Soon, Coney Island was awash in kickbacks and rigged contracts ... known round the world for its trademark "funny face" logo, lay in its power to involve visitors. Many rides were calculated ...

Coney Island is a twentieth-century icon of American fun, and the birthplace of the large-scale amusement park. George Tilyou's grinning "funny face" logo for Steeplechase Park, the giant tower at ...