August 19, 2025 • 19 mins
Grab your riding crop and hold on tight, because today we’re taking a spin through the history of merry-go-rounds! Why do British carousels rotate in the opposite direction from the rest? Which future U.S. president had a summer job sanding ponies? And what’s the connection between carousels and Eggo waffles? Saddle up your speakers, because Will and Mango have the answers! Plus: The world’s first rocket-powered carousel, and the Michelangelo of horse carving.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Guess what, Mengo, what's that?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Well?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
So, did you know that there's a double a baseball
team with a name inspired by carousels?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I mean I didn't, but now I'm curious.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, it's in the title of this that this episode
is all about carousels. So I knew I was going
to lead with something related to that. But the team
used to be the Binghamton Mets, but in twenty sixteen
it was actually renamed the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. See Binghamton,
New York has given itself the prestigious title of carousel
Capital of the World. Shockingly, no one had claimed that,
(00:54):
and this was thanks to its six antique Merrigo rounds.
I love that. You just need six to make the
capital of the world.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
So what's the story there?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, as usual, it traces back to an eccentric rich guy.
This guy George F. Johnson, who was a wealthy shoemaker
who lived, of course in Binghamton, and he donated not one,
not two, but six Merrigo rounds to local parks between
the years nineteen nineteen and nineteen thirty four. Now, these
antique hand carved carousels are actually kind of rare nowadays.
(01:24):
They're only about one hundred and fifty in the United
States and Canada combined, so having six of them in
one town is pretty special. In fact, all six are
on the National Register of Historic Places, and Johnson's original
condition when he donated the pieces was that writers wouldn't
be charged defeat, which still holds true today. So that
park's pretty cool. So in twenty sixteen, when the local
(01:45):
New York Mets affiliate needed a new name and a
new logo, a carousel horse was the perfect muse. Now,
even more specifically, the person who submitted the name suggestion
was inspired by a story written by Binghamton University professor
Livez Rosenberg, so her children's book The Carousel. Not surprising
it's called The Carousel is about horses on a merry
(02:06):
go round who sleep during winter and come alive during
the spring.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Oh, much like the sport of baseball. That's right, Okay, yeah,
I think I need a Binghamton Rumble Ponies hat though
I was thinking the same thing.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, it's time for a field trip out there. But
before we hop on a bus to Binghamton. We have
eight more facts about carousels, so let's dive in. Hey,
(02:46):
their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will
Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend
Mangesh hot Ticketter and over there in the booth as
our PALIN producer Dylan Fagan. He's trying to see what
he was eating, but he's eating a stack of eggo ware.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So many egos in there, and I'm all for Dylan
starting the day off right, but that feels excessive.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
That is a lot of egoes, But I do love
how Dylan always does his research. Now, egos were invented
by this incredible food inventor named Frank Dorsu, who basically
took a carousel engine and he made this rotating device.
So what happened is the batter would squeeze out and
it would move and settle and be cooked under this
rotating hood, all based on a carousel design. I don't
(03:27):
know why this came up with, you know that came
from that. But egos, just for the record, were originally
called froffles or frozen waffles, but the ego name was
just catchier.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
I love that so will.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
One of my favorite memories is of your family coming
up to New York and hanging out with my family. Yeah,
when Henry was just I think three, maybe four, we
all wandered down to the Jans carousel in Brookenbridge Park
and your kids were just these incredible mature carousel and zus.
(04:01):
And I remember seeing like, like your younger kid just
like smiling and holding balloon and fist pumping and uh.
And you know, your older kid was obviously very comfortable
on it, and my son, Henry just had his eyes
closed and was screaming and had both his hands over
both the ears.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I think this is one of those things where when
you were a frustrated parent, you remember the whole incident
a little differently. I love that you describe my kids
as as mature carousel enthus their natural they the whole
thing just so well behaved. But that's pretty that's pretty fantastic.
But all right, well, why don't we start at the
very beginning with how carousels were invented? Because I know
(04:40):
you spent some time look into this definitely.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
So there have been various types of rotating devices and rides,
and this is dating back to at least five hundred
CE in places all across the world, so this means
everywhere from the Islamic Empire, Europe, Latin America, even India.
