The Kid of Coney Island: Fred Thompson and the Rise of American Amusements

Fred Thompson (1873-1919) was a pioneering entrepreneur who encouraged Americans, especially American men, to have fun and stop feeling guilty about it. He designed and built Luna Park, which in 1903 transformed Coney Island from an area so tawdry it was known as "Sodom by the Sea" into a respectable venue for middle-class recreation. He created the Hippodrome, the world's largest theater when it opened in 1905, and filled it with lavish spectacles at affordable ticket prices. He moved on to become "the boy-wonder of Broadway producers," responsible for such popular hits as Brewster's Millions and Little Nemo. His financial acumen never equaled his showmanship (he lost control of both Luna Park and the Hippodrome to better businessmen), but he seems to have thoroughly enjoyed spending vast sums of money to make fantasy and luxury accessible to the masses. Woody Register, professor of American Studies at Sewanee, explores Thompson's life and career as a paradigm for the sea change in commercial culture that took place in the early years of the 20th century, when the Victorian emphasis on educational, elevating entertainment was challenged by a more hedonistic attitude that valued pleasure for its own sake. Gender theory and other currently trendy academic disciplines inform the author's point of view without detracting unduly from his well-written and well-paced narrative. Register could have eased up on the Peter Pan metaphors, but he convincingly links Thompson to present-day innovators who've made a bundle by refusing to grow up, such as director Steven Spielberg and the whiz kids who created the personal computer and Internet revolutions. This is a nice example of a scholarly work that reaches beyond its core audience to appeal to the general public. --Wendy Smith