Wednesday, March 31, 2010

"Rosie" #1 (From Richard Reynolds)


!cid_X_MA1_1269920231@aol, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Richard Reynolds says - - -

Rosie the elephant being used as a golf tee: Miami Beach, Florida (1927)

Developer and entrepreneur Carl Graham Fisher used the elephant Rosie to promote Miami Beach during the Florida land boom of the 1920s.

Fisher was a major player in the emerging automobile industry and helped develop both the east-west Lincoln Highway and the midwest- south Dixie Highway. Enamored of Miami Beach, he became one of its leading real estate developers and promoters. Wikipedia says this about his elephant.

Ever the innovative promoter, Fisher seemed tireless in his efforts to draw attention to Miami Beach. Fisher acquired a baby elephant named Rosie, who was a favorite with newspapers. In 1921, he got free publicity all across the country with what we would call today a promotional "photo-op" of Rosie serving as a golf caddy for vacationing President-elect Warren Harding.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of Barnum using an elephant to plow fields, where it could be seen by people passing by.