Laffing Sal
Encyclopedia
Funhouse
A funhouse or fun house is an amusement facility found on amusement park and funfair midways in which patrons encounter and actively interact with various devices designed to surprise, challenge, and amuse the visitor. Unlike thrill rides, funhouses are participatory attractions, where visitors...
s throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Sometimes called "Laughing Sal",
she produces a raucous laugh that sometimes frightens small children and annoys adults.
History
She was built by the Philadelphia Toboggan CompanyPhiladelphia Toboggan Company
The Philadelphia Toboggan Company is one of the oldest existing roller coaster manufacturing companies in the world.Mack Rides of Germany dates back to 1781, but it did not start building coasters until 1921 Based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, it was established in 1904 by Henry B...
(PTC) of Germantown, Pennsylvania
Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Germantown is a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, about 7–8 miles northwest from the center of the city...
in the early 1930s. There was also a Laffing Sam and Blackie the Barker ballyhoo characters offered utilizing similar construction. PTC subcontracted the production of their Laffing Sal figures to the Old King Cole Papier Mache Company of Canton, Ohio
Canton, Ohio
Canton is the county seat of Stark County in northeastern Ohio, approximately south of Akron and south of Cleveland.The City of Caton is the largest incorporated area within the Canton-Massillon Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. She was made of papier mache (seven plys of pressed ground wood pulp card stock with interior horse hair) over steel coils and frame, detachable head, arms, hands and legs, and held together with fabric, staples, pins, nails, nuts and bolts. She had a wig of non-human hair, and had a large gap between her front teeth. She was advertised as being 6 feet, 10 inches high, standing on a 12 inch pedestal under which was a record player continuously playing her laugh. She would wave her arms and lean forward while laughing.
The Pike
The Pike
The Pike became a world famous Long Beach, California amusement zone in 1902 along the shoreline south of Ocean Boulevard with several independent arcades, food stands, gift shops, a variety of rides and a grand bath house...
featured her along with her PTC companions "Laughing Sam" and "Blackie the Barker" as ballyhoo over the center of "Laff In The Dark" dark ride
Dark ride
A dark ride or ghost train is an indoor amusement ride where riders in guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain animation, sound, music, and special effects....
.
The history of Laffing Sal at the Balboa Fun Zone
Balboa Fun Zone
The Balboa Fun Zone is a small amusement park located on the Balboa Peninsula in the city of Newport Beach, Orange County, California. However, little is left of the original park....
goes back to the 1920s. When the Balboa Fun Zone wanted Laffing Sal to stand above the entrance to their Scary Dark Ride, they contacted Funni-Frite Inc of Pickerington Oh, who still had the original molds from the Pike's Laffing Sal's head and hands. The laugh track was originally on a stack of old 78 RPM records. They would stack a few records on an automatic changer turntable, and would re-stack the records as needed. The Fun Zone used modern technology to achieve the same effect. The Fun Zone's Laffing Sal was removed with the closure of the Scary Dark Ride in 2005.
Sal's asking price in 1940 was US$360, equal to $ today; in 2004 the one now in Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
cost the bidder US$50,000.
Laffing Sal is often thought to be one of the forerunners of Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
's now famous Audio-Animatronics
Audio-Animatronics
Audio-Animatronics is the registered trademark for a form of robotics created by Walt Disney Imagineering for shows and attractions at Disney theme parks, and subsequently expanded on and used by other companies. The robots move and make noise, generally in speech or song...
.
Sal appearances
- A Laffing Sal was featured in the 1953 film Man in the DarkMan in the DarkMan in the Dark is a film noir drama 3-D film starring Edmund O'Brien, Audrey Totter and Ted de Corsia released in 1953. It is a remake of the 1936 Ralph Bellamy vehicle The Man who Lived Twice.It was the first Columbia Pictures film released in 3-D....
, which was filmed in Venice, California. Starring Audrey TotterAudrey TotterAudrey Mary Totter is an American actress and former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract star of Austrian-Slovene and Swedish descent...
and Edmond O'BrienEdmond O'BrienEdmond O'Brien was an American actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. and his Oscar winning role in The Barefoot Contessa...
