The Orange Bird and Anita Bryant

[HauntedBoy]

I was looking at the new WDW hidden mickey pins for 2011, and I noticed a series featuring the orange bird. Not knowing what that was, I googled and came up with a great history.

Includes this...

..they had crafted a nice back story for him that was laid out in song by Anita Bryant. In 1968 the Florida Citrus Commission had signed with Bryant, a former Miss America contestant, as their official spokesperson. Three years later she was teamed with the Orange Bird in publicity photos and commercials, most of which she ended with the line, "from the Sunshine Tree."

Things rolled along harmoniously for the holy citrus trinity of the Orange Bird, Anita Bryant and the Sunshine Tree until 1977, when Bryant gained a whole new type of notoriety by campaigning against anti-discrimination legislation in Miami, where she lived at the time. She took a public stance against homosexuality that garnered national attention and led to a boycott of Florida citrus products. From that point forward Bryant was irrevocably linked to the controversy and the Florida Citrus Commission opted not to continue their relationship with the singer. The Orange Bird, having never expressed so much as one sunny thought about gay rights, emerged from this turbulence untarnished but without a vocal proponent of his stature.

Well, I now have a new mission to collect all the orange bird pins due to its place in gay history. I will sing this song every time I find one: http://www.omniluxe.net/wyw/obirdsong.mp3

 

[OrlandoMike]

Orange Bird is making a huge come-back!

Shirts are available, and he even has his own Facebook acct!


http://www.facebook.com/#!/floridaorangebird