Tony Orlando Restores Carousel Figures
Reported by Erik Smith
Web produced by Christiana Ciolac

Carousels have delighted people for generations. Video

Carousels have delighted us for generations, amused us, really, providing a few minutes of distraction in hard times and always a link to a happy moment recalled from childhood.

The mighty gold leaf carousels, with their flashing mirrors and mechanical music machine, eclectic animal menageries. They once dotted America's landscapes from seaside villages to remote rural farm towns.

Only three percent of the carousels remain from the turn of the century.

As we changed as a people, we left them behind, some to burn, some to just decay, some simply to be forgotten.

"Of the thousands of carousels at the turn of the century, today only three percent are left," said Tony Orlando.

There are still a few of the great machines preserved. Their magnificent carvings almost alive. And that leads us to a man named Tony Orlando.

"I live in fantasy land everyday, which is fine with me," said Tony Orlando.

Tony Orlando restores carousel figures.

From his tiny studio in Dearborn Heights, Tony Orlando has carved a worldwide reputation for his precise restorations of carousel figures. His mind is an encyclopedia, containing the colors, the contours, the carvings of the master artisans who brought gnarled chunks of exotic wood to life in the vertical columns of a whirling merry-go-round.

"There were about 16 factories at the turn of the century and each factory had their own distinct style of carving so I can look at a carousel figure and tell you who carved it even though none of them are signed," Orlando said.

There were very few timelines in Tony Orlando's world. He can't tell you how long it will take to bring a neglected stallion back to its pristine beginning. He won't count the hours spent sanding or blending careful colors or gluing silver jewels into their chosen places on a wooden harness. It just takes as long as it takes to make it perfect, because the pursuit of perfection is the rhythm of his heart's work.

"Anything I do, I do a lot of research first. I'm interested in doing it historically accurate way, not just putting on any colors I want to put on. That's not the way I do it. Sometimes if it doesn't have any paint, it's been stripped of all the paint, I'll go through my files and I'll find a figure that I've worked on that's similar to that one and just match those colors."

Some of Tony's restored figures were sold for over six figures.

Forsaking a career in commercial art probably cost Tony a lot of money over the years even though some of his restored carousel figures from sold for well over six figures, but it's not about money for him. It's about the past and an art form that provided both fun and function and now provides priceless beauty, timeless craftsmanship and certainly a wondrous glimpse into that short time when the world was a simpler place and we were all children grasping for the brass ring at the carousel's gilded edge.

"Every time I finish a figure, I've taken that was sometimes a piece of junk and made something out of it, carved a new leg and brought it back to life again."

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