President's Message - Reprinted from the Autumn 2008 Merry-Go-Roundup

Leaving a Legacy . . . .

By Bette Largent

In preparing for a slide presentation for the recent NCA Convention, I decided to pull random copies of the 35 years of the Merry-Go Roundup publication. Within these pages, the evolution of our thirty-five years of history could be read. The first issue of publication had a mast head of the National Carousel Roundtable. It was printed in a more primitive form by today's standards but told of our enthusiastic beginnings. The organization had evolved from the dreams of the founders, endeavored to attract new members, showed scenes of fun and camaraderie with a common goal. There were tragic stories of carousels and friends lost through the years, glimpses of carousel history being discovered and a more sophisticated approach to tracking the carousels that remain vibrant and operating today. One of the most fascinating was the appearance of a new generation of active historians of the carousel industry. Spawned by Fred Fried and others, they began to dig deeper and graciously published their discoveries. Original photos and documents from family albums, business files and even more tenacious sleuthing of a variety of sources began to weave through the pages of each issue. There may seem to be the pointing out of errors of fact of previous printings but it is not purposeful as the collecting of all history does evolve. What we accept yesterday as chiseled may be erased tomorrow and replaced with the more accurate discoveries.

Sadly, just a few weeks before the convention, we lost one of our dear friends and former Merry-Go-Roundup editors of 15 years. Cyndy Lynn Hennig Hanks took on the Merry-Go-Roundup with a professional publication background. Coupled with a personal avid love of the carousel and its history, she contributed to this growing refinement of truth found within its pages. Our organization has existed long enough that we will continue to lose those we consider dear friends. In the past year we have indeed lost some major players in the organization. Cyndy was certainly one of them.

We have also grieved the loss of one of our major supporters of the NCA and all our carousels, Charles Walker. The first name that I personally learned in the industry was of this true Southern gentleman with an incredible sense of humor. He was just a phone call away to every carousel for many years offering his help and most important, hope, to any situation that had come up in their day to day operations.

Nor would the industry have been the same without John O. Davis and his wife, Jan, of California. They were perhaps the last of an original generation of family operators and supporters of our carousels in the West. The legacy of the Davis. owned machines will live on as a tribute to the Davis family. With the technology of the media many of us will also have even more memories of the Griffith Park carousel as seen on the big screen or even peanut butter commercials. Even the bench that Walt Disney sat sketching his planned Disneyland while his daughters rode this favorite Los Angeles carousel is being preserved.

Marvin Sylvor had brought a scope of creativity into the later generations of carousel maker's technology and yet worked hard at preserving the historic machines of his youth such as Prospect Park, Rye Playland, Forest Park and most recently Coney Island's B&B. Many generations of children have ridden and will continue to ride his magical new creations throughout the world.

There were others we have lost in the past months which supported us in other ways. Perhaps they weren't as visible to all as those I have just mentioned but their importance to our organization can not be diminished. They were loyal to our group, often attending our conventions as we laughed and shared stories on the bus rides to each destination or location for a spin on a carousel. Some donated their time to further our endeavors or objects that raised dollars or dollars that raised more dollars. Please pause a moment and reflect upon our good memories for all of those we have lost.

I will close with a quote of verse from Cyndy's 1998 article of the Morrot family's carousel at Olcott Beach, New York. It seems to say it best or at least the impression I have of Cyndy's own voyage of discovery.

Everyone said it couldn't be done,
But she with a chuckle replied .
That maybe it couldn't, but she'd be the one
who wouldn't say no 'til she tried.
So she buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On her face; if she worried she hid it.
She started to sing as she tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and she did it.