A Breath of Danish Tobacco

by Terje Raa

The Danes smoke and drink in order to support culture - beer money from Carlsberg finances art, while the amusement park Tivoli is funded by tobacco money. No wonder that Copenhagen was recently appointed the world's best city to live in.

The appointment by Monocle, a UK lifestyle magazine, caused many an ironical remark here. Politicians immediately took the credit for it. In private companies, marketing strategies were adjusted to maximize the effect of Copenhagen's new honor, certainly in Tivoli too. If one single word could tell what Tivoli deals in, then it must be "hygge", the cozier aspects of wellbeing.

Overall wellbeing seems to be the pretext of the prize organizers, so the old Tivoli knows what is what. Information material about Tivoli is often made up of traditional texts dotted with decorative pictures. The place is, however, a visual experience. And it's also compact, which means that photos from Tivoli can be quite informative when studied closely. Therefore, the pictures of this actual story have been upgraded to speak for themselves - slowly enough to create associations and take into account what is hidden as well.

A heavy entrance portal suggests there is more to Tivoli than just casual fun - it's big business located on probably the most expensive square meters in Copenhagen, obliging the management accordingly. Being innovative is not enough, a sense of tradition is also needed. Smaller shareholders often value tradition, but their portfolio is small, their influence likewise. The majority of shares are held by a tobacco company and a private fund with a wealth based on tobacco.

There is a huge banner across the portal urging people to buy season passes, nearly paid for by two single visits. When the normal entrance fee reaches the level of pain tolerance, people start buying season passes which will inspire them to come more often, a philosophy that may be well-founded. The tough price policy is cushioned by guards in traditional uniforms - they send customers through the turnstiles with a winning smile and a friendly word.

More figures inside - today's entrance fee will be refunded if you take a season pass home with you. Then it's time to relax, in front of the Pantomime Theater; an explosion of colors arranged as a peacock's fan of tail feathers, keeping their upright position until the next performance - it serves as a curtain. At this midday hour, Tivoli is yours with all its charms and flowers. Hardly recognizable in the evening - crowds of happy faces among fairy lights and with money to spend, sales minded employees on their toes, music that mixes with the noise and screams from busy amusements.

Friday Rock

Take care if you find yourself in Tivoli on a Friday night at 10 o'clock. You will be bombarded with rock, trapped in the crowded company of Copenhagen's younger generations. Staying away is easier than escaping. This week is a soul music exception: Michael McDonald. Friday concerts on Tivoli Square are clever marketing - they attract young people, just to transform them into loyal future users, gradually switching to Saturday Night Dance on the same square.

The Concert Hall is a shapely beauty, shining colorfully through the water drops of the fountains. The Tivoli Symphony Orchestra play classical music with sharks in the underground; a basement extended into an aquarium dominated by sharks. Another category of sharks, theater critics, recently visited the Tivoli Variety over in the Glass Hall, concluding that the free benches of the Harmony Pavilion would be a better choice - the home of Tivoli's Big Band, top entertainment for nothing.

The flora of the Tivoli Gardens is most enjoyable down at the Tivoli Lake. Flowers and trees form a paradise, the amusements are only visible in the background. An occasional fish jumps out of the green soup to show how healthy it is or attempting to escape. The Castle of Hans Christian Andersen, once crowded with silent wax celebrities, still houses the livelier Tivoli Boys Guard - uniformed young boys marching and playing around Tivoli, occasionally acting as an admired prince who rides with his princess in a golden coach.

The boy soldiers may have to look for a new camp soon, unless it is declared worthy of preservation, as suggested by one shareholder in a recent call for the annual General Assembly. That would once and for all ruin the management's plans for a sky-high hotel on the spot. In the same call, the Board asked permission to acquire a portion of Tivoli shares, probably to drive up the rates and thereby bestow shareholders with a hidden dividend.

Into Space

Like other profit-seeking companies, Tivoli seems desperate to modernize and grow, sometimes forgetting that the maintenance of traditions can also be rewarding. Several wild plans have over the years caused the authorities to intervene, a relief to nostalgic visitors and to neighbors affected by the noise. What cannot grow horizontally, must grow into space, seems to be a management guideline.

Tivoli has always used space, only the lower level though, to create fear and screams. However, the Roller Coaster, the Monsoon and the Flying Trunk are not modern enough. People prefer to be transported high into the air - and fall down from the Golden Tower or circling down the Star Flyer. The Demon is the worst with its ups and downs and turns - or the most dizzying, as they promote it. The good old Ferris Wheel proves that a slow antiquated device can experience a renaissance, simply by being promoted as "the highest kissing bench in town", an association with an old movie, "Lovers in Copenhagen".

The urge for new highlights goes hand in hand with faded unfashionable ads, posters and banners. They apparently wish to be associated with the good old days, even old kissing is back. The apparently old-time atmosphere is a facade, behind which new technical wonders are hissing to become part of the show with their higher speed and deeper falls. In terms of money, a more nostalgic collection of amusements might bring the same result.

After doing the airspace of Tivoli awhile, thirst and hunger may get you down on the surface again, to a choice between astronomical prices or more reasonable self-service places, like Viften at the end of the Lake. Their mixed lunch plate is a fair bargain, and into the bargain you get a great view of the Lake and the passers-by. Coffee comes with a piece of cake. If you want a stronger taste of nostalgia - among your kindred spirits - you should proceed to the old-fashioned coffee shop of Konditoriet.

The bans on smoking in public places and on tobacco ads, are of course respected in Tivoli, regardless of the ownership's tobacco background. There is no obvious reason why young people should start a smoking career here. Until you take another look at posters, ads and TV spots - cozily blurred atmospheres, faded with age, a color suggesting they had been exposed to tobacco smoke for years, sure to be followed by a new slogan soon: "Tivoli - a breath of Danish tobacco".