A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Well, dear readers, Wolf the 4th here. Buried under papers and pictures of the grand re-opening weekend of Rose Lake Park circa 1911. Yes, yes, yes, Its practically been a year. I have a real job which takes far too much of my time. 

I do have a few pictures to share with some of my Grandfather's notes scribble on the back. He never cared for reviews, "Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative" What? Only then did I realize the MG would quote dialogue from his operettas, claiming it as his own. Most folks were none the wiser. He was really the sly dog...

 I believe this was the opening show at the Swan. Miss Edna Mae Sr's  All American boys Glee Club backing the famous Rose Lake Barbershop Quartet the " Firehouse Four". 

What's that you say? The Major did not open the show himself? What could have prevented that from happening... Possibly this?

 An all new production was being mounted and D'Oyly Carte's Lead patterman was out of commission. The Major sailed to London on the next boat to save the day, well, at least the show, as an understudy was certainly out of the question. He was only to be gone a relatively short time, to return the next Spring. On the maiden voyage of a brand new luxury steam liner called Titanic... 

That tale will be for another time, as I have so many photos to get through.

Now, where was I...

An aerial view of the park from a hired hot air balloon. The note pasted on the back says," The Founders enjoyed a lovely flight high above Rose Lake" and a scribble underneath says, "NO, I DID NOT" ...MG.... 

Ah ,as always, Grandad had to get the last word in...

Here is one of the infamous "Flip the Wig" a new looping coaster. Seems it created more injuries than excitement.

 And why is it called that ,I wondered..

Well, it seems Professor Marvel was hiding something under all those hats.. his lack of hair!

This photo was uncovered in the back room of the original saloon. His signature was on the reverse but, not sure what happen to the lower half.. A question for the ages, I suppose.

Jackalope Two

A better ride than the original, so the first riders raved about in the various newspaper accounts. Contrary to popular belief, no one was paid to say that.. 

At least that's what the court transcripts say from the allegation trial of Bart Tete De Taureau. Why that is included in with all of this stuff, I am not sure. 

A official portrait I found. Not taken by a police or federal agents for a line up...

The Haunted Swing

Another new ride invented and built by Amariah Lake. One of the first in the country.  The illusion of turning upside down was so great, many got ill to their stomachs. Which it seems, the janitorial staff did not appreciate too kindly. 

Ashes to ashes.

Strange that there were more pictures of the actual fire than of the aftermath, but we did find a couple.

Obviously the great fire of 1910 was not the end of the Rose Lake Park story, by far.  On one hand, how could the park still be standing today?   And on the other hand, why would I have wasted the last 5 months of my life documenting something that went up in smoke 110 years ago?  Remarkably, photos show that the park grew more between the years of 1910 and 1919 than in the two decades prior, combined.   While each of the founders have been demonstrated to have amassed significant wealth in their young careers, this particular article is noteworthy for possibly explaining such a quick recovery.

Looking back into our file on Bartholomew Tete de Taureau, none of this is surprising.  Although now we must wonder the degree to which co-founders Jason Fishington and Stanley Wolf were involved in the nefarious dealings of Taureau's seedy mafia undertakings.  Further, what else were these men willing to do to create their little lakeside empire as the years went on?   Were the other co-founders involved as well?  I mean, one of them even looks like a bear.

And certainly beloved Professor JP Marvel knew nothing of any of this, what between designing his hats, eating Edna Mae Jr's delicious pies, and "excercising" regularly in the cloak room of the Grand Cocotier, how could he have found the time?

The Times and Trials of Bartholomew Tete De Tareau.

When I said there was at least one publication devoted to each of the 7 founders of Rose Lake Park, I lied.  Technically, I didn't really "lie" so as much as I "failed to completely sort through this towering stack of neverending content on my desk."  And by that what I really mean, is that we don't have an actual publication for this next founder.  Rather, we have the entirety of a file cabinet drawer provided to the Historical Society by the Peepsburgh Police Department.

Mr. Batholomew Tete De Taureau's greatest contribution to Rose Lake Park was perhaps one of manpower.  Not his own power, rather a meagerly funded league of minions and sweatshop sycophants, all of whom probably have entire PPD drawers, if not file cabinets, likewise devoted unto themselves.

(For the sake of brevity, I've sifted through Mr. De Taureau's paperwork and limited it to the following attachments.)  In fact, one might refer to these as the bullet points:

Good Lord this never ends...

Well, that's about enough of that.  The important thing, one supposes, is to keep the focus on the many significant accomplishments and contributions that Mr. De Taureau made to the American landscape during his illustrious career, particular those at Rose Lake Park.

(And also, "bullet points."  Do you see what I did there?)