The King Amusement Company

February 26, 2015 By Editor

The King Amusement Company Factory Built Many A Carnival Ride

The King Amusement Company out of Mt. Clemens Michigan turned out many rides from the 1940’s through the late 1960’s. They could never be confused as the “Cadillac of Ride Builders”, in fact most of what they built was just marginal.

But they built a lot of those rides and they were relatively cheap to buy to get a show started on a shoestring budget.

A person could go up to the King Amusement Company factory in Mt Clemens, sit for a spell in the office with the always amiable Mr. King, cutting up jackpots with him in the office and if he liked you, you comb through the back lot where the trade ins were stored and be in the carnival business before supper for nothing down.
The King Amusement Company built many rides including the Whizzer, Flying Comet, Merry Go Rounds, kiddie rides and the venerable Spinaroo to name a few.
Having owned a Spinaroo, I recall that the ring and pinion drive system required a Lincoln welding machine permanently housed under the ride to build up the teeth on the drive gears daily. It was a nightmare to maintain and after a season I sold it to another sucker.

Having said that, it got me another major ride to add to my small show for very little money and that, I suppose, is the endearing legacy of the generous Mr King and the King Manufacturing Company.

International Independent Showmens Museum

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International Independent Showmens Museum

The Cardiff Giant is one of the most famous hoaxes in American history. It was a 10-foot-tall purported "petrified man", uncovered on October 16 1869 by workers digging a well behind the barn of William C. "Stub" Newell, in Cardiff, New York. The giant was the creation of a New York tobacconist named George Hull. He was an ardent believer in science, especially in the theory of evolution proposed by Charles Darwin. Hull, an atheist, got into an argument with a fundamentalist minister named Reverend Turk and his supporters at a Methodist revival meeting about a Bible passage (Genesis 6:4) which states that there were giants who once lived on Earth. Hull lost the argument to the fervent congregation and was quite miffed. Hull decided he wanted to prove how easily he could fool people with a fake giant so in 1868, Hull, accompanied by a man named H.B. Martin, hired men to quarry out a 10-foot-4.5-inch-long block of gypsum in Fort Dodge, Iowa, telling them it was intended for a monument to Abraham Lincoln in New York. He shipped the block to Edward Burghardt in Chicago, a German stonecutter he had sworn to secrecy. Burghardt hired two sculptors, Henry Salle and Fred Mohrmann, to create the giant. They had taken cautious steps to cover up their work during the carving, putting up quilts to lessen the sound of carving. For the giant to look ancient, various stains and acids were used to make the giant appear to be old and weathered, then buried the "Gaff" behind the barn and waited until he thought the time was right to unveil it. It initially caused a lot of speculation both pro and con and opinions abounded as to its validity by "experts" and it even resulted in a court ruling.On December 10, 1869, Hull confessed everything to the press.The Cardiff Giant was displayed at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition but did not attract much attention.Iowa publisher Gardner Cowles, Jr. bought it later to adorn his basement rumpus room as a coffee table and conversation piece. In 1947 he sold it to the Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, New York, where it's still displayed. These Cardiff Giant "gaffs" were extensively used on carnival midways as stand-alone side shows from the early 1900s, right through the latter part of the 20th century. Incidentally, we have a pretty good "Cardiff Giant" of our own going under another name that's displayed here at the sideshow exhibit at the Showmen's Museum. ... See MoreSee Less

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