One of the motorsport world’s characters, Sabine was that square peg in a round hole. A fabulous racing driver, with style, personality and ability, and also a woman. Which isn’t a sexist take, it is just a fact that motor sports tend to be predominantly male dominated. Though Sir Stirling Moss’s sister Pat, was evidently a rally driver of some renown in her day.
Known as the queen of the Nurburgring, and ‘The fastest taxi driver in the world’, she not only went around the track an estimated 20,000 times, she actually won the 24 Hours Nürburgring twice, in 1996 and 97.
Hollow Legs
We met her on our first ever mobile bar job. A long time client had rang to ask if we knew any bar companies as they had a major bar job for a party being held by Sony and Nissan. Turns out that the top drivers in a video game released by Sony Corporation were being trained as drivers in a touring car series sponsored by Nissan. The winners had been announced and a party was being held for them.
We did our usual trick of stating that we have been doing bars for absolutely ages, when do you want it for? Turns out we ended up being given 7 days to design and build a mobile bar system, train the staff up and provide the service.
Like so many times before, my significant other told me I was bat shit crazy, there was no way we would get away with it. And like so many times before, we pulled it off a treat.
Sabine was one of the guests there, and boy could that girl drink. I was popping her Jager bombs all night, and at one stage I remember her piloting a segway around the room. In fact she ran another driver over. I thought it was Martin Brundle, but another member of staff insists it was Johnny Herbert. Whichever she flattened them good style.
By the end of the night, she was coming up with that smile and asking what we had left. ‘Erm, rum, gin and lucozade.”
“Yes Please”
“Which one Ms Schmitz?”
“All off dem!”
Gee she must have had hollow legs, I think she was the last one standing at the party.
We are always adding new lines to what we offer. Sometimes its in response to what competitors are offering, sometimes a client makes a request, and sometimes we come up with a good idea like our Dutch poffertjes.
One of the benefits, if we can look at it that way, of the lockdown, was the fact that for the first time in a long time, we had time on our hands. We used this to take an id dept look, both at what we do, and what our competitors are doing. As a result we added a number of new additions to our range of carts, greatly expanding the styles we can offer. We added a new range of equipment to enable us to provide a quick and cost effective branding service, both for corporate clients and private events such as weddings.
Catering Lines
Looking at additions to what we should be offering, someone suggested burgers. Not the typical thin cheap burgers, but something with a bit more meat in, and a range of toppings to make them more than just a burger.
To try out the market for this, we did what we do regularly, added them to our website. The idea being that if they get a good enough response we would actually add them to our line up.
They had been on the web about 3 days, when one of our regular corporate clients rang to say they were adding them to a large series of orders they had already placed with us for December. As the client is one that we do a great deal of work with through the year, (well when there aren’t rampent killer virus’s sweeping through the world we do), it suddenly went from toying with the idea to we needed everything in place within about 3 days.
New Equipment
We have been here before and are quite used to putting something together on a wing and a prayer as it was. The equipment was ordered and delivered overnight. A local supplier we use already happened to do a line of high beef content burgers and brioche buns, and we quickly agreed upon a small menu of 4 or 5 different burgers for the job. For events such as weddings we intended to offer a comprehensive range of burgers, but we have found that events were we need to serve 5-600 guests in a short space of time, giving too big a choice slows things down whilst everyone tries to choose what they want.
Our Restricted Menu
For the first event we came up with;
Standard Cheeseburger (Some people just don’t like fuss)
Diablo Burger (Beef, cheese, caramelized onions, red and green peppers, super hot chilli sauce)
This gave us a nice selection to cover different tastes, along with some veggie burgers for the non meat lovers. The idea for smaller events would be to have perhaps a dozen options for gourmet burgers..
Gourmet Burger Streetfood Stall
Street Food Cart
Normally at this particular clients venues we operate indoors, however we had discovered during a quick test run, that cooking the gourmet burgers created too much steam, it would no doubt have the fire alarm system in knots.
So we agreed with them that we would set up outside. Now, in the middle of June that would have been great. December had just turned bloody cold and we weren’t really fancying it.
For a while one of our main staff members had been agitating to put together a more street food style range of catering stalls. In the event that worked out ideal for what we needed to do. They had more space than we had in our usual cart range. Also being more enclosed, the heat from the various cooking systems actually kept them quite warm.
