Videos

View footage of the many sides of Florida in the 1960s.

Cypress Gardens: Boating and Water Skiing Segment

Source: Florida Memory Project

http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/232444

Florida's first theme park, Cypress Gardens, started as a botanical garden then expanded to include water skiing shows and a skiing school. This segment of a twenty-two minute commercial advertises Cypress Gardens’ free skiing lessons for children by demonstrating the steps of their program.

Florida's East Coast Holiday

Source: Florida Memory Project

www.floridamemory.com/items/show/232448

A segment of a fourteen-minute commercial advertises the large cities, natural features, and tourist attractions dotting Florida’s eastern coast during the 1960s. It showcases the cities of Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach, Titusville, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, Melbourne, Vero Beach, Fort Pierce, Stuart, West Palm Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Pompano Beach, Hollywood, Miami Beach, and Miami. Commissioned by the Florida Development Commission and Eastern Airlines, the film depicts a variety of attractions, such as beaches, architecture, horse races, deep-sea fishing, and theme parks.

Beauty in the Deep: Weeki Watchee Mermaids

Source: Florida Memory Project

http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/243138

Filmed at Weeki Watchee Springs in Central Florida, the four-minute video provides the viewer with an overview of the venue and the state’s largest single spring. At Weeki Watchee, “mermaids” performed underwater dance routines and novelty feats, such as eating and drinking underwater and swimming the length of a ten-story building to the bottom of the cavern.

Miami Go-Go!

Source: Jet National

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRth425w9wo&feature=share&fb_source=message

This flirty one-minute commercial by Jet National airlines uses go-go music and go-go dancers to advertise a go-go themed sale price on flights to Miami.

Action Center USA

Source: Florida Memory Project

http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/232384

The Orlando Chamber of Commerce commissioned a 14-minute advertisement encouraging families to move to Orlando. The video surveys the area’s big businesses, great school districts and local colleges, museums, science centers, libraries, music halls, local sports teams, shopping districts, and golf courses, among others.