The American Roller Coaster by Scott Rutherford
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I recently bought Scott Rutherford’s The American Roller Coaster on Ebay for very little, but had not had time to sit down and take time with it. Today I took a break from job hunting, decided I was not doing anything outside because of yet another cloud and rain-filled day and picked up the book I had only briefly paged through.
I have said this before and will say it again…there is relatively little known about the roller coaster’s history and even less of it is well-documented. When it was written Robert Cartmell’s The Incredible Scream Machine was different in that it told a very detailed history of the roller coaster from its origins to his present-day. This was one of a handful of books that had done so and Cartmell did it better than anyone else. The last history of amusements was William F. Mangel’s The Outdoor Amusement Industry. Published in 1952 it had captured everything Mangels knew about different facets of the industry. The “masters” of the golden era of parks were dying and Mangels paid them tribute by collecting all of the information he could in an industry where word-of-mouth was the way in which trade secrets were passed down. Cartmell was in a rather similar position in that John Allen, a designer seen by many as the last link between the old guard and new technology, passed away in 1979. Aside from Bill Cobb the mid-80’s were a stagnant time for wooden roller coaster production and Cartmell had to wonder if things would ever turn around. Whatever his motivation The Incredible Scream Machine was (and still is) a wealth of information. Aside from countless interviews Cartmell also gave us access to his own collection of images as-well-as B. Derek Shaw’s and input from Frederick Fried. Also, his book was one of the first times interested readers saw so many pictures of coasters like the Crystal Beach Cyclone, the Rye Aeroplane, the Riverview Bobs and others. Cartmell’s book, although it included some extraneous info., was overall very good publication that set a high standard for roller coaster works.
In the 1990’s as the interest in roller coasters grew both within the enthusiast community and the general public at-large several roller coaster publications came out. Many, such as Todd Throgmorton’s Roller Coasters of America (1994) and Steve Urbanowicz’s The Roller Coaster Lover’s Companion (1997) were merely collections of lists and added little new information to the coaster community. Urbanowicz’s book, for what it was, was very well done but Throgmorton’s was full of mistakes and mislabeling. Mark Wayatt’s White Knuckle Ride (1996) was a coffee table book with so-so photos and, like Mr. Wyatt himself, seemed to lack any sort of soul. Mike Schafer and Scott Rutherford’s 1998 collaboration Roller Coasters was merely another list book but had one very important difference than many of the other books. Together these two had assembled some of the best photographs I had seen of older coasters, coasters with antique trains (P&C’s on the Rye Dragon), etc. and it made this book quite wonderful to page through. That same year David Bennett’s tomb called Roller Coaster appeared, was a step in the correct direction and his book was one of the first to talk about the contributions one of the kings of airtime, Herbert Schmeck. Although still not “great,” it provided more in-depth analysis of the era and some beautiful sweeping pictures (many of which were sadly mis-labeled and/or backwards).
Knowing the good work Rutherford and Schaffer did on their first collaboration I was very interested to delve into Rutherford’s solo attempt to write a history of the roller coaster. I must say that I think the torch has finally been passed from Mr. Cartmell as The American Roller Coaster has a combination of good writing, solid understanding of the eras, beautiful (and often historic) photographs and a solid breakdown of the designers- both old and new. The pictures stand out literally and figuratively in this book Rutherford and Schafer’s collections have been made even better by the addition of many photos by Otto P. Dobnick. Many of the best historical photos here are Dobnick’s and he has provided posterity with an invaluable service. While many enthusiasts today take pictures of every park they go to that was not true twenty or thirty years ago. Pictures such as his of The Shooting Star (VA), Knott’s Corkscrew, The Zephyr, The Swamp Fox, The Dragon Coaster and Mike Schafer’s Mr. Twister, Giant Coaster, Jack Rabbit (Idora) (and so many others) really make this book one in a million.
On top of that, the “meat” of the book is well-done, too. Sadly, many of today’s coaster works are written at seemingly very juvenile levels (such as Robert Reynold’s Roller Coasters, Flumes and Flying Saucers, Thrillride!, etc.). Rutherford explores all of the areas well, but he does a job nice job bringing some periods to the front. 1930 to 1950 is what I call the “lost era” in amusement park history because so little has been written. Even Cartmell seemed to jump from one era to another, skipping one of the most important periods in coaster history. Although not as exciting as the breakthroughs of the 1950’s this period kept coasters alive, namely through PTC (with a lot of input from Schmeck) and NAD (with a lot of help from Vernon Keenan). In his book Rutherford also lays out the “ABCs” of roller coaster construction talking about trains, tracking, bent construction, wheel assemblies, etc. The chapters go back and forth between in-depth examinations of how coasters work to their history.
Overall I honestly feel that this book is the next logical step from Robert Cartmell’s groundbreaking work and in some ways it may be better. Rutherford’s work does have a few problems such as the space he gives to some designers. But, I am sure a large part of this was merely a balance between a variety of rides and designers and the overall cost of a book. Also, the internet has spoiled us some as we can get so much information from places like Schwarzkopf.Coaster.Net that we sometimes expect that same type of analysis across the boards on all people in a book…a feat which is just impossible.
A “thank you” goes out to Mr. Rutherford for his contribution to both the story of the roller coaster and the great reading he gave us.
Click here to buy this book.
Amusement Park History, Copyright 2004.