History - Arthur Freed Orchid Company

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Sirius

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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.

freed_arthur.jpg


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?

freedsbgxsedireajaponica.jpg
 
At one time I was considering starting another orchid website with a history archive of orchid growers. I may have to revisit that idea, because I love finding out all of these historical connections between orchid growers. We are losing this history every time someone passes away.

Hugo Freed has other ties to the orchid breeding of today. Frank Smith of Krull-Smith was gifted a Phal. bellina plant from Hugo with his order of some candy striped Phalaenopsis back in the day. That bellina plant bloomed out to become 'Ponkan' AM/AOS, which was stem propped and given to other breeders like H.P. Norton for their breeding programs. And of course, a lot of the Zuma Canyon Phalaenopsis breeding is directly descendant from Freed Orchids.

Hugo wrote at least two books, Orchids and Serendipity and New Horizons in Orchid Breeding. I have also found some of his AOS Bulletin articles on Phalaenopsis.

I am sure there are numerous other stories and connections between the Freed's and the orchid world.
 
Nice historical research and compilation! Thank you!

Now you've got me intrigued about the results of your Doridireopsis (( :confused: )) love connection and what they will be like. Will they be fragrant? How often will they bloom? Will the spikes be upright or pendant? What colors and patterns will prevail? :drool: My enquiring mind wants to know. :wink:
Arthur Freed wrote the lyrics to this song...

[YOUTUBE]m2Yoir-2Bms[/YOUTUBE]
 
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Nice historical research and compilation! Thank you!

Now you've got me intrigued about the results of your Doridireopsis (( :confused: )) love connection and what they will be like. Will they be fragrant? How often will they bloom? Will the spikes be upright or pendant? What colors and patterns will prevail? :drool: My enquiring mind wants to know. :wink:
Arthur Freed wrote the lyrics to this song...

hmmmm...youtube doesn't seem to be properly enabled just yet.

It's working now. You had the www.youtube.com address in your link, and it's not necessary. All you need is the video number, m2Yoir-2Bms, in between the brackets.

And apparently a cross between Sedirea and Doritaenopsis is called Sediritinopsis.
 
Very interesting. A book of histories like that (plus some photos of orchids) might be worth publishing. Thanks for the info.

Eric,

The book A History of the Orchid by Merle Reinikka has several biographies of the early orchid hunters, but not so much information about the modern day hybridizers and personalities.

I just registered a .com to start my new orchid history site, by the way. :)
 
Good idea. Dr, Yamata's site has some biographies, right?

I don't know, but I will add it to my list of sites to check out. I guess I need to make a new thread soon so I can request information.
 
:) Nice story!
Potentially nice, nice cross!
Good idea, I'm sure there will be contributors from our members!
 
Early on in my orchid growing days, I had an Ascda Mem Arthur Freed, which is Vanda cristata x Asdca Yip Sum Wah. I purchased it at one of the annual open houses at McLellan's back in the 80's. I managed to lose it, unfortunately. Sounds like a great cross. If I ever see it offered again, I'll be bsure to buy it. A quick browse of the RHS hybrid registry shows lots of orchids named Mem. Arthur Freed, by the way.
 
Cool post, I like the history of these. In fact there was a book discussed on NPR this morning about the demise of animals on islands that had evolved certain characteristics due to the lack of predators on the islands which were decimated when things like rats and cats came over on boats with the explorers. Fascinating stuff, but I digress…

Knew I recognized that name but wow, not in this context! Thanks J.
 
It's working now. You had the www.youtube.com address in your link, and it's not necessary. All you need is the video number, m2Yoir-2Bms, in between the brackets.

Aha, ok I shall try my best to remember the correct way to insert YouTube clips from here forward. Thanks for explaining it. :)

And apparently a cross between Sedirea and Doritaenopsis is called Sediritinopsis.

Gosh, I almost like my cobbled version (Doridireopsis) better! :rollhappy:
 
Aha, ok I shall try my best to remember the correct way to insert YouTube clips from here forward. Thanks for explaining it. :)



Gosh, I almost like my cobbled version (Doridireopsis) better! :rollhappy:

I was hoping it was Doritaenopsirea. I am not sure that any of them are good choices. I guess it's better than some of those Ascocenda intergenerics like Ascosupercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
 
:rollhappy:

Actually, I'm excited this can all be place on your new website, John! You can do things with the internet that cannot be done in book form -- like the movies included in this thread, links to information, photos, etc. Great idea!!!
 

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