The Flash That Gets The Cash! My article about the history of carnival prizes is published in the September issue of Amusement Warehouse, the print magazine companion to the amusement industry website carnivalwarehouse.com. In the early 20th century, merchandise wheels operated with only one big prize and gave away teddy bears, poodles, kewpies, live canaries, pillows, blankets, lamps, glassware, silverware, aluminum pans, ham and roasters, baskets of fruit and groceries, and chocolates.
My article about the history of the high striker is published in the July issue of Amusement Warehouse, the print magazine companion to carnivalwarehouse.com, the amusement industry website. The strongman game is said to have inspired the phrase "close, but no cigar!," because a cigar was your prize if you rang the bell. First patented in 1885, the high striker was originally a block of wood attached by springs to a clocklike dial. Among the photos in the article are a still from the 1917 silent movie Coney Island starring Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle and a photo of me working the electronic high striker at the Big A Fair with Wade Shows in 2003.
My first article for Amusement Warehouse, the print magazine companion to carnivalwarehouse.com, the amusement industry website, is published this month. I wrote about Coney Island's William F. Mangels and "The Whip," the first portable thrill ride. If you know of a show or a park that still has a Whip in operation or in storage, please let me know. I'm updating my Whip Census!