Mary Blair VS. Buckminster Fuller

I finally got off my gingerbread & eggnog-stuffed behind and made it over to the Henry Ford Museum before the close of the Disneyland: Behind The Magic exhibit. I've been putting it off and realized it's closing in 2 days. The exhibit should be in San Francisco in early 2006, so consider this a heads up. Items of note: an original Enchanted Tiki Room sign, Tahitian Terrace menu, tiki-related concept paintings & renderings, etc. However, one of the best parts was the 5 or so original Mary Blair works from Small World which I really got to view close up. Very much worth seeking out this tour.

As an added bonus, since my last visit the Henry Ford Museum has added Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House. I knew they bought it in 1992, but didn't know it was installed. They took the parts from the 2 prototypes that were originally built and pieced together one house. One thing that struck my funny... Whenever you see classic footage of the future homes of tomorrow and you see all of the automatic moving shelves and gizmo's, you never hear just how loud and clangy they really are in person.

-Z

Tahitian Terrace menus! The last time I bid on one of those on eBay, I lost with a bid exceeding $100. The winning buyer said she'd send me a scan, but she never did. :( I'd still like to get a copy to post online for everyone, if anybody here happens to own one and happens to be so inclined. Nice artwork on those, and I'm sure the cuisine was great, too. I never got to eat at the Tahitian Terrace in all the years I went to Disneyland. The restaurant was always either closed, in renovation, or else I had reservations elsewhere or something. That's one of my biggest regrets about old Disneyland, not having eaten at that restaurant. Thanks for the memories, albeit tinged with regret.

I love that whole Adventureland area and decor: the hanging bamboo lamps outside the Enchanted Tiki Room, the onion/nautical lamps hanging outside the old Treehouse (anybody know what those lamps are called?), the Hawaiian film shown outside the Tiki Room, the Tiki Juice Bar with its delicious ice drinks, colorful silk leis at the shop stands, etc. Too good.

That's great, glad to Bucky's being more appreciated. (Hopefully Raymond Lowey is next)
I think there were a few styles of Dymaxion House, some based on Grain Silos and others like upside-down umbrella to be dropped from blimps.

As far as I know the only surviving Dymaxion Car is in Reno at the old Harrah's Collection (Now called something else like National Car Collection)

Thanks for posting

A reminder, that the U.S. Postal Service is currently selling postage stamps honoring Buckminster Fuller. I thought they were pretty cool, and used them when mailing out all my Xmas cards this year. I'm not sure how long they will last, seeing as postage rates will soon go up 2 cents.

http://shop.usps.com/cgi-bin/vsbv/postal_store_non_ssl/display_products/productDetail.jsp?OID=4849106

that's my 2 cents worth,
Vern

On 2005-12-28 21:57, Gigantalope wrote:
That's great, glad to Bucky's being more appreciated. (Hopefully Raymond Lowey is next)
I think there were a few styles of Dymaxion House, some based on Grain Silos and others like upside-down umbrella to be dropped from blimps.

As far as I know the only surviving Dymaxion Car is in Reno at the old Harrah's Collection (Now called something else like National Car Collection)

Thanks for posting

Bucky's WW II shelters built using grain silos were part of the inspiration for the Dymaxion Houses that were built, crossed with Bucky's original idea for the "4-D House," suspending each floor of houses & apartment buildings from a central spindle core (the building that would be carried to a location & dropped by blimp).

The Dymaxion House combined the simple construction methods of a grain silo (the roof sections are snapped together and raised up a pole high enough to attach the topmost level of the walls, then that is raised up enough to attach the next lower level of the walls, etc., until it's raised all the way), with Bucky's idea of buildings under tension (using lighter spars, cables & sheathing, like an umbrella, instead of heavier beams & framing, like a standard house). The idea for the Dymaxion House was to mass produce them using pre-existing WW II aircraft assemby lines (Beech Aircraft in Wichita, Ks.), sell them for about the cost of a Cadillac, and ship them worldwide in kit form in their own aluminum tube.

Unfortunately only 2 prototypes were built before the company collapsed due to arguments between Bucky, the money people & the manufacturer, and these 2 houses were combined into one 2 level addition to investor William Graham's house. Bucky never completed the plans for the Dymaxion House, and the Graham house didn't have all the parts installed, so many parts had to be inferred & built by hand.

Dymaxion Car #2 is the only remaining car, it's in the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada.