John Page wrote:

> Why were American carousels placed inside buildings?  Here in the UK,
> they are completely in the open air, with only their tilts (canvas
> covers) for protection from the weather.

Well, this is an odd thing about UK carousels: it seems that most old
carousels on the European continent originally were 'carrousels salon'.
As I described in an earlier Digest (2001.07.06), these carrousels salon
were often gathering places for the bourgeoisie.  Outstanding examples
are, of course, the Janvier carousel in the amusement park 'De Efteling'
in the Netherlands and the Eden Palais Salon Carousel in the Sanfilippo
collection.

The main reason for these attractions to be 'encapsulated' in tents,
was certainly the atmosphere; what other reason would there be for
these attractions to be called "carrousel salon"?

That the acoustics must have been good is proven by the fact that the
richer people often went to the 'carrousel salon' on Sunday afternoons
to listen to the organ, when it would play 'concert music'.  As elder
showmen have told me, people used to do this even during the first
years when the carousels didn't travel with a tent anymore.

Regards,

Bjorn Isebaert
Belgium
Bjrn.Isebaert@skynet.be