East Baton Rouge Parish Library

Coney Island, PBS ; directed by Ric Burns ; produced by Ric Burns and Buddy Squires ; written by Richard Snow ; produced for the American Experience ; a production of WGBH Boston, WNET/Thirteen, New York, and KCET, Los Angeles

eng

videorecording

MPAA Rating: Not rated

Coney Island

62869199

Originally broadcast by PBS as an episode of the television series American Experience on February 4, 1991

PBS ; directed by Ric Burns ; produced by Ric Burns and Buddy Squires ; written by Richard Snow ; produced for the American Experience ; a production of WGBH Boston, WNET/Thirteen, New York, and KCET, Los Angeles

60

In scale, in variety, in sheer inventiveness, Coney Island was unlike anything anyone had ever seen, and eventually, everyone came to see it. At the turn of the century, Coney Island exploded in a forest of glittering electric towers and a riot of rides, restaurants, recreated disasters, freak shows, and historical displays when three vast amusement parks -- Steeplechase, Luna Park, and Dreamland -- were built. Indicative of its overwhelming popularity, on a single day in September 1906, 200,000 postcards were mailed from Coney Island. A showcase for the wonders of the machine age, Coney Island was an extraordinary amusement empire that astonished, delighted, and shocked the nation -- and took Americans from the Victorian age into the modern world

Introduction -- Sodom by the sea -- Escape from respectability -- City of Fire -- Luna Park -- Dreamland -- Perfecting the pleasure principle -- May 21, 1911: Dreamland burns -- Nickel empire -- Forever closed: But not forgotten -- Credits

general

live action