously, our museum collection and archives were spared. Thankfully, all of our people and pets are OK, and we expect to reopen in the spring, but it’s going to be a very long haul.

As discussed in a previous post, Coney Island is no stranger to disaster. It has been burned to the ground, and rebuilt many times. George C. Tilyou famously charged 10 cents to view the wreckage of Steeplechase Park, after it was burned to the ground in 1907. He posted a sign that stated “To enquiring friends: I have troubles today that I had not yesterday. I had troubles yesterday which I have not today. On this site will be built a bigger, better, Steeplechase Park. Admission to the burning ruins — Ten cents.” It was eventually rebuilt.

Right now, we need your help. We have already begun to clean up. If you wish to help, we are accepting donations of supplies and money, and need volunteers to help with the cleanup. Donations and volunteer inquiries can be made on our website. Please share this widely, as it is essential to our recovery.

-Katie Karkheck

Ever since I started going to concerts, when I was 13 or 14, I...

maxathousand — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:18:00 -0400

Ever since I started going to concerts, when I was 13 or 14, I have been a rather vigilant ticket stub collector. While I have never been organized or motivated enough to make a concert ticket scrapbook, or anything like that, I do have many stubs for the many shows I have attended. By going through them, I can instantly recall the goofy antics of one performer, the place where I was in my life, or the dance party that broke out despite the stifling heat in the venue.

I lament the shift from physical, heavy paper tickets, to online printouts, because the printouts make terrible keepsakes. As a museum worker, I get to handle the normally thrown out scraps of the past. The scraps and ticket stubs from early Coney Island are infinitely more interesting than my stack of ticket stubs. The truly beautiful dove, shown above, was the ticket stub for a theatrical attraction called the Deluge.

from Coney Island: The People’s Playground a Souvenir Book, 1906

The Deluge was created by Amusement Entrepreneur, H.A. Bradwell, and opened in May 1906. Bradwell was responsible for having created other popular attractions in Coney Island, like the Vengeance of Vesuvius, The Jonestown Flood, Feltman’s Ziz, and Dreamland’s Creation. It seemed that he specialized in large-scale theatrical recreations of disasters or monumental events, though he advertised that he could build anything in the amusement industry.

The Billboard, March 9, 1907

Located in the former Johnstown Flood building, The Deluge was one of a handful of biblical-themed attractions in Coney Island at the time. It recreated the story of Noah and the Ark, beginning with actors carousing in a temple at finishing with the ark on top of Mount Ararat.

from Coney Island: The People’s Playground a Souvenir Book, 1906

It was quite a popular spectacle. I like to think of Dreamland’s version of the large-scale, blockbuster, CGI disaster movies of their time, full of drama and doom. The tickets are certainly more interesting!

-Katie Karkheck

One of the objects that first caught my eye when I first...

maxathousand — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 17:00:48 -0400

One of the objects that first caught my eye when I first started working here was this set of old stilts. They are beautiful objects, made out of wood and leather. They even have their own shoes!

The wearer would strap his or her feet onto the platforms at the top of the stilts and start walking.

The wearer would look something like this:

photo courtesy of deleonhistory.com

I wondered where these stilts had come from and whether they were used in vaudeville performances, parades and other forms of entertainment. Surprisingly, they were not. These stilts most likely used by a local candy store for advertisement purposes!

Philip’s Candy Store postcard

Philip’s Candy Story was a fixture on Surf Avenue from 1931 until 2001. In its early days, the owners of Philip’s would hire young boys to wear sandwich signs and stilts to walk on the boardwalk, encouraging people to come in, and functioning as walking billboards. Philip’s was highly regarded for their homemade candies, fudges and confections of all kinds.

Early Philip’s Candy Shop advertisement

Peanut bag, Philip’s Candy Shop

Sadly, Philip’s Candy Shop closed in 2001, when the Stillwell Ave. train station was being renovated. Philip’s was the only remaining tenant in the station, and the shop had to be demolished. Many devoted fans of the shop were sorry to see it close. John Dorman, Philip’s owner and candy maker for 54 years, reopened the shop in Staten Island as Philip’s Candy of Coney Island.