The word carousels started to be used around the mid
seventeenth century, and it referred to a demonstration in which
(05:04):
men on horseback performed these synchronized maneuvers on the field. Now,
the term was likely derived from similar words in both
Spanish and Italian, which meant little war, and it referred
to a game involving rings or clay balls. But the
true direct carousel predecessor was a training tool for knights,
and these devices emerged in France it was about sixteen eighty.
(05:26):
They had a pole in the middle that could be
rotated by a person or an animal like a horse,
and knights sat on these legless wooden horses and they
were attached to the pole, and while the carousel was
moving around, the men could practice using spears by trying
to catch metal rings.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
That actually sounds kind of fun.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yeah, it is, as long as you were the knight
and not the person moving the point.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
That's a fair point. I can tell you that the
carousels we know and love today really started taking off
in the eighteen sixties, when once powered by steam engines
actually came onto the scene. So before that there were
plenty of different versions, but they were limitted by the
fact that they had to be operated by people or
animals like you were describing now. Also, the mid nineteenth
(06:06):
century was when we saw the first rideable horses moving
up and down as the carousel went around. So this
so called Golden Age of carousel took place in the
United States between the eighteen nineties and the nineteen twenties. Now,
in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, people had more
free time and one popular new pastime was visiting the
(06:26):
trolley park, which was a park located at the end
of a trolley line that often had a carousel. So
during this time the country had up to three thousand
hand carved and hand painted merrygo rounds in operation, and
the carousels were massive, very intricate compared to the ones
that the world had previously seen, and it became this
real art form. So this was also when the merrygo
(06:47):
round artisans began expanding into other members of the animal kingdom,
so giraffes, tigers, and this was a game changer. You
had goats, you had camels. I mean, the list goes
on and on, and this lures that many more kids
to the rides. There now one fun fact from this
golden age. A young Dwight D. Eisenhower lived across the
street from a factory that made carousels in Abilene, Kansas,
(07:10):
and its supposedly as a teenager around the year nineteen
oh six, that the future president had a job sanding
carousel horses at that factory.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I love that it sounds both whimsical and like something
that's so old timey.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, yeah, definitely definitely quite a summer job. But not
when you come across much these days, because, as we know,
all the golden ages must come to an end, and
in this case, the golden age of the carousel couldn't
keep pace after the invention of, of course, the roller coaster.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Well, now that we've covered some carousel history, it feels
like a good time to talk terminology.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
And I've always wondered what.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
The difference is between a merry go round and a
carousel same and it turns out there is none.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Okay, is that end of episode?
Speaker 1 (07:52):
You can use either term to refer to the ride, though,
of course, carousel can be used more broadly to describe
things like luggage carousels and airport. According to Merriam Webster,
the word carousel has been in use since sixteen fifty,
while merry go round was introduced in seventeen twenty nine.
That said, there are plenty of words Americans have used
to describe carousels over the years. That includes things like
(08:13):
the flying horses, the whirligig, the flying Dutchmen, Kelly's goats,
spinning ginny hobby horses, steam circus, and carry as alls.
And that's just in the US and England. They've also
been called roundabouts, tilts, and gallopers.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Okay, that's a lot of names. Actually, speaking of the British,
did you know that there's a pretty significant difference between
carousels in England or gallopers as you mentioned, and then
the ones we have here in the States.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah. In England, departs are delivered by lorries to build them,
and in the US they're delivered by.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Cross right, it's very very good, Mago, but no. Traditionally,
carousels in England rotate clockwise, and in most other countries
they go counterclockwise, which just seems so weird. Like I
don't even know one thing. If they went in the
other direction, I don't know that I could handle it.
