Ruby Falls Brochure

You're probably familiar the famous billboard ads for Rock City that shout "See Rock City!" There's hundreds of them all over the interstate in the South. Rock City sits on top of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Ruby Falls is another Chattanooga attraction whose billboards could read, "See What's Under Rock City!" You see, Ruby Falls is in a cave inside Lookout Mountain.


The folks at Ruby Falls know how to put on a show. First it's nice to see a cave lit with colored lights. I'm sure some cave purists frown on this, but I like my caves to be lit like a carnival funhouse.

But most importantly the revel of the the Falls is done with great showmanship to create maximum impact. As your tour group nears the Falls it's almost totally dark except for small theater-like lights at the floor. Dramatic orchestral music is played to set the mood. When you enter the chamber the Falls are in, you can hear the rushing water and feel the wind it creates but can't see the Falls. The music swells, and a pre-recorded announcer says, "Ladies and gentlemen, Ruby Falls!" (or something like this. I was a kid when I last visited). They turn on all the lights, and you stand there in awe at the majesty of Ruby Falls.

One other memorable thing from my visit to Ruby Falls was something our tour guide said. There are small pools of water along side the path as you walk towards the Falls. The pools are created by water dripping through the rocks above. At one of these pools our guide said, "This water may look safe to drink, but due to all the minerals it's collected as it seeped through the rocks above it now has a powerful laxative effect. If you were to drink it we probably couldn't you get you back to the surface in time."

Wow I don't know why the owners of Ruby Falls don't start bottling up their magical colon cleaning water. Come on, give those folks at Ex-Lax a run for their money!

Magic World Brochure

(Updated 3-20-2017)

This 1979 brochure for the now defunct Magic World in Pigeon Forge Tennessee was not your typical tri-fold affair. Nope they spent some serious moola on this, and made it a 14 page booklet spectacular.

First, a very big thanks to everyone who has commented on this post so far. I never visited Magic World, but if anyone reading this has, please continue to leave a comment.  This post has became a Magic World internet hot spot, so if you're here because you're a Magic World fan you may wish to read the comments from other Magic World fans.

In fact, one of those comments was from Sonny Thrower.  Sonny was Magic World's General Manager from 1979 until it's close in 1996.  Sonny was much more than your typical GM, he was also a creative talent who worked on designing the attractions.  I've asked Sonny a few questions about Magic World's attractions, and was surprised to learn that many of the attraction were done in-house! 

Here's Magic World's "Land of Arabian Nights" with its Magic Carpet Ride pictured prominently. To me this ride looks like it wants to be Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean crossed with Peter Pan's Flight.

Here's what Anonymous had to say about the ride:

I visited Magic World once back in the mid 80's. The Magic Carpet Ride did suspend the ride vehicles from the ceiling like on Peter Pan, but you weren't that far off the ground. It was kind of like Peter Pan meets Pirates, but with an Arabian Nights theme. I remember the animatronics were seriously creepy. Their mouths would open and close but they didn't say anything and there was this freaky "woosh" wind blowing sound through the whole ride. It gave me serious heebie jeebies.

And here's Sonny Thrower's explanation of the flying effect:

"The Magic Carpet Ride" cars were suspended from a rail in the ceiling, with the scenes  getting smaller as the Carpet "flew" through the air (giving the illusion that the Carpet was going higher and higher).... Here again, all of this was done in-house. With Barbie dolls and Ken dolls toward the end!!!

I have no idea what's going on in the pictured show scene. I think it might be an interpretation of the Pirates of the Caribbean's "wench auction" scene without Marc Davis's clear staging, and a creepy edge. Check out the scary faces on those figures (especially the face of the woman who's being carried - it's the stuff of nightmares), and notice how the hands are not grasping the rope either. I'm assuming due to budget constraints they could only afford one style of hands.

The shot of the ride vehicle suggests the vehicles travel suspended high over the show scenes, but the shot is faked. This was a time before Photoshop, and if you look closely you can see cut marks at the bottom of the vehicle. Another clue is the same shot of the people in the vehicle is on the cover of the brochure, and in that photo it looks like the vehicle is only three inches off the ground.

