Zoro Gardens Nudist Colony (1935 - 1936)
Promotional poster featuring Queen Zorine.
|
Zoro Gardens was a fake nudist colony, created as attraction at the 1935-1936 Pacific International Exposition in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. The attraction was the idea of two side-show promoters Nate Eagle and Stanley R. Graham. The pair brought in nubile young ladies from a similar attraction at Chicago’s, A Century of Progress International Exposition world fair of 1933-1934. Much to the annoyance of actual nudists, who complained to San Diego District Attorney Thomas Whalen about the "showgirls" used at the colony being frauds. The attraction also caused complaints from local women's groups, such as San Diego Council of Catholic Women, the Women's Civic Center and the San Diego Braille Club. (Why a nudist colony would bother blind people, is beyond me!) But despite the complaints and the protests, the nudist colony remained throughout the exposition, and was a popular attraction with visitors. And was actively supported and defended by city officials, who claimed that the attraction wasn't "indecent" as the women's groups protested it was. Plus that there were no laws against simple nudity on the statute books, the police could not make any legitimate arrests.
The garden was a grotto, placed in an open-air amphitheatre. Visitors could pay for a 25¢ ticket to enter through the fenced off area, and sit on bleachers to watch the nudists sunning themselves, playing volleyball, or perform a 5 times daily quasi-religious ceremony to the sun god Zaraϑuštra, to whom the garden was dedicated. If visitors didn't wish to pay the 25¢, they could view the colony through holes in the fence. |
|
The star of the colony was played by 22 year old Yvonne Stacey, who was known as Zorine Queen of the Nudist. She was part of the troupe that arrived from Chicago’s world fair, and quickly establishing herself as a diva. The day before the fair’s grand opening, she met with San Diego County District Attorney Thomas Whalen to pledge the nudists would neither wear burlesque costumes nor perform indecent acts. Satisfied that Zoro Gardens would be a legitimate attraction, Whalen gave his approval.
Most of the controversy over the nudist colony came from within, and among other nude performers at the exposition. Behind the scenes tensions caused Queen Zorine to abdicate her throne, one month before the end of the first season. She left the colony to tour the country to "preach nudity to the clothes-bound masses". With the departure of Queen Zorine, the Zoro Gardens attraction needed a new queen. Ruth Cubitt, an avid nudist from the colony’s rank-and-file, was appointed the new Queen of the Nudists. She reigned for the rest of the season, and was joined in the colony by her two sisters, Dianne and Tanya. The Cubitts were local girls, whose family home was only walking distance from Balboa Park. For the 1936 season, Ruth announced her decision to remain on the throne. However her sister Tanya, threw her hat (and clothes) into the arena, along with another fellow colony member Mary Pomeroy. The campaign drew a lot of attention to the colony, with the girls competing in weird activities like endurance tree-sitting. Eventually Tanya was crowned. |
|
|
Other nude performers at the California Pacific International Exposition for its second season was Sally Rand, a fan-and-bubble dancer and rising star following the Chicago Fair, who was brought to San Diego as a free attraction to help bolster attendance. Queen Tanya saw the opportunity to spark interest in both ladies’ shows and requested a nude meeting with her that April to chat but Miss Rand declined by saying, "The nude is my business suit. I never appear socially in it." In June of 1936 another burlesque dancer, Rosita Royce, came to Balboa Park to claim that Sally Rand had stolen the "bubble dance" concept from her. Newspapers frequently reported that Miss Royce would relax in the nude with the Cubitt sisters and the others at Zoro Gardens. She even appeared in one of the postcards, that visitors could purchase of the colony.
|
The rebuff by Sally Rand to join Queen Tanya for tea at Zoro Gardens did not sit well with many of the nudists who saw this as an extension of a grudge started at the Century of Progress exposition in Chicago. "It might be excusable in other circumstances but we are well aware that last year in the East, Miss Rand launched a bitter attack against us," decried the group’s most vocal advocate Mary Pomeroy, recounting the rift between Miss Rand and the Chicago nudists. Standing atop of a tree stump at the centre of the garden, Princess Mary rallied several of her fellow nudists to don sandwich-board placards and picket the fairgrounds as well as the theatre where Miss Rand was to perform.
The three princes Jason, Alexander and Arlo of Zoro Gardens would have no part in the squabble until they had an opportunity to assess Miss Rand's comments. They advocated patience amongst the Zoro Gardens inhabitants, believing that exotic performer’s naïveté of nudists' moralities was the heart of the issue. "She has had plenty of opportunity to acquaint herself with nudism’s high principles but the truth is that she doesn't want to," exclaimed the raven-haired Princess Mary. "She probably figures that nudism will sound the death-knell of sensationalism, such as she practices."
|
Removing the signs slung over his shoulders, Prince George laid them on a grassy knoll and opted out of the protest. "I cannot take part in this campaign," he said. "I still believe it is the part of wisdom to try to convert Miss Rand rather than attempt to antagonize her." Miss Pomeroy’s band gave him and the other non-participants a resounding Phooey! and paraded down the Midway clad in their sandwich-boards towards the Rand stage. Whether this was all just a publicity stunt, or that the nudists at the colony were genuinely annoyed at Rand, is one of conjecture. But never-the-less, it generated a lot of press attention, and certainly put the Zoro Gardens nudist colony on the map, and assured its place in weird history.
|
Randy Retro Robot Romeos - Redressing the romantic balance, with Weird Retro's romp through the Romeos of the robot world. For all the ladies who like a love-bot.
|
The Naked Screen: Sex & Nudity In Cinema (Part 1) - Since the first movie cameras were cranked into action, sex & nudity has been a provocative subject for film-makers.
|