Red Ribbed Streetfood Stalls
We used the stall for the event and liked it so much, we added a couple more. Then designed some wacky street food style fronts for them. These are definitely something we will be adding to whenever we get out of this lockdown. We also ended up using the stall for much more than gourmet burgers.
If you are more of a veggie type then check out our jacket potato service, something for everyone both hot and cold.
Now, we are a corporate entertainments company. We specialise in catering, funfair rides and photography services. So why are we posting about a little known bank robber from the days of the Wild West?
Well, read on to hear about a macabre tale of how the star of our tale, ended up as an exhibit on a travelling carnival show.
A brief bio shows that McCurdy was born on 1st January 1980 to an unmarried mother, and an unknown father (allegedly his mothers cousin).
He joined the army in 1907 as a machine gun operator and received (minimal) training in the use of nitroglycerin. Which for those who don’t know is an explosive compound used in the early years for blowing things up.
The Robbery Years
McCurdy decided to incorporate his explosive training into his outlaw activities. Sadly like many an idiot, his skill with the stuff fell short of what any semi competent bank robber required. Indeed many of his robberies were marked by him blowing the safe and its contents to smithereens. A case of “You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off”, as a certain Mr Caine would later remark.
After his final robbery he was tracked down by a posse, and whilst being drunk was killed in the shootout.
Embalming
Now this is the point where the tale would normally end. If he was a particularly famous outlaw, he might have ended up in the famous Boot Hill cemetery. More likely being a third rate clown, he would have been dumped into a paupers grave, unmarked and unloved.
For one of those reasons lost in time. The body was taken to Joseph L. Johnson, an undertaker in Pawhuska Oklahoma. Here it was embalmed with arsenic, shaven, dressed and stored in the back of the funeral home.
The body remained unclaimed, and the undertaker, unhappy at working for nothing decided to exhibit the body to earn a little money on it. Variously known as the Embalmed Bandit, the Oklahoma Outlaw and The Man Who Wouldn’t Die. Johnson charged a nickel a visit.
The Carnival Con
It would have remained an obscure and quickly forgotten piece of folklore. If it wasn’t for James and Charles Patterson, owners of the Great Patterson Carnival Show.
They turned up claiming to be McCurdy’s brothers. Having already gained permission from the local sheriff, they took possession of the body to give it a ‘proper’ burial in San Francisco.
Instead they redirected it to Arkansas City in Kansas. The erstwhile McCrudy was exhibited as ‘The Outlaw Who Would Never Be Captured Alive.’
Museum Of Crime
In 1922, Patterson sold his carnival to a Louis Sonney. He exhibited a travelling museum of crime, featuring wax replicas of famous bandits and outlaws.
The exhibited corpse accompanied the official sideshow that toured the country with the first Trans-American footrace, a multi day race across the USA.
Narcotic, The Movie
The corpse had a slight diversion when it was used by a director, Dwain Esper to promote his exploitation film titled Narcotic. It was actually placed in the entrances to theatres as The Dead Dope Fiend. A bandit who supposedly died robbing a chemist to support his drug habit.
Sonney died in 1949 and Elmer McCurdy was placed in storage in a warehouse in L.A. It made a brief appearance in another film in 1967 called She Freak. making him I suppose more successful than many an actor who only appeared in one film.
By 1968 he had moved on again. This time to Spoony Singh, owner of a wax work museum, and was exhibited at Mount Rushmore. He was a little worse for wear by this time, with the tips of his ears, fingers and toes being blown off.
He then moved to his last exhibition gig, being placed inside a funhouse at the Pike Amusement zone in California. Making him unusually well travelled for a corpse.
Rediscovery
Our intrepid hero’s story came to an end in 1976. The Six Million Dollar Man, remember that one, Steve Austin, who ran really quickly in slow motion, was being filmed at the Pike. A prop man moved what he took to be a wax figure hanging from a gallows.
Unfortunately it happened to be Elmer McCurdy, and in being moved his arm promptly fell off. The worker saw that human bone and muscle was visible in what was left of the arm and realised it was a human corpse.
Police were duly called and the figure transported to a coroner’s office. A doctor conducted an autopsy and concluded, quite correctly, that it was of a male who had died from a gunshot wound.
Inside the corpses mouth was a ticket stub for Louis Sonneys Museum of crime. Dan Sonney was contacted and confirmed the identity of our hero. A forensic specialist was also called in, who using techniques to identify corpses confirmed the identity.
