Part 420: Coney Island – Thomas G. Moses and “A Trip to the Moon”
In many situations recorded throughout Thomas G. Moses’ memoirs, things never quite go according to plan. When Moses moved his family to New York, his stable employment with Henry W. Savage evaporated at the end of the season; his work for Savage ceased when the Castle Square Opera Company left the American Theatre. Similarly, his work for Henry Greenwall was also short-lived as the Greenwall Company also left the American Theatre. Moses & Hamilton began designing settings for other Broadway venues between 1900 and 1904.
Moses & Hamilton’s Broadway designs include “Under the Southern Skies” (Theatre Republic, Nov. 12, 1901 to Jan. 1902), “In Dahomey” (New York Theatre, Feb. 18, 1903 to April 4, 1903, with a return to the Grand Opera House from August to September, 1904), “The Medal and the Maid” (Broadway Theatre, Jan. 11, 1904 to Feb. 20, 1904, Grand Opera House, March 1904), “The Pit” (Lyric Theatre, Feb. 10, 1904, to April 1904), and “Girls Will Be Girls” (Haverly’s 14th Street Theatre, Aug. 27, 1904 to Sept. 3, 1904)
It was Hamilton who prompted Moses to try his hand at the amusement business on Coney Island. Both scenic artists were immediately caught up in the excitement of amusement park profits. In 1901, Moses wrote, “We started the year on the jump. In addition to the weekly grind of getting out the Stock Company’s work, we had the contract for the “Trip to the Moon,” a big amusement park novelty owned by Thompson and Dundy.”
Thompson erected a 40,000-square-foot building that was 18 feet high to house the attraction at an expense of $84,000, for the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. Every half hour thirty passengers boarded “Thompson’s Aerial Navigation Company” spaceship “Luna.” It took twenty employees to operate the ride, with an addition to 200 actors to animate the journey.
At the sound of a gong and the rattle of an anchor chain, the passengers began their journey into space. The spaceship included enormous red canvas wings that moved with system of pulleys, flapping like a bird.
The vessel rocked from side to side, before rising into the sky. Hidden fans blew on the passengers who sat in steam chairs, creating the sensation of being airborne as a series of moving panoramas provided the scenic illusion of passing clouds; the city of Buffalo (a model with blinking lights) vanished in the distance, and eventually the entire earth disappeared from view. The illusion was enhanced with lighting and sound effects. This ride is reported to be the first electrically powered mechanical “dark ride.” Thompson even patented his creation (US725,509).
As passengers exited the spaceship, they were greeted by Selenites – sixty little people were employed to guide them through a maze featuring “crystallized mineral wonders” on their way to the “City of the Moon.”
At the end of the experience was a souvenir shop, with samples of green cheese and “mooncraft demonstrations.” The passengers were then admitted to the palace of the “Man in the Moon,” as well as a spectacular stage show. Sadly, they returned to earth by way of a simple rope ladder.
This amusement was wildly successful at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Tickets were US$0.50 at the time, twice the price of most other attractions at the exposition. Over 400,000 experienced “A Trip to the Moon” before it closed on November 2, 1901.
The 1901 “Trip to the Moon” amusement ride was preceded by Jules Verne’s 1865 novel “From the Earth to the Moon” and the 1877 four-act opera “A Trip to the Moon,” with music by Jacques Offenbach. In 1893, a play based on Verne’s classic novel appeared at New York’s Booth Theater; it was followed by a music and dance number, “A Trip to Mars” that was performed by a company of “Lilliputians.” A movie also followed the success of the 1901 World’s Fair. During May 1902, filming started for “Le voyage dans la lune” (A Trip to the Moon) by Georges Méliès. By September 1, 1902, the film was released in Paris and then New York City.
When the Pan-American Exposition ended, Fred Thompson and Elmer “Skip” Dundy placed their “Trip to the Moon” amusement in Steeple Chase Park on Coney Island, experiencing a wildly successful season during 1902. At the end of the season, they immediately began planning their own amusement park, leasing Paul Boyton’s Sea Lion Park. Their sixteen-acre park soon expanded to a twenty-two acre park, after acquiring some more adjoining land. Advertising that the new park had cost one million dollars to construct, it opened on May 16, 1903. At eight o’clock on the evening of the first day, 250,000 lights illuminated their venture – Luna Park – outlining the buildings and creating a magical land.
To be continued…
