Ocean View, the Nickel Tour - Joe Leatherman's PLAYBOY AFTER PARK

Joe Leatherman shares more of his memories with the OV Tour...
email Joe at: oceanviewpark@cox.net
See Joe's images: Long's Portraits & Joe's Vintage Cards & Joe's 50's Cards
& Downtown OVintage & More 4 OVintage;
fast-loading Ocean View Beach & Park pages in thumbnail format

Most of us have forgotten that Playboy produced the movie "Death of Ocean View Park".
In their November 1979 issue, Hef paid homage with an article beginning page 129 entitled "Carnival Knowledge" which read:

Kiss of Death... Rocket Bunny "fun and games on the set of a soon-to be-aired playboy tv production"

The Playboy feature continued: "'THE ROLLERCOASTER train crashes...' reads the script...[of] the two hour TV movie for ABC titled The Death of Ocean View Park... the disaster epic is highlighted by the actual destruction of an 80 year-old roller coaster at the Ocean View Amusement Park in Norfolk..."

We know Hef wouldn'ta done it if he'd known it would be an early omen--
a landmark deal celebrating the "death" of Ocean View, as we knew it.
We know he's a man of principles, if not an extoller of freedoms.
If Ocean View isn't about a free way of thinking, where else is?
Okay, we'll give you N'orleans. But other than there, where?

Salt & Pepper Shaking... Guess your age, weight & height... Obviously certain images here have been edited for this "historically-minded" site --not that we didn't appreciate Hef's artistry. We regret the edits but know that for our community and altruistic interests, it's best.

Really, Hef never got to see this area in its freewheeling days.
How horrible to be a celebrity and not have the freedom to move about without attracting attention. You gotta' give it to Hef for not competing with those (you'd think Woody Harrelson might play Hef instead of Larry Flint) who didn't celebrate women but trashed 'em. Perhaps Hef, you celebrated their bodies more than their minds, but that was likely due to their being "career minded" --hopefully, rather than being quoted as bunnies really think. We just can't believe they really think as pageant contestants, as indicated by personal blurbs of those days.

Okay, we've crossed a line. But we are concerned with freedom after all--
of speech, of representation, and hopefully of politically powerful maneuverings.

The reason... one of the reasons, we love you Hef... is that you've shown us
anyone can challenge standards and conquer improbabilities... thank you for your homage to OV:
we should all think like you, and like our dear Joe who provided us seven new pages for this tour...
we're exasperated trying to think "outside the box" in this template world.

Thank you Joe Leatherman for all of your contributions to this site.
Thank you for thanking other contributors --that was a first.
You are one gracious, rightous, and loyal Ocean View man.

Back to the article: "The old Ocean View roller coaster, dubbed The Rocket, was sturdier than the special-effects men had bargained for. To make the 80-year-old attraction self-destruct, took three days and required about 500 gallons of gasoline, three and a half cases of dynamite, a case of plastic explosives and a 60-ton Caterpillar tractor. The resulting explosion was, as described in the script, indeed cataclysmic..."

Old Millie? Stapled!
See Joe's: Long's Portraits & Joe's Vintage Cards & Joe's 50's Cards & Downtown OVintage & More 4 OVintage

Not to be confused with ROLLERCOASTER (1977) Universal/Color, 118 min; Henry Fonda and terrorist (Timothy Bottoms) who planted a bomb at the OV Amusement Park, with George Segal to figure it out: scripted by creators of TV's "Columbo" series, also starring Richard Widmark, & a young Helen Hunt; and with scenes of Norfolk's own Tara Buckman (Cannonball Run/Hooper; et al.) as the Roller Coaster Attendant-- Directed by James Goldstone.

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