The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-31
AMUSING THE MILLIONS

than flinders the spirit of carnival Luna park has been, and is, tremendously sue cessful. There are other amusement parks in its vicinity that are chastely beautiful from artistic standpoint, but that so far as dollars and cents are con- cerned are utter failures Visitors admire the buildngs-and don't go near the shows. I have built their sort of build ' ss too, but not for a Luna park They don't pay. An exposition is form of fes- tivity. and serious architecture should not enter into 1t if it will interfere with the carnival spirit
 An amusement park is condensed Broadway, if that is understood to repre- sent metropolitan theatreland. In park the best things of theatrical nature must be presented in capsule form The shows must be diversified because the appeal must be universal. The whole ga- nut of the theatre must be run, and no show can last more than 20 minutes. If you have two-hour show, 1t should be boiled down to a quarter of an hour. It is foolish to make people serious or to point moral, for you are dealing with a moral people. Nor is it worth while to try to educate the amusement seeking public. It is better to take it for granted that they are educated and if you start out to amuse them, to stick to that.
 People are just boys and girls grown tall. Elaborated childs play is what they want on Abliday. Sliding down cellar doors fand the make-beieves of youngsters are the most effective amuse- ments for grown-ups. An appreciation of that fact made 1.-The Trip to the Moon'' possible, and '"rhe Trip to the Moon'' made for me and my partner, Dundy, half million dollars. "The Tickler," Bump the Bumps and "The Virginia Reel' are nothing more than improved cellar doors ''The Trip to the Moon.'' Night and Morning" "The Witching Waves and 'The Lost Grl' are only elaborations of the doll house stunts of childhood and they are successful largely for that rea- son. But they must be short and de- cisive. would rather have good show that lasts three minutes than a better one that runs an hour
 Bad weather kills the carnival spirit, and on rainy days the snowman must fight hardest to maintain a pretense of gaety. l have made it rule to keep my attractions running just the same in a rainstorm as in the sunshine, and as an
 
 the allegiance to this principle has fire. quently brought me I need tell only one story.
 1 reached the gates of Luna at 93O one night two years ago. when rain was fall-. ing in torrents. Just as I entered the park all the lights went out and I met a crowd of employees on their way home. I told them to stop, ordered them back to their posts, sent for the manager, told him to turn on the lights. had sent word to the five bands to get back into their uniforms and start playing. I had made it rule to keep faith with my public, and, although it costs $500 night to light Luna. I thought the chance that the next train might bring to Coney Island half dozen people who would. expect to find my place open and ablaze with electricity was worth taking. Within five minutes, as if by miracle, the weather changed, the rain ceased the stars came out and people began to stream in. Within the next hour nearly il ,000 people paid ad- missions to Luna. If I had not insisted on pretense of gaiety they would have gone somewhere else
 It costs lot of money to build and op- crate an amusement park on a large scale.
 I suppose that more than $25,OO GOO arc invested in these parks in this country. Dreamland on Coney Island cost about g, ,500, 900; Riverview park and the White City in Chicago cost about s1,000,OO0 each.
 Luna park cost s2,4O0,O00 The total an- nual expenses including the cost of re- building, of putting in new shows and the operating expenses, average about $1,o00,- 00O and the season lasts four months. spent $240,000 on one show alone, of which s6S000 was for animals mostly elephants and camels-it was the representation of the Indian Durbar-and I lost s1O0000 on it. I charged the loss up to education. and it was worth 1t. It costs $5600 week to light Luna park, and $450O for tho music. The salaries of the free perform CTS this season are $23O0 a week. And all of these expenditures as well as good many others, go simply to manufacture the carnival spirit.