Soon after her introduction, Laffing Sal proved to be a very popular success, and Old King Cole worked feverishly to keep up with the orders coming in from Philadelphia Toboggan. In a relatively short period of time, Sals were shipped to amusement parks all over the nation and beyond.
 
Above: Promotional photos of Laffing Sal and Laffing Sam  (Philadelphia Toboggan Co.)
 
PTC then decided that the market might be ripe for other similar animated figures and commissioned OKC to produce Laffing Sam. This was followed by the Laffing Farmer, Blackie the Sideshow Barker, as well as Laffing Luke and Giggling Gertie, which were figures seated on wooden crates. However, none of these characters acheived Sal's level of popularity, and the timespan of their production was brief.
 (Photos: Philadelphia Toboggan Co.)		  
 
 

Catalog photos of Laffing Sal, Laffing Sam, Laffing Farmer, Blackie the Barker and Laffing Luke and Giggling Gertie.
A farmer stood outside the dark ride at Olympic Park, Maplewood, NJ and Giggling Gertie presided for many years at the Magic Carpet funhouse at Coney Island, NY.

u Old King Cole continued furnishing Laffing Sals for Philadelphia Toboggan's funhouse division until the beginning of World War Two, at which time all amusement equipment production ceased. There is some indication that PTC intended to resume production after the end of the war, but instead sold off its funhouse division to Edward Schmid Sr. who then established the Funni-Frite company in Lancaster, Ohio, which operated until 2000. Schmid marketed most of the funhouse equipment previously available from PTC, but it appears that the OKC connection was severed and Laffing Sal went into retirement.
 
Above, during their last few years in business, Funni-Frite revived a version of Laffing Sal. The head and hands were made of a latex compound poured into plaster molds cast from an original Sal which had previously operated since the 1940's in a PTC funhouse at the former Buckeye Lake Park in Ohio.
 
     Rising insurance premiums and relentless litigation have caused the great traditional amusement park funhouse to be viewed as a risky, inefficient use of revenue-generating space. These great halls of mystery and mirth have all but vanished from the scene, and we are the poorer for that.
     Laffing Sal is now part of a parade that has passed us by, her laughter a distant echo of a simpler era of American life. As a child, I saw her as an object of fun and fascination; for many others, her grotesque features were the stuff of nightmares. And yet, for me, Sal's gap-toothed grin and good-natured giggle can still open the window, if only for a moment, to a past fondly recalled; to the sunshine of my youth. In my heart, she will laugh forever.