Billboard Mag. Fair and Amusements - 1954

[ri...@aol.com]

I seem to have stumbled on some very interesting issues of Billboard
from 1954 on Google books. The first is a 100+ page special issue
dedicated to the next year's fairs called "The Billboard Cavalcade of
Fairs."

http://tinyurl.com/billboard1954fairs

The next is the same day's regular issue, but starting on page 48 is
the "Outdoor" section for amusement parks and rides. There are some
interesting ads from Sellner, Eli Bridge, Herschell, Eyerly, NAD,
etc. I like the ad promoting concession space at the Nu-Pike in Long
Beach.

http://tinyurl.com/billboard1954nov

Rik

[BaSSiStiSt]

Fascinating stuff, Rik, thanks for the links!!

Found it interesting that the only mention of rock and roll was in the
Eyerly ad! Elvis was less than a year away from changing those music
pages forever.

[GodsOnSafari]

Hey now, there's some info here. I didn't know Conklin was a
concessionaire at Crystal Beach and Olympic. Go figure. And did
everyone see that picture of the four Eli's from Strates?

[Victor Canfield]

If you click on the 'browse all issues' button, you will find that
Billboard issues from 1942-1960 are present, with a few gaps, mostly
searchable. (There are later issues also, but they don't contain the
outdoor amusement stuff.)

[Coaster Enthusiasts of Canada]

GodsOnSafari wrote:

>On Nov 13, 1:33=A0am, r...@aol.com wrote:
>> I seem to have stumbled on some very interesting issues of Billboard
>> from 1954 on Google books.

>Hey now, there's some info here. I didn't know Conklin was a

>concessionaire at Crystal Beach and Olympic. Go figure.

*** Conklin (and in the earlier days, Garrett) had and have concessions
at many parks in North America.

When they became an amusements dealer (probably back in the 1930s or
40s), they would put a ride into a park at their risk, pay concession fees
to that park, and if it was successful, would sell the ride to the park
after a few seasons. Everyone made money.

They would also bring in other park and carnival owners to the location
with the concession in order to show off (demonstrate) the ride to their
potential clients/buyers. A park could not lose with this method and
Conklin Shows made big bucks over the years.
--------

To locate all Canadian Parks of the past that were associated with
Conklin Shows, put "Conklin" into the "Search" field at:

http://www.CEC.chebucto.org/ClosPark/Search.html

Richard Bonner

Managing Director:
The Coaster Enthusiasts of Canada
www.CEC.chebucto.org