New Haven Independent

With the restoration of the nine horses and one chariot — all paid for with $30,000 in funds generated from the profits of events held at the carousel — the steeds galloped back to their home on a windy Wednesday morning, with white caps in the distance, and filled the pavilion with excited, if silent, whinnying.

As the other horses were being prepared for re-installation, Thunderbolt — along with Bill Finkenstein — consented to an interview.

Independent: So how did Bill and his boys treat you?

Thunderbolt: Oh, very well. While they worked on me, Bill was always telling his sons Gabe and Zach, ‘If the horse begins to fall, immediately throw yourself between the horse and the floor.’ They’re great guys but, let’s face it, anyone who watches Antiques Road Show knows I’m worth between $25,000 and $50,000. Probably on the higher end, wouldn’t you say?

Independent: Well, obviously you didn’t fall, and you look very handsome. Can you reveal what exactly they did to you?

Thunderbolt: Sure. Well, in November they picked me up, along with Fantasia, and seven others of my brothers and sisters and brought us to the workshop in Plainville. Bill’s been taking care of us there since the 1980s when Friends of the Carousel organized and adopted various horses to restore. You know you’re in good hands because Bill is a born carver. Plus there’s this karma: He says the artist he admires most is Norman Rockwell. Now get this. The cover of the Saturday Evening Post of the month and year he was born shows an old man carving a carousel horse. Bill says he’s destined to do it, and it shows, don’t you think?

Independent: Absolutely. What happened next?

Thunderbolt: They laid me out on my side first and — it’s a little embarrassing to say — they removed my tail. My tail, by the way, is genuine horse hair. Not that the rest of me isn’t genuine, but I’m sure you get my meaning. They took a look at the tail and, after all these years of the little kids pulling on it, they were deciding if they had to replace it.

Independent: Ouch!

Thunderbolt: I’ll say. First, they photographed us, and covered my eyes and these several jewels here along my saddle, which all are made of glass, with tape. Then they removed the paint, sanded us down almost to the wood. We get so much poking and kicking through the years, the paint really has to adhere. Then come the primer, the base colors of my body, which you can see are an attractive brown. Then the colors of my trappings, blankets, my pin stripes, and so forth.

Independent: What about all your glittering gold?

Thunderbolt: Glad you asked. That’s 23 karat gold leaf and also silver leaf. That gilding comes last, but not least. Bill says every one-ounce box costs $700. I think he skimped on me actually.

Bill: Can I interject something here?

Independent: Sure, Bill. We’re the press, we want the whole story told, and if you feel the horse is being too talky, then, by all means.

Bill: No, Thunderbolt’s a great horse all right, so are they all. But I should get a few things in here he’s left out. Maybe because he’s a tad embarrassed. You know, these horses are hollow inside, so we look in there with a scope — sorry Thunderbolt — to see if stuff’s been left. They’re like time capsules. You find rings and lottery tickets, and newspaper articles, memorabilia left by the artisans.

Independent: Was there anything inside Thunderbolt?

Bill: I don’t think so. But I know who built him. A guy named I.D. Loof, who worked out of East Providence at the turn of the century. Loof and firms like Stein & Goldstein and Illions carved all kinds of things from carousel horses to synagogue arks, and the other carvers were all in touch with each other, and the horses on this carousel were assembled from various places.

That’s one of things that make the New Haven carousel so magnificent an example of folk art — not only its large number of figures, with so many animals abreast, but the two great chariots, and its being representative of a whole lost era. Thunderbolt likes to call attention to himself, I’m afraid to say, but for me, the special restoration was this chariot. It has a name too, Spitfire.

Independent: What are you proudest of there?

Bill: Oh, we took off all these layers of paint, and the winged dragon’s all come to life, with this wonderful feathering. Also on the back there are these New Haven scenes, which you see painted along the outside of the carousel as well. We couldn’t find the original on the back of the chariot, so I painted this one based on views from the historical record, and my grandmother’s books.

Thunderbolt: Neeiggghhhh….uh, guys? Over here, please. In closing, I’d like to point out, Bill, I’m grateful for all the extra veneer on my saddle for the wear and tear to come, because it’s all in a good cause.

Independent: You haven’t told us if you got a new tail.

Thunderbolt: Oh, yes. Bill decided to get a new one. Used to be, I heard him telling his boys, that a horse tail cost $30. But now it’s up to $150. What do you think of it?

It was dashing indeed, and that was the last we could speak with Thunderbolt as he was being walked along for reinstallation later in the day.

When Thunderbolt was out of earshot, Finkenstein said that the carvers’ tradition was to have the horses carved with their tongues in their mouths if they were satisfied with their wages and working conditions, and with their tongues sticking out of their mouths if they were angry.

More To Come

The carousel will be celebrating its 100th birthday in 2011. According to Sabrina Bruno, who coordinates the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Trees’ 50 to 80 events at the carousel (they’re completely sold out for the coming season), another 50 horses remain to be restored, along with one more chariot, if all is to be like new for the centennial.

The carousel operation is one of the city’s Enterprise Funds, costing taxpayers not a dime. Some $50 to $70,000 in profit is realized every year and all that goes into restoring Thunderbolt and his pals, as well as to fixing the roof of the carousel building and laying down a new floor. This season, the outside is going to be painted.

Assisting in the effort are the Friends of the Carousel, founding in the 1980, and run now by Mary Boyle (pictured above with Finkenstein and the little horse Mayflower, which does not ride up and down on a pole and is therefore called a stander.) Boyle’s favorite horse, however, is Marigold, a medium-size mare she adopted in the 1980s.

For those wanting to contribute to the ongoing care and feeding of Thunderbolt, Marigold, Fantasia, Quicksilver (the names were given by New Haven school children in the 1980s), and New Haven’s carousel, along with its National Register of Historic Places pavilion and organ, the contact at the Friends is Mary Boyle at 481-2996.

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