Marcus Charles Illions (c. 1871–1949) was a master carver of wooden

carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are tradit ...

horses and other figures at

Coney Island Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

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in the early 20th century. ''

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'' referred to him as "the

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

of carousel carvers". Illions was born in 1870 or 1871 in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, becoming a builder of circus wagons before emigrating to England, where he carved carousel horses. An alternative account in an obituary states that he was actually born in England. He came to America in 1888, where he carved for Charles I. D. Looff and William F. Mangels in Coney Island before starting his own company, M. C. Illions and Sons Carousell Works, in 1909. His five children were all active in the business from very early ages, in roles that included carver and commercial artist. At one time in the early 1900s, ten carousels carved by Illions operated in Coney Island. Illions was an exponent of what has become known as the Coney Island style of carousel figure carving, which "is characterized by flamboyant horses, bedecked with jewels and gold and silver leaf". By 1909, Illions' company produced "a new line of horses with explosive, flying manes and powerful, straining bodies, decked out with latticework harnesses and other virtuoso feats of carving". A machine known as Feltman's Carousel is considered by one source to have been Illions' best work. Though no longer intact, 24 of its horses were incorporated into the Flushing Meadows Carousel in 1964 and are still in use today. The

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

of the 1930s decreased demand for amusement products and Illions experienced financial problems. He died broke in 1949. His legacy includes extant carousels across the

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, which are listed here: During the restoration of the B&B Carousell for its 2013 reopening on the Coney Island Boardwalk, it was discovered that one of the horses is in fact by Marcus Illions. All of the other horses were executed in the early 1920s by another well-known Coney Island carver, Charles Carmel. The Illions horse was one of a set of four executed in 1909 to commemorate the centennial of the birth of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

, and features colorful rhinestones and a relief of Lincoln's profile. This is the only one of the set that can be ridden by the public today, as the other three are all in private collections. The most recent prior owner of the B&B had used the Illions horse to replace one of the Carmel horses that an earlier owner had removed from the carousel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Illions, Marcus Amusement ride manufacturers Carousel designers People from Coney Island Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom 1870s births 1949 deaths British emigrants to the United States