Steeplechase Face
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Short description|Mascot of Steeplechase Park, New York City}}
File:Steeplechase jack 1905.jpg
The Steeplechase Face was the mascot of the historic Steeplechase Park, the first{{Cite book |last=Ryan |first=Hugh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZ9aDwAAQBAJ&dq=steeplechase+park+family+friendly&pg=PA105 |title=When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History |date=March 5, 2019 |publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-250-16992-1 |language=en}} of three amusement parks in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York.{{Cite web |title=George Tilyou's Steeplechase {{!}} Smithsonian American Art Museum |url=https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/george-tilyous-steeplechase-16258 |access-date=December 28, 2022 |website=americanart.si.edu |language=en-US}} It remains a nostalgic symbol of Coney Island and of amusement areas influenced by it.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/playfulcrowdplea0000cros|url-access=registration|title=The Playful Crowd: Pleasure Places in the Twentieth Century|last=Cross|first=G.S.|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-231-12724-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/playfulcrowdplea0000cros/page/39 39]–40}} It features a man with a wide, exaggerated smile which sometimes bears as many as 44 visible teeth. The image conveys simple fun,{{Cite web |date=May 19, 2014 |title="The Face Of Steeplechase" Opening May 24 at the Coney Island History Project |url=https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/blog/news/face-steeplechase-opening-may-24-coney-island-history-project |access-date=July 10, 2021 |website=Coney Island History Project |language=en}} but was also observed by cultural critics to have an undercurrent of Victorian-era repressed sexuality.
It was also known as the Funny Face after the park's slogan "Steeplechase – Funny Place" or as Tillie, after the park's founder George C. Tilyou. It has also sometimes been named Steeplechase Jack. The mascot represented the area's wholesomeness and neoclassical architecture combined with its veneer of hidden sexuality.{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of American urban history|last=Goldfield|first=David R.|publisher=Sage Publications|year=2006|isbn=978-1-4522-6553-7|location=Thousand Oaks|pages=185|oclc=162105753}}{{cite web|url=https://www.brooklynpaper.com/photo-exhibit-celebrates-coneys-iconic-countenance-2/|title="The Face of Steeplechase" at the Coney Island History Project|date=May 30, 2014|website=Brooklyn Paper|access-date=July 15, 2019}} Though the park was a "family-friendly" area, it was nearby the "freer sexual expression of the dance halls, beaches, and boardwalk."{{Cite book |last=Ryan |first=Hugh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZ9aDwAAQBAJ&dq=steeplechase+park+family+friendly&pg=PA105 |title=When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History |date=March 5, 2019 |publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-250-16992-1 |language=en}}
The "Funny Face" logo has become an iconic symbol of Coney Island.
History
Introduced in 1897 with the park's opening, it existed in a variety of forms for most of its history, and was only standardized as a design in the late 1940s.{{Cite book |last=Silverman |first=Stephen M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wdBsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT310 |title=The Amusement Park: 900 Years of Thrills and Spills, and the Dreamers and Schemers Who Built Them |date=May 7, 2019 |publisher=Running Press |isbn=978-0-316-41647-4 |language=en}}
File:Steeplechase Park at night, Coney Island, N. Y.jpg
The face's most prominent appearance in Coney Island was in glass on the exterior of Steeplechase's Pavilion of Fun,{{cite web |date=May 20, 2016 |title=Remembering the day Trump's dad destroyed a Coney icon |url=https://www.brooklynpaper.com/remembering-the-day-trumps-dad-destroyed-a-coney-icon/ |access-date=July 16, 2019 |website=Brooklyn Paper}} created when the park was rebuilt in 1909.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1909/05/16/archives/the-lambs-gambol-brooklyn-amusements-greater-dreamland-opening.html|title=The Lambs' Gambol.; Brooklyn Amusements. Greater Dreamland, Opening Steeplechase Park.|date=May 16, 1909|work=The New York Times|access-date=July 11, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}
The pavilion was destroyed by Fred Trump in 1966{{cite web |last=Schulz |first=Dana |date=May 17, 2016 |title=52 years ago, Donald Trump's father demolished Coney Island's beloved Steeplechase Park |url=https://www.6sqft.com/50-years-ago-donald-trumps-father-demolished-coney-islands-beloved-steeplechase-park/ |access-date=July 16, 2019 |website=6sqft}} in an unsuccessful attempt to create condos on the site.{{Cite web |title=Coney Island History {{!}} Steeplechase Park |url=https://www.heartofconeyisland.com/steeplechase-park-coney-island.html |access-date=June 18, 2022 |website=Heart of Coney Island |language=en}}
Impact
The smile of the Joker, a Batman villain, may have been partially inspired by the face.{{Cite book|last=Richardson|first=Chris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tvj2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT95|title=Batman and the Joker: Contested Sexuality in Popular Culture|date=October 27, 2020|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-000-16970-6|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Morton|first=Drew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wB-HDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA143|title=Panel to the Screen: Style, American Film, and Comic Books during the Blockbuster Era|date=November 28, 2016|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|isbn=978-1-4968-0981-0|language=en}} The face is sometimes seen as an evil clown today, but this was not the original understanding.
The face also appeared at other Tilyou amusement properties, such as Steeplechase Pier in Atlantic City, and was also copied regionally, as with the Tillie of Asbury Park.
File:Coney Island Scream Zone gate.jpg
The face remains a popular symbol of Coney Island, embraced by many neighborhood institutions and businesses. A version is used in the logo of Coney Island USA, and for a time another, more clown-like, version was used by Coney Island Brewing Co. It is used in parts of the modern Luna Park, particularly in its "Scream Zone".
As of 2019, the Steeplechase Face continues to appear as sticker art in Coney Island.{{Cite web |date=September 5, 2019 |title=What's Left of Coney Island? Part 1: The Golden Age |url=https://www.coaster101.com/2019/09/05/whats-left-of-coney-island-part-1-the-golden-age/ |access-date=June 18, 2022 |website=Coaster101 |language=en-US}}
An exhibit on the history of the face was shown by the Coney Island History Project in 2014.{{Cite web|last=Bredderman|first=Will|title=Photo exhibit celebrates Coney's iconic countenance|work=Brooklyn Paper|date=May 23, 2014 |url=https://www.brooklynpaper.com/photo-exhibit-celebrates-coneys-iconic-countenance-2/|access-date=July 11, 2021|language=en-US}} An exhibit on Coney Island's history, which included artifacts of the face, was displayed at the Brooklyn Museum in 2015.{{Cite news|last=Bortolot|first=Lana|date=November 19, 2015|title=Coney Island: Signs, Schooners and Spook-A-Rama|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/coney-island-signs-schooners-and-spook-a-rama-1447891987|access-date=July 11, 2021|issn=0099-9660}}{{Cite web|first=Stav|last=Ziv|title=An Offsite Tour of Coney Island, Through Time|url=https://www.newsweek.com/offsite-tour-coney-island-through-time-399060|access-date=July 11, 2021|website=Newsweek|date=November 28, 2015 |language=en}}
See also
- Tillie (murals)
- Alfred E. Neuman
- Mickey Mouse, mascot of The Walt Disney Company
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/blog/news/face-steeplechase-opening-may-24-coney-island-history-project "The Face Of Steeplechase" at the Coney Island History Project]
{{Coney Island}}
Category:Amusement park mascots