The United States of Amusement by Udomdej Puenpa B.A. in Liberal English, May 2010, Rangsit University M.S in Library and Information Science, December 2016, Catholic University of America A Thesis submitted to The Faculty of The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Exhibition Design May 19, 2019 Thesis directed by Andrea Hunter Dietz Assistance Professor of Exhibition Design Abstract The United States of Amusement This thesis proposal is presenting an exhibition about the evolution of amusement parks in the United States from the late 1890s until the present era, the late 2010s. The thesis will spell out the details of an exhibit that will show how amusement parks have impacted American culture, as well as how evolving technology has changed the amusement park industry. Starting as small businesses providing recreation and pleasure to local audiences, amusement parks evolved over the decades into sophisticated national corporations with a global reach. Yet this exhibit will also show that all the while, as technology improved and as old-time amusement parks gave way to larger modern theme parks, the goal remained the same: to leave the United States in a state of amusement. ii Table of Contents Abstract ii Table of Contents iii List of Figures v Introduction 1 Why Amusement Parks Matter 2 A Brief History 4 Exhibition contents 9 • Goals • Contents Design Strategies 13 Interpretive Strategies 15 Audiences 16 Site Selection 19 Precedents 22 Conclusion 25 Appendix I 28 iii Appendix II 32 Appendix III 39 iv List of Figures Figure 1. Steeplechase Park 8 Figure 2. Luna Park 9 Figure 3. Trolley Park 10 Figure 4. Disneyland: First day 11 Figure 5. Exhibition Floor Plan 14 Figure 6. The Grand Opening 15 Figure 7. A Trolley Park for Everyone 15 Figure 8. A Rough Ride 16 Figure 9. Hello! Theme Park 17 Figure 10. Fun of the Future 17 Figure 11. The National Museum of American History 24 Figure 12. East Hall, 1 st Floor of the National Museum of American History 25 Figure 13. Polin Museum 28 Figure 14. Adventures of Moominland Exhibition 29 v Introduction The leisure-seeking public is as fickle as trout Alan Bailey, “The Pitfalls of the Pleasure Dome” Today’s amusement park is not your father’s amusement park, or your grandfather’s. These pleasure palaces have evolved over time alongside America and its technology – and they have, at times, fallen out of favor before something new and exciting made them, well, new and exciting again. But in the memory of many Americans, amusement parks remain talismans of good times, the times when we were young. And it is all because amusement parks create such strong memories. There is an abundance of places where people from all over the world go for pleasure, such as beaches and national parks and sports stadiums. But few produce the indelible memories so many of us carry from our young days at amusement parks: the thrill of the steep twists and turns of the roller coaster, the carefree sense of pleasure that accompanies a carousel ride, the screams and the laughter of all the other children who are in on this adventure with us. The United States of Amusement will aim to recreate that sense of adventure in a museum setting – because that is where it belongs. 1 Why Amusement Parks Matter He who can look upon a merry-go-round without longing to ride the wooden horse once more before he dies, for all the maturity of his middle age, can hardly be a human being. Richard Le Gallienne, “Human Need of Coney Island” That quote from Le Gallienne explains why The United States of Amusement would be an excellent and even necessary museum exhibit. Amusement parks are part of the historic memory of so many Americans – yet they have never been treated as the historical artifacts that they are. This exhibit would do just that, placing amusement parks in the correct historical context and stressing how central they are to American culture. Amusement parks have been important destinations for generations of Americans. Americans typically go to these sprawling entertainment centers at two or three stages of life: when they are children, and when they have children (or grandchildren). As a result, amusement parks create memories across the generations: memories that many Americans would like to relive. The United States of Amusement will allow them to do that, and therefore it would have a large target audience. It will allow children to relive the fun of an amusement park visit on a cold winter’s day – and teach them how much different their amusement park visits are than those of earlier generations. It will allow adults to relive their childhood memories – and teach their children that there’s more to amusement