, Sal can be seen in the building behind gazing down on them in the Venice amusement area. - Laffing Sal was also briefly featured in The Princess DiariesThe Princess DiariesThe Princess Diaries is a series of epistolary novels by Meg Cabot in the chick-lit and young-adult fiction genre, and the title of the first volume, published in 2000....
in 2001. - A recording of "Laffing Sal" was used in Neutral Milk HotelNeutral Milk HotelNeutral Milk Hotel was an American indie rock band formed by singer, guitarist and songwriter Jeff Mangum in the early 1990s. The band was noted for its experimental sound, obscure lyrics and eclectic instrumentation....
's In the Aeroplane Over the SeaIn the Aeroplane Over the SeaIn the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the second studio album by American indie rock band Neutral Milk Hotel, released in the United States on February 10, 1998 on Merge Records...
, as noted in the liner notes to their "Holland 1945" single. - Laffing Sal was shown twice in the 1950 movie Woman on the Run during the closing scenes filmed at the amusement park PlaylandPlayland (San Francisco)Playland was a seaside amusement park located next to Ocean Beach at the western edge of San Francisco, California along the Great Highway where Cabrillo and Balboa streets are now...
at Ocean BeachOcean Beach, San Francisco, CaliforniaOcean Beach is a beach that runs along the west coast of San Francisco, California, United States, at the Pacific Ocean. It is adjacent to Golden Gate Park, the Richmond District and the Sunset District. The Great Highway runs alongside the beach, and Cliff House and the site of the former Sutro...
, San Francisco. - The 1954 TechnicolorTechnicolorTechnicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
3-D film Gorilla At Large features Laffing Sal & Laffing Sam at The PikeThe PikeThe Pike became a world famous Long Beach, California amusement zone in 1902 along the shoreline south of Ocean Boulevard with several independent arcades, food stands, gift shops, a variety of rides and a grand bath house...
(then called Nu-Pike) in Long Beach, California. - An episode of "The Magician" with Bill Bixby features the "Laffing Sal" located at the "Nu-PikeThe PikeThe Pike became a world famous Long Beach, California amusement zone in 1902 along the shoreline south of Ocean Boulevard with several independent arcades, food stands, gift shops, a variety of rides and a grand bath house...
" amusement park in Long Beach in the early 1970s. - "Laffing Sal" was the subject of the cartoon strip "Zippy the Pinhead" on April 16, 1998.
- Laffing Sal Appears in issue #5 of the DC Comics Series "Gotham City Sirens".
Locations
- Balboa Fun ZoneBalboa Fun ZoneThe Balboa Fun Zone is a small amusement park located on the Balboa Peninsula in the city of Newport Beach, Orange County, California. However, little is left of the original park....
Scary Dark Ride in Newport Beach, CaliforniaNewport Beach, CaliforniaNewport Beach, incorporated in 1906, is a city in Orange County, California, south of downtown Santa Ana. The population was 85,186 at the 2010 census.The city's median family income and property values consistently place high in national rankings...
(Closed in 2006. The Newport Nautical Museum was built on the site of the park.) - Buckeye Lake ParkBuckeye Lake, OhioBuckeye Lake is a village in Fairfield and Licking counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 3,049 at the 2000 census. It is named for Buckeye Lake, a large lake along which the village is built.-Geography:...
in OhioOhioOhio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus... - Crystal BeachCrystal Beach, OntarioCrystal Beach is a community within Fort Erie, Ontario with a population of 3,800. It was named for the "crystal-clear" water conditions present when it was founded on the northeast shore of Lake Erie, across from Buffalo....
