Omaha daily bee., 1908-08-30
TASK OF AMUSING MILLIONS
People Readily Respond When Carni'
val Spirit is Around.
SIMPLE THRILLS GET THE MONEY
The Man who Made Luna Park NJ
COney n wonder Tells OF
His work and Hts Guild
ina Idea.

Frederic Thompson and the late skip
Dundy Of Omaha we're partners in the de-
velopment OF the midway idea OF exposi-
TORS, enlarged by experience at the Omaha
and Buffalo expositlons and put in success
full operation as an Independent amuse-
ment undertaking at Coney leland. A
marvel of it's kind and a money maker.
the guiding idea OF the projectors is as
interesting as the carnival OF shows and
is discussed by ME. Thompson in the cur
rent issue OF Everybody's Magazine. He
SAYS in part:
The one thing that makes a picnic or
an amusement park a success-it doesn't
make any difference whether the picnic is
made up Of ten people or 10000, whether
the park is a little one or a great inter-
national exposition--the one thing abso-
lutely necessary is the carnival spirit.
Without that no show In the open, moth
ing that has to do with the people In the
mass, can hope to succeed. When you get
right down to it the fundamentals are the
same, whether the application is to a
church picnic, a political meeting, a circus
or a big exposition. The first step, as far
as the public is concerned, is to create an
impression that there will be things doing
to get emotional excitement into the very
air. In the Sunday school they talk about
the picnic for weeks in advance, telling
the children and the grown-ups what a
fine time they are going to have. The cir
Gus does the same thing with its flaming
billboards and its parade. The political
managers talk about the famous speakers
who will address the meetings, about the
band. You see, it's all the same, funda-
mentally.
A Trial Test.
In the year 1901 L had a show called "A
Trip to the Moon on the Midway at the
Pan-American exposition in Buffalo. Arch
itecturally and from an educational stand
point this exposition was one of the most
remarkable in all the history OF worlds
fairs. 1t was beautiful; 1t was tremen-
dous; but 1t wasn't paying. After several
months 1 went to the executive committee
and to the president and told them why
their outlay of millions Of dollars was at
tracing only $4,000 people a day. l told
them they were failing miserabiy blcaus,
there wasn't a regular Snowman IN the
lot. l told them about the carnival spirit,
and they came back by telling me about
the educational value of the exposition.
but what's the use of a college IL there
are no students?' 1 asked. Before we
talk Of educational benefits let's get in the
crowd to educate.
They didn't take kindly to my notions at
first. Then 1 suggested that they turn
over the show to me for one day, which
would be sufficient to test what the ex-
ecutive gentlemen were pleased to call my
theories. President Milburn was with me
and 1 finally won the point. The exposi-
ton was to be mine for August 8, and l
told them that 1t would be known as Mid
way day
Within six hours after the final inter-
view 1 had four printing houses at work
getting out the paper with which l was
going the plaster the country. 1 and my
sideshow associates sent ten advance mep
on the road to herald the coming Of the
big day, and within a week a large part
of the eastern half of the United States
was screaming August third! Midway
day at the Pan-American! Don't miss it,"
They didn't. On the night of August 2 a
crowd of would-be excursiorists was left
on every railway station within twenty
four hours ride of Buffalo, and when the
gates of the exposition were thrown open
the police reserves had to be
to stop a panic. They arrived too late to
prevent 10000 people from forcing their
way in without paying. There were more
than CROUCH left to make the gate re-
ceipts satisfactory. Up to August s the
average daily admissions were about $4,000.
On Midway day $4,000 paid to get into the
grounds, and from that time on the at
tendance was tremendous.
Serious Architecture TabOOed.
When / was studying architecture l paid
a great deal OF attention to the vignola
and to the other classically conventional
standards of construction. l was like every
other architect. But when l started to
build l realized that 1, like everyone else,
was obtaining absolutely conventional Ie-
suits. So one day l threw all my books
and plans on to the ash heap ana de-
cided to start after something new. 1 be-
gan designing, not after classical models,
but with a sense of their proportions. l
stuck to no style.
One result is Luna park, the sky lise Of
which is utterly unlike anything else Of its
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