Next is the Haunted Castle... I wish I could have ridden this, and in a way it feels like I have. Out of the four images on this page, only the executioner with the ax doesn't look like it came out of Disney's Haunted Mansion attraction. The largest picture shows a spooky organist (with a plastic looking hat) who looks very much like the phantom organist from the ballroom scene in the Haunted Mansion.

But it's the center picture of the coffin that wins the prize for looking most like Disney's Haunted Mansion. This scene is such a near perfect copy of the conservatory scene in the Haunted Mansion.

Now here's Jared's memory of the ride:

As I recall, the Haunted Castle was almost a beat for beat copy of Disney's Haunted Mansion. There was even a preshow area where you were gathered together in a room and menaced by a creature up in the rafters.

 And here's Sonny again:

The "Haunted Castle Ride" was completely done in-house, from the characters (made of chicken wire, cloth, hand carved stryofoam heads), to the recorded sound effects.   Some of the scenes were based on Disney's "Haunted Mansion"...

The "train" mechanism was actually a car used in factories which followed an electric wire embedded in the floor of the ride. It pulled 4 or 5 wooden carts for people to sit in. As the "Train" passed a group of scenes, there was a tripping bar that would activate and de-activate each set of scenes. Again ALL of this was done in-house.... Even the building itself....wood, foam and gunite!!

Merlin's Magic show featuring a costumed cartoon character with human hands. Moving along now...

Cartoon map overview of the park. Not a whole lot to do in 1979. If you click here, I found a 1991 cartoon map of Magic World which shows how they added a lot more amusement park style rides .

The Flying Saucer is another Disney-ish style attraction. Circle-Vision theater at the Disney parks featured 360 degree movies. Here it looks like they have a 180 degree theater. The fact the inside the theater picture is an artists rendering, and not a photograph makes me suspicious about what the actual attraction looked like.

Here's another of Jared's childhood memories :

I have fuzzy memories of the Flying Saucer attraction. Of course as a youngster I totally believed that we were flying around the Smokies in that crappy plastic and plaster disc! I also recall that it was surrounded by astro-turf. Weird the things that you'll remember.

I'm sure the Confederate Critter Show wanted to be like the Country Bears Jamboree, but probably ended up more like a Chuck E. Cheese show. Actually the figures here look like they came from a Showbiz Pizza (anyone remember those?), and according to an anonymous commenter they were manufactured by the same company who made the Showbiz Pizza characters - which is Creative Engineering, Inc. founded by Aaron Fechter.

Here's Sonny with more info on the creation of the show:

There was an international convention for amusement parks every year. One particular year (probably 1977) there was one guy at a table with an "animated" bear head. It was indeed Arron Fechter.  It was the FIRST of its type outside Disney. MAGIC WORLD bought it and created "THE CONFEDERATE CRITTER SHOW" with one bear, and the soundtrack recorded for a live person (a Yankee!! LOL) to interact with the bear.  Eventually, a Fox and a Hound dog were added to our show long before the pizza places.

These last pages of the brochure just throws a bunch of odds and ends at you. See our fiberglass dinos, see our fiberglass mountain, have your picture taken with our no-brand walk-around characters, eat our ice cream, buy stuff at our gift shop, etc...

Well this concludes my tour of the Magic World brochure. Magic World went out of business in 1996. I had a suspicion Magic World had been struggling for many years, and the growing popularity of nearby Dollywood was probably the final nail in the coffin for Magic World.  But according to Sonny this was not the case, it was because Magic World's 20 year lease was not renewed.  Why wasn't it  renewed you may ask? Here's Sonny with the sad story...

When MAGIC WORLD opened in 1976, there was very little in Pigeon Forge except fields and fields of corn, "Rebel Railroad", "Hillbilly Village" (which was mainly a big souvenir store and some Hillbilly artifacts).  So basically it was a huge empty area on the way from Knoxville to Gatlinburg. Property value at that time in Pigeon Forge was very cheap. The original lease was for $60,000.00 a year for 11 acres!!!

