See You in Disneyland #4: Tahitian Terrace Hula Dancer

 "See You in Disneyland: Tahitian Terrace Hula Dancer"

Artwork by Dan Cunningham, © The Walt Disney Company
Medium: Vector Art in Adobe Illustrator

A conch shell bellows, echoing through a rattan canopy! Nope, we're not gonna watch Survivor... it's time to warm up these frigid days of January and head deep into the wilds of Adventureland. The next illustration in the "See You in Disneyland" series focuses on another beloved dining entertainment attraction: Disneyland's Tahitian Terrace Restaurant.

Our lovely hula dancer tells a story through her delicate movements, swaying to lilting melodies. Bright yellows set off the figure and suggest a bright, tropic environment, while the small flower vignettes that surround her are based on decorative images that once festooned the original Tahitian Terrace marquee in the 1960s.

There's some delicious, stylized illustrations of Polynesian Wahines on the vintage Tahitian Terrace menu pictured below. While I'm partial to that graphic style, I'm sticking to the self-imposed rules for "See You in Disneyland" in that the style must remain consistent when viewed as a whole.* You can view the continuing series on Flickr HERE

Disneyland's Tahitian Terrace 

Located to the rear of Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room, The Tahitian Terrace operated during summers and busier times of the year from 1962 to 1993. Guests lined up to enjoy Polynesian-style dishes and live, island-themed entertainment.

Vintage 1960s-Era Tahitian Terrace Menu Cover & Interior

© The Walt Disney Company, Image Courtesy of Daveland Web

The continental United States maintained a substantial fascination in Polynesian culture by 1960, primarily due to the inclusion of Hawaii as the 50th state the prior year. The most telling instance of the craze that sustained for over a decade were the ubiquitous Hotels, Motels and condominiums themed to the South Seas across the 48 states—more so, the seemingly overnight explosion of exotic Tiki restaurants and bars such as Trader Vic's.

 Still Operating Today, Bali Hai Restaurant on San Diego's Shelter Island,
Circa 1958

Image Courtesy of Charles Phoenix

It was only natural that the appeal of such far-away tropic locales would find its way through the main gate of 1313 Harbor Boulevard. The Tahitian Terrace became a must-see dinner show, engaging diners with savory fare far west of the standard hamburger platter amid live dancers, drummers and fire walkers enshrouded by a placid waterfall curtain.

Your Hostess Oversees the Graceful Storytelling of a Hula Dancing Trio 

Image © The Walt Disney Company & Courtesy of Sam Gennawey via MiceChat

An original sponsorship by Stouffer's (and later, Kikkoman) kept the venue's life healthy, as operating costs go. By the dawn of the 1990s, live in-park entertainment was scaled back, and synergy-driven tie-ins became de rigueur. The Tahitian Terrace was placed on the endangered species list.

Original Tahitian Terrace Marquee With Stouffer's Sponsorship Prominently in Place

 Image Courtesy of Gorillas Don't Blog

After all, thirty-one years is an admirable run for any dinner show. As the Tahitian Terrace served up their final meals in 1993 to make way for a dining experience featuring Disney's Aladdin, there remained a strong core group of fans whose only wish would be for the Genie to vacate and restore the former tenant.

Live Polynesian Entertainment Returned to Adventureland on October 13, 2012

Image Courtesy of The Disney Project

As recently as 2012, there was a one-night restoration of the Tahitian Terrace: a fan-based movement in co-operation with Disneyland management was hosted by the folks at Mousetalgia.com culminated in co-operation with Disneyland management successfully returned the dinner show for a special event. You can read all about the special evening on October 13, 2012 here at The Disney Project

The Happiest Reference on Earth

Disneyland the Nickel Tour:

A Postcard Journey Through a Half Century of the Happiest Place on Earth
by Bruce Gordon and David Mumford

Image Courtesy of Disneyland Postcard Reference Guide

Two of the most invaluable resources for visual reference in creating these illustrations deserve due credit and recognition. It is fair to state these blogs are the online equivalent of Disneyland the Nickel Tour.** Each site maintains repositories of Disneyland photos unparalleled in variety of historical breadth and content.

