Friedsam Memorial Carousel Central Park, New York

New York City boasts eleven carousels, including the Bug Carousel in The Bronx and two still underway to be opened very soon. Yesterday I visited the carousel at Central Park here in New york. The last time I was here, the carousel had closed for the winter, which was so disappointing. I must admit this carousel is the least favourite of the ones I have visited so far. I just don't think it is as opulent as I want a carousel to be, but the folk art skill is amazing nevertheless. I ended up standing on the horses saddle for half a turn today, just to feel what it would be like. I wanted to do a full circle but had to sit right down as the carousel was going past the operator. I didn't want to get kicked off, but let me tell you, it was a total thrill!

The carousel at Central Park has such a huge history (read this great article). The current one is the fourth that has been placed into position at Central Park since the original in 1871. The first was powered by a real live horse or mule who would spend it's days hidden under the carousel waiting for the operator above to signal with a stamp of his foot to start walking around in circles. It has been said the animal was blind. This carousel was used until 1924. The following two steam powered carousels both had an abrupt ending due to fire. The replacement of the last carousel to burn down in 1950 is the one that stands today. It was discovered in an abandoned old trolley terminal on Coney Island and was made by Brooklyn firm Stein & Goldstein, who were Russian immigrants in 1908. It is the one of the largest carousels in the United States and features 57 hand-carved horses, two decorative chariots and four rows of 'jumpers' (horses that go up and down during the ride). This was very impressive indeed.

The operator's room in the center of the carousel was covered in sculptures recreating a story amoungst naughty clowns. This would be the influence of the carousel being made for the Coney Island area. The images below show the operators room in detail. I snapped as we went around and then put it all together in photoshop so you could see the fun that surrounds the mechanism. You can see the painted and sculptured band organ that accompanies the carousel.  

The clown theme was carried on over to the pillars inside the building. This isn't a great phot but you get the idea.

Cherubs lined the outside top of the carousel, creating their own little world above.

 









While swans graced the inside top of the carousel in a flustery fashion.












There are some antique carousels that have real horses tails as their own (which I will make a post about soon) but these horses had carved wooden ones, which I do find disappointing, even though it is a creepy story behind where the real tails actually come from.

The cage surrounding the carousel had cute cast iron mini carousel horses, which I thought was a lovely touch.




Coloured lights lined the top brackets of the carousel. I'm not too fond of coloured lights on carousels but I do understand why it was decided on this one. The carousel itself is full of bold colour and I suspect the coloured lights are placed there to enhance this. The center bars of each carousel was a plain steel. I do like the brass 'rope' style much better.

My favourite part of this carousel was the tongues of the horses. Almost all had them hanging out as if exhausted from riding fast and hard. Extremely expressive in their emotion, all I wanted to do was touch all the tongues of the horses.

Just outside of the entrance to the carousel were these two pillars (shown below). One is a lullaby written in 1934 and the one is a memorial to a little girl who died in 1987.

Hushaby,

Don't you cry,

Go to sleepy, little baby,

When you wake,

You shall have

All the pretty little horses,

Blacks and bays,

Dapples and grays,

Coach and six-a little horses,

Hushaby,

Don't you cry,

Go to sleepy little baby

All The Pretty Little Horses,

From American Ballads and Folk Songs

1934 John A. Lomex and Alan Lomex.

Michelle Bernstein
March 25, 1984 – June 19, 1987
The Carousel Landscape
was restored in 1991
in honour of Michelle
who loved
all the pretty little horses

This was strange indeed to come across. I did a little research but could not find who this little girl was, why this memorial was made for her nor how she died. It just made the experience even more strange.





The Central Park Carousel was featured in such movies as Up The Sandbox, I'm Not Rappaport, The Spanish Prisoner, and The Producers. I'm yet to watch these movies but will surely make a post about them soon enough.