Cypress Gardens also had lovely "Southern Belles" stationed around the park in colorful dresses with big hoop skirts a lá Scarlett O'Hara. Fiddle-dee-dee! Pretty girls make everything better, don't they?
Here is a trio of Belles (circa 1952), like an arrangement of tropical blossoms. Meanwhile they are totally hogging the only bench that's in the shade. My guess is that CG was a popular place to work during the summer if you could stand the heat. "Just sit there and look pretty". Heck, I can do that! Do you think that the costume department had a big drawer full of those cameos? And I'm making a prediction right here: hoop skirts are coming back in style in 2011!
Jeez, what are these girls, 14? I'm not sure I'd want my sister working there. You know how guys are. GDB readers excepted, of course! Anyway, you can see the lush gardens, and in the upper left you can just see a sliver of the bay where the water ski shows were.
No worries, with those hoops they can fend off anyone. You'll see they're posed sitting for hours by the swampy shores so you know they could handle the alligators and even the dread Flamingo.
ReplyDeletePassive entertainment I guess we might call it. Or interactive live entertainment depending on the marketing firm hired hehe
Florida looks so nice in these photos, I guess you can't see the humidity!
ReplyDeleteThose sure are some colorful dress's, but yeah, those girls do look kinda young to be in the show!
The Hussies! Showing their bosoms off before the sun goes down! Get the buttermilk out, these girls gonna freckle. 'Taint none to respectable, neither.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is they could conceal a lot of weaponry with that much space under the clothes, so keep yer distance.
ReplyDeleteI agree, tho, pretty girls make everything better.
I was going to try to get over to Cypress Gardens on my last Orlando visit, but I only had one day left on the trip and went to Tampa to see Busch Gardens instead.
ReplyDeleteI believe Cypress Gardens closed for a while and then just recently reopened as Lego Land. I wonder if they still do the ski shows?
I had heard the CG closed, but I did not know it had since reopened! That's good news, although my guess is that it has changed drastically. When I have a bit of time I'm going to do a bit of internet detective work.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that those hoop skirts concealed rocket packs. If a guest got too frisky, a girl would tap her brootch which contained a hidden switch that would activate the rocket and blast her out of harm's way. The hoop skirt doubled as a parachute to bring her safely back to the ground.
ReplyDeleteThe switches were a bit touchy, resuting in some accidental discharges. There were also problems with stability and steering, and after two girls executed accidental ground loops, resulting in them landing head down (and knickers up - most unladylike, I do declare) in the nearby swamp, the program was discontinued.
i always liked watching the water skiers....i think they appeared on Ed Sullivan back in the day when he did shows on location there in Florida
ReplyDeleteor maybe im dreaming...
Nancy, I never knew that Ed Sullivan did shows from Florida, but those skiers were so popular that I would not be surprised if they showed up on his program.
ReplyDeleteChuck: accidental WHAT??
Ground loop - a sharp, involuntary turn made by an aircraft that is taxiing, taking off, or landing, caused by unbalanced drag.
ReplyDeleteDon't they teach this in American schools anymore? :-)
No, I meant the other accidental thing you mentioned!!
ReplyDeleteOh, my...that was an unfortunate choice of words, wasn't it?
ReplyDeleteWhat I meant was "accidental activations of the rocket packs." Good catch.