The Dark Side of Kennywood, Page 3

Rick Davis

Fire!

Fire occasionally changed the face of many of the early parks and Kennywood was no exception. An arson fire in 1911 which destroyed the Penny Arcade, the theater, and the shooting gallery also damaged the Old Mill. It is thought that the damage from the fire prompted remodeling or totally rebuilding the Old Mill. A brochure from around 1912 mentions the new $10,000 water ride, the Rapids or Gorge which was called the Old Mill Rapids Gorge in a subsequent brochure.

This same season Daffy Dilla was gone and Hilarity Hall took its place. The old Steeplechase building was removed to be replaced by a new 60 foot by 80 foot building constructed by the Zarro Amusement Device Company of Beaver Falls, PA. With a new look and new stunts, park patrons that season were thrilled by such devices as- the Joy Wheel, the Bull Moose Glide, the Shaker Stairs, the Earthquake Stairs, the Electric Slide, the Revolving Divan, Ring the Bell, the Tango Hustle, the Bumping Twister, the Jumble Board, the Rocker Walk, the Turkey Trot, the Sliding Stairs, the Alternating Floor, the X-Ray, the Electric Grip, the Lung Tester, the Perfume Machine, the Hot Foot Walk, the Rolling Wave, the Virginia Shuffle, the Undulating Walk, the Wire Maze, the Crash and Bumper, the Dog House, and the Maple Slide.

The Rapid’s Gorge again became the Old Mill for the 1915 season. Along with the name change came some new features. The channel was deepened and pumps were added to move the water instead of using the paddle wheel. Zarro Amusements created several new mechanical scenes as such as the Venetian scene, the New York Harbor, a marine scene (with moving waves, battleships, boats, and a lighthouse), and a spring scene with a Maypole and 5 animated figures.

Zarro Amusements also built the Tilt House that same season in the area that is now Kiddieland. This was not what we think of as a “tilt-house” today, it was an attraction that is commonly called a “haunted swing”. Tilt House was a simple wooden room that held 16 people and gave park goers the illusion that they were spinning upside down while the room remained stationary. In actuality, of course, the “floor” was actually a platform suspended between two pivot points and the room revolved around the spectators.

The Tumble Inn also made its appearance in 1915 at a cost of $10,000 featuring devices such as trick floors and wobbling steps. Again, not much is known about this early attraction.

The often modified Old Mill was renamed once around 1917 and would be known as the Fairyland Floats keeping the same basic ride structure, but receiving new scenery inside.

In 1921 Hilarity Hall became a new funhouse called the Bug House with the Human Roulette Wheel and the Lover’s Tub being featured attractions. The Bug House claimed to have “57 varieties of rib tickling devices” such as the slide, the barrel of fun, the witching waves, the laughing mirrors (probably recycled from the former Laughing Gallery), and vibrating floors.

The Old Mill became the Tour of the World in 1922 with a make over inside and out including a new front. Designed to educate, as well as amuse school children, it contained scenes of Washington, San Francisco, Tokyo, Paris, London, and a scene “across the Rockies”. The Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) also supplied new boats “resembling the gondolas of Venice” for the ride. It is thought that this is when the boats received the two hand-carved dragon heads on the front featured for many generations to enjoy.

New for the 1923 season was the Mysterious Knockout. To quote a Kennywood letter it was “an amusement giving promise to great popularity, something more than a fun house- a big surprise- uneasy to describe.” While the newspapers all printed the park’s “teasers” at the start of the season, no record of exactly what the attraction was has yet been found.

The Bughouse was redesigned and redecorated in “a clever camouflage design” in 1923 to make it “funnier and more laughable”. New device installed included electric shockers, barrels of fun, grotesque figures, laughing mirrors and “other fun provoking and laugh producing implements”. Kennywood claimed that “there are a hundred laughs for every cubic inch of space in this building.”