Apparently this is because the British take horseback riding very
seriously and it's improper for an equestrian to get on
(09:06):
a horse from the right side, so by having their
carousels face clockwise, riders are less likely to make that mistake.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
I had no idea there were rules about getting on
a horse, but I do like thinking about international carousels,
so here a quick few facts about them. Paris has
beautiful double decker carousels, like the one in montmart with
hand painted city scapes. In Germany you can find carousels
with beer steins and pretzels instead of horses, and Japan
features ultra modern carousels with anime characters or led light shows.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Fun.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
But I looked up, like, what are the absolute all
star carousels that you have to go on in the world,
and these are a few of them. So one is
the House on the Rock carousel in Wisconsin. It's the
world's largest indoor carousel. It features two hundred and sixty
nine animals, but not a single horse.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
WHOA that sounds intentional.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
They also have over one hundred and eighty mannequin angels
floating from the ceiling. Of course, you know, it sounds
like a fever dream. And then there's the La Carousel
Desmond Marine in Nanta's, France, and this sounds insane because
it's a three level mechanical marine carousel. It's got squids, submarines,
(10:20):
deep sea fish, crabs and boats. It is twenty five
meters tall and supposedly it's like riding through Jules Burns's imagination.
And then there's the Banksy be Amusement Park, which was
you know, only there in twenty fifteen, but it was
a deliberately disturbing carousel. It had a butcher mannequin, there
was a carousel operator asleep at the control. It was
(10:44):
quote a brutal satire of capitalism and fairytale nostalgia. Wow.
And then my favorite one is the Old Goat Carousel,
which is on Goat Island in Oregon, and it features
quirky wooden goats with hand knit saddles. I loved, and
the bonus weirdness is that there was a rumor that
real goats once powered it.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I love that they were quirky wooden goats, right like
just not those normal old wooden goats you sometimes see.
All right, Well, I don't know how many people will
go travel to visit these carousels, but they do sound intriguing.
So we'll be back with a few more carousel facts
after a quick break, including tales of a giant Panda,
Abraham Lincoln's Face, and Catcher and the Rye. What a
trio there, so stay tuned. Welcome back to Part Time Genius,
(11:45):
where today we're taking a spin around the wonderful world
of carousels. Now quick reminder, if you like what you're hearing,
be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite
podcast app, leave us a nice rating, a review, and
share the episode with a friend. We definitely appreciate it,
and hope so will they so well.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Something I was thinking about while we were researching this
episode was carousels in media, and I remember this part
from Jadie Salinger's novel Catcher and the Ride holding Coffield
is watching his sister Phoebe on the Merry Go Round
and the quote goes quote, Then the carousels started, and
I watched her go round and round. All the kids
tried to grab for the gold ring, and so was
(12:22):
old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she'd fallen
off the goddamn horse, but I didn't say or do anything.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I have to admit I have not thought about that
book in a very long time, and I do not
remember that there was a carousel.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I have not remember that either. But that quote made
me wonder why older carousels had rings and why there
aren't anymore. And I learned that carousels used to have
a shoot next to them, which was attached to a
kind of arm that dispensed rings, and people riding towards
the outside of the carousel could reach over and try
to grab a ring as they were moving by. If
(12:58):
they got one, the rig dispenser would refill, allowing the
next person to try to grab one. And most rings
were made of a material like steel or iron, but
often in the bunch of rings there was one single
gold ring or one brass ring, and the lucky person
who grabbed that special ring could cash it in for
a free pride.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
I mean, to be honest, it feels like you'd get
so dizzy just trying to win that free ride.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah, it's definitely a young person's game. Speak of which
this brass ring feature actually created jobs. Carosel operators needed
quote ring boys who took all the rings returned to
a big barrel after the ride and put them back
into the ring feeder. The problem was people stole the
rings and especially the brass ones, so they oftentimes kept
them as souvenirs instead of redeeming them for a free ride.
(13:41):
So these ring replacements could cost a Merry Go Round
operator thousands of dollars in a single season, and those
rise and costs eventually made the rings obsolete.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
That is a shame. And I feel like that kind
of happens every once in a while, like stuff gets
too expensive and the world becomes a little less fun.
