The Forgotten Story of a Deranged Theme Park

From 1978 to 1996, thrill-seekers from around the world flocked to Action Park, a "human zoo" where guests were injured nearly every hour. Andy Mulvihill, the owner's son, remembers the wave pool where a summer job became a struggle to keep people alive. [Image] [Image]( Remembering Action Park, New Jersey's Deranged Theme Park, "Where You're the Center of the Accident" My father's name was Gene Mulvihill, and, before he opened Action Park, he had no experience of any kind running an amusement park. In contrast to Disney's carefully-conceived fantasy lands, my father pieced together a series of ambitious and often ill-advised attractions on the side of a ski mountain in rural New Jersey that he had come to own virtually by accident. He started slowly, installing go-karts, small-scale Formula One racers, and unusual contraptions developed in West Germany with no demonstrable history of safe operation. Then came the water slides, speedboats, and Broadway-style shows. The crowds grew from a handful of curious locals to more than a million people annually. We went from selling off-brand soda and taking out local newspaper ads to getting a Pepsi sponsorship and seeing our logo on McDonald’s tray liners. My father, who had simply wanted to find a way to make money off a ski resort in the summer, found himself an unlikely pioneer in the amusement industry. Unlike most theme parks, Action Park did not strap in patrons and let them passively experience the rides. A roller coaster, thrilling it may be, asks nothing of its occupants, and each ride is the same as the last. My father seized upon the idea that we were all tired of being coddled, of society dictating our behaviors and lecturing us on our vices. He vowed that visitors to Action Park would be the authors of their own adventures, prompting its best-known slogan: “Where you’re the center of the action!” Guests riding down an asbestos chute on a plastic cart could choose whether to adopt a leisurely pace or tear down at thirty miles per hour and risk hitting a sharp turn that would eject them into the woods. They decided when to dive off a cliff and whether to aim for open water or their friend’s head. They could listen when the attendants told them to stay in the speedboats or tumble in the marsh water and risk getting bit by a snapping turtle. It was not long before our visitors reworked our advertising to better reflect their experiences: “Action Park: Where you’re the center of the accident.” The risk did not keep people away. The risk is what drew them to us. [Read the Full Story]( [Image] [Image]( Masks, Men, and the Exhausting Pursuit of Desperate Masculinity The coronavirus pandemic has comprehensively shattered all in life that is familiar, and along with it, overcompensation and failures in empathy are showing themselves in an equally elaborate fashion. (See: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.) One element of our future forever that seems realistically permanent—and that tests our empathetic capabilities—is the idea that a face mask should now be a part of your everyday carry. There exists no easier mission in our individual fights to Stop the Spread than masking up when we leave the house. Yet, even the simplest task has proven difficult in an ironic struggle with our own selfishness. And I'm using "us" and "we" purposefully here: as a new study shows, in the U.S., it's men who are making this more difficult than it needs to be. Esquire Deputy Editor Ben Boskovich explains that while American men are opting to go maskless out of shame, ironically, it's the weakest thing they could do. [Read the Full Story](  [Image]( Jon Steingard Fronted an Award-Winning Christian Rock Band. He Tells Us Why He No Longer Believes in God. What am I doing? It's the question Jon Steingard, former frontman of Christian rock outfit Hawk Nelson, was asking himself in May as he hit publish on an Instagram announcing he no longer believed in God. "I didn't sleep too well that night," he told Esquire’s Madison Vain on a phone call from his adopted hometown of San Diego. "But what I just come back to, now that it’s done, is that this is true. This is how I really feel." Here, he tells Vain what’s next for him, and how he’ll continue the conversation. [Read the Full Story]( [Image]( Naomi Osaka Explains Why She Dropped Everything to Hit the Streets for George Floyd "I love the thought of a biracial girl in a classroom in Japan glowing with pride when I win a Grand Slam. I really hope that the playground is a friendlier place for her now that she can point to a role model and be proud of who she is. And dream big," writes legend-in-the-making Naomi Osaka. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, the decorated tennis star hopped on a plane to Minneapolis to join the fight and pay her respects. In this exclusive op-ed, Osaka reflects on her place in the world, and using her platform to make her voice heard. [Read the Full Story](  [Image]( How HBO Became the Most LGBTQ+ Friendly Network on Television "I’ll never forget this moment," the drag queen Shangela says between peals of laughter, remembering when one of her drag daughters did something truly remarkable during the filming of her just-wrapped HBO series, We’re Here. "We’re backstage in Ruston, Louisiana. The show just ended. The emotions are high. Everyone is hugging. We’re getting ready to take a photo and Big Momma Butter tells Nina [Rosenstein], ‘Ooh, honey, I’m about to pick you up.’ Mind you: this is one of the executive vice presidents of programming from HBO. Nina says, ‘Oh, thank you! That’s not necessary!’ And Big Momma said, ‘No girl, you are one of the family,’ and swooped Nina up in her arms." That was the moment Shangela realized HBO had become one of the most queer-friendly networks on television. Brennan Carley explains why this isn’t an isolated incident at the network—and how they’ve set a standard for inclusion outside of putting gay characters on your screen. [Read the Full Story]( [Image]( These Chukkas Are Good Enough for James Bond. So They’re Good Enough for You, Too. It will probably not come as a shock to you to hear that there's something of a cult of personality around James Bond. The man knows how to wear the hell out of everything from a tux to a tactical vest, and in his most recent incarnation, as played by Daniel Craig, he's perhaps the most accessible avatar of super-spy style the long-running franchise has offered up to the general public. So when, during the filming of No Time to Die, photographers captured shots of Craig in a tan corduroy suit by Massimo Alba and some sumptuous chocolate-brown chukkas by Drake's, people took notice. For this installment of The Esquire Endorsement, Style Director Jonathan Evans takes a closer look at the chukkas that you can wear with everything from shorts to (should the occasion call for it) tailoring—but probably shorts. [Read the Full Story](  Follow Us       [Unsubscribe](  [Privacy Notice](  esquire.com ©2020 Hearst Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Email Privacy, 300 W 57th St., Fl. 19 (sta 1-1), New York, NY 10019   Â