Bridgeport Carousel Horses Coveted by Collectors, Preservationists

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) _ To some, they are just collectables, worth as much as $1.5 million. But to George Zariff, the magnificent wooden horses of the Pleasure Beach carousel are much more: They are his youth.

They are that hot summer day 45 years ago when Zariff mounted one of the outside horses and managed to grab a brass ring, earning a free ride.

″Boy, what a thrill it was,″ he recalls.

The carousel and the amusement park are long gone. But the 71 horses and two chariots remain, and Zariff aims to keep it that way: He is leading an effort to keep the horses in Bridgeport, and out of the hands of collectors.

This is not a small undertaking. Bridgeport is a poor city - in 1991, it became the largest city to file for bankruptcy since the Great Depression - and the horses’ sale would bring a much needed windfall. In addition, the city is paying $1,000 a month to store the horses.

In November, responding to protests, Mayor Joseph P. Ganim tabled the sale of the horses indefinitely. But the horse enthusiasts are keeping the pressure on, fearful that the city will yield to temptation.

″Everybody who’s old enough feels the horses are part of their childhood and part of Bridgeport’s history,″ said Zariff. ″How can you preserve that for future generations if you sell it off?″

Collectors were willing to pay anywhere from $6,000 to $25,000 or more for each of the horses because they were carved by Charles Carmel and Marcus ″M.C.″ Illions, renowned carvers whose original carousel horses have dwindled drastically in number over the last 40 years.

Built around 1914, the carousel was a centerpiece of Pleasure Beach. Zariff recalls days of his youth at the amusement park - crashing bumper cars, having his fortune read, riding the carousel.

The carousel was virtually abandoned after Pleasure Beach closed in the 1960s. In the mid-1980s, the carousel horses were fully restored, using money raised from Bridgeport business leaders, residents and school children. But they’ve been in storage ever since.

Parks officials had opted to sell the horses after deciding the city could not afford the $20,000 to $30,000 annual costs of maintaining the wooden horses if they were used on a working carousel again, said John Byrne, a city administrator. The city planned to use money from the sale to build a replica.

But to satisfy those who want to keep the original wooden horses, the city agreed to display them in a new building, along with the new fiberglass carousel.

″My feeling is once people see the beauty of these horses, as the people who used to ride them on Pleasure Beach, I don’t think people will ever want to sell them,″ Byrne said. ″They’re just masterpieces. They’re just works of art.″

The building, to be built at the Beardsley Zoological Gardens, is expected to cost $750,000 or more. City officials say they are hoping to get most of the money from a variety of state programs, while the local parks board has committed about $90,000. Last month, the state bond commission voted to release $375,000 for the carousel building.

But Zariff and his 75-member citizens’ group, ″Friends of the Bridgeport Carousel,″ fear the city will never get all the money needed to build the new carousel house, leaving the horses ripe for the auction block.

Emanuel Dragone, the auctioneer who was originally hired to sell the horses, thinks the city should go ahead with the sale.

″I think these (horses) should be in the hands of collectors and museums,″ Dragone said. ″I don’t think they should be on display where kids are going for recreation. It’s like putting a Matisse painting in the middle of Central Park. It’s ridiculous.″

Dragone said he was deluged with inquiries from collectors who offered between $1 million and $1.5 million for the entire collection.

Why? Because they’re beautiful - and because they’re rare.

″There were about 5,000 (carousels) during the golden age of carousels - from 1895 through 1930 - and now there are about 170 to 200, either operating or in storage,″ said Brian Morgan, president of the National Carousel Association, a 1,200-member organization devoted to preserving carousels.

An outside-row ″stander,″ an elaborate, decorated horse, routinely sells for $24,000 or more in today’s market, while a ″jumper,″ a smaller, inside- row horse with its legs bent in a jumping position, can command anywhere from $8,000 to $12,000, Morgan said.

Carousels were popular attractions from the turn of the century through the 1920s, but the Depression and two world wars put a severe crimp in amusement rides. Many of the original carousels also were damaged or destroyed by floods, fires and hurricanes along the East and West coasts, where most carousels were built. From 1950 to 1970, many carousels were replaced by modern, thrill-inducing rides, and the old carousels were abandoned, put in storage and even discarded, Morgan said.

The 1980s brought renewed interest. Prices of carousel animals increased by 300 percent to 2,000 percent over the past decade, according to The Carousel News & Trader Magazine.

But Zariff’s interest in carousels predates that trend, and his love of the Bridgeport horses has nothing to do with money.

″It’s just a part of our childhood,″ he says. ″We want to make sure they’re taken care of.″