You know what I mean? Mego, I don't mean to
take it down, but no.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
It's why we can't have nice runing.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
This is very true, all right. So as a resident
of Brooklyn, Mango, you probably know that Brooklyn is the
home to the Merrygo Round hotspot, which is, of course
Coney Island, which once had a staggering twenty four steam
driven carousels. It even became known for its Coney Island
style of Merrygo Round, which meant a ride that was
especially ostentatious and bejeweled. Of course. Now, one Coney Island carousel,
(14:24):
the El Dorado, was forty two feet tall and had
three levels of rotating platforms, each moving at a different speed,
which would make it just weird to look at. But
today there's only one Merrigo round left in Coney Island,
the B and B Carousel, which is on the National
Register of Historic Places. It was almost sold back in
two thousand and five, but an anonymous buyer stepped in
(14:45):
to purchase it and donate it to the city. It
was then sent to Ohio for restoration, which is where
a big discovery was actually made.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
So tell me what this discovery is.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
All right? So the carousel was built in nineteen oh nine,
which was the centennial of Abraham Lincoln's birthday and the
year the Lincoln penny was first minted. Now, the carver
of the BnB horses, Marcus Charles Iliens, honored the occasion
by carving Lincoln's face into the side of one of
the horses. Aliens had been described as the Michelangelo of
horse carving. It's so weird that I never thought of.
(15:19):
Of course, you know, there's a carousel sculptor who is
more famous than the others, Yeah, like one who's an
artistic genius, the Michelangelo of them. That's exactly right. Well,
what's interesting is that there are three big schools of
carousel design, Like the Philadelphia school is more realistic and naturalistic,
the Coney Island school is the more gaudy and festive
as you might assume, like gold leaves and jewels, and
(15:41):
then there's the country fair style, which is more functional
and easy to transport, So not really that ornad I guess. Anyway,
Aliens was a genius and the artist behind ten different
Coney Island carousels. But this horse had been painted over
so many times that the carving of Lincoln was completely
covered up, so without restoration work and it would have
been lost forever. Now the Lincoln is fully visible, and
(16:04):
it's such a rare and unique piece that no rider
is actually allowed to sit on the horse, and it's
commemorated with a plaque there.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
First of all, I love that there's like a Philadelphia
style of mery gorounds, which is just amazing. But I
also love that there's one horse you can't ride at
Coney Allen because it's there to honor Lincoln.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Lincoln's faces on it.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yeah, so we have talked a lot about the past,
so let's step into the present day and I'm talking
about solar powered carousels, which have been around since two
thousand and five. Well known one is the Speedwell Foundation
Conservation Carousel. It's at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington,
d C. It was completed in twenty twelve, and thanks
to its one hundred and sixty two solar panels, it
(16:47):
has a net zero impact on the zoo's energy consumption.
But probably my favorite detail about this carousel is that
instead of traditional horses, riders can choose from a more
eclectic array of animals. So you can ride on naked
mole rat oh nice, a cuttlefish, a blue crab, or
a yellowjacket. Oh.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I love those.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
The creators also made a point to feature endangerous fecies
like a giant panda, so it's a pretty cool way
to enjoy a fun ride while keeping.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
The environment in mind. I love that mix of animals,
all right. Well, from the present day, I'll take it
one step further into the future of carousels. So in
two thousand and nine, the Brooklyn Art Combine known as
the Madagascar Institute created an experimental jet powered carousel. It
didn't have a platform, It only had two seats. They
kind of dangled from this center pole, so it didn't
(17:33):
really look like a normal carousel and it definitely didn't
work like one either. So riders received jet engine packs
to wear, and igniting them caused the ride to go around.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Which sounds kind of dangerous.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Well, that is very true. The Madagascar Institute made this
wild contraption for a gadget off festival. When they tested
it out, they put up a sign that read caution,
this may kill you. That's a good warning, you know.
It's good to know that. It feels like you shouldn't
get on. I wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Well, I am going to give you today's trophy for
that one. I never thought you could start a simple
episode about carousels and end up on a jet fueled
and possibly lethal ride. This world is full of surprises, Mango.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
You should know that by now. But that's all for today.
We'll be back next week with another brand new episode.
In the meantime, you can find us at part Time
Genius on Instagram or Blue Sky, and you can leave
us a message on our hotline three O two four
oh five five nine two five. Ask us a question,
suggest a topic, give us any feedback. Whatever it is,
we would love to hear from you, but from Dylan Gabe,
(18:37):
Mary Mango and me, thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Part Time Genius is a production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio.
This show is hosted by Will Pearson and Me Mongaysh
and research by our goodpal Mary Philip Sandy. Today's episode
was engineered and produced by the wonderful Dylan Fagan with
support from Tyler Klang. The show is executive produced for
iHeart by Katrina Norvel and Ali Perry, with social media
(19:15):
support from Sasha Gay, trustee Dara Potts and Viney Shorey.
