Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-05
Six American "Fun Cities"
To Be Built in England

Special Correspondence of The Star.
LONDON. April 20, 1907.
A MERICANS who, as the song goes,
~ take a trolley to Coney on sum-
mer afternoon" must look with
n,tv 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 fer the Eng
,isb Measure seeker A little while ago
wrote of a great pleasure park, in which
combined Anglo-American enterprise would
establish at Manchester, the great manu-
featuring center of England. along the lines
of the white city, of Chicago. Today mad
talk with C. B. Cochran, who 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 Englishman of the energetic type and
is already prominent figure in the amuse-
ment world over here.
"some American IDEAS" he said, ARE
horn in England, some are thrust upon
England, and some are eagerly acquired by
Enp,ishmen themselves. Your fun-city idea
10 of the latter sort. We need something
of the kind, and are soon to have it.
1.-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 Olympia last Christ
mas. This, though only an experiment,
proved highly profitable, and it's success
NAV be taken to show how well larger
resort Of the American kind would be re-
ceived here.
1--WE now plan to erect in the six most
thickly populated districts of England as
MANY Jolly municipalities l cannot tell
Won vet the exact localities. We regard no
site as suitable which is not within easy
reach of at least 100000 people. Yes, one
Of course. will be on the OUTSKIRTS OF the
the north Of England. We have already
secured two valuable sites, and building
operations will begin soon. We hope to
have these pioneer cities ready Tor the
summer OF next year.
eI have visited several of your American
resorts. and some Of other countries, but as
America leads in the matter, we shall follow
her lead rather than any other. In short
time I 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.
.'Financially, we are backed wholly by
British enterprise. Our company is as yet
a private one, but will develop later into
q syndicate. A majority of the hackers. 1
may say. are Scotchmen 1t will cost sew
eral million dollars to carry out our plans
I should say about ten millions.
"Our cities will be framed on quite colos-
sal 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 brought up, as 1t were, in these
fun cities. and the novelty of thing after
thing has worn of. until now they find ex-
citement only in the most sensational
stunts as you say. riding at dizzy heights,
etc. The initiated 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 six
pence fee of admission to the city, All
round win be permanent buildings in which
side shows viii be arranged. special
feature win be the merry-go-rounds of the
French fantastic pattern. We are arranx-
ing for first-class bands OF music, and an
excellently appointed bail room will be a
prominent feature in all our cities But
then. there Is no need to tell American
readers what goes to make up fun city
they all know better than we do. In nut
shell. We are going In for the same Thugs
that they have found SO successful