Park in Ontario, Canada - Erieview Park in Cleveland, OhioCleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
- Euclid Beach ParkEuclid Beach ParkEuclid Beach Park was a popular amusement park located on the shores of Lake Erie in the Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio....
in Cleveland, OhioCleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
(Closed in 1969. She is privately owned and is still exhibited at the local "home days.") - Hamid's Pier in Atlantic City, New JerseyAtlantic City, New JerseyAtlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
- Idora ParkIdora Park, YoungstownIdora Park was a northeastern Ohio amusement park popularly known as "Youngstown's Million Dollar Playground."Built by the Youngstown Park and Falls Street Railway Company, the park's expansion coincided with the growth of the South Side of Youngstown, Ohio, in the Fosterville neighborhood...
in Youngstown, OhioYoungstown, OhioYoungstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania... - Jantzen BeachJantzen BeachJantzen Beach Amusement Park was a popular amusement park from 1928 to 1970 in Portland, Oregon, on Hayden Island in the middle of the Columbia River. "The Coney Island of the West" opened on May 26, 1928 as the largest amusement park in the nation, covering over at the northern tip of...
Amusement Park in Portland, OregonPortland, OregonPortland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States... - KennywoodKennywoodKennywood is an amusement park located in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. The park first opened in 1898 as a "trolley park" at the end of the Monongahela Street Railway. The park was purchased in 1906 by F. W. Henninger and Andrew McSwigan and thus began the Kennywood...
Park in Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States... - Lakeside Amusement ParkLakeside Amusement ParkLakeside Amusement Park is a family-owned amusement park in Lakeside, Colorado near Denver. Originally named White City, it was opened in 1908 as a popular amusement resort adjacent to Lake Rhoda spearheaded by prominent Denver brewer Adolph Zang...
in Denver, ColoradoDenver, ColoradoThe City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains... - Memory Lane Arcade in Frankenmuth, MichiganFrankenmuth, MichiganFrankenmuth is a city in Saginaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,838 at the 2000 census. The 2009 census estimate places the population at 4,619. The city is located within Frankenmuth Township, but is politically independent. Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland, which bills...
(Closed in 2004. Current whereabouts unknown.) - Hunt's PierMorey's PiersMorey’s Piers is a seaside amusement park located in Wildwood, New Jersey. It started when Morey brothers, Will and Bill bought two boardwalk lots in North Wildwood at 25th and 26th streets. They called it Surfside Pier and opened in the summer of 1969 with a giant fiberglass slide called the Wipe...
in Wildwood, New JerseyWildwood, New JerseyWildwood is a city in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. It is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area and is a popular summer resort destination. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's year-round population was 5,325... - Musée MécaniqueMusée MécaniqueThe Musée Mécanique is a for-profit interactive museum consisting of 20th-century penny arcade games and artifacts located at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, California...
in San FranciscoSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
(A second Laffing Sal from Playland at the BeachPlayland (San Francisco)Playland was a seaside amusement park located next to Ocean Beach at the western edge of San Francisco, California along the Great Highway where Cabrillo and Balboa streets are now...
; the Musée Mécanique was located at the Cliff HouseCliff House, San FranciscoThe Cliff House is a restaurant perched on the headlands on the cliffs just north of Ocean Beach on the western side of San Francisco, California...
until 2002, when it relocated (along with Sal) to Pier 45 at Fisherman's WharfFisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, CaliforniaFisherman's Wharf is a neighborhood and popular tourist attraction in San Francisco, California. It roughly encompasses the northern waterfront area of San Francisco from Ghirardelli Square or Van Ness Avenue east to Pier 35 or Kearny Street...
.) - Pacific Ocean ParkPacific Ocean ParkPacific Ocean Park was a twenty-eight acre , nautical-themed amusement park built on a pier at Pier Avenue in the Ocean Park section of Santa Monica, California, which was intended to compete with Disneyland...
AKA Laffing Gertrude in Venice, California - Palisades Amusement ParkPalisades Amusement ParkPalisades Amusement Park was an amusement park located in Bergen County, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York City. It was situated atop the New Jersey Palisades lying partly in Cliffside Park and partly in Fort Lee. The park operated from 1898 until 1971, remaining one of the most...
in New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware... - The PikeThe PikeThe Pike became a world famous Long Beach, California amusement zone in 1902 along the shoreline south of Ocean Boulevard with several independent arcades, food stands, gift shops, a variety of rides and a grand bath house...
