Era: 1970s
Glow-in-the-Dark?: No
Place of Origin: Bell's Amusement Park Tulsa, OK
Rib Count: 20
Celebrity Look-alike: The melting guy in Raiders of the Lost Ark
Description: This is the one that started it all. My very first rubber skeleton. My head is full of memories that involve admiring, studying, drawing, playing with, traveling with, and even speaking to this very figure. And now I look upon this dear toy and wonder how it is even possible that my young mind completely failed to notice his unsettling, um.. disfigurement.
Additional Info: They say you don't truly appreciate a possession unless you have earned it yourself. This old adage certainly holds true in this case, for this skeleton was my compensation for a momentous ski-ball game that was expertly played.
As an homage, I included this fellow in the background of the souvenir shop in this Flip web toon.
Cause of Death: Humiliation
Rating: 6.0
5 comments:
Bell's is such a great place (at least it was last time I was there 15 years ago). Sad about the ferris wheel dying this summer. Was also sad to hear the Wildcat left some years ago.
Your Phantasmagoria clip sure is cool, tho- you obviously did the homework. I remember the floating goblin (he used to have a dip in the track all to himself before they removed it) and the huge rat. Also the huge skull-fountain & half-woman that didn't make the video. And the strobe-mirror room. I never did think of taking a flashlight in there. Duh!
Pics I've seen lately shows the ride has been cruely-treated by time. And lawsuit-minded owners. Shame.
Thanks Travis, I heard that the Phantasmagoria got some major wind damage this summer and they completely removed the "wacky shack" type facade. Now it supposedly looks like a big metal building. I'm afraid to even see it now.
Although its never been the same since they took out the front dip and stuck up some plywood and painted that Joker look-alike on the front that says "Scarrieeee house."
Yeah, Flip is my way of visiting it in its glory days.
This is a great example of the designer's ambition exceeding the skill of the mold maker. There is an obvious awareness of human anatomy on display here, with the fully formed rib cage, the collar bones, the separation of the ulna and radius, the tibia and fibula.
And yet, there is clearly an attitude of "who gives a crap" on the part of the mold maker. The flash around the parting line is just poor workmanship, plain and simple. He apparently never thought his craft would be on display in front of the whole world, and up against some very stiff competitors who take their skeleton-making seriously.
I remember owning this one myself. When I was a kid I made a darkride out of cardboard, tape, and crayonds and I used him as one of the tricks inside the ride. :) Judging from the comments above, I'm not the only darkride fan here. I was a massive fan of the Bill Tracy "Wacky Shack" that was on Hunt's Pier (RIP) in Wildwood NJ.
I've always wanted to make a miniature dark ride. Much more fun than a train set!
The Whacky Shack is kin to my favorite dark ride the Phantasmagoria. Speaking of which I'm just about to finish a post on it.
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