The Giant Wheel at Blackpool Faces the Wrecking Ball in 1928
Demolition of the Blackpool Giant Wheel in 1928
After 32 years of delivering fun, the ”Jolly Wheel” (or Human Centrifuge) was coming down in 1928. The Giant Wheel was never really able to challenge the Blackpool Tower, so the end was nigh. Built by British Naval Engineer Walter B. Bassett, this was the second Giant Wheel out of four that he was to construct between 1895 and 1898. Earls Court (London), Blackpool, Vienna and Paris all received variations of Bassett’s Giant Wheels. Bassett died penniless in 1907. In 1896 he was challenged in the Courts by James Weir Graydon, an American Giant Wheel inventor and patent holder. Bassett claimed he had Continue reading The Demolition of a Giant Wheel→
Unique Imagery – 22 Makes of Lorry at Work (1930’s/40’s/50’s/60’s/70’s)
(Contains Link to Video Production)
A ”new” video featuring A.E.C.; Albion; Armstrong-Saurer; Atkinson; Bedford; Bristol; Crossley; Dennis; Diamond T; E.R.F.; Foden; F.W.D.; Guy; Leyland; Mack; Maudslay; Sentinel; Scammell; Thornycroft; Tilling-Stevens; Vulcan and White lorries on the fairgrounds between 1930 and 1970 has now been produced from Library images.
To view the video, ”FIFTY Commercial Vehicle Advertisements Click below :-
To view the video, ”Scammell Scrapbook – Over 100 Worldwide Images Covering Most Models” – click below :-
To View, ’22 Makes of Lorries at Work 1930’s to ’70’s’ – Click Below :-
Pictures and Videos are the Copyright of the EAI Picture Library – All Rights Reserved
Taylor’s Bioscope Show at Wanstead Flats, London in 1903
The heyday of the travelling bioscope (early silent cinematograph) shows was between the late 1890’s and the First World War. Showfolk presented picture shows on the fairground. The show-fronts of these bioscope shows became very elaborate with ornate carvings. Most shows also featured a large fairground organ situated on the show-front. All the electricity was produced by steam power from a steam road locomotive stationed adjacent to the show. A belt from the steam engines’ flywheel would drive a dynamo mounted on the front of the engine. The dynamo could produce 110 volts D.C. – 40 amps @ 750 rpm, suitable for powering the carbon arc lighting, projector and organ. Continue reading The Early Cinema Presentations→
Rare Opportunity to Compare theseBehind the Scenes Images
Gallopers Top Motion by Savages 1893Gallopers Top Motion – Savages Four-Abreast c.1925Gallopers Top Motion – Tidman c.1912Gallopers Top Motion by Walkers of Tewkesbury
All Images are the Copyright of the EAI Picture Library – All Rights Reserved
As my mother and grandmother did,
I watch the crowds from my caravan, go
streaming to the fair. Clad in their bright
dresses, I see that all the girls have curly hair, or
hair that waves. The men are smart and clean,
erect and proud, with money jingling in their
suits, while children hold their candy floss like
fairy food, or gay balloons sail in the air above
them like magic words, following their holders,
bobbing as they bob, or sailing smoothly with
older hands to guide them.
I see young people laughing on the Caterpillar,
or holding tightly to the Noah’s Ark, or swirling
with the Waltzer, while I remember their
parents and their grandparents soaring to giddy
heights on the Yachts, or riding on the Scenic –
that golden, glittering Scenic with Waterfall of
many hues – real water.
And then I think of those sad, tragic years
when men were on the scrap heap. That bad
depression, when precious coppers were for
food – to fill the aching belly. When miners
squatted on the curb and watched the mad
gyrations of roundabouts beckoning them to
momentary happiness. And yet, with wonder, I
saw their children come to spend their pence,
while grim faced, lean ribbed fathers laughed
just watching them.
by Eleanor Green (during the late 50’s whilst travelling to familiar grounds in Glasgow, Hartlepoole, Keighley etc.)
The Green Family are famous showfolk who have travelled amusements since the nineteenth Century.
Pictures copyright EAI Picture Library – All Rights Reserved
Who strangled the man in charge of the freak show at the fun fair on Hampstead Heath?
