Married Midwood bon vivants Allison Garber and Noah Klein are racking up quite a reputation in Coney Island.
They’re six-time winners of the costumed Mermaid Parade — he’s been Octopop, she’s been an assortment of pretty blue sea critters — and now, they’ve won the first-ever Cyclone T-Shirt Contest with their dashing design of the world-famous roller coaster, responsible for luring thrill-seekers to the corner of Surf Avenue and West 10th Street for 83 glorious years.
The wooden warrior is also a fertility god, according to the couple, whose wedding invitations featured a picture of the Cyclone, and who insist they conceived a child -— due December — after riding the wavy snake on opening day this year.
Klein, 36, a studio manager for a fashion house, and Garber, a 36-year-old graphic designer and burlesque dancer at nearby Sideshows By The Seashore on West 12th Street, bagged $500, season tickets, plus kudos for being the ace artists of the official 2011 Cyclone shirt for their quirky logo, a cartoon-themed design featuring a backdrop of the Cyclone and an image of Mr. O’Donnell -— the iconic moustached man on a measuring stick, posted outside the entrance to alert riders that they must be at least 54 inches to buckle-up.
The memorable motif edged out 180 entries from around the world, and was judged by an online poll followed by a live vote at Ruby’s Bar on the boardwalk — off West 12th Street — where Klein modeled their top tee alongside 20 other finalists, while his cute preggers wife added the cheesecake.
“It’s pretty exciting, we hope to see lots of kids and puppies wearing it,” she giggled.
The gracious pair wouldn’t hog all the bragging rights, though. They chose to share those with Jim O’Donnell, the son of a Cyclone staffer who drew the jaunty character, and with Cyclone designer Vernan Keenan and builder Harry C. Baker, who created the 2,640-foot-long aerial brute, which features 12 drops, boasts six 180-degree turns, crisscrosses over its track 18 times and zooms along at 60 miles an hour.
“We just laid out a design based on other people’s brilliance,” said Garber, magnanimously.
For Klein, who said he felt honored and blessed to have been chosen, the deal-clincher was always the cherub-faced man perched atop a ruler, who has dutifully greeted and measured revelers for the past eight years.
“When you’re tall enough as a child, and you reach that 54 inches, you get that surge inside of you because you’ve reached an important rite of passage,” he said.
That time-honored custom isn’t showing any sign of waning, thanks to the Cyclone’s ever-irresistible charm.
“We were thrilled and surprised at how many entries we got, there seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm and passion,” laughed ride operator Carol Albert, whose secretary’s son designed Mr. O’Donnell, and who remained nameless until last week when his obvious moniker was suggested by two of his biggest fans — Garber and Klein.
— Shavana Abruzzo
