Philip Bosco (1930–2018)

Any documentary that includes Grandpa Al Lewis has to be worth watching. For someone who didn't grow up in New York, Coney Island didn't have too much reality until watching this program. Looking at the wonders of Luna Park, Dreamland, and Steeplechase Park, this is clearly the origin for the super amusement parks of today--Disney (including Epcot) and Universal Studios. The structures were massive and impressive, probably even more so than the great Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1892, but they were flimsy and not built to last, as a series of fires demonstrated. Their developers were visionaries, however.

The crowds at the parks and on the beaches of Coney Island are staggering. Like the busiest day at Disney--only worse. But the parks started closing. Dreamland never recovered from a fire. Luna Park shut down around 1947, and Steeplechase in the 1960s. Wars, the Depression, television, and the increasing lure of Manhattan all took their toll. But it was marvelous while it lasted, and you can at least get a hint of what it was all about by watching this.… (meer)