‘The Baker Street Dozen’ (Cover)
Val Andrews, the master crime writer, chose this 1914 image of side shows for his eighth Sherlock Holmes book. This is a collection of thirteen short stories, providing the reader with a fascinating escape into the Edwardian life of the world’s greatest detective.
Sherlock Holmes uses his consummate skill and his encyclopaedic knowledge of little know facts and obscure detail to solve each of the thirteen mysteries.
Published by Breese Books ISBN: 0 947533 419
Picture copyright EAI Picture Library – All Rights Reserved
George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. – American Bridge & Tunnel Engineer (1859-1896)
1893– Giant Pleasure Wheel – Columbian Exposition at Chicago – ”The Queen of the Midway”
264ft. high & 790ft. in circumference – 36 passenger cars each carrying 38 people. 1368 passengers fully laden.
Giant Pleasure Wheel at the Chicago Exposition 1903
G.W Ferris died in poverty three years after this Giant Wheel was completed. The attraction was pulled down in 1903 and moved to the Louisiana Purchase Expo. in St. Louis and re-opened in 1904. Finally on May 11, 1906 this Giant Wheel was demolished by a 200lb. charge of dynamite. The name ”Ferris Wheel” is still used today.
George Washington Gale Ferris 1859 to 1896
Walter B. Bassett – British Naval Officer (1863-1907)
A ”CALL-BIRD” for the Winter Gardens. 214 ft. high – 30 passenger cars each carrying 30 people – 900 passengers fully laden. 400 tons of steel. Built to rival the 518ft. high Blackpool Tower which opened 14/5/1894.
Pulled down for scrap in October 1928. Passenger cars sold for GBP20.
1897– Giant Pleasure Wheel – Reisenrad, Vienna, Austria
Giant Wheel by Walter Bassett at Prater Parc, Vienna Austria in 1935
226ft. high – 30 passenger cars each carrying 20 people – 600 passengers fully laden.
Built to commemorate the 50th. Anniversary of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph’s ascension to the throne.
Famous landmark used as a location during the filming of the motion picture ”The Third Man”. Still in operation today with only 15 cars.
1898– Giant Pleasure Wheel – ”La Grande Roue” – for the Paris Exposition of1900.
La Grande Roue de Paris 1898
328ft. high – 40 passenger cars – Built on the Avenue de Suffern close to the 984ft. high Eiffel Tower (built for 1889 Paris Expo.).
Pulled down in 1920. The passenger cars were used as temporary homes for some of the First World War homeless.
Wheel Wars
In 1896 there had been plans for a Giant Pleasure Wheel at New Brighton (UK), with James Weir Graydon as Proposer & Engineer (US Inventor and holder of a British Giant Wheel patent). Walter B. Bassett claimed that on 10/8/95 he had reached an agreement with Graydon that gave Bassett the exclusive rights to use the Graydon patents to build Giant Pleasure Wheels in the UK. Graydon filed a countersuit against Bassett for financial damages, due to the construction delay. This was dismissed by the Court. By this time Bassett had completed the Giant Wheels in Blackpool, Vienna and Paris, and the New Brighton project was scrapped. Bassett died nine years later on 25/5/07 at Watermouth, and was by then virtually penniless.
Intellectual Rights & Images are Copyright of the EAI Picture Library
Library images were chosen for the music CD inserts of the Red House Painters album featuring the track Roller Coaster. The Red House Painters (an Alternative Rock Group) were formed in San Francisco by singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek. These three images are composites from Library images originated in Lancashire (UK), Dorset (UK), and along the eastern seaboard of the USA.
CD Insert – Red House PaintersCD Insert – Red House Painters
Pictures copyright EAI Picture Library – All Rights Reserved
The animal mounts from Ashleys’ 1934 Lakin Noah’s Ark ride went into storage in the early 1960’s, when the ride was converted to a Waltzer. However they made an improptu appearance in 1994 for a photo shoot. Soon after they were sold and have remained in storage. A special thank you to Michael Smith at The Fairground Heritage Centre, Milford, Lifton, Cornwall, Continue reading The Animals from the Lost Ark→
A picture library of high quality worldwide amusement images depicting all the fun associated with these attractions