The Daveland Blog is an Online Photo Archive

Banner Image © & Courtesy of Dave DeCaro

Dave DeCaro's Daveland Blog gathers vintage slides and photos from personal collections that would have never been available for public viewing, and posts them almost daily on his blog, then organizes them neatly at Daveland Web within an index categorized by area and attraction. Disneyland is the primary focus, but there are many more photo subjects at his blog, it's a great stop if you enjoy other locales such as Palm Springs or New Orleans, and subjects like old Hollywood.

 "Doña Diabla" (2013) Commissioned Painting by Dave DeCaro 

Besides being a skilled photographer, Dave is also an accomplished traditional artist. You can view portraits and more traditional painted works at The Art of Dave DeCaro—as you can see, he's quite the renaissance man.

 The Stuff From the Park Blog is Packed With Photos and Ephemera

Banner Image Courtesy of Patrick Jenkins

Patrick Jenkins, known online as Matterhorn1959, also maintains one of the finest Disneyland-centered collections of rare personal photos and slides. In addition, Stuff From the Park presents high-quality scans of rare Disneyland ephemera such as menus, flyers, operating manuals and other documents from the Anaheim park. The lion's share of this online collection focuses on Walt's original park, but a generous sampling of other theme park imagery is featured as well. You'll find documentation of places such as Knott's Berry Farm and the long-shuttered Pacific Ocean Park. Frequent updates make his site worth a daily visits.

Stuff From the Park Offers Rare Images of Items Such as Long-Gone Signage 

"Sunkist, I Presume" Image Courtesy of Stuff From the Park

If you are interested in more vintage images of Americana from the past century, Patrick's sister blog Corner Cafe Images consists of glorious photos that capture everyday life and people in the United States.

Patrick Jenkins' Corner Cafe Images Provides a Slice of American Life 

Image Courtesy of Corner Cafe Images

* This doesn't mean we can't have fun with stylized imagery elsewhere.
** Long out-of-print, Disneyland the Nickel Tour is widely heralded as the greatest book on Disneyland history published to date.

Q&A with Laryssa Wirstiuk, Author of The Prescribed Burn

Cover Art for The Prescribed Burn

© 2013 by Laryssa Wirstiuk

A new year, a new blog post, and a new ongoing series we'll touch on from time to time here at I Can Break Away—to wit, book recommendations and reviews of notable tomes. For the first selection, we are very fortunate to gain some exclusive perceptions from the author by way of an informal Q&A session.

Now, I doubt any these posts will ever score Oprah's Book Club kind of numbers—but, hey, we can all benefit from a bit of culture and literary awareness.

"Reading" (2003) by Dmitry Samarov

 Medium: Watercolor © & Courtesy of www.dmitrysamarov.com

Reading has always taken center stage in my own life, the ability to enjoy doing so remains the most valuable gift I'll ever receive. I owe the most gratitude for this gift during my formative youth to the early efforts of PBS children's programming, and (more importantly) my Mother, who faithfully read to me daily, helping to sound out words and sentences. Over time, it became easy to distinguish good writing, and the path to discovering such is part of the fun. There's a passive excitement to browsing vintage and retail bookstores, or flooding countless periodicals and online resources through a mental sluice, trapping for literary gold.

No Better Browsing Than Bookstore Browsing

Fulton Street's Greenlight Bookstore, Image © & Courtesy of Time Out New York

I've been equally fortunate to communicate with some interesting people via the social interactions of Twitter, some of whom I may never have the opportunity to meet in person. One of these interesting people is a vivacious author and professor named Laryssa Wirstiuk, whose talent and compassion are matched only by her zest for life. It seems Wirstiuk is always involved in something new and interesting—when she does take some downtime, the occasion is often documented with photos of her adorable miniature Dachshund, Charlotte Moo.

A Gaze From Charlotte Moo Wields the Ability to Melt the Coldest of Hearts

Image © 2013 by Laryssa Wirstiuk

Some weeks back Laryssa mentioned she was working on something new. Upon a request to read a sample of her work, I was pleasantly surprised when she replied an entire collection of her short stories had recently been published. Samples viewed, an amazon Kindle purchase opened wide the full collection of inter-connected stories. Less than ankle-deep in the first chapter, a solid connection between reader and writer was established. Here is the formal review I gave her book on amazon.com:

The Prescribed Burn—A Fresh & Well-Conceived Collection

The Prescribed Burn utilizes an atypical story structure, painting an engaging, ever-building portrait of the central character, Veda. Delivered as a first-person narrative, Veda's non-linear time line unfolds a compelling look into a young woman's formative-to-adult years, that strays from the usual conventions of its type.

