See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Will Bredderman
Brooklyn Daily
The unofficial mayor of Coney Island is in the hospital — and he’ll gladly give you some oldtimey People’s Playground postcards if you pay his medical bills.
Dick Zigun (inset), founder of Coney Island’s Sideshows by the Seashore, tripped and fell at his Coney Island USA headquarters on Surf Avenue and W. 12th Street while retrieving a bottle of seltzer on Oct. 3, hitting his face on a countertop as he went down.
He’s currently on the mend at Woodhull Medical Center in Bushwick, he told his Twitter followers, assuring them that alcohol didn’t play a role in his accident.
“Send $ not flowers,” he wrote, already feeling the weight of his mounting medical bills for the two ambulance rides, multiple specialists, two emergency-room fees, and a prolonged hospital stay. “If you’re kind enough to help me with my sudden medical bills I’m offering some cool Coney souvenirs for $20 donations.”
The cool souvenirs, it turns out, are Coney Island postcards. Zigun wouldn’t say which postcards he’s willing to part with except that they are from his personal collection and depict the People’s Playground in its heyday.
Hospital doctors say that Zigun, who has limited insurance and a high deductible, shattered several orbital bones in his fall and would need surgery, according to Coney Island USA publicist Rob Leddy.
“While he will ultimately be as good as new, he has a long road of medical needs ahead of him,” said Leddy.
Yet Zigun isn’t going to let his hospital stay slow him down: he’s still directing his upcoming “Dirty Work at the Waxworks” play — a political satire involving maniacal American presidents — from his hospital bed.
“You can’t keep a good man down,” Leddy said.
Those interested in lending Zigun a hand can make a PayPal donation via coneyisland.com, or send a check or money order to Richard Zigun, c/o Coney Island USA, 1208 Surf Ave., Brooklyn NY 11224.
Reach reporter Will Bredderman at (718) 260–4507 or e-mail him at wbredderman@cnglocal.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/WillBredderman