Well Pigeon Forge continued to grow and grow (with Rebel Railroad turning into Goldrush Junction, which turned into Silver Dollar City and eventually Dollywood.) We built the first Mini-Golf course in town, and with it's obvious success and MAGIC WORLD'S continued growth, naturally, property values sky rocketed.

When the "time" started to roll around to renew the lease, we knew the property would be high. I think our first offer was $350,000.00, but the land owner counter offered with a higher figure, which we accepted. BUT every time we would accept his offer, he would raise it again. The value of 11 acres (with FRONTAGE on the parkway) was pretty much out of our reach at any price. The owner's plan was to sub-divide the property into sections and have multiple lessee's. (There was a rumour for a while that SIX FLAGS was negotiating) I continued to re-work our operating costs and could still make it work at $650,000.00. But the reality was that no matter what we offered, he had his mind set on sub-dividing the property, so we stopped our offer at $650,000.00 hoping at the last minute, he would accept it. Likewise, he was assuming that we would raise it to One million at the last minute. (A restaurant down the road had made a deal for one million, and all of the land owners in Pigeon Forge got dollar signs in their eyes!)

Well, the deadline finally came.  With each of us thinking that some deal would be made since there had been no "hard" offers on the land, and (to both our surprise)....no deal was made......the lease was up. We closed.

One thing is for sure, from the comments I've been getting people who visited Magic World developed a strong emotional connection to the park.

Here's what Magic Butterfly had say:

When it closed, I cried. Gone was my fantasy park and my childhood.

I'm sorry I never got to see Magic World in person. I'm sure I would have loved it as a kid.

Please continue to leave comments folks. I love reading them.

VIDEO UPDATE 2017

Thanks to Jared who left a comment with a link to a Magic World YouTube video.  YouTuber Rance Garrison posted a video of a 1989 visit to Magic World.  It's almost 40 minutes long so here's some time markers for you:

Haunted Castle 7:22 (very dark and grainy)
Merlin's Magic Show 14:58
Magic Carpet Ride 23:13 (also very dark and grainy)
Confederate Critter Show 25:34
Dragon Train 30:00  (looks like by 1989 the trains were gone, and they just let people walk around to view the fiberglass dinos)

Should I Have Gotten a Patent?

A few months ago I was walking though the Bed, Bath & Beyond, and a TV remote control catches my eye. I wasn't shopping for a remote, nor did I need one, but what was remarkable about the the remote was its size - it was huge. It looked to be about 12''long and 6''wide (which coincidentally is how I describe myself on Craigslist. Hey-ohh!).

Then weeks later as I was combing through the Sunday newspaper, I saw the Jumbo Remote in a JC Penney ad. I pulled the ad, and set it aside so I could show it to you...

JC Penney Ad

Of course with the vast power of the internet at my fingertips, I could have just simply Googled "jumbo remote control."

Web Site with the Jumbo Remote

So what's my point? I'm glad you asked. Back in the 1990's I use to do cartoons for the local cable commission newsletter. These single panel cartoons alway had some sort of television related gag. For example take a look at this one...

Notice something familiar? Oh right, it's about a giant remote control! If I had only known back then I was sitting on such a lucrative money making idea. I could then today be cruising around on my fifty million dollar yacht, drinking mimosas with a bunch of sexy models at my side.

Well I don't really know how lucrative the jumbo remote control market is, but I imagine it's huge because it makes for a more dramatic post.

Memories of Westland Mall

Malls of America is a truly great blog. Unlike this scatter shot blog, Malls of America focuses on one thing - "Vintage photos of lost Shopping Malls of the '50s, '60s & '70s."

Its creator, Keith Milford, has managed to gather a fun and impressive collection classic shopping mall photos. Unfortunately he hasn't posted since August 28, 2007. I do not know what's happened to Keith, and it's all rather mysterious if you read the comments on his last post, but hopefully he'll resume posting one day.

