Laffing Sal
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Laffing Sal is one of several automated characters that were built primarily for funhouses throughout the United States.[1] Sometimes called "Laughing Sal" she produces a raucous laugh that sometimes frightens small children and annoys adults. [2]
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[edit] History
She was built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) of Germantown, Pennsylvania in the early 1930s. There was also a Laffing Sam that was being produced at that time. PTC subcontracted the production of their Laffing Sal figures to the Old King Cole Papier Mache Company of Canton, Ohio.[1] She was made of papier mache (seven plys of pressed ground wood pulp card stock with interior horse hair) over steel coils and frame, detachable head, arms, hands and legs, and held together with fabric, staples, pins, nails, nuts and bolts. She had a wig of non-human hair, and had a large gap between her front teeth.[3] She was advertised as being 6 feet, 10 inches high, standing on a 12 inch pedestal under which was a record player continuously playing her laugh. She would wave her arms and lean forward while laughing.[1]
Sal's asking price in 1940 was US$360 [4]; in 2004 the one now in Santa Cruz, California cost the bidder US$50,000.[3]
[edit] Sal appearances
A Laffing Sal was featured in the 1953 film Man in the Dark, which was filmed in Venice, California. Starring Audrey Totter and Edmond O'Brien, Sal can be seen in the building behind gazing down on them in the Venice amusement area.[5]
Laffing Sal was also briefly featured in The Princess Diaries in 2001.
A recording of "Laughing Sal" was used in Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, as noted in the liner notes to their "Holland 1945" single.
An episode of "The Magician" with Bill Bixby features the "Laughing Sal" located at the "Nu-Pike" amusement park in Long Beach in the early 1970's.
[edit] Where did/does she live?
- Buckeye Lake Park in Ohio
- Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York
- Crystal Beach Park in Ontario, Canada
- Erieview Park in Cleveland, Ohio
- Euclid Beach Park in Cleveland, Ohio (closed in 1969. She is privately owned and still makes the rounds at local home days, though)
- Hamid's Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey
- Idora Park in Youngstown, Ohio
- Jantzen Beach Amusement Park in Portland, Oregon
- Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Lakeside Amusement Park in Denver, Colorado
- Memory Lane Arcade in Frankenmuth, Michigan
- Hunt's Pier in Wildwood, New Jersey
- Musée Mécanique in San Francisco (a second Laffing Sal from Playland at the Beach; the Musée Mécanique was located at the Cliff House until 2002, when it relocated (along with Sal) to Pier 45 at Fisherman's Wharf)
- Pacific Ocean Park AKA Laffing Gertrude in Venice, California
- Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey
- The Pike House of Mirrors Funhouse in Long Beach, CA
- Playland at the Beach in San Francisco (until it closed in 1972, thence one version went to the Musée Mécanique and another eventually ended up at Santa Cruz)[1]
- Playland-Not-At-The-Beach in El Cerrito, California
- Revere Beach in Revere, Massachusetts
- Riverview Park in Des Moines, Iowa (converted to Laffing Sam)
- Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in California (from Playland at the Beach)[3]
- Seabreeze Park in Rochester, New York
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Luca, Bill (2003) My Gal Sal Laff In The Dark.com. Accessed 10 August 2007
- ^ History of Laffing Sal, Musée Mécanique. Accessed 10 August 2007.
- ^ a b c Luca, Bill Saving Sal Laff In The Dark.com, page 3. Accessed 10 August 2007
- ^ Luca, Bill (2003) My Gal Sal Laff In the Dark.com, p 5. Accessed 10 August 2007
- ^ Luca, Bill (2003) My Gal Sal Laff In the Dark.com, p 8. Accessed 10 August 2007
[edit] External links
- Musée Mécanique site: Hear her laugh! and Laffing Sal history
- The Story Of Laffing Sal at Laff In The Dark website
- Saving Sal story of the purchase of Sal by Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, at Laff In The Dark website
- Playland-Not-At-The-Beach
- Listen to Laffing Sal at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