Boot Hill
On 22nd April 1977, Elmer McCurdy was transported to the Boot Hill cemetery in Guthrie Oklahoma and laid to rest at a service attended by 300 people. He was buried to Bill Doolin, another Old West outlaw. To ensure he stayed put this time, he was entombed in two feet of concrete.
If you look at the map of his travels, you will see he travelled coast to coast.
Another of our series of attempts to answer some of the questions we have happened across on the internet, as well as those we seem to be asked regularly.
Can I Go On Rides When I Am Pregnant
It depends on the ride. Some of the more sedate rides shouldn’t be any more problematic than a trip on a train or bus. We wouldn’t however recommend going on something that turns you upside down or inside out. In short, you need to use that rarest of skills, common sense.
Are Funfair Rides Safe
Well, it depends who you listen to. There was a guy on the go in the 90’s who had set his own safety organisation up. He used to have plenty to say about unsafe fairgrounds. Funnily enough, he never mentioned them, until he formed his safety group and demanded that the funfair industry pay him for inspections. When they refused he went on a campaign against the industry. Demanding amongst other things daily safety inspections by the operators of the rides, and annual inspections by engineers. Weird thing at the time was that we were already doing that.
The Health & Safety inspectorate have long been in charge of overseeing safety at the funfair. Their opinion, is that you are more likely to die from a shark attack, or being struck by lightening, than killed on a funfair ride. In fact they estimate the chance of it happening as 1 in something like 83 million.
How Much Are Funfair Rides
That depends whether you mean to ride on them or to buy one.
Nowadays a typical ride costs between £1 and £2 a ride. Some of the larger fairs or festivals tend to be more expensive. There are also a handful of rides that are fairly unique and as a result tend to command a higher price for a ride.
Danters Air, One Of Only A Handful Of This Type Of Ride
If you mean how much to buy a ride. Then it depends on what you want to buy. A second hand Miami type ride can be picked up for probably £50K. Something like a giant wheel can be upto the £5 million mark. Roller Coasters as much as some small nations annual GDP.
What Is The Most Popular Funfair Ride
Dodgems, the dodgems and definitely the dodgems. By a huge margin all of our records show that dodgems are the most requested ride. This is true for events such as weddings, as well as corporate events, festivals and parties.
Second are the tamer thrill rides such as Twist and Miami, but they are definitely playing second fiddle.
Carousels occasionally put in an honourable mention, but it tends to be mainly at weddings, where they make a great photo opportunity.
Continental Dodgem Track For Hire
Can I Go On A Fairground Ride If I Am Disabled
There is no real reason you can’t. The problem tends to be access.Legislation was brought in requiring business’s to take reasonable steps to alter their premises to enable disabled access. Unfortunately there aren’t any reasonable steps to alter a funfair ride for this. Any major alterations of this type would require a complete set of engineering drawings and stress calculations drawing up, then a design review by qualified engineers to ensure the alterations are safe. In some cases this could cost more than the ride is actually valued at.
This doesn’t mean you can’t ride them though. Any professional operator will be happy to provide assistance in getting the less abled onto their ride.
How Old Do Kids Have To Be To Go On The Rides
Well, that depends on the ride. For the really little ones, talking toddlers here, you are best sticking to something like the teacups Children’s Ride or toytown ride, the parents can usually ride with the kids so they are kept safe.
When you start getting on to the bigger stuff, they tend to have a height board. Usually your kids will need to be the minimum height to ride. Please, please, please respect this. The amount of arguments we have ended up in over the years, because someone wants their under height kid to be allowed a ride, is ridiculous. Look, we want your money. If we are stopping your kid riding, it isn’t to be a killjoy. It is to ensure they aren’t hurt and our insurance costs don’t go up. Your claim that you will take responsibility if they are killed, doesn’t actually offer us much protection in a court of law.
Teacups Ride Hire
Stick to funfair rides like this, if you have little kids. Oh, and accompany them. I well remember one mother trying to jam her 6 month old baby in such a position that it didn’t flop forward and fall off. If the kid isn’t old enough to hold itself up, it isn’t old enough to ride alone.
Can I Join The Fairground If I Buy A Ride
Theoretically you can. Most large funfairs are run by members of the Showmen’s Guild Of Great Britain. To attend them you have to be a member of the organisation. At one time, unless you were either born to existing members, or married one, you weren’t allowed to join. This closed shop was stopped by legislation meaning it is open to anyone to join. If you are interested in becoming a member you can find details to join the Showmens Guild here.