In appreciation of Malls of America, I thought I'd share my thoughts and memories about Westland Mall. For those of you not living in the Metro Detroit Area, Westland Mall was built in 1965 and was Michigan's' first enclosed mall. Another fun fact, the mall was built in Nankin Township, which later became the City of Westland - the city took its name from the mall!

When I first viewed Keith's photos of Westland Mall I was surprised by the very powerful rush of nostalgia I felt. It was like finding lost photographs of a beloved relative. I can vividly remember going to Westland with my mother and grandfather as a small child.

I've taken Keith's Westland Mall photos and annotated them with my commentary. I even came up with a few new images and rough sketches of my own (don't get too excited, they're not that great). So here we go...

Westland Mall originally had two main courts - the East Court and West Court. The beautiful East Court was the heart of Westland Mall. The glass elevator, Hudsons's restaurant and a truly great fountain were key attractions for small a child.

East Court Photo #1


1. Hudson's Department Store. This was the main reason my mother shopped at Westland. Hudson's was once a very popular Detroit based department store. Hudson's is no longer in business, and today the stores are all Macy's.

2. Hudson's restaurant. As a kid it was a thrill to eat lunch while sitting next to the railing and that overlooked the court. By the 1980's they didn't allow children to sit next to the railing. Was it an example of the management just being overly cautious, or did one kid ruin it for everybody by nearly killing himself? The Hudson's children's menu came printed on paper cowboy or pirate hat, and they gave you your very own box of crayons (see crayons pic). As you can see from the photo, the crayons are FUN to the fourth power.

Hudson's Crayons

3. The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg statue. This became something of a playscape for kids to climb on. If you were agile and small enough you could slide though the hole created by the goose's neck. I remember really whacking my chin on one of my attempts to do this. I didn't cry, but was rather shaken up. Some time later they put a fence around it to keep the kids off. The last time I saw the goose it had been moved outdoors in front of Hudson's.

East Court Elevator Photo


The magical glass elevator. Sure the ironwork is a little cheesy even by 1960's standards, but check out at that illuminated ceiling (#1). It almost looks like it could be one of the last works of Matisse with its bright primary colored shapes (too bad the photo is BW). I can remember staring at that as a kid not sure if they were supposed to be leaves, bugs or what.

East Court Photo #2


1. The Greatest Fountain on Earth Ever (or GFOEE for short). I honestly say that without much exaggeration. Sure today there are bigger fountains that put on bigger shows (like the fountains at the Bellagio), but pound-for-pound the GFOEE has them all beat. Not only does the fountain cycle through many different spraying patterns, but it also has colored lights (the snooty Bellagio doesn't have colored lights). Notice the nice extra wide edge around the GFOEE, it was perfect for little boys to lay on their stomach and stick their fingers over the outer ring of nozzles. Can you touch the fountains at the Bellagio? Ha, you can't even come within a 100 feet of them.

2. Real Art by Real Artists. This is a kinetic sculpture by George Ricky (1907-2002) titled "Columns –V." This art consisted of approximately 30-foot brass spears delicately balanced so they gently sway with the air currents. Sadly it's not at Westland any longer. But good news everybody, you can still see this unique art in action now at the DIA. It's a shame real art like this is non-existent in today's malls.

East Court Photo #3


In this shot of the opposite side of the East Court you can just barely see Hughes & Hatcher at the a back (#1). This now defunct men's clothing store was notable for having a basement (which a handful of Westland stores had). What made H&H special for a kid was a brown tiled reflecting pool in the basement level that you could see from the courtyard level. I didn't throw my pennies into the GFOEE, but I'd toss a penny here because it was more exciting to see it drop 16 feet to the pool below. If this was hard to visualize I made a cutaway sketch to illustrate (see Hughes & Hatcher pic). There was some sculpture on a pedestal in the pool too – which I think was a copy of the Thinker.

Hughes & Hatcher

The West Court is the lesser of Westland's two original courtyards. It had its charms, but couldn't compete with the much grander East Court.

