Did Gary Larson Know What a Particular Amusement Park Ride Looks Like?


So a couple weeks ago Gary Larson’s The Far Side web site reprinted this strip from 1993. And I know what you, or anyone, is thinking when they look at this, so I’ll include it just after the picture.

A wagon train of settlers comes to the crest of a hill. Pa sees something alarming and calls out, 'Twister, Ma! ... Get the kids!' The 'Twister' turns out to be an amusement park flat ride, a couple of cupped chairs on spinning discs, with a ride attendant and a tiny waiting queue to approach.
Gary Larson’s The Far Side for some specific date in 1993. I absolutely love the detail that the ride operator has that tiny queue in front of him, especially as the ride is otherwise ungated. That’s the detail that separates the amateur from the professional cartoonist.

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: that’s not a Twister. A Twister is an elevated-platform ride with chairs. Maybe it hangs below, as in the Heintz Fahtze Twister. Maybe it rides above, as in the KT Enterprises Twister. We are not discussing the Sartori Twister, for obvious reasons.

Ah! But … what about the Chance Twister? Because if you take a quick look at Chance Manufacturing’s Twister ride you see … something not too far off what Gary Larson drew here. The Chance Twister is on a partly twisted platform, yes. And the cars are different, but maybe there are different models. As a basic cartoon of the ride goes, is that far off?

Except. As we can see, the cars on the Chance Twister sit on top of radial spokes, propelled by the center of the platform. What Larson drew is, again like the Tilt-A-Whirl, something where the cars sit on apparently free-moving discs, on a platform that rotates as a body.

So we are left with the question: is this a fair representation of an actual ride called the Twister, with details like the center spokes left off for the sake of having an image that reads cleanly in print? Or was Gary Larson thinking Tilt-a-Whirl and naming it wrongly? Arguing against the Tilt-A-Whirl representation is that a Tilt-a-Whirl’s platform rises and falls; that’s the tilt that gives it so much a-whirl. What do you, the person with the eyes glazing over, think?

Anyway working out all the angles on this is why I didn’t get anything done today. Sorry.

Author: Joseph Nebus

I was born 198 years to the day after Johnny Appleseed. The differences between us do not end there. He/him.

5 thoughts on “Did Gary Larson Know What a Particular Amusement Park Ride Looks Like?”

  1. my highlight is also the tiny queue. perhaps Gary just takes poetic license when using names, as he is brilliant and filled with mischief, both

    Like

    Reply
  3. Pingback: Statistics July: I Continue To Blame Twitter For Screwing Up My Readership – Another Blog, Meanwhile

Please Write Something Funnier Than I Thought To

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.