Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1906-08-25

has to have things just So No more
than five years back we used ter
make up all our popcorn balls -
they was balls then, none of your
fancy crispettes-in May, enough ter
last us clean through to September.
And now the peoples tastes is so
highly edicated that they won't stand
fer any corn that's been popped over
twenty-four hours"
Here, in a nutshell, is the whole
story OF the tremendous revolution
that has taken place in the summer
amusement resort business in Amer
lea in the last half decade. Here in
New York We notice the change most
strikingly at Coney Island, for there,
it may be said, the revolution really
began, and there it certainly has
been carried to an extreme seen no
where else in the country. And as
the Coney Island of to-day is the
type of the new amusement resort,
serving as a model for similar
places all over the country, so the
Coney Island that we all knew a few
years ago was the type of the old re-
sort. Fundamentally, the change
comes down to this, that in the old
days you almost never got what you
paid for, while now you almost in
variably get more than you pay for.
The show promoters of every sort,
from those who furnished the side
shows for the country circus, the
county fair, and the dime museum,
up to the great P. 7. Barnum him
self exerted their wits to invent some
sort of a show that would fool the
public. The public likes to be
fooled" they declared. Time has
proved that they were wrong, but as
long as that sort of show was the
only sort in existence, the public,
with it's accustomed good nature, con-
tinued to pay it's money for it. An
old circus man down at Coney Island
cited the tatooed man as an example.
Most of the tatooed men on the
market used to be straight-out
fakes" he said. Now, although
although they are mostly made to or
der, still they're the real thing"
The Old Fake Shows.
The old style show, now rarely
seen save in the very cheapest OF
amusement resorts, hardly needs de-
scription. The ingenious faker, who,
for ten cents, admitted you to see
select set of cheap pictures, and then
having informed you confdentially
that for another ten cents he would
show you the BOwery as it really
is" turned you out into a passage
that led you to that thoroughfare,
was typical of his kind. The show
with another show inside, into which
the spectator was led, quite as much
by the feeling that he had been
duped once and might as well see the
whole business, as by the hints OF
forbidden things behind the dirty
curtains, was invariable. Now, APP
parently, the whole theory of the
siI0w haS- OIrausOSl. -------- $50 $50 lN-i-s
proves beyond a doubt that the
change is due in no way to a moral
awakening on the part Of the show
man, but rather to realization on
his part that it pays better in the
long run to give the public its mon
ey's worth, that LincOln's well known
axiom that you cant fool all the
people all the time has solid CONNER
cial basis.
1t is more than likely that many
a Snowman trying to arrive at the
true cause of his failure hit upon the
correct answer, but so fixed were the
traditions of the business that none
dared put the new idea into effect
until five years ago. Then two young
men came out of the West, who bold
ly declared that the old method was
based on a fallacy. Give the people
five times their moneys worth, and
they'll come to see your show ten
times" said one of them the other
day. Their success was immediate;
others caught on to the idea and the
revolution was under way. An OPP
perfume fire, by sweeping many OF
the old time resorts out of existence,
helped things along. Capital was
easy to interest, where there was
permanence promised for the invest
ment. To-day, the Coney Island
amusement places of all sorts repre-
sent an investment variously esti-
mated at from $8,000,OOO to $40
100000. The two largest alone
Dreamland and Luna Park, repre-
sent an investment of 100000
and $1,8OO,OO0 respectively. There
could be no better criterion of the
success of the new idea, or no better
assurance for it's permanency than
that. AS simple business PROPOSE
ton, the showmen are not going to
run the chance of a depreciation in
value and earning capacity by pro-
viding inferior amusements. The
active competition has raised the
whole standard of entertainment
1.-THE fake shows never had ghost of
a chance after we began giving the
people the real thing" said one of
the big showmen.
But the old coarse shows were
popular, were they not?" he was
asked.
People Eager For "Keal SNOW
only until the real show came"
he declared. People. take them first
and last, are not inclined to go to see
the shows that are coarse and vulgar
and worse, If they can have shows
that are clean and wholesome and
bright and funny. To my mind it's
just another proof of the fact that
nine people out of ten would rather
be good than bad."s
A little looking about the place
seemed to bear out this last state
ment.
Why" declared a big policeman,
I've served pretty nearly everywhere
in the city, and Coney's about the
best place I've struck. It's a regular
Sunday-school picnic here most of
the time"