{"id":9085,"date":"2013-09-10T10:21:01","date_gmt":"2013-09-10T07:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tentaclii.wordpress.com\/?p=9085"},"modified":"2013-09-10T10:21:01","modified_gmt":"2013-09-10T07:21:01","slug":"lovecraft-on-a-rollercoaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/2013\/09\/10\/lovecraft-on-a-rollercoaster\/","title":{"rendered":"Lovecraft on a rollercoaster"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine H.P. Lovecraft trying all the fairground rides at the beach, and then as a finale hurtling down the biggest roller-coaster. It happened, perhaps several times.  In November 1921 his fellow amateur Mrs. Miniter wrote up a report of the Boston Convention of amateur journalists of July 1921.  This had taken the amateurs to Boston&#8217;s Revere Beach amusements park, Boston&#8217;s equivalent of Coney Island&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230; he [Lovecraft] tried all the soporific stunts at Revere&#8221; &#8230; &#8220;&#8230;to Revere Beach, where Mr. Lovecraft dropped eighty-five feet and was all over.&#8221; (<em>Lovecraft Remembered<\/em>, p.83).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/wp1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/wp1.jpg?w=529\" alt=\"wp1\" width=\"529\" height=\"340\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9086\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>George Houtain expanded on a Revere Beach visit, in a memoir of Lovecraft&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230; we all journeyed to Revere Beach.  Here Howard Lovecraft and Albert Sandusky  did the eighty-five-foot-drop switchback three times in succession and complained bitterly of the tameness of it all.  The greatest fun was with [the ride] &#8220;Over The Falls&#8221; [possibly this was earlier &#8220;Neptune&#8217;s Frolic&#8221;? &mdash; see picture below].  After passing through various chambers of trick floors, we were escorted singly and in pairs to a little elevator, where sitting down we expectantly waited either for the elevator to drop or a curtain to go up and the show to commence.  Before we could adjust our thoughts, the whole front suddenly gave way, the seat propelled us forward , and in a second we were bounding down the most billowy waves one could imagine.  Picture, if you will, the philosophical form of one Henry Padget-Lowe, Edward Softly, Theobald Jr., H.P.L., popping out and coming bouncing toward us.  It was a screaming scream.&#8221; (<em>Lovecraft Remembered<\/em>, p.88-89).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>His rollercoaster companion Albert Sandusky was the editor of <em>Boys&#8217; World<\/em>, about six or seven years younger than Lovecraft and so much given to slang that Lovecraft called him &#8220;Wisecrack Sandusky&#8221; on paper. &#8220;Lovecraft met him frequently during trips to the Boston area&#8221;, apparently, although little else seems to be known about him other than his early involvement as a boy printer for Lovecraft 1915-1916, and his editing of the <em>Quill<\/em> magazine for the Hub Journalist Club c. 1923.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/lightning_revere_beach_postcard_cropped.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/lightning_revere_beach_postcard_cropped.jpg\" alt=\"Lightning_Revere_Beach_postcard_cropped\" width=\"497\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9087\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/rb15.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/rb15.jpg?w=529\" alt=\"rb15\" width=\"529\" height=\"337\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9088\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/chutes.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/chutes.jpg?w=529\" alt=\"chutes\" width=\"529\" height=\"347\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9089\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here are some of the other attractions Lovecraft could have enjoyed, including a palmist, Hell Gate, Neptune&#8217;s Frolic, Dragons Gorge, Japanese Ping-Pong, a &#8220;Fatal Wedding&#8221; theatre show (a <em>grand guignol<\/em>?), an animal show with monkeys, the Virginia Reel, The Whirlpool, and more. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/rb5-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/rb5-1.jpg?w=529\" alt=\"rb5-1\" width=\"529\" height=\"342\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9095\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/kgrhqjoififnkucrjbsgpv5nnq60_57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/kgrhqjoififnkucrjbsgpv5nnq60_57.jpg?w=529\" alt=\"$(KGrHqJ,!oIFIFnKuCRJBSGp(V5nNQ~~60_57\" width=\"529\" height=\"363\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9090\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/kgrhqvhjbsfhefsflqvbr4kjsynw60_57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/kgrhqvhjbsfhefsflqvbr4kjsynw60_57.jpg?w=529\" alt=\"$(KGrHqVHJBsFHeFsfLqvBR4KJ!SYnw~~60_57\" width=\"529\" height=\"346\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9091\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/dragonsg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/dragonsg.jpg?w=529\" alt=\"dragonsg\" width=\"529\" height=\"345\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9092\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/rb2-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/rb2-1.jpg?w=529\" alt=\"rb2-1\" width=\"529\" height=\"349\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9093\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/rb3-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/rb3-1.jpg?w=529\" alt=\"rb3-1\" width=\"529\" height=\"345\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9094\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/wonderlandboston1917.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/wonderlandboston1917.jpg?w=520\" alt=\"Wonderlandboston1917\" width=\"520\" height=\"315\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9096\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/wp20.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/wp20.jpg?w=529\" alt=\"wp20\" width=\"529\" height=\"340\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9098\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/wp3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jurn.link\/tentaclii\/oldimages\/wp3.jpg?w=529\" alt=\"wp3\" width=\"529\" height=\"779\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9097\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s also known that Lovecraft visited Coney Island, the world-famous set of amusements, at least twice while living in New York.  We also know he enjoyed several attractions there, including the $100,000 Fun House called &#8220;The Pit&#8221; which had opened in 1923.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine H.P. Lovecraft trying all the fairground rides at the beach, and then as a finale hurtling down the biggest &hellip;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/2013\/09\/10\/lovecraft-on-a-rollercoaster\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-historical-context"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9085\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}