In 1924, capitalizing on America’s fascination with the opening of King Tutankhamen’s Tomb, Kennywood changed the name of the Bug House to Tut’s Tomb. The Dayton Fun House and Riding Device Company of Dayton, Ohio, added 39 new devices to the funhouse for the 1927 season.

Around 1926, the Old Mill was rebuilt and enlarged and a new façade and queue area were constructed. The queue area would basically remain the same one until the ride became Garfield’s Nightmare in 2004.

After a few seasons Tut’s Tomb reverted to Bug House. Park goers could enjoy the whole day in the funhouse if they desired for the cost of fifteen cents!“Tricky passageways and rooms built upside down” were among the entertaining features of the attraction according to the Kennywood Illustrated News in 1928.

The Bug House Through a Child's Eyes

Each week during 1928 the Kennywood paper would print the winning essays from its children’s writing contest. A young Isadore Goldberg of Pittsburgh had this to say about the Bug House - “The amusement that I like best at Kennywood Park is the Bug House. I am going to describe the Bug House to you and I want you to see if my choice is a good one.

As you walk into the Bug House a hole in the floor greets you with a gust of air. It blows the ladies’ dresses up or blows the men’s hats off. There are about ten or fifteen of these holes scattered about.

There are the rocking boardwalks. They are boardwalks that rock back and forth like a boat. Much fun is had walking on these boardwalks.

Another amusement which is full of fun is the revolving barrel. This is a huge barrel which continues revolving around. You have heaps of fun walking through it.

At the end of this barrel is a large wheel. A group of boys and girls sit on it. It starts to turn around slow, then faster and faster until almost everybody falls off. The only way to stay on this wheel for a long time is to sit on the exact center of the wheel. This is hard to do because everybody else tries to get the center also. Everybody that goes on this wheel can’t help but have fun.

Near this wheel is a flight of steps. Walk up these steps to the second floor. Then walk up another flight of stairs to the third floor. Turn to the left and you will see a large slide. It has two loops and is built from the third floor to the first floor. Take a ride down this slide and see if it isn’t very good.

There are many other amusements which would take too much time to describe, but, if you don’t believe that the Bug House is good, just go there once and see for yourself.”

It was said that is was impossible to enter the Bug House in the afternoon, a fact that may have eventually lead to its demise. Some old timers say that the high temperature in the building during the summer may have been another reason. In actuality, it was likely a financial decision: People could stay in the attraction as long as they liked for the price of one ticket. Later funhouses were designed to keep you moving towards the exit at all times.

End of an Era and a New Beginning

The 1934 season was the final one for the long standing funhouse as the Bug House became the Skooters bumper cars the next year. It was said that many of the funhouse stunts laid dormant in the upper levels until the building was removed in 1979.

Kennywood’s first traditional darkride, Laff in the Dark, arrived in 1930 when the old Dodgem Car building was enclosed. Constructed by Traver Engineering of Beaver Falls, PA, Laff had 825 feet of track, and featured 10 two-seat ride cars and 10 stunts.

The stunts of the 30's seem very tame in comparison to the animatronics of today. Most of the gags in the Laff in the Dark were simple, flat, painted, wooden cutouts of popular cartoon characters and other funny things like a kicking mule that rocked back and forth. Traver would add new stunts to the ride in 1932.

The Spillman Engineering Corporation of North Tonawanda, New York, brought in the Fun on the Farm, a portable style walkthrough attraction in 1934. This attraction was between the Racer and Jack Rabbit, about where the Pastime building is today.

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This article ©2004 Rick Davis
All uncredited photos - Kennywood archive.
Research - Rick Davis and Sarah Windisch
Sources - Kennywood Archive, Carl O. Hughes, Harry Henninger, Kennywood... Roller Coaster Capital of the World and More Kennywood Memories by Charles Jaques, History of Kennywood Park by Marie McSwigan
Special thanks to Marie Riles and Mary Lou Rosemeyer of Kennywood Park, Dave Hahner, Jim Futrell, and Joel Styler.