Talk:Parachute Jump

Parachute Jump is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.

This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on August 23, 2020.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
September 4, 2019	Good article nominee	Listed
October 29, 2019	Guild of Copy Editors	Copyedited
January 14, 2020	Featured article candidate	Promoted
A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on May 6, 2006. The text of the entry was: Did you know ...that the Parachute Jump, an 80-m steel tower, was relocated to Coney Island two years after the 1939 New York World's Fair?
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Defunct

I dislike being pedantic, but in terms of concrete objects, defunct means no longer functioning. Preservationists list buildings as "defunct" or "demolished", thus they are not synonyms. Defunct abstract entities such as businesses, committees, or governments do "cease to exist" when they cease to function, but this is not true of buildings, structures or machines. Despite the presence of non-English speakers, we need not always write as if for the simple English Wikipedia. --Dhartung | Talk 04:07, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

FWIW, I agree that's what defunct means; then again, when I started the article, I deliberately decided not to use the word for fear of confusing people. This isn't Simple English Wiki, true, but the lead sentence should be as accessible as possible, don't ya think? —Bunchofgrapes (talk)

"Defunct" could be interpreted to mean that the parachute jump is there but not operating, but you could also call Luna Park and Steeplechase "defunct amusement parks." Sometimes a little precision trumps what seems like elegant economy of language. -- Cecropia 06:02, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Free-fall/ chutes deploying

Well. The World's Fair guidebook makes it quite clear that the chutes are held open all the time, while travelling up as well as down. This is confirmed by pictured like this: the domed chutes are presumably coming down and the "pointed" ones going up. So where did I get the crazy idea that this thing actually deployed a closed chute and had the rider go through a few seconds of freefall? It was from two bits of Coney Island: Lost and Found. Especially this part, from p 123:

The parachute jump was developed for the military in the 1930s as a training simulator for airborne troops. Each furled parachute with its rider seated in a harness was carried aloft by a lift rope and guided by six steel cables. When the parachute reached the top, a release mechanism was tripped, and the parachutes and riders went into free fall for several seconds until the chutes opened and slid down the cables.

I guess they are talking about the military versions only, but the blasted book doesn't have the courtesy to mention that. In fact, a couple pages later the author is describing riding the 'chute at the age of nine: "Then without waning we reached the top. The chute hit and exploded. We were falling."

So you could see where I got the wrong impression. Grr. —Bunchofgrapes (talk) 03:31, 9 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Picture

I recently took a photo of the jump; i'm entirely biased, but i think it's better than the one on the page (it's got more contrast, and you can see the layout of the crown better), and i'm quite happy for it to be used if anyone else thinks so. There's a bigger version here. -- Tom Anderson 2006-09-20 1518 BST

It's lovely. Thank you. —Bunchofgrapes (talk) 14:41, 20 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

As well-appreciated as your contribution is, I'd like to point out that the article doesn't carry any historical pictures of the jump in operation. I am hoping that we may be able to see what the thing looked like in its heyday.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 192.31.106.34 (talk • contribs).

*Life Saver Parachute Jump* photo by Sam Gottscho

And here's a photo when it had parachuters... DVD+ R/W 21:18, 5 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Switlik or Strong

The link to the Strong reference is broken. The Stanley Switlik article lists his 1939 patent, which appears to be the Coney Island /World's Fair Tower, although he built an earlier tower in New Jersey. Pustelnik (talk) 21:24, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Date of closure

The Jump closed with Steeplechase at the end of the 1964 season. It was not operated by Norman Kaufman later in the decade, as some sources state. When I wrote my thesis, which is referenced in this article, I took the 1968 date from a NYC Parks Department engineering report. That report, as it turned out, repeated an erroneous date from the NY Daily News article. Back in the late 1990's we were able to talk to Norman Kaufman and confirm that it had not operated after the closure of Steeplechase Park. – Seth Kaufman (11 April 2013) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.198.4.49 (talk) 19:35, 11 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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Unsourced popular culture content

Moved here. epicgenius (talk) 19:01, 9 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The Parachute Jump has been seen in many feature films, starting with Alfred Hitchcock's Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 1941 (set in the World's Fair). It also was featured heavily in the Oscar-nominated Little Fugitive (1953). It is shown in one of the transition sequences of 1979's The Warriors (film). Much later it appeared in 2000's Requiem for a Dream, 2002's Two Weeks Notice and the 1998 Spike Lee movie He Got Game. It features in the climax of 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming. It can also be seen on the back of Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual album.
It is featured on the cover of Type O Negative's Least Worst Of album.
In one of the scenes of the musical Sweet Charity, Charity and Oscar get trapped on the ride.
The American rock band Deftones had a promo photo shot for their album Diamond Eyes with the Parachute Jump far in the background.

