A Trip to the Moon in Coney Island in 1904

A Trip to the Moon in Coney Island!

Many people are familiar with the Georges Méliès movie “A Trip to the Moon”, especially with that iconic image of a bullet-shaped rocket ship lodged in the eye of the man in the moon. What is lesser known is the Trip to the Moon “dark ride” that was designed by Fred Thompson, who later went on to greater fame as the creator and designer of Luna Park in Coney Island in 1903. The original ride was created to be a part of the Pan-American Exposition of 1901 in Buffalo, New York. It was a great success at the Centennial, and after it ended, Fred Thompson made it part of his newest creation in Coney Island.

Iconic image from A Trip to the Moon by Georges Méliès

The airship Luna resembled a wooden ship with wings, which would flap up and down allowing it to “fly”. It was designed to be moved by unseen hands as a real ship might, tipping and bobbing as it soared into space- destination: Moon! The passengers would be thrilled as they viewed Coney Island below them as the ship rose into the sky. The illusion of movement was achieved with the use of painted backgrounds that would drop slowly alongside the ship, making the audience feel like they were really flying!

Artists illustration from 1904

Illustration by Jeffrey Lindberg from “Coney - A Trip to Luna Park”

When the Luna airship landed on the Moon, they were greeted by costumed “little people”, not unlike the Munchkins of the Wizard of Oz. These people were called Selenites, and depicted “moon people”. After many festivities and performances, the moon travelers would be led to the gift shop!

“Leaving the Moon” Illustration from “Coney - A Trip to Luna Park” by Jeffrey Lindberg

Flying was on everyone’s mind at the turn of the century, so this was the perfect ride to have as a centerpiece of the new Luna Park. In my picture book “Coney - a Trip to Luna Park”, I have illustrated the trip to the moon as I think it might have appeared in 1904. When I was doing research for Coney, I found many wonderful images on the Library of Congress website. I found photographs that were so clear and detailed, it was if they had been taken only a few years ago! Finding these pictures was crucial to the look of my illustrations because it was if I could walk right into those pictures of Coney in 1904.

Image of the “Trip to the Moon” in Luna Park ca. 1904. Library of Congress

My visual depiction of the Trip to the Moon was somewhat tricky because there weren’t that many images that I could find of the actual ride. You can see in the images below that the actual airship itself exists only in an artists rendering of what the actual ship looked like. I based my illustrations of the airship on these renderings. There are photos of the building and the entrance to the ride, but as far as I know, no images exist of the inside of the ride, so that part I had to make up. I am an artist, aren’t I? So I used my imagination to depict what I think it might have looked like. It will up to you, the viewers and readers, to let me know if you like how I have imagined it.

Printed brochure from the “Trip to the Moon” ride ca. 1904

Thank you for your interest in Coney island and my depictions in my children’s picture book. I welcome all emails and questions, and look forward to opportunities to educate children and adults about a world that existed in the past that I believe shouldn’t be forgotten. “Coney - a Trip to Luna Park” is available on my website, coneybook.com and on Amazon, in both hardcover and paperback versions.

How Coney Island got its name...

…and how that led to making my picture book “Coney - a Trip to Luna Park.”

Did you know that Coney Island got it’s name from the Dutch word for rabbit? If you check out the Wikipedia site for Coney Island, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coney_Island, it mentions many theories about the genesis of the name Coney. And for my purposes it really doesn’t matter, because once I read that Coney was named for rabbits, light bulbs began to flash in my brain. I had the story that I wanted to write!

At this time, I was living in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, with my family. I had been working as a cover artist for young adult children’s books. I was working in a style that was very realistic, which was what the art directors and editors wanted to see on their books at that time. I think that it helped the young readers to identify with the characters in the stories.

I illustrated many book covers, and loved the challenge of creating an image that was dynamic, enticing the reader to dive into the story! But I also had the desire to write my own stories and illustrate them. I had toyed with different story ideas and created storyboards to see if I could make them work. But when I found out that Coney was the dutch word for rabbit (even if there are many other theories), I started to wonder.

What would life be like for rabbits living among the dunes of the sea? Who would the predators be? Humans? The indigenous people who lived there? Animals would be for sure. But then I started to think of the amusement parks that would make Coney famous. Places like Steeplechase Park, Luna Park and Dreamland. The rabbits lived there for many, many years. But once the building started on top of their dune homes, how did they cope? Did anyone actually care?

These thoughts led me to doing research on Coney Island. I found many images of Coney Island from the turn of the century in the Library of Congress. These images pulled me in to the past, and the more I looked at them, the more I knew that I wanted to create a book filled with images of the beautiful Luna Park!

Luna Park at night in 1904

It’s my hope that Coney will not only entertain young children and their parents who read it with them, but also serve to illuminate the past in a way that is fun and informative. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and if you have any questions about Coney, my illustration process and just picture books in general- please send me an email at jefflindberg25@gmail.com!