Coney Island Attractions: Creation
During my interview with CoasterRadio.com, EB asked about a couple attractions from Coney Island's Dreamland park. Now, this is 1905 we're talking about, and believe it or not, themed immersive attractions were actually a thing already. In the book I described A Trip to the Moon, which premiered at the 1901 Buffalo Pan-American Expo and was later moved to Steeplechase (after which the attraction owners built their own park—Luna—and moved it again). But I only briefly mentioned in passing some of the others, including Creation and Hell Gate.
Let's back up a bit. Dreamland was the third major park to be built at Coney, the intent being to beat out the two earlier parks (Steeplechase and Luna). Everything was bigger and better, and so for the park's second season major additions and renovations were completed—to the tune of a half million dollars. Half of this was spent on transplanting Henry Roltair's illusion-based show based on the Biblical creation of the earth, which had completed its run at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 (St. Louis World's Fair).
Details of the attraction are difficult to pin down, so here's what happened, more or less: The building itself was huge—150x200 feet and 90 feet tall. Guests began the half-mile gondola ride, gliding through the history of the earth (or just creation?), then possibly disembarked to climb stairs, revealing an impressive cyclorama of first century Venice and Rome. Boarding another stationary boat (or staying in the same boat the entire time), a circular, rotating platform slowly cycled through various panoramas. Finally, they would file into a 400-seat theater for the big show complete with thunder and lightning, an erupting volcano, and "Let There Be Light!" All six days of creation were depicted with astounding artwork, projection, lighting, and sound effects. Adam and Eve appeared near the end of the two-hour experience, completely naked in their one-piece suits that unimpressively wrinkled as they moved. Angels then stood at the stairways to signal the end of the whole shebang.
Creation fit a moralistic theme at the park that seemed to contrast with the typical carnal Coney environment. A couple of New York City historians maintain that the reason wasn't so much a saintly endeavor, but rather that in order to run attractions on Sundays—prime attendance days—local laws required such things to be educational or religious in nature. Life is ever practical.
So that's the first of two of the most intriguing attractions at Dreamland. We'll dig into the second—a trip straight to hell—next time.
Sources:
http://atthefair.homestead.com/pkeatt/Creation.html
https://www.westland.net/coneyisland/articles/dreamland.htm
https://www.heartofconeyisland.com/dreamland-coney-island.html