For more podcasts from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Guess what, Mengo, what's that?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Well?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
So, did you know that there's a double a baseball
team with a name inspired by carousels?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I mean I didn't, but now I'm curious.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, it's in the title of this that this episode
is all about carousels. So I knew I was going
to lead with something related to that. But the team
used to be the Binghamton Mets, but in twenty sixteen
it was actually renamed the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. See Binghamton,
New York has given itself the prestigious title of carousel
Capital of the World. Shockingly, no one had claimed that,
(00:54):
and this was thanks to its six antique Merrigo rounds.
I love that. You just need six to make the
capital of the world.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
So what's the story there?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, as usual, it traces back to an eccentric rich guy.
This guy George F. Johnson, who was a wealthy shoemaker
who lived, of course in Binghamton, and he donated not one,
not two, but six Merrigo rounds to local parks between
the years nineteen nineteen and nineteen thirty four. Now, these
antique hand carved carousels are actually kind of rare nowadays.
(01:24):
They're only about one hundred and fifty in the United
States and Canada combined, so having six of them in
one town is pretty special. In fact, all six are
on the National Register of Historic Places, and Johnson's original
condition when he donated the pieces was that writers wouldn't
be charged defeat, which still holds true today. So that
park's pretty cool. So in twenty sixteen, when the local
(01:45):
New York Mets affiliate needed a new name and a
new logo, a carousel horse was the perfect muse. Now,
even more specifically, the person who submitted the name suggestion
was inspired by a story written by Binghamton University professor
Livez Rosenberg, so her children's book The Carousel. Not surprising
it's called The Carousel is about horses on a merry
(02:06):
go round who sleep during winter and come alive during
the spring.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Oh, much like the sport of baseball. That's right, Okay, yeah,
I think I need a Binghamton Rumble Ponies hat though
I was thinking the same thing.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, it's time for a field trip out there. But
before we hop on a bus to Binghamton. We have
eight more facts about carousels, so let's dive in. Hey,
(02:46):
their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will
Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend
Mangesh hot Ticketter and over there in the booth as
our PALIN producer Dylan Fagan. He's trying to see what
he was eating, but he's eating a stack of eggo ware.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So many egos in there, and I'm all for Dylan
starting the day off right, but that feels excessive.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
That is a lot of egoes, But I do love
how Dylan always does his research. Now, egos were invented
by this incredible food inventor named Frank Dorsu, who basically
took a carousel engine and he made this rotating device.
So what happened is the batter would squeeze out and
it would move and settle and be cooked under this
rotating hood, all based on a carousel design. I don't
(03:27):
know why this came up with, you know that came
from that. But egos, just for the record, were originally
called froffles or frozen waffles, but the ego name was
just catchier.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
I love that so will.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
One of my favorite memories is of your family coming
up to New York and hanging out with my family. Yeah,
when Henry was just I think three, maybe four, we
all wandered down to the Jans carousel in Brookenbridge Park
and your kids were just these incredible mature carousel and zus.
(04:01):
And I remember seeing like, like your younger kid just
like smiling and holding balloon and fist pumping and uh.
And you know, your older kid was obviously very comfortable
on it, and my son, Henry just had his eyes
closed and was screaming and had both his hands over
both the ears.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I think this is one of those things where when
you were a frustrated parent, you remember the whole incident
a little differently. I love that you describe my kids
as as mature carousel enthus their natural they the whole
thing just so well behaved. But that's pretty that's pretty fantastic.
But all right, well, why don't we start at the
very beginning with how carousels were invented? Because I know
(04:40):
you spent some time look into this definitely.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
So there have been various types of rotating devices and rides,
and this is dating back to at least five hundred
CE in places all across the world, so this means
everywhere from the Islamic Empire, Europe, Latin America, even India.
The word carousels started to be used around the mid
seventeenth century, and it referred to a demonstration in which
(05:04):
men on horseback performed these synchronized maneuvers on the field. Now,
the term was likely derived from similar words in both
Spanish and Italian, which meant little war, and it referred
to a game involving rings or clay balls. But the
true direct carousel predecessor was a training tool for knights,
and these devices emerged in France it was about sixteen eighty.