Veda is neither outcast nor introvert: her strong Ukrainian heritage and a stronger creative drive are central to positioning Veda slightly askew from what her peers would consider ordinary. Her whisper-quiet brio is the very heart of Burn, as is the setting of the state of New Jersey (cheekily associated with Veda as being slightly askew in comparison to neighboring New York).

Laryssa Wirstiuk's writing method wins you over by lightly drizzling character-building events within the scenes of the mundane and everyday. The standard method of chapter-busting suspense and cliffhangers is disposed of, in favor of Veda's daily routine being shifted or interrupted with the moments that re-arrange her thinking. Wirstiuk sets up each scene masterfully in Veda's voice, drawing the reader into her mindset seamlessly. In doing so, the recurring theme of the book's title becomes powerful and clear by its conclusion.

Reviewers seem to have crafted opposing takes on the overall theme of the the book. Though some of the stories magnify her insecurities, I find Veda is always perfectly satisfied with her identity, searching only for the places and people to comfortably wrap around it.

The book struck a such an honest chord, it was a natural fit to have Burn kick off the book recommendations here on the blog. Though we've never met in person, Laryssa enthusiastically agreed to answer some questions about her book, her work and herself—so here's a bit of Q&A with author Laryssa Wirstiuk:

Author Laryssa Wirstiuk

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer some questions. Before we get to the book: I know your area was affected by Hurricane Sandy, and you recently took part in a benefit to raise relief money. Has much of the damage been taken care of around Jersey City?

Thankfully, most of Jersey City was not badly affected by the storm, especially in comparison to other areas throughout New York and New Jersey. Some neighborhoods in Jersey City were without power for a week. Hoboken, which borders my neighborhood in Jersey City to the east and is located on the shore of the Hudson River, was very badly affected. I have never seen so much flooding before. Many businesses are still suffering there. When I decided to host a benefit event, I was thinking mostly about raising funds for areas like Hoboken and the Jersey Shore.

 The Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in Hoboken, NJ

Photo © Lauren Casselberry, Courtesy of NJ.com/The Jersey Journal

The Garden State plays a central role in The Prescribed Burn, which you’ve captured perfectly. I’ve often contended that New Jersey gets a bad reputation in that most people judge the state strictly by views off the Turnpike. MTV’s Jersey Shore hasn’t helped garner much goodwill either—yet everyone I know there is proud to call it home. Do you hope to remain, or are there greener pastures?

I grew up in New Jersey and couldn't wait to go away to college. I felt so strongly that I needed to live somewhere else—I fantasized about California and other states with warmer climates. I ended up in Baltimore, MD and remained in Maryland through graduate school. Surprisingly, throughout that time, I wanted nothing but to return to New Jersey and couldn't wait to finish school so I could move back home. As it stands, I feel very satisfied living here and don't see myself moving any time soon, but I'm not closed to the possibility of living in another place. I'm just the type of person who has trouble establishing a "home" in a location different from the place where I was born and raised. I think about that a lot: the concept of "home."

The Author Shot Photos Representing Each Chapter of The Prescribed Burn, Above Image From The Chapter "Not Homecoming"

Image © 2013 by Laryssa Wirstiuk 

The stories that make up The Prescribed Burn seem to reflect much of your own personality and experience. Veda’s love affair with her home state of New Jersey, her creative drive, compassion and Ukrainian background appear as unfiltered snapshots of your mindset. The summer camp chapter in particular, is beautifully textured. How much of the framework is autobiographical?