Laff-in-the-Dark dark rideDark rideA dark ride or ghost train is an indoor amusement ride where riders in guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain animation, sound, music, and special effects....
in Long Beach, CA - Playland at the BeachPlayland (San Francisco)Playland was a seaside amusement park located next to Ocean Beach at the western edge of San Francisco, California along the Great Highway where Cabrillo and Balboa streets are now...
in San Francisco (Closed in 1972, one version went to the Musée Mécanique and another eventually ended up at Santa Cruz.) - Playland-Not-At-The-BeachPlayland-Not-At-The-BeachPlayland-Not-At-The-Beach is a non-profit, family-oriented museum in El Cerrito, California celebrating America's bygone amusements operated entirely by volunteers....
in El Cerrito, CaliforniaEl Cerrito, California-Transportation:The city's primary transportation infrastructure consists of the El Cerrito Plaza and El Cerrito del Norte BART stations along with several local bus lines, operated by AC Transit, providing access to the surrounding area and the nearby cities of Albany, Berkeley and Richmond...
has two Laughing Sals—a traditional looking one that was originally at an amusement park in Ohio and another that was specially created by sculptor Chuck Jarman of Bump-in-The-Night-Productions. This one is known as Sinister Sal. During the Halloween season they bring out a third Sal known as Psycho Sal. - Revere BeachRevere BeachRevere Beach is a public beach in Revere, Massachusetts. Located about 4 miles north of downtown Boston, the beach, founded in 1895, is the first public beach in the country. In the past, it was known as the Coney Island of New England...
in Revere, MassachusettsRevere, MassachusettsRevere is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and located approximately from downtown Boston. It is named after the American patriot Paul Revere. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 51,755.- History :... - Riverview Park in Des Moines, IowaDes Moines, IowaDes Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
(converted to Laffing Sam) - Santa Cruz Beach BoardwalkSanta Cruz Beach BoardwalkThe Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is an oceanfront amusement park in Santa Cruz, California. Founded in 1907, it is California's oldest surviving amusement park and one of the few seaside parks on the West Coast of the United States.- Overview :...
in CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
(from Playland at the BeachPlayland (San Francisco)Playland was a seaside amusement park located next to Ocean Beach at the western edge of San Francisco, California along the Great Highway where Cabrillo and Balboa streets are now...
) - Seabreeze Park in Rochester, New YorkRochester, New YorkRochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
- Ocean View Amusement Park, "Laff In The Dark", Norfolk, VA (closed 1979)
- Silver Beach Amusement ParkSilver Beach Amusement ParkSilver Beach Amusement Park was located in St. Joseph, Michigan. The small amusement park operated between 1891 and 1971.-History:Silver Beach opened as a resort in 1891 when local businessmen in boat building Logan Drake and Louis D. Wallace built vacation cottages as Silver Beach Amusement and...
and the new Silver Beach Carousel in St. Joseph, MichiganSt. Joseph, MichiganSt. Joseph is a city in the US state of Michigan. It was incorporated as a village in 1834 and as a city in 1891. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 8,789. It lies on the shore of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the St. Joseph River, about east-northeast of Chicago. It is the county...
External links
- Musée MécaniqueMusée MécaniqueThe Musée Mécanique is a for-profit interactive museum consisting of 20th-century penny arcade games and artifacts located at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, California...
site: Hear her laugh! and Laffing Sal history - The Story Of Laffing Sal at Laff In The Dark website
- Saving Sal story of the purchase of Sal by Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, at Laff In The Dark website
- Playland-Not-At-The-Beach
- Listen to Laffing Sal at Santa Cruz Beach BoardwalkSanta Cruz Beach BoardwalkThe Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is an oceanfront amusement park in Santa Cruz, California. Founded in 1907, it is California's oldest surviving amusement park and one of the few seaside parks on the West Coast of the United States.- Overview :...