parks than just the fun. 2 Amusement parks tell the stories of their times. For example, in their early days, amusement parks were places where young and single people would go to escape restrictive social mores. In 1897, young and single people would go to Coney Island’s Steeplechase Park because they could have more intimate – although quite harmless – interactions with strangers of the opposite sex: a young women could feel comfortable lifting her long skirt to reveal her shapely leg there, whereas it would be considered shameful in many other places 1. And now, more than a century later, a trip to an amusement park is a deep dive into modern technology that can send people spinning upside down, that can send them on a virtual reality tour of a fictional world, or that can – at Disney’s Epcot Center – take them around the world in an instant. In other words, amusement parks serve as reflections of larger trends in American society – which means they are part of American history. It is only fitting that a museum exhibit finally explore this issue. 1 Judith A. Adams. The American Amusement Park Industry: A history of Technology and Thrills (Boston, MA: Twayne, 1991): 43. 3 A Brief History of Amusement Park The world’s oldest amusement park, Bakken, is located in Dyrehaven, Denmark, where it was founded 434 years ago -- and its original attraction was the fresh water from a natural spring 2. This became the prototype for the early outdoor amusements of Europe in the 17 th and 18 th centuries, which were really pleasure gardens 3, filled with greenery, entertainment venues and zoos. Only in America did this sort of outdoor pleasure center evolve into the high-tech wonderlands that we know today as amusement parks. It all started on May 1, 1893, when the American people were captivated by the brilliant alabaster Court of Honor, the shimmering statues and the crystal clear canals of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The most remarkable invention and impressive sight at the park was the Ferris wheel rising 264 feet above the midway invented by George Washington Gale Ferris, who had been inspired by a huge water wheel from his childhood. 4 Figure 1. Steeplechase Park 2CBS News. Amusement parks: The ride of a lifetime. 2017. 3 Adams, 3-4 4 Adams, 31. 4 The success in Chicago appears to have inspired the development of the first major American amusement park at New York’s Coney Island. In 1897, George C. Tilyou opened Coney Island’s Steeplechase Park. Proclaimed “the Funny Place,” this 15- acre park became a smash hit thanks to its 25-cent “pay-one-price” admissions policy and an array of amusements ranging from games to rides – with the riffraff, the gamblers and the prostitutes and the other hangers-on of the time, kept safely outside the park gates. Steeplechase Park survived several major crises, such as a fire, the Great Depression, World Wars, and radical culture change, and remained operating until the 1960s. Figure 2. Luna Park The success of Steeplechase Park led to the creation of a nearby competitor: In the early 1900s, Frederic Thomson and Skip Dundy turned a moderate amusement park, Sea Lion Park, into a lavish 22-acre, million-dollar amusement center called Luna Park. Luna Park’s concept was “unrestrained extravagance, the magnetic wonder of the fantastic, the vitality of ceaseless motion and lush illumination”. The features attractions included the 5 Eskimo Village, the Canals of Venice, a Dutch windmill, a Japanese garden, and illusion rides, such as “A Trip to the Moon” and “Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea.” Figure 3. Trolley Park In the 1890s , trolley companies established amusement parks to give their customers a reason to travel to the end of the line. And as a result, by 1919, between 1,500 and 2,000 amusement parks existed in the United States. They were hugely popular in their day: a new adventure on the outskirts of cities, easy to access by the public transportation of the day.. However, starting in the 1920s, trolley parks started to decline in popularity for several reasons. Automobiles were becoming more popular, which meant that more people were able to embark on independent leisure travel. Three years of unpleasant summer weather starting in 1920 didn’t help matters either. Then came the Great Depression and World War II, which put a damper on leisure activities of all kids. And then in the late 1940s and 1950s, people with means began moving to the suburbs, particularly in northern industrial cities where southern Blacks had migrated for work. 6 With major cities diversifying, loyal patrons of trolley parks often did not want to share the parks with the new clients.