I

The Construction of a

WILLOW GROVE PARK

CAROUSEL

Photographer unidentifiedWillow Grove,

Pennsylvania

1910

Sepia-tone photograph(right), and

hand-painted enlargement

for "Wm. F. Mangels Co.

Carousel! Works Catalogue

No. 7," 1913-1914

By Cara Zimmerman

Car usel

Clues to an Industry from the Frederick Fried Archives

William F. Mangels (1866-1958) is an established name in

amusement-park literature. His factory, the Wm. F. Mangels

Company in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York, invented and manu-

factured many attractions in the first half of the twentieth century,

including popular rides such as the Whip and the Tickler, and a

major part of the company's business was attributed to its revolution-

ary approach toward carousel construction. Beyond patenting the

internal mechanisms with which carousels are still constructed today

and working with some of the most established craftsmen of his time,

Mangels was an innovative and talented businessman. A vast number

of carousels are attributed to his factory over a fifty-year period, with

twenty-three of them still in use today.' Further, an examination of his

business model offers great insight into the world of early twentieth-

century industry, communications, and art. The ledgers, blueprints,

sketches, and photographs that survive within the Frederick Fried

Archives offer a unique glimpse into Mangels's successful company.

All works collection of Frederick Fried Archives, courtesy Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT FLYNN FALL 2007 FOLK ART 53

After founding the AmericanMuseum of Public Recreation atConey Island in 1927, Mangels con-tributed many of his workshop's docu-ments and materials to the institution.The museum closed in 1955, andVermont-based historian FrederickFried (1909-1994) acquired a portionof the collection:

Bought all remains of archive ofthe / Wm. E Mangels CarousellWorks / and some remains of ob-jects, etc. /from his (Mangels)

Maintained by Fried until his deathin 1994, the archives are now kept, inpart, at Ricco/Maresca Gallery in NewYork, where they occupy several flatfiles, numerous boxes, and countlessshelves. The archives are unmatchedin scope. Though many of the three-dimensional objects were auctionedoff by Sotheby's upon Fried's death,the remaining drawings, watercolors,blueprints, and photographs offera wonderful glimpse into the visualwhole of the amusement-park experi-ence.' Importantly, the archives still

requirements. With the aid of thisledger, it is possible to track the pro-cess of a carousel's creation from theinitial order to its use as a promo-tion for Mangels's services. The storyof the construction of the WillowGrove Park carousel in Willow Grove,Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia(illustrated on pages 52 and 53), givesa sense of the business as revealedby the ledger and the artistry as seenthrough blueprints and photographsthat the Mangels factory employed toplease its clients nationwide.

qltgitittl's„

Museum. /Also original ConeyIsland blueprints, of historic LunaPark, / Dreamlands original ar-chitects7 drawings of Dreamland& / countless others—all of/ thebuilding of Coney Island'

The Fried Archives, which alsocontain the histories and remnants ofmany other Coney Island attractions,show the extent and range of the workcreated by the Mangels shop betweenthe late 1800s and the mid-1900s.

hold the Mangels Company's addressbooks, purchase orders, catalogs, andnewspaper clippings, all of which al-low a contemporary audience tounderstand the business behind thepainted ponies.

One particular ledger provides arecord of Mangels's clients and salesbetween 1908 and 1915. The bookreveals intricate details of some jobsyet little information on others. Attimes, it offers just enough materialto get a sense of a client's desires and

The Willow Grove Park carousel,built for the American Amusement &Construction Company (later RyanAmusement Company) under presi-dent Thos. J. Ryan in 1910, first ap-pears in records as an order placed onJanuary 27, 1910:

Jan 271910 /To contract to build(54 ft. Diameter) / CombinationGalloping horse Carousel//as per

CAROUSEL DRAWING

Wm. F. Mangels Company

Coney Island, Brooklyn,

New York

n.d.

Ink and pencil on paper

153/4 x 29"

54 FALL 2007 FOLK ART

agreement 12,000.00 / . . . to bedelivered & set up complete/on orbefore May 25th 1910 / Penalty$100.00 per day for/each dayO'er above date / allowance over8 days in transit'

The detailed statement of price, deliv-ery date, and transport demonstratesa focus within the ledger on logisticaland monetary aspects of the construc-tion and installation process, with lit-tle regard for the artistic requirementsfor the particular piece. The overall

and below) are for a similarly styledpermanent four-row carousel, and therounding board (the decorative panelcircling the upper rim of a carousel)features the same pattern of mirrorsand frescoes. Indeed, the panels onthe center pavilion depicted on theblueprint are very similar in shape andstyle to those on the Pennsylvania car-ousel, for which, at one point in time,a blueprint probably existed.