For those looking for a remnant of Philip’s Candy Shop in Coney Island, one has to go no further than our own gift shop. The entire front sign advertising its “Ka-Ra-Me-La popcorn” and “Salt Water Taffee” is above the entrance to the museum in the gift shop. Next time you are here, look up on your way into the museum, and think of the young boys on stilts advertising a Coney Island institution.

- Katie Karkheck

Completely Hidden Treasure of Coney Island History

maxathousand — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:55:00 -0400

Last week, I had the rare experience of seeing an amazing Coney Island relic that has been hidden...

What do John Lennon and facial prosthetics have in common?

maxathousand — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 17:21:00 -0400

While doing some research on the World in Wax Musee, I managed to dig up some interesting...

Page from Jimmy Onorato’s diaries. One of the most...

maxathousand — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 15:58:00 -0400

Page from Jimmy Onorato’s diaries.

One of the most interesting treasures we have in the Coney Island Museum is the Jimmy Onorato Diaries. Jimmy Onorato was the General Manager for Steeplechase Park beginning in 1928, and kept extremely detailed notes on the daily operations and maintenance of the many rides, concessions and attractions.

While reading the often mundane entries in the diaries, it is obvious that many precautions were taken to avoid injuries on the rides (shown above.) Despite the constant repairs and inspections, accidents did still occasionally happen. This is mostly due to the flat-out dangerous nature of some of the rides and attractions.

Barrel of Love, Steeplechase Park

Barrel of Love, Steeplechase Park, 1903 (courtesy of www.authentichistory.com)

Some of the more dangerous rides included the Barrel of Love (aka the Barrel of Fun,) where riders had to make their way through a rotating tube, the Human Roulette Wheel, where people piled in the middle of a disc that would then spin, throwing them to the sides of the enclosure and a moving staircase, intended to make people fall.

Human Pool Table, Steeplechase Park

Human Roulette Wheel, Steeplechase Park (courtesy of www.authentichistory.com)

These attractions would never exist today, when lawsuits are prevalent, and amusement park owners are worried about injury and liability. One famous injury in Steeplechase in 1928 resulted in a court ruling that is still relevant today.

A young man named Murphy went to Steeplechase with a number of his friends in 1928. As they waited to get onto an attraction called “The Flopper,” he watched many people get onto it before him. The Flopper was basically a giant conveyer belt that once a rider got on would run and then abruptly stop, causing riders to go flying.

Unsurprisingly, Mr. Murphy fell on the Flopper and fractured his kneecap. He tried to sue Steeplechase Park for his injuries in Murphy v Steeplechase Amusement Co. The lawsuit failed on account of the fact that he knew what was going to happen when he went on the ride. He knew that it was intended to make riders fall down and he still made the decision to get on the ride. The ruling was that ”the timorous may stay at home.”(!)

This case is still cited in lawsuits involving injuries, where professional athletes try to sue their teams. The idea is that they understand the risk involved, and willingly take that risk. The same is cited for spectators who get injured by baseballs at baseball games.

I love that Coney Island history is full of surprises like this, and that something like the dangerous rides in the 1920s would have an impact on something as serious as injury lawsuits today.

- Katie Karkheck

Cover of The Ilustrated American, October 16, 1896 Coney Island...

maxathousand — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 19:02:00 -0400

Cover of The Ilustrated American, October 16, 1896

Coney Island has since its beginnings been plagued by fire. Recent visitors to the Coney Island Museum will know that Dreamland Park burned to the ground in 1911. This story has been elaborately reconstructed in the museum’s Cosmorama of the Great Dreamland Fire. Far fewer people know that Dreamland’s burning was not the first fire disaster in Coney Island history, and sadly, it was not its last.

Firefighters working to extinguish the Dreamland Fire of 1911.

The great irony of the fires in Coney Island is that there were fire fighting spectacles in both Dreamland and Luna Park (both of which burned down,) and Liliputia, the midget village, had its own fire department. Fire was something to be gawked at, and used to entertain the masses.

The audience view of Fighting the Flames, Dreamland

Nineteenth Century business owners in Coney Island learned to be resilient to fire. They learned to build right on top of the ashes as quickly as possible in order to have successful seasons.

Click here (PDF) to learn more about the early history of Coney Island fire, including the fire that destroyed the notorious Elephant Colossus.

-Katie Karkheck

As part of our ongoing collection management efforts, Coney Island USA has been digitizing back issues of the Coney-isle-o-phile, a quarterly newsletter produced in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.

