Ed van der Elsken

'I learned to love the Americans on Coney island. Truly, madly, affectionately. What you see here...is so endearing, so ordinary and heart-warming...fat people with painful feet and teenagers going around and flirting; horrible menaces and yobbos; really cool negro lads and white lads too; mum and dad with a whole gang of kids, whining and not whining; lobster-red, unpalatable, nice uglies, people with food and empty pop bottles that they want to get their miney back ob, aloof young girls glad to have their hair pulled and be pushed around by vulgar, spotty little brats; fat and thin people, sweaty and unappetising, eating hot dogs and French fries; muscle boys showing off on the beach; Poles, Russians, Italians, orthodox Jews; it is all so elementary, so down to earth, the way it is the world over - small people with a lot of worries and a little bit of happiness.' Ed van der Elsken, 'Once Upon a Time', 1992, p.140-141 "At Coney Island I really fell for the American people. Enraptured, enthusiastic, touched. The things you see there, so sweet, warm, everyday - people splashing through the water or sunning themselves on the rocks. Fat people whose feet hurt, teenagers making passes at each other, muscle boys, pa and ma with a swarm of brats. Uncle Harry buried in the sand, families with picnic baskets and empty pop up bottles they want to get their money back on, haughty budding beauties letting their hair be stroked by pimply snots, round people, square people, sweaty, greasy people eating hotdogs and French fries, Poles, Russians, Italians, Negroes, orthodox Jews, black and white and red all over - the salt of the earth, all the little people who make the world tick, who grab a bit of happiness to take all the edge off their cares. Everybody goes in the water with everybody else, and no one thinks that it could be a problem." From: Elsken, Ed van der. 'Sweet Life', Amsterdam: de Bezige Bij, 1966.