The kid of Coney Island : Fred Thompson and the rise of American amusements / Woody Register.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Register, Woody, 1958-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Amusement park owners--New York (State)--New York--Biography.

Amusement park owners.

Thompson, Fred, 1873-1919.

Thompson, Fred.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 400 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Fred Thompson and the rise of American amusements

Rise of American amusements

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

A generation before Walt Disney, Fred Thompson was the ""boy-wonder"" of American popular amusements. At the turn of the 20th century, Thompson's entrepreneurial drive made him into an entertainment mogul who helped to define the popular culture of his day. In this lively biography, cultural historian Woody Register tells the remarkable story of Thompson and examines the transformation of commerce and entertainment as American society moved into an era of mass marketing and large-scale corporate enterprise.

Contents:

Contents; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS; ONE: Uncle Sam's a Boy at Play; TWO: The Moon for a Plaything: Fred Thompson's Apprenticeship in Play, 1873-1901; THREE: Life Is Only a Merry-Go-Round: Luna Park, 1903-13; FOUR: New York's Gigantic Toy: The Hippodrome, 1902-6; FIVE: Millionaires and Monsters: Melodramas of Consumption, 1906-12; SIX: We're Playing Games: The Toylands of Peter Pan Culture, 1912-30; SEVEN: A Kindergarten Preacher in Toys; Notes; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-280-83540-0

0-19-534928-8

OCLC:

316713449