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concession. Thompson then struck a deal with Dundy where they became business partners, sharing the profits from running several concessions on the midway including "Darkness and Dawn", his "Giant See-Saw", and attraction called "Old
Plantation", and a new ride Thompson created,
312:. Thompson drew up elaborate designs for the park in a "free Renaissance and Oriental type" and Dundy managed to arrange $ 700,000 in financing (although they advertised it as $ 1,000,000) to pay for it. The totally rebuilt park with expanded attractions opened in 1903 renamed
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0.50 ($ 18.00 in 2023 dollars) at the time, twice the price of other attractions at the exposition. It was experienced by over 400,000 people before it closed on
November 2, 1901. It was the first electrically powered mechanical "dark ride" and one of the first space rides.
341:(1911). They had one child and were divorced in 1911. Dundy died in 1907 leaving it up to Thompson to try to manage their holdings but by 1912 his fortunes had turned, and he declared bankruptcy. Thompson got a job with Broadway producers
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and also designed his first amusement ride, called the "Giant See-Saw". Thompson showed his flair for showmanship when his uncle got stuck with another attraction after a bad debt called the "Blue Grotto" (a recreation of the
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with a ride called "The Grand
Toyland", but with the war in Europe in the news fair goers were more interested in a bigger attraction, airplanes. Losing money on the fair he returned to New York. Thompson suffered from
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in Paris. He had many jobs early on including draftsman, artist and as a salesman in his own business selling building materials and furniture to local contractors.
407:
Coney Island's
Original, Romantic Luna Park, A Romantic Amusement Park Vision Came To Life In Coney Island's Original Luna Park, June 13, 2015, carouselhistory.com
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Coney Island's
Original, Romantic Luna Park, A Romantic Amusement Park Vision Came To Life In Coney Island's Original Luna Park, June 13, 2015, carouselhistory.com
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in Omaha
Thompson designed and exhibited an elaborate moving diorama ride called "Darkness and Dawn". In 1899 Thompson move to New York City to study at the
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How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a
Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda
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Woody
Register, The Kid of Coney Island: Fred Thompson and the Rise of American Amusements, Oxford University Press - 2003, pages 216-217
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Register, The Kid of Coney Island: Fred Thompson and the Rise of American Amusements, Oxford University Press - 2003, page 299
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Woody
Register, The Kid of Coney Island: Fred Thompson and the Rise of American Amusements, Oxford University Press - 2003, page 216
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Woody Register, The Kid of Coney Island: Fred Thompson and the Rise of American Amusements, Oxford University Press - 2003, page 39
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Woody Register, The Kid of Coney Island: Fred Thompson and the Rise of American Amusements, Oxford University Press - 2003, page 27
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How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States
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and after surgery (one of many over a several year span) died in New York City on June 6, 1919, at the age of 45.
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After the exposition, Thompson and Dundy moved "A Trip to the Moon" and the "Giant See-Saw" to Tilyou's seaside
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Thompson and Dundy's Luna Park at night, 1905 with its centerpiece, the "Electric Tower" in the foreground.
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and worked on ways to improve his "Darkness and Dawn" ride. When applying to exhibit his ride at the 1901
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1873. His father, Casey, moved the family around frequently working as a manager in the steel industry in
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In 1906 Thompson's attention turned away from running his businesses when he married stage actress
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At age 19 or 20 Thompson traveled to Chicago and ended up working several jobs at the 1893
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175:(October 31, 1873 – June 6, 1919) was an American architect, engineer, inventor, and
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cave on the island of Capri). Thompson drew people into the exhibit by having a recorded
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Jeffrey Stanton, Coney Island - Thompson & Dundy, Coney Island History Site, 1998
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582:"Fred Thompson Marries. Head of Thompson & Dundy Weds Miss Mabel Taliaferro".
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316:. In 1905 Thompson and Dundy built a huge indoor stadium in Manhattan called the
702:“Amusing the Million” by Frederic Thompson, EVERYBODY’S MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 1908
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pitch presented by a novel invention few people had seen, an Edison
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Frederic Thompson returned to the midway at the 1915 San Francisco
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526:"In 1901, you could pay 50 cents to ride an airship to the Moon"
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known for creating amusement rides and one of the first large
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and in 1913 he married Selene Wheat Pilcher from Nashville.
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Thompson found he had already lost out to another showman,
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Jeffrey Stanton, Coney Island - Thompson & Dundy, 1998
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752:Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)
747:American entertainment industry businesspeople
550:. GottaLoveConeyIslandDotCom. Archived from
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483:"Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–"
350:Panama–Pacific International Exposition
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308:. They went on to purchase the nearby
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481:Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
223:Exposition and entertainment business
762:19th-century American businesspeople
712:Coney Island - Thompson & Dundy
707:Fred Thompson, Creator of Luna Park
103:, creator of large amusement parks
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257:Arts Student's League
217:Ecoles des Beaux Arts
209:Springfield, Illinois
337:(1909) and the film
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150:Selene Wheat Pilcher
140: 1906;
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201:St. Louis, Missouri
91:The Bronx, New York
75:Manhattan, New York
306:Brooklyn, New York
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269:Elmer "Skip" Dundy
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109:Notable work
69:(1919-06-06)
67:June 6, 1919
737:1919 deaths
732:1873 births
548:"Luna Park"
459:1700–1799:
439:1634–1699:
238:Blue Grotto
726:Categories
532:2 February
365:References
355:alcoholism
339:Cinderella
335:Springtime
318:Hippodrome
246:phonograph
48:1873-10-31
558:April 24,
510:April 24,
425:April 24,
314:Luna Park
197:Halloween
187:Biography
464:(1992).
444:(1997).
177:showman
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273:midway
242:barker
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120:Spouse
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682:ISBN
560:2012
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512:2012
490:2024
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64:Died
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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