"State Fair" (1945) coaster?

Hi, everyone.

Is anyone here familiar with the Rogers and Hammerstein musical "State Fair"? It came out in 1945 and starred Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews. At one point towards the beginning of the movie, there's a scene involving a wooden coaster. The film switches between some different coaster shots- anything involving the station uses 4-bench cars resembling Vettel's, but any action shots show cars I assume to be by Prior and Church. I'm almost positive it isn't, but the action shots almost look like the Coney Island Cyclone.

Sorry if this is kinda obscure. I was just curious if anyone knew anything about it since this movie's allegedly a classic. (At least according to my family, who decided to watch it tonight. I wouldn't know... I don't really know much about movies, except for whether I like them or not.)

Anyone have any idea what coaster this is?

I haven't seen the movies (there was also one in '62), and I couldn't find any clips online that show the coaster shots. I did learn that the '62 version was filmed at the State Fair of Texas, but that doesn't help if you saw the original.

ALEXonaVOYAGE said:
Hi, everyone.

Is anyone here familiar with the Rogers and Hammerstein musical "State Fair"? It came out in 1945 and starred Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews. At one point towards the beginning of the movie, there's a scene involving a wooden coaster. The film switches between some different coaster shots- anything involving the station uses 4-bench cars resembling Vettel's, but any action shots show cars I assume to be by Prior and Church. I'm almost positive it isn't, but the action shots almost look like the Coney Island Cyclone.

Anyone have any idea what coaster this is?

The action shots were of the Giant Dipper (1924-1946) on the Venice Pier which was indeed a Prior & Church coaster. The scene in the movie shows the train coming off the back lower turn in typical P&C fashion. It had a great twisty layout and the 2nd drop actually went under the pier. I just wish there were more clips of this coaster around.

I found these nice views online, these same photos are also in the Venice California book by Jeffrey Stanton.

Alright, awesome! Thanks, guys. I may have to look up the '62 version now.