FLORIDA Cypress Gardens

Cypress Gardens, FL. Very Good. 1967. 1st Printing. Stapled wraps. Color Illustrations; c1967. This is a trade sized booklet. the booklet is in very good condition and was issued without a dust jacket. this is a theme park guide for florida's cypress gardens - florida's first theme park / botanical gardens. the booklet is mostly clean and bright, though there are two small staple holes to the top edge of the front panel and there is some beginning wear to the spine ends and corners of the booklet covers. the text pages are clean and bright. "Billed as Florida's first commercial tourist theme park, Cypress Gardens opened on January 2, 1936, as a botanical garden planted by Dick Pope Sr. and his wife Julie. Over the years it became one of the biggest attractions in Florida, known for its water ski shows, gardens, and Southern Belles.It became known as the "Water Ski Capital of the World" because it was the site of many of the sport's landmark firsts and over 50 world records were broken there. During World War II, soldiers visited and waterskiing was introduced for their entertainment. Numerous movies were filmed at the park, including portions of This is Cinerama, the first feature filmed in the wide-screen format, and a string of Esther Williams films and TV specials in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1950s the Southern Belles attraction was introduced, in which young women dressed in the crinolines reminiscent of the Antebellum South. During the 1961-1965 American Civil War Centennial young men dressed in Confederate uniforms would be photographed with the Southern Belles. In the early 1960s a custom photography boat named Miss Cover Girl was introduced, and the park became a popular site for the filming of television commercials. " (from Wikipedia) .