[ EXPLORE ]
Water
A Most Precious Florida Commodity
— Silver Springs (1888)
The Value of Florida Water
Zephyrhills
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
Ponce de Leon
Fountain of Youth
The Original Sin
— Ocklawaha River (1902)
Ulysses S. Grant enjoyed hunting trips down the Ocklawaha, and like other visits went ashore to dine, and spend a more comfortable stay at one of the more luxurious Florida lodges.
Silver Springs
Ocklawaha River
• Ocklawaha River
• Ocala National Forest
• The Florida Jungle
Free Ride
— dave.
1934 —
— TARZAN & HIS MATE (1934)
Silver Springs, and later, Weeki Wachee became favorite locations for Hollywood movie makers to depict the African jungle.
1937 —
— FloridaNaviGator.Org
Their Eyes Were Watching God (Novel) 1937
1947 —
Weeki Wachee Springs is a natural tourist attraction located in Weeki Wachee, Florida, where underwater performances by “mermaids,” women wearing fish tails as well as other fanciful outfits, can be viewed in an aquarium-like setting in the spring of the Weeki Wachee River. A waterpark, Buccaneer Bay, river boat rides, kayak and paddleboard rental are some of the other activities offered at Weeki Wachee Springs.
The spring was named “Weeki Wachee” by Seminole Indians, which means “Little Spring” or “Winding River” in their language. The attraction was created in 1947 by stunt swimmer and attraction promoter Newt Perry, who based the show on underwater air hose breathing techniques. First an 18-seat theater, then later a newer theater with a capacity of 50, were embedded in the lime rock of the spring with viewing windows below the surface of the water, to allow visitors to watch the mermaids perform in the spring. The Incredible Mr. Limpet, an American live-action/animated comedy film produced by Warner Bros. had its premiere on January 20, 1964, at the Weeki Wachee Springs Underwater Theater. It was the world’s first underwater movie premiere. In 1982, Buccaneer Bay was opened with water slides, a lazy river, and a white sand beach for visitors to enjoy alongside the theater with the mermaid shows.
A fashion photograph taken at Weeki Wachee spring, by Toni Frissell, first published in Harper’s Bazaar, December 1947.
1952 —
— Million Dollar Mermaid
Esther Williams — The Million Dollar Mermaid, and water musical star was a Fort Lauderdale neighbor of Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan), who had led the movie-making way to Florida.
— Million Dollar Mermaid
Ft. Pierce, Florida painters (1957)
Harold Newton was 19 years old in 1955, a young, talented, African American artist,living in Fort Pierce, Florida, and selling mostly Christian paintings out on the side of U.S.1. It was then he met A. E. Backus, a prominent Florida landscape artist, who convinced Newton that he could make more money if he were to create paintings of landscapes, rather than religious scenes. Newton excelled, artistically, but was forced to sell his work out of the trunk of his car, because art galleries in South Florida refused to represent black artists. The next year,1956, having been introduced to 14-year-old Alfred Hair by the local high school art teacher, Backus again found himself teaching another young, talented, black painter, and after three years, Hair, like Newton before him, began selling his Florida landscapes on U.S.1, within Fort Pierce. Newton and Hair inspired a loose-knit group of African American artists to follow their leads. Newton is recognized by fellow artists for his technical inspiration while Hair was the businessman, who emerged as the leader of the artistic group, who set the tone for the group through the 1960s, and earned the painters enough so that they could make a living with their art, rather than picking citrus and vegetables on local farms and orange groves.
They attracted a group of a “young, energetic” artists who painted large quantities of brilliantly colorful impressionistic landscapes that they each sold from their cars. In 1970, the group lost its charismatic leader when Hair was killed in a barroom brawl at age 29 and the prodigious output of the movement’s artists began to wane. By the 1980s, a shift in public tastes and the growth of corporate entities like Disney World further reduced the demand for the movement’s art.
— Space Coast Surf
Kelly Slater (Cocoa Beach)
Kate Upton (Melbourne)
— Kelly Slater (CBS)
• Kelly Slater
• Kate Upton
— OriginalNoise.Org
— dave.