(05:26):
They had a pole in the middle that could be
rotated by a person or an animal like a horse,
and knights sat on these legless wooden horses and they
were attached to the pole, and while the carousel was
moving around, the men could practice using spears by trying
to catch metal rings.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
That actually sounds kind of fun.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yeah, it is, as long as you were the knight
and not the person moving the point.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
That's a fair point. I can tell you that the
carousels we know and love today really started taking off
in the eighteen sixties, when once powered by steam engines
actually came onto the scene. So before that there were
plenty of different versions, but they were limitted by the
fact that they had to be operated by people or
animals like you were describing now. Also, the mid nineteenth
(06:06):
century was when we saw the first rideable horses moving
up and down as the carousel went around. So this
so called Golden Age of carousel took place in the
United States between the eighteen nineties and the nineteen twenties. Now,
in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, people had more
free time and one popular new pastime was visiting the
(06:26):
trolley park, which was a park located at the end
of a trolley line that often had a carousel. So
during this time the country had up to three thousand
hand carved and hand painted merrygo rounds in operation, and
the carousels were massive, very intricate compared to the ones
that the world had previously seen, and it became this
real art form. So this was also when the merrygo
(06:47):
round artisans began expanding into other members of the animal kingdom,
so giraffes, tigers, and this was a game changer. You
had goats, you had camels. I mean, the list goes
on and on, and this lures that many more kids
to the rides. There now one fun fact from this
golden age. A young Dwight D. Eisenhower lived across the
street from a factory that made carousels in Abilene, Kansas,
(07:10):
and its supposedly as a teenager around the year nineteen
oh six, that the future president had a job sanding
carousel horses at that factory.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I love that it sounds both whimsical and like something
that's so old timey.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, yeah, definitely definitely quite a summer job. But not
when you come across much these days, because, as we know,
all the golden ages must come to an end, and
in this case, the golden age of the carousel couldn't
keep pace after the invention of, of course, the roller coaster.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Well, now that we've covered some carousel history, it feels
like a good time to talk terminology.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
And I've always wondered what.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
The difference is between a merry go round and a
carousel same and it turns out there is none.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Okay, is that end of episode?
Speaker 1 (07:52):
You can use either term to refer to the ride, though,
of course, carousel can be used more broadly to describe
things like luggage carousels and airport. According to Merriam Webster,
the word carousel has been in use since sixteen fifty,
while merry go round was introduced in seventeen twenty nine.
That said, there are plenty of words Americans have used
to describe carousels over the years. That includes things like
(08:13):
the flying horses, the whirligig, the flying Dutchmen, Kelly's goats,
spinning ginny hobby horses, steam circus, and carry as alls.
And that's just in the US and England. They've also
been called roundabouts, tilts, and gallopers.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Okay, that's a lot of names. Actually, speaking of the British,
did you know that there's a pretty significant difference between
carousels in England or gallopers as you mentioned, and then
the ones we have here in the States.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah. In England, departs are delivered by lorries to build them,
and in the US they're delivered by.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Cross right, it's very very good, Mago, but no. Traditionally,
carousels in England rotate clockwise, and in most other countries
they go counterclockwise, which just seems so weird. Like I
don't even know one thing. If they went in the
other direction, I don't know that I could handle it.
Apparently this is because the British take horseback riding very
seriously and it's improper for an equestrian to get on
(09:06):
a horse from the right side, so by having their
carousels face clockwise, riders are less likely to make that mistake.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
I had no idea there were rules about getting on
a horse, but I do like thinking about international carousels,
so here a quick few facts about them. Paris has
beautiful double decker carousels, like the one in montmart with
hand painted city scapes. In Germany you can find carousels
with beer steins and pretzels instead of horses, and Japan
features ultra modern carousels with anime characters or led light shows.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Fun.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
But I looked up, like, what are the absolute all
star carousels that you have to go on in the world,
and these are a few of them. So one is
the House on the Rock carousel in Wisconsin. It's the
world's largest indoor carousel. It features two hundred and sixty
nine animals, but not a single horse.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
WHOA that sounds intentional.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
They also have over one hundred and eighty mannequin angels
floating from the ceiling. Of course, you know, it sounds
like a fever dream. And then there's the La Carousel
Desmond Marine in Nanta's, France, and this sounds insane because
it's a three level mechanical marine carousel. It's got squids, submarines,
(10:20):
deep sea fish, crabs and boats. It is twenty five
meters tall and supposedly it's like riding through Jules Burns's imagination.