I've definitely based some of my stories on real things that I've experienced—like going to an all-girl's high school, being in love with a place, growing up Ukrainian, etc. But Veda also represents my ideas and emotions that I haven't necessarily lived, at least not in those specific ways. For example, Veda is an only child, but I have a brother who is one of my best friends. Those situations that are only partially based in truth reflect more of what memoirists call the "emotional truth." In "Flame-Retardant Fabric," my story about 9/11, Veda is in art class with her best friend. It's true that I was in high school during 9/11, but I was in biology class without my best friend. The way I wrote the story is the way I wish it had been, the way that I can find the most truth in the situation. Sometimes, manipulating a memory is the way we find truth in it.

Veda's Creative and Ukrainian Roots Merge Frequently Throughout the Stories

Photo © & Courtesy of Flickr User dorinehouston

Small details of environments, moods and clothing shade the dialogue perfectly. While reading, I found myself comparing your writing style to an adult-oriented Beverly Cleary (intended as a high compliment!) Was there a particular author or authors that influenced your work?

I don't think I consciously try to emulate any author as I write, but I can't deny that the work of writers I admire must influence my writing. Around the same time that I fell in love with fiction writing, I fell in love with Lorrie Moore, a short story writer and novelist. Her protagonists are almost all females in rather awkward situations. They are normal women navigating the mundane details of life. She is a master of humor and language. I think reading her work gave me permission to write about flawed female characters.

Home Page of Wirstiuk's Writing Instruction Site:

Craft Your Drafts

Absolutely: flawed characters are everything! As a cartoonist who writes his own stuff, I do understand when story must drive characters and vice versa. I’ve taken on my own “prescribed burn” in that I don’t let myself get precious with the characters: finding it’s far better to give them a rough time, followed by an unusual or sensible outcome. Do you write within those types of rules, or do you tend to let things flow?

Of course! Perfect lives are boring. Everyone, no matter how perfect they might seem on the outside, has something that troubles them. I like to explore those troubles, even if they seem insignificant or selfish or naive. And I like to be kind to my characters too, even though I'm torturing them.

Do you plan to revisit the character of Veda, or do you feel her story has been told?

My friends and family have encouraged me to keep writing Veda, but I feel like I have moved on from her. She was a character I created to explore ideas and concerns I had about a certain period of a young woman's life, and I'm now interested in writing about different subjects. I'll have to create a character who will help me navigate and explore these new interests. However, I'm very interested in writing about women and don't see myself straying from strong female protagonists any time soon.

A Relaxing Read With Charlotte Moo

Image © 2013 by Laryssa Wirstiuk

What type of writing do you navigate to for your own, recreational reading?

I like to read everything! My passion is writing so I want to know how it works on every level. My current challenge is to finish Anna Karenina during my winter break from teaching. But the next book on my list is a nonfiction book called Uncreative Writing, which is about the role of the Internet and digital media in creativity, especially in poetry writing. I read both to help me grow as a writer and to help me grow as a teacher. I'm always looking for the next best thing to share with my students.

The Prescribed Burn: Available in Paperback and Kindle Formats

© 2013 by Laryssa Wirstiuk

Thanks again to Laryssa for sharing her valuable time and insights. For those interested, a generous, multi-page preview of The Prescribed Burn is viewable at amazon.com—if you enjoy the sample text as much as I did, the book is currently available in both paperback and Kindle formats.

I'll be back with some new posts very soon, now that the Holiday season has come to a close. Check back here for the next illustration in the See You in Disneyland series, followed by a break from the cold weather with a visit to the South Seas!

Playlist: Songs of Christmas (2012 Edition)

The Peanuts Gang Freak It & Kick Off The Holiday Season

Screen Grab from A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

Image Courtesy of Peanuts Wiki

 

It's officially the Holiday season. I know this because:

1. Each morning I awaken a victim of 40+ e-mail blasts offering me AMAZING HOLIDAY DEALS/DON'T MISS IT!/OFFER ENDS TONIGHT!
2. Turn a corner in metro NY: Rockettes everywhere. I've seen less pigeons* lately
   
3. The Rankin-Bass Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer was on CBS this past Wednesday

Speaking of Rudolph, please refer to the infographic below to alleviate any confusion when viewing 1960s television this holiday season...

Both Appeared on CBS, But Rudolph's "Glasses Elf"
Should Not Be Mistaken For Richard "Mel Cooley" Deacon

Infographic by Dan Cunningham

So, with this year's Summer and Halloween playlists put away for a while, here's another playlist of 9 song suggestions to get in the Christmas spirit. As usual, these are deeper cuts than what you'll hear on the radio—use them to add a bit of variety to your own Holiday-themed playlist.