The archives contain various blue-prints and drawings of carousels, rang-ing from utilitarian technical drawings,

frescoes. These scale drawings workin a lyrical way, clearly intended toprovide a glimpse of the outcomeof the project rather than solid en-gineering guidelines—to convey thefeel rather than the how. They allowedeach participant in the constructionprocess—the engineers, carvers, andpainters—to understand not just theplans for his particular job but also theobjective of the entire finished piece.

It can be inferred that these de-tailed drawings were not necessary tothe step-by-step completion of the

CAROUSEL BLUEPRINT

Wm. F. MangeIs Company

Coney Island, Brooklyn,

New York

n.d.

Cyanotype

153/4 29"

emphasis appears to have been on atimely delivery, as the client clearlywanted the carousel for the upcomingsummer season.

Blueprints were likely created foreach carousel order, and some wereperhaps circulated among clients aswell as craftsmen. The extant blue-prints in the Fried Archives are notdirect matches of the Willow GrovePark carousel but contain many of thesame elements. One early drawing andits corresponding blueprint (opposite

detailing specific parts of a mechanism,to aesthetically focused full-carouselrenderings likely intended for the cli-ents' eyes. Examples of the former bearpenciled figures and diagrammaticmarkings that show its use over theyears. The latter are carefully executed,artistic pen-and-ink drawings thatevoke a feeling of beauty and move-ment through their detail, showingboth the grace of the internal carouselmechanism and the skill required tocreate the carved animals and painted

carousel. Carousel makers graduallyoutsourced blueprint drawings, andthe depictions of the horses becamemore and more abstracted and sim-plified. A comparison between thec. 1910-1915 Mangels overhead blue-print and an overhead drawing createdin 1974 for a Kansas manufacturer(see pages 56 and 57) demonstratesthat such an artistic rendering wasnot necessary, yet the earlier drawingwas clearly a product of great care anddetail—each horse has been drawn

FALL 2007 FOLK ART 55

with precision, and no two are ex-actly alike. The outside standers arelarger than the inner horses, and someshow indications of decorative adorn-ments. In contrast, the 1974 drawingdoes not even depict horses. Instead,a boatlike shape, indicating simplythe presence of an object rather thanthe object itself, represents eachanimal.

While the Mangels factory createdthe mechanical components of theircarousels, they outsourced woodcarv-ing and fresco painting to artisans intheir roster. For the Willow GrovePark carousel, Mangels collaboratedwith the renowned carver MarcusCharles Mons, who by then had es-tablished himself as a principal art-ist within the field.' In 1909, Illionshad formed M.C. Illions and Sonswith his four sons and his daughter inthe venture; the six family members,along with other relatives who assistedthem, would have been responsible forcarving and painting all of the horsesand chariots on the Willow GrovePark carousel.' Mons took great pridein his horses and was known for stay-ing ahead of carving trends and tech-niques. By having Illions and Sonswork on this carousel, Mangels andthe client were assured that the carv-ings on the finished product would bemagnificent and unusual.

Mangels's records on the AmericanAmusement and ConstructionCompany (as noted in the ledger) alsooffer a clue as to who may have erectedthe carousel once it was transportedto Willow Grove Park. While a listof construction laborers is not notedfor any of the jobs completed whenthe carousel was installed in 1910, the1911-1912 roster of workers indudedan overlapping cast of characters, in-cluding the recurring names Bartolo,Rudolph, and Ward (as well as morecommon names such as George, Chris,Frank, and Tony, which perhaps also—though not as definitively—indicateoverlap)? The information in the led-ger does not specify whether thesesame people were involved in the engi-neering process at the Mangels factoryor were employed solely to install thefinished product.

The archives contain no note ofdelays in the delivery of the WillowGrove Park carousel, implying that

the entire process, from blueprint tocarving to painting, took less thanfour months. After its completion,Mangels clearly considered thisto be one of his finest carousels todate, as he used an image of the in-stalled piece as an illustration of themost extravagant carousel his fac-tory could offer, the CombinationPalace Galloping Horse Carouse11,in the "Wm. F. Mangels Co.Carousel! Works Catalogue No.7" (circulated between 1913 and1914). Described as "the highest

could not be depicted from the dis-tance required to capture the entirestructure. In addition, because of thelong exposure necessary at the time,it would have been likely that someof the elements in the photo wouldappear blurred, as the people picturedon the horses could not be expectedto stay entirely still. So, in order toprepare the photo for illustration in thecatalog, a slightly cropped enlargementwas painted over with a finely detailed,outlined wash drawing (see pages 52and 53). While all the main elements

'el

CIIANCI WO. [0.

061974

Lbrd

type of mechanical construction . . .insuring durability and a large marginof safety," this carousel was promotednot only for its mechanical reliabilitybut also for its aesthetics: "the decora-tions are most elaborate.... The horsesare ... highly finished and decorated."'