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Parachute Jump/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: The Rambling Man (talk · contribs) 12:32, 2 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Comments

I would be tempted to merge the first two (very short) paras in the lead, per WP:LEAD three paras would seem appropriate.
" to operate, as each parachute required three cable operators." repetitive use of "operate"
"was moved to" not really sure we need to pipe "move", most of our readers will understand what that means.
"Today, the Parachute Jump..." per WP:PRECISELANG try to avoid "Today", maybe "As of 2019"...?
"called the "Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn".[5][4]" ref order.
"flagpole.[7]:4[2]:5[8][9] " same.
"keeping labor expenses high" why not "resulting in high labor expenses"? Keeping seems odd to me.
" parachuting could only be taught by jumping out of airplanes, but by the 1930s, technology had advanced to the extent that towers could also be used to teach parachuting" repetitive "parachuting ... taught ... teach parachuting" in one sentence...
"tower on Stanley's farm" Switlik's farm.
"jumping, the tower saw its first public jump on June 2, 1935, when Earhart jumped" jump x 3.
"The Parachute Drop was patented by retired U.S. Naval Commander James H. Strong and Stanley Switlik" was that the name given to this new-fangled machine then? And no need to repeat Switlik's first name again.
"the Soviet Union.[10][17][2]:4 " order.
"modified his invention to non-military use" maybe ENGVAR but I would have modified it "for" non-military use.
"could hold two, " add "people" for clarity.
" jump.[7]:4[2]:4–5[18]" order.
No need to link tornado.
"for $150,000.[12][2]:7" order.
"NYC Parks.[62][63] Subsequently, NYC Parks attempted " -> "NYC Parks,[62][63] which subsequently attempted " to avoid repeat.
restaurant.[74][73] order.
"painted and stabilized the structure in 1993, painting it in its " -> "stabilized the structure in 1993 and painted it in its "?
"from forty-six countries" 46.
"exhibition space.[101][102][99]" order.
"Jump also started lighting up" sounds spontaneous, one imagines it would be more like "the Parachute Jump was lit up..."
"it is still operational " as of?
Avoid SHOUTING in the ref titles.
Spaced hyphens in ref titles should be spaced en-dashes.
Except in year ranges when they should be unspaced en-dashes.
"1939-40 Collection Parachute Jump Imagery" en-dash.
"4 color transparencies, 1 photo caption page" four/one.

Very good and interesting article, on hold while we address the above. The Rambling Man (Staying alive since 2005!) 11:32, 3 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@The Rambling Man: Thanks for the review. I have addressed all of these. epicgenius (talk) 17:00, 3 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Very nice work, I'm more than satisfied it meets GA criteria, so passing. The Rambling Man (Staying alive since 2005!) 18:46, 4 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Similar amusement rides

I've deleted this section per a comment at the FAC because it doesn't seem too relevant to the article. I'm posting this here in case anyone is interested. epicgenius (talk) 01:28, 5 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe there is material here for a general article on the amusement genre of parachute ride?--Pharos (talk) 04:53, 11 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Though I guess this content is being collected at Parachute tower#Fairground rides for now.--Pharos (talk) 12:26, 11 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

No wartime blackout?

This 1950 Billboard article suggests there was a wartime blackout, at least at night.--Pharos (talk) 14:16, 11 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Pharos: It is true that Steeplechase Park was subjected to a wartime blackout. The Parachute Jump still operated during the daytime, but at night, it did not operate as an amusement ride because it had to be lit as a navigational beacon. epicgenius (talk) 15:32, 11 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]