However the reality is, that at most events the same families have owned the rights to the individual ride plots for generations. To buy one you need to be in a position to know they are for sale. As quite often this is discussed at social events, ie. down the pub. Unless you are part of the crowd you tend not to be involved. Some newer events the plots are advertised, but again, the operators in charge tend to stick with established family names they are familiar with. So before ponying up a large cash advance to join the Guild, I would think carefully. You are likely to have more success on a roulette wheel, or the local horse races than operating your on funfair rides.
Showmen’s Guild Logo
Are Bumper Cars Different To Dodgems
Nope, they are exactly the same ride. In the North East they tend to be called bumper cars, the rest of the UK prefer dodgems. The actual historic name is dodgems, as in you dodge the other cars.
That lot up in the North East tend to be a hardy lot, so smashing into each other is probably more fun.
If you have any other questions about funfair rides, feel free to add them in the comments and we will try and answer them.
Many of the rides still travelling on funfairs have been around for decades, in some cases over 100 years. Others are relatively new designs, but have still achieved iconic status. One such ride is the carousel, the first of the rides we are going to take an in depth look at.
Early History
Much of Europe and the Middle East have a long history of jousting. Knights would gallop in circles whilst tossing balls to each other, a demonstration of their skill and horsemanship. The actual word carousel takes its origins from the Italian Carosella meaning little battle, which was an exercise used by Arabian and Turkish horsemen to prepare for actual battle. essentially a training mechanism to prepare and strengthen the riders sword play.
Eventually as medieval jousting gave way to the cavelry era, this was replaced with demonstrations and spectacles that had the rides spearing suspended rings.
Eventually even the commoners began to play the game, and rudimentary carousels began to be set up at fairgrounds across Europe. An early make believe carousel with wooden horses was set up in Paris, at the Place Du Carousel for children.
The Modern Carousel
The forerunner to the modern carousel, was what in the UK is termed a dobbie set. Much like a carousel, but with one important feature lacking. The horses didn’t have an up and down motion. They were either suspended on poles, or fastened to the platform, and though they would rotate in the same manner, they lacked the galloping. They also tended to be much smaller that the rides we are used.
Then Came Steam
The first of the two breakthroughs that led to the ride we all know and love today came around 1861. Invented by a gentleman called Thomas Bradshaw, who built a ride that was powered by a steam engine. This allowed a much bigger structure, with crucially more riders. One newspaper of the time remarking that it moved with such impetuosity that the wonder was the riders not being shot off like cannonballs.
Then Came Frederick Savage
The final piece of the puzzle came from an English engineer. Frederick Savage was a builder of agricultural machinery. Who, for reasons unknown decided to branch out into the design and production of funfair rides.
By the 70’s (the 1870’s that is), he was exporting funfair attractions all over the world. He experimented with various designs, and at one point came up with the ‘Sea-On-Land’ a nautical themed attraction, that used an offset crank system to pitch and roll the boats on the roundabout.
When he took this new idea and married it to a steam powered carousel to give the horses the motion they lacked, he created what he called the platform gallopers. Steam powered organs were often installed into the centre of the ride to give it the classic carousel design, that isn’t that much changed today.
Our American Cousins
Across the pond, it was immigrants that developed the Carousel. Including Charles W.F. Dare from England and Gustav Dentzel of Germany. A number of differnent manufacturers appeared, all with differing styles, Looff had reaslitcally painted saddles, whilst the Coney Island style had elaborate jeweled saddles from the likes of Dentzel, Herschell’s and Spillman’s often having no saddles at all. Their machines tended to be large and elaborate, highly decorated affairs.
One curiosity is the direction of travel. In the U.K., a carousel, in common with most rotating rides moves in a clock wise motion. Whereas in the States and Europe it goes the opposite way.
White Victorian Carousel HorseVictorian Carousel Hire
The humble potato. Cultivated in the America’s around 10,000 years ago, then brought to Europe in the 16th century by the Spanish. One of the most versatile foods available. Can be served boiled, roasted, mashed, or as is the case here, as French Fries.
In these fair isles we more commonly refer to them as chips, rather that the Yankee ‘fries’. This evidently dates back to 1769 and actually referred to fruit chips. To further confuse the matter, our American brethren, call crisps, chips.
They can be crisp, or soft, indeed the British traditionally eat them soggy with vinegar and wrapped in old newspaper.