And then there's the Banksy be Amusement Park, which was
you know, only there in twenty fifteen, but it was
a deliberately disturbing carousel. It had a butcher mannequin, there
was a carousel operator asleep at the control. It was
(10:44):
quote a brutal satire of capitalism and fairytale nostalgia. Wow.
And then my favorite one is the Old Goat Carousel,
which is on Goat Island in Oregon, and it features
quirky wooden goats with hand knit saddles. I loved, and
the bonus weirdness is that there was a rumor that
real goats once powered it.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I love that they were quirky wooden goats, right like
just not those normal old wooden goats you sometimes see.
All right, Well, I don't know how many people will
go travel to visit these carousels, but they do sound intriguing.
So we'll be back with a few more carousel facts
after a quick break, including tales of a giant Panda,
Abraham Lincoln's Face, and Catcher and the Rye. What a
trio there, so stay tuned. Welcome back to Part Time Genius,
(11:45):
where today we're taking a spin around the wonderful world
of carousels. Now quick reminder, if you like what you're hearing,
be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite
podcast app, leave us a nice rating, a review, and
share the episode with a friend. We definitely appreciate it,
and hope so will they so well.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Something I was thinking about while we were researching this
episode was carousels in media, and I remember this part
from Jadie Salinger's novel Catcher and the Ride holding Coffield
is watching his sister Phoebe on the Merry Go Round
and the quote goes quote, Then the carousels started, and
I watched her go round and round. All the kids
tried to grab for the gold ring, and so was
(12:22):
old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she'd fallen
off the goddamn horse, but I didn't say or do anything.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I have to admit I have not thought about that
book in a very long time, and I do not
remember that there was a carousel.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I have not remember that either. But that quote made
me wonder why older carousels had rings and why there
aren't anymore. And I learned that carousels used to have
a shoot next to them, which was attached to a
kind of arm that dispensed rings, and people riding towards
the outside of the carousel could reach over and try
to grab a ring as they were moving by. If
(12:58):
they got one, the rig dispenser would refill, allowing the
next person to try to grab one. And most rings
were made of a material like steel or iron, but
often in the bunch of rings there was one single
gold ring or one brass ring, and the lucky person
who grabbed that special ring could cash it in for
a free pride.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
I mean, to be honest, it feels like you'd get
so dizzy just trying to win that free ride.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah, it's definitely a young person's game. Speak of which
this brass ring feature actually created jobs. Carosel operators needed
quote ring boys who took all the rings returned to
a big barrel after the ride and put them back
into the ring feeder. The problem was people stole the
rings and especially the brass ones, so they oftentimes kept
them as souvenirs instead of redeeming them for a free ride.
(13:41):
So these ring replacements could cost a Merry Go Round
operator thousands of dollars in a single season, and those
rise and costs eventually made the rings obsolete.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
That is a shame. And I feel like that kind
of happens every once in a while, like stuff gets
too expensive and the world becomes a little less fun.
You know what I mean? Mego, I don't mean to
take it down, but no.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
It's why we can't have nice runing.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
This is very true, all right. So as a resident
of Brooklyn, Mango, you probably know that Brooklyn is the
home to the Merrygo Round hotspot, which is, of course
Coney Island, which once had a staggering twenty four steam
driven carousels. It even became known for its Coney Island
style of Merrygo Round, which meant a ride that was
especially ostentatious and bejeweled. Of course. Now, one Coney Island carousel,
(14:24):
the El Dorado, was forty two feet tall and had
three levels of rotating platforms, each moving at a different speed,
which would make it just weird to look at. But
today there's only one Merrigo round left in Coney Island,
the B and B Carousel, which is on the National
Register of Historic Places. It was almost sold back in
two thousand and five, but an anonymous buyer stepped in
(14:45):
to purchase it and donate it to the city. It
was then sent to Ohio for restoration, which is where
a big discovery was actually made.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
So tell me what this discovery is.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
All right? So the carousel was built in nineteen oh nine,
which was the centennial of Abraham Lincoln's birthday and the
year the Lincoln penny was first minted. Now, the carver
of the BnB horses, Marcus Charles Iliens, honored the occasion
by carving Lincoln's face into the side of one of
the horses. Aliens had been described as the Michelangelo of
horse carving. It's so weird that I never thought of.
