| In
1934, Herbert F. O'Malley, director of Playland, was in correspondence
with Harry G. Traver, who at that time was operating rides on
the midway of the Chicago Century Of Progress exposition. The
discussion involved the terms of a proposal to relocate the Laff
In The Dark ride that Traver was running in Chicago to Rye after
the conclusion of the exposition. In his letter
of March 7, Traver comments on the costs of the stunts and
the building extension that will afford the necessary space for
the ride's layout - see park's diagram below. Note the ride's
frontage was originally a shooting gallery. The "1001 Troubles"
mirror maze to the left also still operates today - as the House
Of Mirrors. |
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About
a month later, O'Malley wrote to Jay Downer of the Westchester
County Park Commission, detailing the terms and percentages
of the proposal
and asking that it be submitted for consideration by
the commission. The agreement contained an option for
the county to purchase the ride at the end of the 1936
season which they decided to exercise.
During the initial three years of the concession operation,
it appears that Traver may have augmented the ride with
additional equipment that he intended to remove upon
his surrender of the ride to the park at end of his
lease, provoking a dispute about the ownership of the
equipment for
which
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O'Malley
sought a legal
opinion from county attorney William A. Davidson. Whatever
the resolution, the park decided at the end of the 1936 season
that the ride's tremendous volume of patronage over the past three
years required the rehabilitation of the cars. Now they were dealing
with Ralph Chambers, Traver's former chief engineer who purchased
the assets when Traver's financial misfortunes cost him his business.
Chambers provided a quote
for the needed wheels, tires, bearings, contact shoes and "seat
lifting brackets" to ride superintendant George Baker. |
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Playland's
Laff In The Dark in 1936 during an apparent construction
or updating project. The dancing skeletons were animated
with a common linkage, gyrating back and forth in eerie
formation. Note the upended car at right. |
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| The
1940s saw the fleshing out of the shimmying skeletons
with the plywood clowns that were familiar to a generation
of Playland visitors. The clowns danced for approximately
forty years until they were replaced by demonic scenery
in the 1980s which eventually gave way to the current
Zombie Castle frontage in the 1990s. |
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