The Variety Of Potato We Use
The idaho Russet Burbank is commonly used by fast food chains. Developed by Luther Burbank, a plant breeder. Initially unpopular, growers cottoned on to the fact that it produced large potatoes that could be marketed as baking potatoes. Then the explosion of fast food chains further increased its use.
The Best Fries Are Fried Twice
The potato is cut into strips. Traditionally it was peeled first, but now is often enjoyed unpeeled as this retains beneficial vitamins. Soaking in water removes the surface starch. Missing this step will result in a soggy, mushy chip due to the starch blocking the evaporation of moisture from the vegetable.
The best results are obtained using the two bath method. First they are blanched by being submerged in hot fat at 160C. Then briefly fried in hotter fat at 190C, to crisp them. They are drained ,salted and served.
Vegetable oil is used for frying, though originally beef suet or as one fabulous chip shop in Yorkshire still uses, beef dripping. Indeed if you are ever in the vicinity of Sturgate airfield it is well worth a visit. In fact, you can fly into Sturgate airstrip and visit the chippie.
Five Guys just had to be different, they fry theirs in peanut oil.
French Fries Might Not Be French
The French, Belgians and Spanish all claim the invention of French Fries. Though no one really knows the truth. The French claim is that they originated from street vendors in the vicinity of the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris.
The Spanish were the first to bring them into Europe so claim they also invented chips.
And the Belgian claim is that they are quite close to France and people confused their invention with a French one. In fact, they are so upset by France claiming them, that they have petitioned UNESCO to claim official heritage status for ‘their’ dish of fries and mayo.
French Flag
Thomas Jefferson Introduced Them To America
President Jefferson worked abroad as American Minister to France. Whilst their he sampled the delights of the culinary masterpiece. When he returned home and became President, his chef James Hemings continued to cook them for him.
A Typical American Eats 30 Pounds A Year In Fries
Think about that. That’s the weight of a small child. Your gonna need a hell of a lot of ketchup to go with that. Look guys we all love fries, but 30lb seriously?
Charles Dickens Wrote About Fries
Yup, one of history’s most celebrated authors actually alluded to fries in his novel, ‘A Tale Of Two Cities’. He called them husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil. TBF he also wrote about dozens of breakfast foods, dinners and pints of beer. Turns out he was a bit of a foodie at heart.
Fries Are Little Kids Favourite Vegetables.
A study by the Journal of Nutrition found they were the most commonly consumed vegetable for young children. A published study by the way. I mean, you needed to waste ink and paper to discover this, come on guys. A Sunderland fan who wasn’t in possession of the communal brain cell could have told you this without wasting energy on research.
Kid Eating Fries
They Are Actually Healthier Than You Think
No, we aren’t saying they are healthy compared to say a salad or something. But being a potato, they actually include vitamins B6,C, magnesium and iron. So they do have some nutritional benefits.
Congress Changed The Name To Freedom Fries.
When the operation to invade Iraq was being planned. France refused to join in. Probably on account of not being allowed to be in charge.
Jed Babbin, a former deputy undersecretary of defense stated that going to war without the French, would be like going hunting without an accordian. You are just leaving a lot of noisy useless baggage behind!
To further underscore their displeasure. Congress changed the name on their in house menu’s to freedom fries, and dropped the French from the name. They would have liked to have rolled this change out across the States, but as the war fell out of favour, so did the name.
It was quietly changed back in 2006.
Freedom Fries
Burn Those Calories Baby
A medium portion of McDonalds French fries would require 47 minutes of high impact aerobics or 58 minutes of cycling to burn off. One ‘professor’ suggested that a proper portion of fries should be around six. Really, just six fries, just goes to prove what planet professors are living on.
For the 224 calories you are consuming you could also have 1.4kg of celery, 385g of apples, 588g of broccoli, 102g of canned tuna or 3 boiled eggs or a 51g piece of cheese.
Nah, we’ll stick with the fries.
Thick Or Thin
Traditional British ‘chips’ or what some called steak cut fries are actually a healthier option compared to the skinny fries typical of a fast food joint. The greater the surface area of a chip, the more oil is absorbed. So weight for weight, skinny fries have much greater surface area, therefore they will be higher in calories and fat.
Fries Aren’t Just Fries
There are actually something like about 18 different types of fries. From the thick cut steak chips, to curly fries, tornado fries, waffle fries and more.
