Los Angeles herald., 1907-05-12
SIX FUN CITIES"
FOR OLD ENGLAND
SCHEME TO ESTABLISH RE-
SORTS LIKE WONDERLAND
Ideas Come from America-capitaI Of
$1o,oo0,ooo to Be Used to Develop
Ingenious Yankee Amusement
centers Like coney Island
Special Cable to The Herald.

Special Gable to The Herald.
LONDON, May u.-Americans who,
as the song goes, "take a trolley to
Coney on Sunday afternoon" must
look with pity on their English cousins
who have no "Dreamlands," no Luna
parks" no "Wonderlands," no Fun
Cities" Of any sort-or at least none
worthy Of the name.
But better days are coming for the
English pleasure seeker. A little while
ago great pleasure park which COM
bined Anglo-American enterprise was
announced for Manchester, the great
manufacturing center of England,
along the lines of the "White City" of
Chicago. Today c. B. Cochran is so
taken with the American fashion of
amusement that he proposes to build
no less than six mammoth fun cities in
the British Isles. He is an English
man of the energetic type and Is al
ready a prominent figure in the
amusement world over here.
Some American IDEAS he said, "are
born in England, some are thrust upon
England. and some are eagerly acquir-
ed by Englishmen themselves. Your
fun city idea is of the latter sort. We
need something Of the kind and are
soon to have 1t.
Experiment in London
"The nearest approach we have as
yet made to the American amusement
resort was the so-called Fun City
which was opened at the London Olym-
pia last Christmas. This, though only
an experiment, proved highly profit
able, and its success may be taken to
show how well a larger resort of the
American kind would be received here.
I'VE now plan to erect in the six most
thickly populated districts of England
as many jolly municipalities cannot
tell you yet the exact localities. We re-
gard no site as suitable which is not
within easy reach of at least 100000 peo-
pie. Yes, one of course, will be on the
outskirts of the metropolis; others, L
may say, will be in the north of Eng
land We have already secured two
valuable sites and building operations
will begin soon. We hope to have these
pioneer cities ready for the summer of
next year.
II have visited several of your Ameri-
can resorts, and some Of other countries,
but as America leads in the matter we
shall follow her lead rather than any
other. In a short time 1 shall leave for
another American tour, visiting the
famous parks at Coney Island. Chicago
and Boston. During that trip I shall
make arrangements for some American
help in carrying out the ideas.
Money Provided by English
"Financially, we are backed wholly by
British enterprise. Our company is as
yet private one, but will develop later
into a syndicate. A majority of the
hackers, may say, are Scotchmen. 1t
will cost several million dollars to carry
out our plans; I should say about
$40, ,000,0
Our cities will be framed on quite
colossal and elaborate plans. While we
do not expect to improve on your ideas,
we will undoubtedly change them to suit
English pleasure seekers. American
young people have been brough up, as
it were, in these fun cities, and the
novelty Of thing after thing has worn
off until they now add excitement in
the most sensational stunts as you
say, riding at dizzy heights, etc. The
uninitiated English must begin with less
daring feats.
''In the center of each city there will
be grand entertainment, In which the
circus element will predominant. This
will be free to all who pay the sixpence
fee of admission to the city All round
will be permanent buildings in which
the sideshows will be arranged. A spe-
cial feature will be the merry-go rounds
Of the French fantastic pattern. We are
arranging for first class bands of music,
and an excellently appointed ballroom
will be a prominent feature in all our
cities.''