 Album Art for Christmas 2012 Playlist Suggestions

 

Christmas musical standards are well-know and forever repeated: particularly recordings from the likes of Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Mariah Carey. Lately, terrestrial radio stations tend to utilize the same 20-odd songs, placed on auto-pilot to be repeated ad nauseam 'til the evening of 12/25, because those songs are considered "reliable."

Reliability might garner a few less people switching stations, but it lacks texture and the fun of anticipation for the listener. Discovery too: plenty of obscure songs that receive less or no play are the most delicious morsels, often leading the listener to go out of their way to discover non-holiday work by the same artist.

Christmas Music Works Best With Variety

Image © and Courtesy of Chef Mom

To further illustrate this, these playlist suggestions provide a good sampling of both contemporary and vintage tracks (and yes, Bing Crosby is represented, albeit with a fun, electronica twist). The high-energy alt rock beats of Relient K start it off, followed by up-tempo jazz from Chet Baker and Vince Guaraldi. Jazz then gets cooled down with Bob Dorough's perspective-tweaking "Blue Christmas" (not the same tune made famous by Elvis Presley)—the mood becomes softer and sentimental with She & Him's rendition of "The Christmas Waltz."

 Walt Disney Promotes a mid-1960s Toys For Tots Drive

Image Courtesy of wdwnews.com

The most interesting and obscure piece of audio here is probably the "Toys For Tots" theme written by composed by Sammy Fain and Paul Webster, and performed here by Peggy Lee, Nat "King" Cole and Nancy Wilson. The tune is charming, catchy and bright, the message is clear, and the three talented stars are giving their all for the recording originally used as a radio PSA to drum up interest for the annual toy drive. The high-pitched chorus that pipes in could likely be attributed to the initial popularity of Ross Bagdasarian's Chipmunks, or possibly intended to be Walt Disney's own chipmunks Chip n' Dale (equally likely, since the Walt Disney Studio designed the official Toys For Tots logo, and contributed promotional artwork to the charity through the years).

The Original 1948 Toys For Tots Poster

© Toys for Tots Foundation, Image Courtesy of www.toysfortots.org

To this day, Toys for Tots continues to be an official activity of the U.S. Marine Corps., serving as a charitable, non-profit organization. You can find a donation center near you at their website HERE

 
ON WITH THE MUSIC
Image © and Courtesy of Hear The Sounds
  

Each song listed below is available on Amazon.com and/or iTunes. Beneath the album title of each song are links to the song/album for both stores, where you can listen to audio samples and purchase those that suit your tastes—I don't get a piece of the profits if you make a purchase, the links are included to make things easier. Here we go:

Angels We Have Heard On High
Artist: Relient K
Album: Let It Snow Baby... Let It Reindeer
Amazon  iTunes

Happy Holiday (Beef Wellington Remix)
Artist: Bing Crosby
Album: Christmas Remixed: Holiday Classics Re-Grooved
Amazon  iTunes

Winter Wonderland (78 Take)
Artist: Chet Baker Quartet (Featuring Russ Freeman)
Album: The Chet Baker Quartet With Russ Freeman
Amazon  iTunes

Blue Christmas
Artist: Bob Dorough
Album: (Single)
Amazon  iTunes

The Christmas Waltz
Artist: She & Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward)
Album: A Very She & Him Christmas
Amazon  iTunes

Greensleeves
Artist: The Vince Guaraldi Trio
Album: A Charlie Brown Christmas – Original Television Soundtrack Recording
Amazon  iTunes

Christmas Island
Artist: Leon Redbone
Album: Elf – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Amazon  iTunes

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings
Artist: Barenaked Ladies (With Sarah McLachlan)
Album: A Winter's Night 2011
Amazon  iTunes

Toys for Tots
Artist: Nat "King" Cole, Peggy Lee & Nancy Wilson
Album: Ultra-Lounge: Christmas Cocktails (Vol. I)
Amazon  iTunes

BONUS CHRISTMAS MP3s
If you've been hanging around here, you know when I put together these playlist suggestions, I like to include a link to a free download of a song themed to the subject. This time I'm able to get you to 31 songs, provided by an excellent travel blogger (and Twitter friend) named Carrie Hayward.