Some People Put Sugar On Their Fries
Different nationalities eat their fries in different ways. In Vietnam they sprinkle them with sugar. The Belgians and Dutch slather mayo on. Americans love their Ketchup. The South Korean’s add honey and butter (really).
Personally we think nothing beats good old salt and vinegar.
Fries Have Been Tested For Use In Space
E.S.A., the European Space Agency teamed up with Greek researchers to test making fries in a centrifuge. What they discovered was that as gravity increases, the fries get crisper. In fact perfect fries would need gravity three times that of Earth.
Sadly the microgravity found in space means they would be a soggy mess, so no fries on that trip to Mars unfortunately.
Over the years there has been some way out and wacky rides designed for the funfair industry. Some have worked and became classics. Others were either too unreliable, vomit inducing or just downright dangerous. The flying cars could be argued to be dangerous as it did in fact kill someone. However the someone failed to fasten their safety belt so its an arguable case.
The ride was something quirky. The drum rotated and the cars were fixed to the track, similar to a roller coaster. The cars had a brake pedal which clamped the car to the track causing it to climb the drum. Once it had climbed you released the brake to allow it to fall back down and up the other side. Eventually you built enough momentum up to go 360 around the full drum.
The Ride In Action
Unfortunately someone failed to fasten their seatbelt and was killed in the fall which resulted in the ride being removed. Modern technology would probably solve that problem now with interlocked safety bars and the like.
There was records of a second, double drum flying cars ride being built for Conklin’s Carnivals, but scant records exist of that model or any other rides.
The ride was built by a German manufacturer, but despite the wonders of the world wide web, we have been unable to find out which particular one.
We use a wide range of suppliers for our catering operations. Many of them are major catering suppliers, however we do like to use small boutique companies where possible.
One such supplier is a small batch distillery that produced a range of gins, and a vodka.
Coastal Distillery
Based in the small coastal town of Mablethorpe in Lincolnshire. The company has an unusual history, being formed by a printer and an undertaker. They shared an interest in the drinks industry and a love of unconventional design.
Dam Raider Gin
Wanting to draw upon the rich RAF heritage of the region, they launched a gin as their first product. Named after the famous 617 squadron of operation Chastise fame. The famous dam busting raid in case you weren’t following. Contrary to popular misconception, they weren’t christened the ‘Dam Busters’, that was a film. They were actually known as ‘Dam Raiders’.
Dam Raider Gin
The bottles are fabulous, the front contains an image of the famous Lancaster bomber flying over RAF Scampton. The rear an extract from an actual pilots log book.
Their other aviation related product is a vodka offering, named after the De Havilland Mosquito twin engined plane of WWII fame. This wooden wonder could fly faster that most fighter planes. It was used as a night fighter, fast bomber, pathfinder and reconnaissance airplane.
Mosquito Vodka
Again the rear of the bottle contains an extract from a pathfinder squadron crew member. The neck tag contains an airman’s poem tied to the bottle with genuine WWII parachute silk.
We tend to use these on our gin bars, especially when providing services at the many military functions we attend.
Next up in our ongoing series of amusement ride manufacturer profiles, is the long established American company of Eli Bridge.
The founder W.E. Sullivan visited the original Ferris Wheel at the Columbian Exposition in 1893. He (like George Washington Gale Ferris) owned a bridge building company. After his ride he became fascinated by the ride and decided to build one of his own. In collaboration with the machinist James H Clements they began construction of their own wheel.
This debuted in Jacksonville’s Central Park and was called the Big Eli Wheel. The ride was a success and Sullivan set up a company to manufacture his wheels.
Their first wheels were powered by 6h.p. huber steam engines and came in two sizes, 45ft portable models and 50ft park based designs. There was also a 55ft ‘Aristocrat’ model.
The company was originally located in Roodhouse, Illinois, next to a railway track, allowing for easy distribution around the country. In 1919 a new purpose built building was erected in Jacksonville, also next to the railroad. The company has been there ever since. It’s 76,000 sq ft facility contains a room tall enough to erect a big wheel in.
Modern Eli Bridge Wheels
The company still produces wheels to this day. A modern Eli Bridge, is, truth told, little changed from the earlier models. Sure, there is no doubt the construction will use moderner materials and methods. But the look and feel of the ride definitely contains the same DNA. That isn’t meant as a criticism. The fact is the early formula worked well, and still works well, so why change it?