“Tarzan & His Mate”
Weeki Wachee
Johnny Weissmuller
Maureen O’Sullivan
— OriginalNoise.Org
The crystal clear, spring-fed rivers of Florida’s interior caught the immediate attention of filmmakers (directors of photography) who had an interest, desire, and Hollywood need to shoot underwater photography.
— OriginalNoise.Org
Before the Bonneville Salt Flats, the hard-packed, sand of Florida’s Ormond and Daytona Beaches, was the place on earth where engineers and thrill seekers chose to test the limits of the first automobiles. From the turn of the 20th Century, when Henry Morrison Flagler, socialized with John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and Thomas Edison on the breeze swept porch of Flagler’s Ormond Hotel, and Carl Fisher, the Indianapolis racer who was building America’s first tropical resort on Miami Beach, Florida attracted those whose quest was speed.
— dave.
1934 —
— TARZAN & HIS MATE (1934)
Silver Springs, and later, Weeki Wachee became favorite locations for Hollywood movie makers to depict the African jungle.
1937 —
— FloridaNaviGator.Org
Their Eyes Were Watching God (Novel) 1937
1947 —
Weeki Wachee Springs is a natural tourist attraction located in Weeki Wachee, Florida, where underwater performances by “mermaids,” women wearing fish tails as well as other fanciful outfits, can be viewed in an aquarium-like setting in the spring of the Weeki Wachee River. A waterpark, Buccaneer Bay, river boat rides, kayak and paddleboard rental are some of the other activities offered at Weeki Wachee Springs.
The spring was named “Weeki Wachee” by Seminole Indians, which means “Little Spring” or “Winding River” in their language. The attraction was created in 1947 by stunt swimmer and attraction promoter Newt Perry, who based the show on underwater air hose breathing techniques. First an 18-seat theater, then later a newer theater with a capacity of 50, were embedded in the lime rock of the spring with viewing windows below the surface of the water, to allow visitors to watch the mermaids perform in the spring. The Incredible Mr. Limpet, an American live-action/animated comedy film produced by Warner Bros. had its premiere on January 20, 1964, at the Weeki Wachee Springs Underwater Theater. It was the world’s first underwater movie premiere. In 1982, Buccaneer Bay was opened with water slides, a lazy river, and a white sand beach for visitors to enjoy alongside the theater with the mermaid shows.
A fashion photograph taken at Weeki Wachee spring, by Toni Frissell, first published in Harper’s Bazaar, December 1947.
1952 —
— Million Dollar Mermaid
Esther Williams — The Million Dollar Mermaid, and water musical star was a Fort Lauderdale neighbor of Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan), who had led the movie-making way to Florida.
— Million Dollar Mermaid
Ft. Pierce, Florida painters (1957)
Harold Newton was 19 years old in 1955, a young, talented, African American artist,living in Fort Pierce, Florida, and selling mostly Christian paintings out on the side of U.S.1. It was then he met A. E. Backus, a prominent Florida landscape artist, who convinced Newton that he could make more money if he were to create paintings of landscapes, rather than religious scenes. Newton excelled, artistically, but was forced to sell his work out of the trunk of his car, because art galleries in South Florida refused to represent black artists. The next year,1956, having been introduced to 14-year-old Alfred Hair by the local high school art teacher, Backus again found himself teaching another young, talented, black painter, and after three years, Hair, like Newton before him, began selling his Florida landscapes on U.S.1, within Fort Pierce. Newton and Hair inspired a loose-knit group of African American artists to follow their leads. Newton is recognized by fellow artists for his technical inspiration while Hair was the businessman, who emerged as the leader of the artistic group, who set the tone for the group through the 1960s, and earned the painters enough so that they could make a living with their art, rather than picking citrus and vegetables on local farms and orange groves.
They attracted a group of a “young, energetic” artists who painted large quantities of brilliantly colorful impressionistic landscapes that they each sold from their cars. In 1970, the group lost its charismatic leader when Hair was killed in a barroom brawl at age 29 and the prodigious output of the movement’s artists began to wane. By the 1980s, a shift in public tastes and the growth of corporate entities like Disney World further reduced the demand for the movement’s art.
— East Coast Surf
• Kate Upton
— OriginalNoise.Org
— dave.
— dave.