Features
Traveling in the best circles
EDMOND — I absolutely love carousels, so I was thrilled to find a magnificent antique merry-go-round still going around on the Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, N.J. Though spinning rides have a long history, carousels really took off in 1870 when the technology moved from people-powered to steam powered. The golden age of carousels stretched from about 1880 to 1930.
The first notable carvers were European, but true masters emerged in the United States with the arrival of Gustav Dentzel from Germany. Though initially working as a cabinet maker, he soon began following in his father’s footsteps and started building carousels. Other carvers who became well-known for their distinctive styles were Charles Looff, a Danish immigrant, Marcus Illions from Poland and Charles Carmel.
Now known as the Dr. Floyd L. Moreland Carousel, the 1910 Dentzel New Jersey beauty has been the heart of the boardwalk since 1932. It had been a fixture at Burlington Island Park until 1928 when it was damaged by fire and returned to the Dentzel factory for repairs. The carousel business, like today’s car dealerships, apparently took trade-ins, because damaged animals were replaced with creatures done by other carvers, making this a “mixed machine” — but what great replacements. Now visitors can see Dentzel, Looff, Illions and Carmel carvings in one place.
Another unique feature of this carousel is its wonderful Wurlitzer Military Band Organ. In addition to its organ voice, it has drums, cymbals and a glockenspiel. Dr. Moreland, for whom the carousel is now named, ran the carousel when he was a boy and, as a man, has become its champion.
Saved from being dismantled and sold, the carousel has received loving care from many local citizens. Many of the animals bear the name of sponsors who helped with the cost of restoration. One animal is named after Matthew, a seeing eye dog, and his name is written in Braille under the saddle. When I found a lovely palomino with “Elaine” painted on it, of course, I had to ride that one.
Can’t make it to New Jersey? Frontier City’s carousel may be modern but it has a great history. Built for the 150th anniversary of the Smithsonian Institute, it was the centerpiece of a traveling exhibit. It celebrated one of America’s greatest folk art legacies — carousel carving. Molds were made of original wooden figures created by Dentzel, Looff, Carmel, Illions and others. Following its 12-city, two-year tour, it was sold to Premier Parks and brought to Oklahoma City to replace Frontier City’s original carousel, which had been destroyed by a tornado.
A little farther afield is the magnificent Kit Carson County Carousel in Burlington, Colorado. This 1904 carousel was the sixth of 74 built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company. This is a stationary carousel — no “jumpers,” as the horses that go up and down are called — so, to add excitement, the manufacturer made it go faster than the average carousel, 12 mph as opposed to the standard eight. Music is supplied by its Wurlitzer Monster Military Band Organ.
The Kit Carson County Carousel is the only Philadelphia Toboggan Company menagerie carousel still existing. Menagerie carousels featured animals other than horses; this one sports horses, goats, lions and giraffe.
In addition to the carousel, there is a new museum worth a visit. The carousel is open between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Burlington is just west of Colorado’s eastern border, on I-70.
C.W. Parker of Abilene, Kansas, bought a used carousel in 1896 and repaired it. He soon began doing repairs on other carousels and, eventually, started his own carousel company. He moved his factory to Leavenworth in 1911 and continued building carousels, followed by his son who kept the business going until the 1950s.
Visitors to Leavenworth will enjoy the C.W. Parker Carousel Museum, which houses two of Parker’s machines. The most notable exhibit is possibly the oldest carousel in the United States, a primitive, hand-cranked machine that dates to between 1850 and 1865.
Times and tastes change and carousels paled in comparison with roller coasters and ever more exciting rides. In 1964 a carousel aficionado named Fred Fried wrote a book, “Pictorial History of the Carousel,” to commemorate the beauty and artistry of merry-go-rounds. He also founded the National Carousel Association. Rekindling interest in carousels proved to be a double-edged sword. The beautiful horses and animals became collectors’ items and carousel owners discovered they could make more by selling parts piecemeal than by preserving them. From a total of nearly 4000 carousels in the heyday of the merry-go-round, approximately 150 remain.
I plan to see as many as I can.
- Features
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Taxidermy turning to domestic pets
SEVEN SPRINGS, Md. — When David Houser looks at a stuffed animal, he doesn’t see a bobcat, pheasant or a deer.
