The sun., 1909-05-16
PROLIC TOWNS GATES OPEN
roNEY ISLAND SHOWS ITS NEW
FUN GIVERS.

cannon Boom as Luna Park and Dream
land Begin Business-BlE Crowd Sees
MANY Changes and IL Really Thrilled
The Amusement Sendera Offerings
Something important was due to come
M Yesterday afternoon down In Frolic
Town on the Isle Of Rabbita,. and all the
talks along Surf avenue knew II and
waited in kind OF tense expectancy.
Won wondered what the barkers and the
hal,vhoos had done with their buzzsaw
,oices why the crowds weren't shuffiing
un and down as usual. why the yelping
oa,,iopes were dumb. why all Coney
seemed to have a hand to its ear.
Room.mmm-mmm!' went big gun
o,or in Dreamlsnd. and the echoes trailed
sfer the report. Boom-mmm-mmmi'
".,nd.j another cannon from Luna Park
and then you got swift understanding
Rands started up from everywhere and
Ia. 90 ecstatically with a tremendous
blaripg Of brasses and a heavy pounding
n sheepskin. There were so many Of
them and their racket came from 80 many
nlsces that you would have vowed they
nopped up from under the wooden walks
where they had lain all winter. like bears
u Information.
The crowds awoke all at once and surged
instwoydirections one column swinging
into Dreamland. another into Luna Park
Thelbarkersland theSballyhoo menlout the
air with theirishrill cries. Then the sun
shot through the clouds that had rolled
over from the green Atlantic and flashed
brilliantly on the gilded minareta and high
oslored spires Of the two big Fairgrounds
Of the Island. Suddenly you saw some
thing curious. something " orth the hour q
trip down to the city Of odds and ends.
Over in Dreamland high above the
minarets and spires clinging to a bare
pole with his naked toes was Filipino
headhunter who looked out over the
crowds, shading his eyes with brown
hand. 1t was so high where he had
climbed like a monkey that the savage
looked no bigger than small boy. Sud-
denly he threw out a shrill cry. caught up
a brass gong from the crows nest at the
very top OF the pole and began to sound
It with slowl steady strokes. The strong
resonance rose over the multiple voices
Of Coney and rolled in waves heard long
after the brown hand ceased to strike.
There was cry to the north, to the
other side Of Surf avenue. and as the eye
struck way through the red and blue
and green towers OF Luna you saw pair
Of canary colored aorobats twisting and
revolving fifty feet above the level
ground. They were like two goldfnches
escaped from prison flirting gayiy around
a slender wire. II their hands had weak
ened or their nerve faltered the human
canaries would have fallen straight and
hard as a shot to the hard planking away
below.
So you got it yesterday. this most i'm
portant opening that Coney has had since
the days that young Frederic, Thompson
in his pancake hat with little capital
and a heap OF hope started Luna as a places
where the kids and everybody that wanted
bit Of clean and sprightly fun could 60
without fear OF rowdies, and Senator
Billy Reynolds a little later came along
and built on the site Of nasty dives big
white showground that he called Dream
lard. There is no opening at Coney really
until the gates Of Dreamland and Luna
swing inward: until you hear Bostook's
lions roaring on the one hand and on the
other the high laughter Of thousands
as girl in pink stockings shoots down the
polish ID sli de and snatches unvailingly
at her Topping lingerie.
And thev let go together Yesterday
afternoon simultaneous explosions that
woke up old Coney from the tail OF
Brighton Beach clear down the coast to
the waterside homes that will shelter
sickly little boys and girls this coming
summer With everybody yelling. a
dozen bands hammering on each side. the
Filipinos in Dreamland pounding their
gongs and the voice OF Mr.. Stufy Davis
raised clear and high at the portals OF
Luna it was difficult at first to choose
heard. -Dreamland! Dreamland! Every
thing new but the ocean" and when you
looked toward the gates and saw Wells
Hawks, the old circus man astride she
elephant whose trunk was garnished
with bows Of red and yellow ribbon and
promising in that direction and you
bored there through the hustling crowds.
Right from the jump you took Mr..
HAWKES. word for 1t that Dreamland
Is no cemetery, this year; that there Is
going to be lively doings on the Reynolds
preserve. From the great, sprawling.
plaster monstrosities at the entrance
clear out to the iron piers over the ocean
Dresmland. was humming with a pleasant
activity. The whole interior. where stih
white lines and wide areas Of white wastes
used TO tire the eye. was filed chock
block with gay show shops In red and
green and blue and yellow. The pullersin
that formerly droned lazily and listlessly
at their business beloved eIcitedly.
sassily, enthusiastically. The bunk
shows, said Mr.. Hawks, had been rooted
out and you could get laugh for your
dime wherever you lit.
In the middle Of the whole business
there is an open air circus over water. a
circus surrounded by wistaria walk
that will bloom purple some day, and In
the middle Of the circus was Signor Giu-
seppe Roma gyrating like Creatore. You
forgot to watch the tuinblers. the high
wire ladies, the supple Japs and the bare
back riders when Papa Roma grasped
handful Of his own hair. poised himself
on one leg whirled around like top and
belabored the band, Italian adjectives
shooting from him like bullets from a
machine gun.
You went on by Bostock s. where the
su!len lions roared YEARLY and the black
eyed Morrelh fiicked her jaguars with a
hard lash: past the scenic railways. past
the shooting gallery. Teddy in Africa.
where YOU can bring down galloping a
rhino at thirty feet, slick as any Bwana
nimbo that ever pulled trigger; past the
dirigible calliope that looks like an auto
mobile and is played like q piano; past
Queen Melodia and We-wee, the midget;
rast ever so many things until you came
L. the village Of the Bontoc Headhun nters.
-Whisssshl Spinningl" A seven foot