As remarkable as the WillowGrove Park carousel was, a photo-graph could not be used for promo-tional purposes without alteration.Due to the architecture of the build-ing in which the carousel was housed,the full height of the rounding board

of the carousel remain the same, theartist who touched up the original im-age carefully removed blurred detailsand unsightly patterns that would dis-tract from the horses and sharpeneddark and light highlights for effect.Most dramatically, he painted in partof the top portion of the roundingboard that was obscured by the ceil-ing sin the original photo. In this samecatalog, Mangels also listed testimoni-als from satisfied clients, stating thedurability of the mechanics and thebusiness the carousels brought in. He

OVERHEAD CAROUSEL

DRAWING

J. Worrell, Chance Mfg.

Co.

Wichita, Kansas

1974

Ink and pencil on paper161/ ,,211/4"

56 FALL 2007 FOLK ART

OVERHEAD CAROUSEL

BLUEPRINT

Wm. F. MangeIs Company

Coney Island, Brooklyn,

New York

c. 1910-1915

Cyanotype

241/8 x 233/8"

not only showcased his finest workbut also focused on the positive re-sponses inspired by the reliability anduniversal appeal of his amusement-park products.

The craftsmanship of the WillowGrove Park carousel, as well as thepublished promotional material,brought new business to the factory.The ledger documenting the WillowGrove Park order also lists a 1911

order placed by Joseph Geeller forHollywood Park in Baltimore:

1911 / Sept 22 / to Agreement /to Build Carousell / (similar toWillow Grove Park Phil) / . . .imoaoo 9

It is unknown whether this clientplaced his order after having studiedthe factory catalog or after he had

seen the Willow Grove Park carou-sel firsthand (which could have beenpossible, given the proximity of thetwo amusement parks). Regardless,Mangels's business model is clear:By creating an artistically dynamicproduct, delivering it on time, andpromoting it following construction,he grew his company's reputation forreliaI ility and fine craftsmanship andthus brought in new orders and IS

innovation-seeking customers fromaround the country.

Though the Willow Grove Parkcarousel has been dismantled and thehorses dispersed among other still-active carousels and private collections,the drawings, blueprints, ledgers, andphotographs from the Frederick FriedArchives have lent life to this Mangelsand Illions collaboration long after itstopped spinning. *

Cara Zimmerman is pursuing an MA/PhD in American art at the Universityof Delaware. Until recently, she servedas assistant editor in the American FolkArt Museum's publications department.She holds a double AB in visual andenvironmental studies and folklore andmythologyfrom Harvard University.

Notes1 "The NCA Census of OperatingNorth American Carousels," NationalCarousel Association, www.nca-usa.org/NCAcensus.httn1 (accessed Aug. 10,2007).2 'this quote is handwritten on the insidefront cover of a Mangels ledger labeled"Name and address book of suppliers, etc.Wm. E Mangels Company W. 8th StConey Island" (Frederick Fried Archives,courtesy Ricco/Maresca Gallery, NewYork).3 Frank Maresca, interview by the author,March 30,2007.4 Mangels dient ledger, 1908-1915,I. 274-275, Fried Archives, op. cit.5 That Illions carved this carousel isestablished by Fried's handwritten noteswithin his archive, as well as by theNational Carousel Association, whichnotes that some of the Illions horses origi-nally created for the Willow Grove Parkcarousel are currendy on other, still-functioning car ousiiels; see www.nca-usa.orecensuskensus-CLA.html (accessedAug. 10,2007).6 Charlotte Dinger, Art of the Carousel(Green Village, N.J.: Carousel Art, Inc.,1984), p. 129. Other .111 such as thewebsite of the International Museum ofCarousel Art, wvvwcarouselmuseum.com/business.html (accessed Aug. 10,2007),claim that M.C. Mons and Sons wasfdd in 1908 Th t time pido lloMollaboaon de-bated. In Painted Ponies: American CarouselArt (Millwood, N.Y.: Zon InternationalPublishing, 1986), p. 125, William Manns,Peggy Shank, and Marianne Stevens statethat Illions had left the Mangels shop by1909, while Fried argues in A PictorialHistory of the Carousel (New York: A.S.Bames, 1964), p. 101, that their collabora-tion was only just beginning at that time.Records for this carousel indicate thatMons carved for Mangels in 1909 and1910.7 Mangels client ledger, op. cit., pp. 276and 366.8 "WE Mangels Co. Carousell WorksCatalope No. 7" (1913-1914), p. 4, FriedArchives, courtesy Ricco/Maresca Gallery,New York.9 Mangels client ledger, op. cit., p. 388.

FALL 2007 FOLK ART 57