West Court BW Photo


1. Sam Raimi's mother's store. I had no idea it was there, or how long it lasted, well, because little boys don't usually keep an eye on ladies clothing stores.

2. Jack and the Beanstalk sculpture. Now this I did keep on. Even as a child I noticed how it looked like it was going to grow right through the skylight, and for I while I actually thought it might be getting taller each time I saw it. I also liked the green and blue lights that illuminated the base.

3. A & H Butcher shop. Here's something you won't find in today's malls (heck you can't even find a Hickory Farms now), and I don't remember it much. But it did have a certain kind of "Trader Joe's" odor if I recall which you could smell even when walking by. A furniture store was next door to the right, and may have even eventually took over the butcher shop too. The furniture store had a lower basement level that was crazy huge. I think it may have reached as far back a Hudson's

4. Kroger Grocery Store. Directly behind the photographer was a Kroger grocery store. In the mid 70's the mall added a new corridor with JC Penney as Westland's second major department store, and a helpful reader has informed me that the Kroger moved to a near by strip mall. About the only thing I can remember about the grocery store was this gingham cartoon elephant was hanging from the ceiling of the store (see Toppie the Elephant pic). He was life-size (well maybe cow size), and I think he was made from some sort of paper mache.

Toppie the Elephant

West Court Color Photo


1. Birds and Fish. When you walk down this corridor from the east to west court you could view Westland's birds and fish. First was the birds who were enclosed in a floor to ceiling circular cage with a fake mountain in the center (see birdcage sketch). The mountain had a stream of water the spiraled down the outside. I'd guess there were about 2 dozen parakeets that lived in this cage, and for a parakeet it was pretty swanky digs.

Next was a large hexagonal or octagonal (I don't remember the exact number of sides) freshwater fish tank (see aquarium sketch). If you were a small child it was hard to look in the tank. You could try to stand on the base, but the base was smaller than the tank was round. This made it very awkward to get a peak.

2. Kresge. Before there was K Mart there was the Kresge. This store had escalators in the center that took you into the basement. Okay that's not very exciting, but stores with basement levels are totally gone from Westland to the best of my knowledge. It's probably due to fire and ADA codes.

3. Silver Fish Sculptor & fountain. As a fountain it couldn't compete the GFOEE. It was mostly a reflecting pool with a few small water jets in it. But if you were looking for a big abstract silver fish here it was.

That's it. I wish Westland Mall still looked like this today. I was there about five years ago, and it was rather heart breaking. Misguided remodeling has erased most all of the mall's original retro charm.

Thanks to Keith for his great photographs, and a sincere hope he returns to posting at his Malls of America blog.

The Scent of Mystery Still Stinks

After intense public demand, and for the first time on the interweb, I proudly present the "Official Clue Card" for the classic 1960 film Scent of Mystery.

Actually there was no public demand, and this card is from the 1985 showing on MTV which you could purchase for a buck at 7-11 stores. It's sort of amazing that MTV ran a rather dull and obscure 25 year old (at the time) mystery movie - even with the scratch and sniff card gimmick. They'd never run such a film today, but maybe they could try a scratch and sniff version of Laguna Beach.

When the film was originally released there was a machine that pumped the scents into the theater, but from all reports it didn't work very well. I've read the machine held 50 scents, but the card only gives you 30. Looking back now I feel short changed on smells.

Side 1

I'm happy to report the scratch and sniff card still works. Talic being the strongest of the scents, which you don't even have to scratch to smell. The strawberry and rose scents are pleasant enough, but the popcorn is just bizarre and indescribable. I guess a fake popcorn smell was beyond the grasp of science.

Side 2

I debated if I should even post this. I doubt anyone cares about a 1985 MTV scratch and sniff card for a forgotten movie. But then I thought if I don't post this who will? And it's my duty as a blogger to fill the internet up with crap nobody cares about. That's what we bloggers do dammit!

Another Hole

The Blue Hole in Castalia Ohio is no longer with us. Well the hole is still there, but it's no longer open as a tourist attraction.

