Film
"What is presented to them must have life, action, motion, sensation, surprize, shock, swiftness or else comedy" John F. Kasson (Kasson 66)
Coney Island is a world based on motion, the movement of rides, technology and people. For this fact, it has always played well as a setting and as a major character in film. As Michael Immerso says "Coney Island was a brash celebration of the human body. Thus it was ideally suited for the new medium of motion pictures, a medium devoted entirely to the moving image. During the film industry's formative period Coney Island was the subject of more short silent films than any other location." (Immerso 118)
In the beginning of the ongoing relationship between Coney Island and film, we see many short clips showing rides or the people on the beach. These early pieces were often the work of the Biograph Company or Thomas Edison. Not only did they display new technologies to the masses with these works, but they also allowed the fantastic world of Coney Island to be seen by many more people. Once the longer silent films began incorporating story lines, the films of Coney Island changed. During this period, the reign of Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle, we see Coney Island used as a comedic, chaotic world in which anything is possible. After numerous hilarious pitfalls, our hero typically gets the girl in these classics. It is also possible to find examples of film shorts in which Coney Island is used as a scary place of confusion to the main character. 
Generally these stories revolve around fear of the other or the unknown as we can see in the classic "Josie's Coney Island Nightmare" from 1914. Even though the stories often fall back to romance or comedy, fear of the other appears to be a common theme.
Not only were films taken at Coney Island important, but the ones shown there can also tell us a lot. There were theaters, movie tents, and movie boxes all operating at Coney Island to show moving pictures to the public. "By one count there were upward of 450 moving picture shows playing at Coney Island in 1908." (Immerso 119) Firstly the shows were an obvious shift in the type of entertainment people enjoyed, but secondly they also proved that there was a social change occuring in America. When Thomas Edison put up his first moving picture boxes along the Bowery, the titles that got the most play were typically racy; "Tenderloin Secrets" and "Scenes in a Massage Parlor" for example. Overall, it is interesting to watch the growth of the popularity of film as a form of entertainment in America, by following the trends towards it at Coney Island.
In this short clip, we can see a typical scene of people at the beach on Coney Island. As mentioned above, these shots are mainly focused on displaying the new technologies being developed at the time and on sharing the joys of a Coney Island vacation with the masses. "Films... gave audiences that hadn't visited Coney Island their first glimpse" (Immerso 118).
"Shooting the Chutes" Thomas Edison (1896)
This short by Thomas Edison is indicative of typical motion shots taken at Coney Island. Again, the ride and the film of it, both show off the emerging technology and the fun to be had at Coney Island. Around this time, Edison made quite a few films that document the various mechanical rides of Coney Island. The particular ride shown here was a favorite in film though. The combination of motion (the cart rushing down the track) and the unknown (of what was going to happen once it hit water) makes it exciting to watch.
"Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle at Coney Island" (1917)
This funny short film, featuring both Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton is a typical example of how comedy plays out in the setting of Coney Island. "Coney's hurly-burly atmosphere lent itself to the physical humor of comic actors..." (Immerso 118) Interestingly enough, many popular actors of that time started out working at Coney Island in one way or another. Buster Keaton, for example, performed on vaudville stages with his parents. Other popular names of old summer employees include Clara Bow and Clark Gable. |
