Sirius
Plant Nerd
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2008
- Messages
- 476
- Reaction score
- 0
I am piecing this together from various sources, so some of this may be incorrect. If you have something to add or correct, please share with us.
Arthur Freed was a musician who had his first big break singing with, and writing material for, the Marx brothers on vaudeville stages. He was hired by MGM studios to write songs for the movies, and eventually worked his way up to management. He produced dozens of hit movies including The Wizard of OZ, Show Boat, Meet Me In St. Louis, An American In Paris, Gigi and Singin' In The Rain. His movies won two oscars. Not only did he produce these movies, he also co-wrote many songs including Singing' In The Rain, Make 'Em Laugh and Beautiful Girl.
[YOUTUBE]i3xksap-x2Q[/YOUTUBE]
(On a side note, the gentleman holding the microphone in the clip above is named Sterling Holloway, and he was the original voice actor for the Disney cartoon versions of Winnie the Pooh, the Cheshire Cat, Kaa the snake from the Jungle Book and many others.)
In 1946, Arthur Freed and his brother Hugo started an orchid nursery in Malibu, California. Hugo was a renowned Phalaenopsis breeder, and founding member of the Malibu orchid society. Around 1954, they made contact with a lab director named Hans Gubler, who would help them produce their own hybrid seedlings. Hans Gubler would later start his own nursery, Gubler Orchids, which today houses over 155,000 square feet of orchid greenhouses in California.
At some point in the early 1970's, an employee of the Arthur Freed Orchid Company named Amado Vazquez left the company and started another nursery called Zuma Canyon Orchids. Arthur died in 1973, and his brother Hugo sold the Arthur Freed Orchid Company to Amado Vazquez in 1978. In October of that same year, there was a tragic wild fire that destroyed 25,000 acres and 162 homes, including the greenhouses of the Arthur Freed Orchid Company. Amado lost three years worth of seedlings that were still in flasks that he had not had a chance to move into his Zuma Canyon greenhouses.
All of this information just kind of appeared to me, while I was searching for information about one of my orchids. Dtps. Freed's Beautiful Girl is named for the song written by Arthur Freed, and registered by Hugo in 1975. That same year, he also registered another cross named Doridirea Memoria Arthur Freed. It is a cross between Doritis pulcherrima and Sedirea japonica.
I made my first orchid cross a few weeks ago. I had absolutely no knowledge of the above information when I crossed Dtps. Freed's Beautiful Girl with Sedirea japonica. I would love to see a photo of a Doridirea Memoria Arthur Freed, because my cross will probably be very similar. There is so much great history behind these plants we love, don't you agree?
Arthur Freed was a musician who had his first big break singing with, and writing material for, the Marx brothers on vaudeville stages. He was hired by MGM studios to write songs for the movies, and eventually worked his way up to management. He produced dozens of hit movies including The Wizard of OZ, Show Boat, Meet Me In St. Louis, An American In Paris, Gigi and Singin' In The Rain. His movies won two oscars. Not only did he produce these movies, he also co-wrote many songs including Singing' In The Rain, Make 'Em Laugh and Beautiful Girl.
[YOUTUBE]i3xksap-x2Q[/YOUTUBE]
(On a side note, the gentleman holding the microphone in the clip above is named Sterling Holloway, and he was the original voice actor for the Disney cartoon versions of Winnie the Pooh, the Cheshire Cat, Kaa the snake from the Jungle Book and many others.)
In 1946, Arthur Freed and his brother Hugo started an orchid nursery in Malibu, California. Hugo was a renowned Phalaenopsis breeder, and founding member of the Malibu orchid society. Around 1954, they made contact with a lab director named Hans Gubler, who would help them produce their own hybrid seedlings. Hans Gubler would later start his own nursery, Gubler Orchids, which today houses over 155,000 square feet of orchid greenhouses in California.
At some point in the early 1970's, an employee of the Arthur Freed Orchid Company named Amado Vazquez left the company and started another nursery called Zuma Canyon Orchids. Arthur died in 1973, and his brother Hugo sold the Arthur Freed Orchid Company to Amado Vazquez in 1978. In October of that same year, there was a tragic wild fire that destroyed 25,000 acres and 162 homes, including the greenhouses of the Arthur Freed Orchid Company. Amado lost three years worth of seedlings that were still in flasks that he had not had a chance to move into his Zuma Canyon greenhouses.
All of this information just kind of appeared to me, while I was searching for information about one of my orchids. Dtps. Freed's Beautiful Girl is named for the song written by Arthur Freed, and registered by Hugo in 1975. That same year, he also registered another cross named Doridirea Memoria Arthur Freed. It is a cross between Doritis pulcherrima and Sedirea japonica.
I made my first orchid cross a few weeks ago. I had absolutely no knowledge of the above information when I crossed Dtps. Freed's Beautiful Girl with Sedirea japonica. I would love to see a photo of a Doridirea Memoria Arthur Freed, because my cross will probably be very similar. There is so much great history behind these plants we love, don't you agree?