Front

I never visited the Blue Hole, so any "Hole Fans" reading this feel free to call me out, but the Blue Hole was simply a spring fed pond. It looked like a perfectly delightful place to have a picnic, but let's face it, as a tourist attraction it was pretty lame.

Inside

I do admire the showmanship of the Blue Hole owners. In their brochure they make the pond sound as exciting as they possibly can. First they never refer to it as a pond, and play up the "fact" that its depth is unknown - that's a good start. Then they manage to make the pedestrian information seem almost impressive: "48 degrees winter and summer," water flow "7,519 gallons per minute," and it's "not affected by floods or drought."

Unfortunately they didn't invent a legend of a spooky creature or magical being living in the hole. They really dropped the ball here because in their history they do talk about an Indian Village and "large medicine camp" near the Blue Hole, and that's fertile ground for some sort of ancient mystical myth. As I kid I would have gladly stared into a pond for who knows how long if I thought I could catch a glimpse of some monster.

Inside flap and Back

From what I've read online the Blue Hole was in operation from the 1930's to 1990. With Cedar Point so close by the Blue Hole never stood a chance. Cedar Point has been in operation since the late 1800's, and how could a pond ever compete with an amusement park. Maybe they thought they could sorta ride Cedar Point's coattails, and I guess it worked for about 60 years. Eventually time caught up the non-thrill attraction of the Blue Hole, but even a child or adult of the 1930's (or any time period) would rather ride a roller coaster than watch pond water wouldn't they?

PS: It was difficult to write this post and use the words "blue" and "hole" so many times, and not make an X-rated Smurf joke.

My First Hole

That first time.

These are experiences in every boys life that become a touchstone of going maturity. Sometimes it's scary or awkward, as first times usually are, but they become adventures that he'll remember for the rest of his life.

On a family vacation when I was about 10 years old I experienced my first time with one of the wonders of Mother Nature. I took my first trip into a cave.

We were driving from Michigan to Florida down I-75, and once you cross into Tennessee you're hit with a seemingly never ending barrage of billboards for 3 big tourist attractions: Rock City, Ruby Falls and the Lost Sea. I had picked up a brochure for the Lost Sea, and became quite curious about the "world's largest underground lake."

Front and back of old Lost Sea brochure

Look at that tiny little boat floating in that vast underground chamber. To our super advanced futuristic 2008 eyes that picture of the boat looks pretty suspicious. But to the eyes of a kid back in the day before the internets it looked totally real, and a amazing adventure. Who knows what kind of strange cave creatures could be swimming in that water?

I suggested to my parents we should see the Lost Sea, and surprisingly with no resistance they agreed.

Here's a funny note for future travelers to the Lost Sea. I don't know if this is still true, but once you exit the interstate there are Lost Sea signs directing you that read, "15 minutes to the Lost Sea" and "5 minutes to the Lost Sea." None of the signs gave you the actual distance. Maybe they thought listing the actual distance would be off putting to motorists. All I know is that these signs frustrated my father because it took a lot longer to reach the Lost Sea than the signs had told us.

Inside of old Lost Sea brochure

Once we arrived at the Lost Sea me and my father bought tickets (my mother decided to wait for us spelunkers above ground). Once inside the entrance building there are glass doors to the ominous entrance tunnel.

The mildly hypnotic entrance tunnel to the Lost Sea

Seeing that entrance tunnel for the first time was a little intimidating as kid. The thought quickly went through my head that maybe I didn't want to see the Lost Sea after all. But before I had time to give it a second thought we were quickly ushered down the tunnel to our waiting tour group.

Front and back of a newer Lost Sea brochure

Well I won't go into great detail, but my experience at the Lost Sea was awesome and it started a lifelong fascination with caves.

Inside of newer Lost Sea brochure
(If you didn't notice they dropped the misleading tiny boat pics)

During my adventure in the Lost Sea it never occurred to me that the picture of the boat on brochure was grossly exaggerated. It was just cool to take a boat ride in a cave - even if I didn't discover any strange new cave creatures.