(15:19):
Of course, you know, there's a carousel sculptor who is
more famous than the others, Yeah, like one who's an
artistic genius, the Michelangelo of them. That's exactly right. Well,
what's interesting is that there are three big schools of
carousel design, Like the Philadelphia school is more realistic and naturalistic,
the Coney Island school is the more gaudy and festive
as you might assume, like gold leaves and jewels, and
(15:41):
then there's the country fair style, which is more functional
and easy to transport, So not really that ornad I guess. Anyway,
Aliens was a genius and the artist behind ten different
Coney Island carousels. But this horse had been painted over
so many times that the carving of Lincoln was completely
covered up, so without restoration work and it would have
been lost forever. Now the Lincoln is fully visible, and
(16:04):
it's such a rare and unique piece that no rider
is actually allowed to sit on the horse, and it's
commemorated with a plaque there.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
First of all, I love that there's like a Philadelphia
style of mery gorounds, which is just amazing. But I
also love that there's one horse you can't ride at
Coney Allen because it's there to honor Lincoln.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Lincoln's faces on it.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yeah, so we have talked a lot about the past,
so let's step into the present day and I'm talking
about solar powered carousels, which have been around since two
thousand and five. Well known one is the Speedwell Foundation
Conservation Carousel. It's at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington,
d C. It was completed in twenty twelve, and thanks
to its one hundred and sixty two solar panels, it
(16:47):
has a net zero impact on the zoo's energy consumption.
But probably my favorite detail about this carousel is that
instead of traditional horses, riders can choose from a more
eclectic array of animals. So you can ride on naked
mole rat oh nice, a cuttlefish, a blue crab, or
a yellowjacket. Oh.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I love those.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
The creators also made a point to feature endangerous fecies
like a giant panda, so it's a pretty cool way
to enjoy a fun ride while keeping.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
The environment in mind. I love that mix of animals,
all right. Well, from the present day, I'll take it
one step further into the future of carousels. So in
two thousand and nine, the Brooklyn Art Combine known as
the Madagascar Institute created an experimental jet powered carousel. It
didn't have a platform, It only had two seats. They
kind of dangled from this center pole, so it didn't
(17:33):
really look like a normal carousel and it definitely didn't
work like one either. So riders received jet engine packs
to wear, and igniting them caused the ride to go around.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Which sounds kind of dangerous.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Well, that is very true. The Madagascar Institute made this
wild contraption for a gadget off festival. When they tested
it out, they put up a sign that read caution,
this may kill you. That's a good warning, you know.
It's good to know that. It feels like you shouldn't
get on. I wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Well, I am going to give you today's trophy for
that one. I never thought you could start a simple
episode about carousels and end up on a jet fueled
and possibly lethal ride. This world is full of surprises, Mango.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
You should know that by now. But that's all for today.
We'll be back next week with another brand new episode.
In the meantime, you can find us at part Time
Genius on Instagram or Blue Sky, and you can leave
us a message on our hotline three O two four
oh five five nine two five. Ask us a question,
suggest a topic, give us any feedback. Whatever it is,
we would love to hear from you, but from Dylan Gabe,
(18:37):
Mary Mango and me, thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Part Time Genius is a production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio.
This show is hosted by Will Pearson and Me Mongaysh
and research by our goodpal Mary Philip Sandy. Today's episode
was engineered and produced by the wonderful Dylan Fagan with
support from Tyler Klang. The show is executive produced for
iHeart by Katrina Norvel and Ali Perry, with social media
(19:15):
support from Sasha Gay, trustee Dara Potts and Viney Shorey.
For more podcasts from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Part-Time Genius News
Hosts And Creators
Will Pearson
Mangesh Hattikudur
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