Coney Island has always been a site for new inventions and perfected technologies, as well as a plac

Coney Island has always been a site for new inventions and perfected technologies, as well as a place where people of diverse backgrounds are welcome. Although carousels were carved in England and Germany before they became popular in America, it was the inventor William F. Mangels, an immigrant from Germany, who patented the overhead gears that controlled the galloping motion of the carousel animal in 1907. His design became standard in the field and he collaborated with Coney Island’s best woodcarvers, many of whom were also immigrants.Between 1880 and 1920, Coney Island produced a distinctive style of carved carousel animals characterized by flamboyant decorations and expressive faces. The Coney Island-style of carving was best seen in the work of Danish-born Charles I. D. Looff and the woodcarvers he inspired, including Marcus C. Illions, Solomon Stein, Harry Goldstein, and Charles Carmel. Stein, Goldstein, and Carmel were Jewish woodcarvers who fled anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe and brought to America a tradition of carving symbolic animal imagery for synagogues. They found an outlet for their talent in the American carousel industry.Charles Carmel’s horse, seen here, speaks to the popular motif of the cowboy-and-Indian. A pistol attached to the saddle and a bridle of colored feathers address American character types and conflicts. Coney Island’s commercialization of the country’s frontier past helped both to sustain national myths and to Americanize a largely immigrant audience. Posted by Connie H. ChoiCharles Carmel (American, born Russia, 1865–1931), Carousel Horse with Raised Head, Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York, circa 1914. American Folk Art Museum, New York -- source link

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