This is a graphic from the actual ticket to the Shooting the...

mewatchingmyself-deactivated201 — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 12:35:00 -0400

This is a graphic from the actual ticket to the Shooting the Rapids ride, a favorite of pre-1904 Coney Island. The ride was demolished and the rapids became the central lagoon of Dreamland Amusement Park, which was built on the same site.

This image was printed in the Winter 1993-1994 Coney Isle-o-phile, a quarterly periodical that Coney Island USA printed from 1993-2008.

-Eve Peyser-Sappol

Stauch’s Baths Postcard, 1907 I always wondered what this...

maxathousand — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 15:17:00 -0400

Stauch’s Baths Postcard, 1907

I always wondered what this image was all about. It is only one of several baffling images in our postcard collection, but until recently, I never understood its significance. While researching the Coney Island Mardi Gras Parade for last week’s post, I came across many mentions of the “ticklers” and confetti at the parade.

New York Times, September 19, 1906 - the full article can be found here.

It turns out that these ticklers were the weird feather-duster-like objects in the postcard. Along with confetti, they were very popular among the crowds, but caused quite a few problems at the Mardi Gras Parade.

Originally used to annoy fellow parade-goers, the Mardi Gras Parade, on September 23, 1906, the ticklers were involved in much more mischief. People were beaten by them, “women were insulted,” and fights broke out. People were also throwing confetti mixed with pebbles and tin in the faces of other spectators. Fighting escalated and many were arrested. Things got so out of hand, that the sale of ticklers and confetti had to be stopped.

New York Times, September 26, 1906 - the full article can be found here.

The ticklers and confetti became such a nuisance and health hazard that by 1926, all ticklers and all reused confetti was banned, with the threat of jail to anyone caught with either.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 13, 1926 - see full article here.

After this weekend’s upcoming Mermaid Parade, I hope to find out even more strange little details about some of our more baffling images.

-Katie Karkheck

Coney Island USA’s 30th annual Mermaid Parade is getting...

maxathousand — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:04:41 -0400

Coney Island USA’s 30th annual Mermaid Parade is getting closer and closer. Despite its fame, most people don’t know that parades of this type are nothing new to Coney Island.

Coney Island Mardi Gras Parade Bathing Beauties, 1952

From 1903 until 1953 Coney Island celebrated its annual Mardi Gras Parade after Labor Day, (it was never during actual Mardi Gras). It was created as a fundraiser for the Coney Island Rescue Mission for wayward girls. It evolved into a colorful spectacle of floats, people in costumes, floats, and city officials, complete with its own king and queen.

International Police Conference Mardi Gras Badge

The Coney Island Museum has many objects, photographs and artifacts from the Coney Island Mardi Gras Parade. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to highlight a few.

Mardi Gras Ribbon

Our annual Mermaid Parade pays homage to this aspect of Coney Island history and is guaranteed to be a great time on June 23rd.

-Katie Karkheck

The Eden Musee

maxathousand — Wed, 30 May 2012 16:52:00 -0400

One of the things I love about working with the collection at the Coney Island Museum is its...

Why The House of Too Much Trouble? While trying to come up with...

maxathousand — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:14:24 -0400

Why The House of Too Much Trouble?

While trying to come up with a name for this blog, Aaron, the Museum Director and I scoured lists of names of the old Coney Island Attractions from around the turn of the century. Many attractions had good names, but the House of Too Much Trouble stood out. It is such an intriguing name! What was it? Why was it so much trouble? Finally I found the above article.

It turns out that it was a fun house, that I could only imagine to be maddening. Upon opening one door, visitors would be confronted with several more doors. This continues until they would eventually find their ways out. Too much trouble, indeed!

It seems that the Vitagraph Company of America also released a short silent film with the same title in 1907, though due to its rarity, I have been unable to find out whether or not it is footage of the attraction.

In this blog, I intend to highlight some of the lesser-known treasures in the collection at the Coney Island Museum, and to share some of the surprising tidbits of information I come across while working with it.

-Katie Karkheck

Munsey’s magazine. Just one of the excellent illustrations...

rattletrapidentity — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 22:22:00 -0400

Munsey’s magazine. Just one of the excellent illustrations that pop up deep in the folders of the museum collection.

-Aaron