It's a great story as to how Carrie came to post the music, but I'll let her blog post explain the inspiration and history behind the songs she compiled, you can check it out and download the music at her site here:

Disneyland's Main Street U.S.A. Christmas Music Loop

"See You in Disneyland: Silly Reindeer"

Artwork by Dan Cunningham, © The Walt Disney Company
Medium: Vector Art in Adobe Illustrator

* Pigeons are the filthy, scavenging, official birds of Manhattan.

A Rare Citrus Treat

The Orange Bird

Illustration by Dan Cunningham, © Disney
Medium: Vector Art in Adobe Illustrator

When Walt Disney World opened in late 1971, the resort could claim many unique features—most notably in the categories of size, transportation and recreational offerings compared to the original Disneyland in Anaheim, CA.

Florida Residents and Tourists Could Preview a Detailed Scale Model of the Walt Disney World Resort Prior to the October 1971 Opening

Image © & courtesy of Flickr user BestofWDW

However, much of the content within the theme park was a reflection of those found in Anaheim. The initial plan was for Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom to feature a similar layout to Disneyland, debuting new, different attractions mixed with a selection of shared ones. During construction, time and budget crunches weakened the brew, leaving Florida only a handful of unique attraction offerings.

A Preoccupied Hollywood Legend Debates Original Attractions vs. Clones While Surveying Construction Progress

Image © & courtesy of Flickr user BestofWDW

Over the decades, with the global sprawl of Disney's domestic and international theme parks, a homogenization of elements became de rigueur. This, plus the accumulated experience of customer trends and market research aided a justification for overall consistency with fewer touches proprietary to a single area.

What marketing surveys and polls can't always nail is the nostalgia factor. User-controlled media the likes of fanzines, message boards, podcasts and blogs wield the ability to raise eyebrows and awareness of even the most trend-savvy analysts. It is largely due to the breadth of the internet that some things, deemed worthless, regain their capitalization potential and find their way back into the public consciousness.

 Demographic Surveys Rarely Factor in Kitsch or Nostalgia

Image courtesy of snapsurveys.com

Those of us who watched television commercials and spent time at Walt Disney World during the 1970s have recently been reunited with a familiar friend. Spring 2012 restored a seemingly simple and largely forgotten icon from the tangerine-hued ether, as the Florida Orange Bird resumed his place behind the Magic Kingdom's Sunshine Tree Terrace snack counter.

Over 25 Years Later, The Orange Bird is Back Where He Belongs

Image courtesy of Eating WDW Blog

Despite the burgeoning homogenization factor, the Orange Bird's restoration signaled an stabilizing modicum of individuality to Walt Disney World. He is one of the only unique icons of the resort's history: a distinct identity that was never copied anywhere else.

Beyond being represented on a sampling of new merchandise, the loveable avian/citrus hybrid adorns a large attraction poster under a main entrance tunnel into the park, and atop the "throwback" marquee, with proper font restored in place of the prior (and rather generic) interim typeface.

A Visual History of The Sunshine Tree Terrace Marquee

© Disney

The cost and effort behind the return of something as unremarkable as a long-discontinued, 40-year old Florida Citrus Commission mascot speaks volumes on the impact of user-based media. Minus the online recognition by those who simply remembered the character fondly, the formal reestablishment of The Orange Bird at Walt Disney World would never have surfaced*.

I won't go into a great deal of background on the character here, as there have been a multitude of resources online over the past few years chronicling the Bird's history and return. The most notable and informative of these you can discover in the following links:

Widen Your World was the first website to provide a solid, well-researched overall history of the character:

WIDEN YOUR WORLD – Sunshine Tree Terrace & The Florida Orange Bird

Jim Korkis, Disney Historian and author of the excellent The Vault of Walt and Who's Afraid of Song of the South & Other Forbidden Disney Stories, placed his research efforts and eye for detail on the Bird's notoriety with three posts, spanning five years via MousePlanet:

(2007) Orange Thoughts of an Orange Bird

(2010) More Orange Thoughts of an Orange Bird

(2012) Good Grief! Even More Orange Thoughts of an Orange Bird

Mr. Korkis has also put up another post at Jerry Beck's Cartoon Research site, with information on the Bird's singular animated short film Foods and Fun: A Nutrition Adventure for Walt Disney Educational Media, produced by Rick Reinert Productions (including a full video of the short):

In His Own Words: Director Dave Bennett on Disney's "Orange Bird"

The eloquent Michael Crawford at Progress City U.S.A. provides further history with a thoughtful essay on the impact of the character's relationship to Walt Disney World during the resort's challenging early years**:

Progress City U.S.A. – Little Orange Memories

FoxxFurr's Passport to Dreams Old and New covers more in-depth history and provides intelligent insight on the practical character design aspects, and the character's overall aesthetic appeal upon the 2012 return of The Orange Bird:

Passport To Dreams Old and New – You Do Have Wings Orange Bird

Over at Miehana, the talented Kevin Kidney briefly recounts his participation in uncovering the hidden location and restoration of the original Orange Bird figurine, and a good look at the improved paint finishing bestowed upon it:

Kevin Kidney – In the Shade of The Sunshine Tree

My own early online efforts were on display in 2007, when I created custom desktop wallpaper for Jeff Pepper's exemplary 2719 Hyperion blog:

2719 Hyperion Desktop Retro: The Orange Bird

A Rare AUDIO Citrus Treat

 Magical Memories Magazine #1

The Premiere Issue of Jesse Guiher's Audio Fanzine, Photo © by Dan Cunningham

Nearly a decade ago, I was fortunate enough to purchase a rare gem of the aforementioned user-based media. At that time, a search on the subject of The Orange Bird garnered scant results, save for a few crumbs of information and a heaping teaspoon of items on eBay. One afternoon, I noticed a message board posting with an ad for the premiere issue of Magical Memories Magazine, an audio fanzine consisting of 2 CDs with narrated content about a particular theme park attraction. Here was user-based audio which predated the podcast explosion to come, about a year later. MMM #1 was themed to The Enchanted Tiki Room of Disneyland (Disc 1) and Walt Disney World (Disc 2), with ornate packaging and inserts.

MMM #1 Was a Feast of Visual & Audio Ephemera

Photo © by Dan Cunningham

The 'zine did not feature attraction audio, opting for original content: in-depth history on the mid-century tiki craze, stories and recollections from those who'd worked and maintained The Enchanted Tiki Room on both coasts, an exclusive interview with Disney Legend X. Atencio, and... a thirteen-minute audio history of The Florida Orange Bird.

All this was constructed and offered by a gentleman named Jesse Guiher: an ambitious Oregon-based artist and designer. I contacted Jesse earlier this year, and got a bit of background on the history of his Magical Memories Magazine project (two other issues followed before he ceased production, MMM #2 focused on the Disneyland Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay, and MMM #3 looked at the myriad attractions inspired by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea).

"I only had one other person to help with the 'zine, so it was a long, laborious process to do each issue, as I did everything from interviews to editing to graphic design and art, it was a lot of fun but such a great deal of work that I didn't have time for anything else. [I]ronically, it was the beginnings of success that killed the 'zine: I couldn't fulfill the orders fast enough [or] on time, once they started pouring in on the third issue."
– Jesse Guiher, May 2012

Jesse also very generously gave me permission to post the long out-of-circulation Orange Bird History audio (note: history covers the years 1970–2004) here for everyone to enjoy. All participants on MMM #1 used pseudonyms, with the exception of Jesse himself, who took on the role of host and interviewer throughout the 'zine. The author and narrator of The Orange Bird History audio is known as "Howard"—hit the play button to listen right here:


Or download the MP3 HERE

Jesse is currently working on a new kids noir web comic, and you can see samples of his artwork over at TigerTailArt—make sure you tell him thanks for sharing! 

* To be fair, the only other potential factor was a merchandise push of the character in the early 2000s to Japanese consumers (be sure to read the Widen Your World article for details.)

** Crawford's post speaks of the loss of the character: his post was published in November 2011, unknowingly foreshadowing the Bird's return to the Sunshine Tree Terrace in April 2012.