He sees art. Modern art.
“It’s more of contemporary art, with the design and composition of how specimens are being displayed,” the Marysville, Pa., taxidermist said Feb. 25 at the Pennsylvania State Taxidermy & Wildlife Art Championships. -
Labs top popular pooch list
The American Kennel Club (AKC) recently released its yearly registration statistics for 2009. These figures act as the indicator for the most popular breeds in the U.S. and are based solely on the number of individual dogs registered by the AKC in the prior 12 months — probably not entirely accurate, since all purebred dogs and their litters are not registered — but I’m sure it’s pretty close.
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Report says girl teen drivers ‘more distracted’ than boys
Differences between the sexes are becoming less noticeable when it comes to teenage driving.
In what seems like a role reversal, girls are expressing a new need for speed, while aggressive driving and speeding by boys is down. -
4-year-old jealous of attention given to newborn
Q: Shortly after our second child was born a year ago, my 4-year-old son began asking me to stop what I’m doing — usually something with the baby — and see something he’s done or “watch” him do something. Over the past year, this seems to have become a compulsion. He makes these (usually trivial) requests of me at least once an hour. Is he insecure because of the attention I’m giving his younger sister? Is this his way of being reassured I still love him? In any case, I can’t keep this up. Help!
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A breakdown of the word break
Break, broke, broken, breaking. Those words are apt to paint a dreary picture, but not always; i.e., a break in the weather would be nice.
Other than that, we’ve got broken hearts, vows, treaties and bones; jail breaks; teen break-ups and the occasional zits breakout; 7-11 break-ins, and “But, Mom, you said I could!” when Junior misinterprets your “We’ll see” as a promise you’ve broken. -
3-12 Faith: religion news
Ministry name change reflects vision
Jimmy Hodges Ministries International, an Oklahoma based-missions ministry, has been reaching the people of Africa and India since 1986.
Supporting national missionaries is the pivotal difference between the way traditional missionary work is done and the way the ministry has approached the same work. -
Can a racist go to heaven?
I’m old enough to remember when theaters forced African-Americans to sit in the balconies, public transportation authorities required them to sit in the back of the busses or train cars, and restaurants served them only if they came to the back door. The motto of most businesses in the ’50s and ’60s in my neck of the woods could very well have been, “If you’re black, go to the back.”
The belief in white supremacy was seldom questioned in my home town. -
Group drives to fight abortion
LOS ANGELES — Last year Dave Wilkinson asked God for guidance. He wanted to know what he could do to better fight abortion.
Wilkinson, an evangelical pastor, runs three Ventura County, Calif., pregnancy clinics that encourage women to choose alternatives to the procedure. He believes the prevalence of abortion is the biggest test Christians face. “It’s probably one of the things that American Christians are going to have to stand before God and answer for,” Wilkinson said. “He will say, ‘You, as Americans, what did you do to fight abortion?’” -
Young dog saves toddler’s life in bitter cold
PIERCE CITY, Mo. — The first night that Kalina and Jeremy Fortin decided to wean their 2-year-old son of a habit of sleeping with them, the toddler proved way too footloose.
Sometime shortly thereafter on Sunday morning, Jan. 10, Brody apparently got up on his own and wandered out of the rural Pierce City home. The temperature outdoors was just below zero, and Brody wasn’t wearing much more than the long-sleeved pajama top, sweatpants and socks he had gone to sleep in.
If not for the family’s young German shepherd, Lobo, the consequences may well have been fatal. -
Time, effort will alleviate dog’s separation anxiety
Q: We have a 5-year-old Australian Shepherd named Kati that we have had since she was 12 weeks old. She gets along with all our cats and likes to go outside and run like the wind. When she was a puppy we got her in the late fall and because of the weather, trained her to puppy pads, especially if we were going to be gone more than five or six hours. She has never really stopped urinating on the floor when we leave the house. She will urinate on the floor beside a puppy pad, which I regularly place on the floor when I have to leave. I had our veterinarian check her over and do all the appropriate testing and she does not have a urinary tract infection or anything else wrong that we can find. Is she just doing this to spite me when I leave her alone at home?
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