One major change is the drive system. For generations, the wheel used a wire rope, that passed through a pulley which was rotated by an electric motor. The system worked fine, and still does as hundreds of wheels around the world continue its use. It did however have a couple of disadvantages. The rope gradually stretched, and as it did the drive began to slip. Murphy’s law would dictate this happened just as you got busy. The other failure was when the rope snapped. A sensible operator would keep a spare, and could change it relatively quickly, but it is still inconvenient and would lose you revenue.
Rim Drive
To counter the wire rope issues, the company has now switched to rim drive systems. This works by attaching a flat rim to one side of the ride. An electrically driven wheel would contact the rim and as it rotated, would rotate the ride. No slipping or snapping and a much more precise regulation of the speed available from a modern inverter driven control system.
Scrambler A New Chapter
1955 brought a new chapter for the company, with the launch of its Scrambler ride, the first non wheel addition to its portfolio. Known over here as a ‘Twist’ the ride took the American amusement industry by storm, and is still prevalent at funfairs around the world today, albeit in many versions from many different manufacturers.
Other Products
They also sell a couple of children’s rides, including the quirky Spider Mania, to which I can’t really find a comparable ride in the UK.
A line of fire pits for camping expeditions and Boy Scout troops round off the companies product list.
. One quirky fact is that the word Bridge was deliberately left in the company name, so that they could still build bridges, their original business model. Though records indicate that since they started selling wheels, they have only actually built one bridge.
The world renowned graffiti artist, Banks’y happens to be a favourite of my daughters. To be honest I quite like his style too. A few years back when she was studying art at school, she made Banksy her special project, so one day we jumped in the car and drove to Bristol to visit his artworks in the flesh so to speak.
When he announced the Dismaland project, a theme park not suitable for kids as he put it, at an old Lido in Weston Super Mere. We were lucky enough to secure tickets for us and a couple of Emmerson’s friends.
My wife hates using our car due to the size and fuel consumption, but none of the vans would fit 5 people, so I got to enjoy a blast all the way down the country in my Mas. During the periods the wife fell asleep I got to enjoy the 400+ horses under the bonnet without screams of “Look at the fuel consumption” lol.
When we got to the park, the queue was enormous. It was then that I realised a possible problem. I had actually bought the tickets on ebay, not through a regular channel as they were next to impossible to obtain. Basically the ticket was a sheet of A4 paper with a barcode. Anyone could have put them together, or the same ticket could have been sold multiple times.
Crap, but I did have a cunning plan, I sent the kids in first to see what happened. In the event they walked straight in so we were ok.
A Park With A Difference
Now the park itself was different, very different, but something we all enjoyed. However I have to say it brought a worrying trend home. The whole idea was that the park was meant to be a dismal, unfriendly place, with surly staff that couldn’t be bothered with the customers. A spoof on a traditional fairground.
Thing I realised was, the customer service part was pretty much what you see on some fairgrounds today. Young kids in the stalls playing on their phones who viewed you as a nuisance if you wanted to play. Operators in the rides looking bored and disinterested. At one point the wife and I were stood debating whether we should go into a particular structure. When the girl on the outside shouted at us “In or out, in or out, don’t stand there blocking the ride, make your mind up!”
I burst out laughing, because a very good friend of mine has exactly the same customer facing skills. I have seen her shout very similar commands when some poor unfortunate is stood at the ride entrance making their mind up.
I was impressed by the thought that had gone into the attractions. To be sure they were taking traditional funfair attractions and twisting them into some steam punk, distressed interpretation of what they would have been. But in some cases hitting the nail right on the head.
It’s Impossible To Win!
Take topple the anvil for instance. I should imagine its physically impossible to knock an anvil off the shelf with a rubber ball. But then, there are games I have seen on fairgrounds that are equally impossible. The traditional coconut shie was renowned for having ‘duds’, that is some of the coconuts you were trying to knock off were actually metal replicas. Nothing short of an Exocet missile would move them.
One of my favourite shows was death riding the dodgem car. Played to trance music it was one of the earlier attractions we encountered and was just plain funny.
There was plenty of Banksy’s political commentary, such as the coin operated remote control boats. Which happened to be boats filled with refugees. Or the exhibition of various weapons used by governments to oppress the people.
There were also some weird commentary on consumerism and minority representation such as the gifts below sold in the shop.
Battlefield Casualty Action Man
But The Food Was Good
Lol, even the catering didn’t escape his vitriol.
Although some people slated the park, I think it is because they just didn’t get the sarcasm mixed with social commentary undercurrent that it was put together with. We had a great time.
