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*Xtra ^|:JMZANO ??f *?? BMse mv- ?√ß \ ?╟≤??AND BOTTU-ij ' % Cm&AMO ^ ^r\ wlnm lW?½mm?½ I m, ^ ^fi [fagg^/ pigm out in the best traditions of a movie set. Last year, 1,250,000 tourists (admission is $2 a head for adults) were drawn to the Gardens despite the fact that it does not lie on the main route down the East Coast to Miami. With this crowd, the Gardens gift shop, which has a markup of two hundred per cent on most items, alone did a $500,000 business, includ- ing the sale of 25,000 three-dimensional viewers showing scenes from Cypress Gardens and thousands of knobby chunks of cypress root called cypress knees. ?╟úMost anything you put out there you can sell,?╟Ñ says Mimi Pope, who with her husband, Malcolm, Dick Pope?╟╓s brother, runs the shop. Mal- colm, who is a famous speedboat driver, also holds the electric-boat concession with Pope?╟╓s twenty-six-year-old son Dick, Jr., as his partner. The boats, which take tourists on a guided tour of the Gardens via the canals, netted $60,000 last year. The Gardens film shop, also run by a Pope relative, did a $200,000 business last year and is the largest retail outlet in the world for film. To operate Cypress Gardens, which also has a large and not inexpen- sive restaurant on the premises, requires a staff of two hundred forty-six, including seventy water skiers, mostly girls, thirty-five models, all girls, twenty-six gardeners, three men who do nothing but paste large Cypress Gardens stickers on the bumpers of cars in the parking lot (making the tourists involuntary publicists themselves), and three mobile publicity teams which venture into the arctic regions as far north as Cincinnati depositing 6,000,000 pieces of Cypress Gardens literature at motels. Pope is assisted in this far-flung publicity enterprise by a general man- ager, Bob Ward, and a publicity director, A1 MacFadyen, as well as by five secretaries. In his small little office, Pope shifted in his seat and wondered about the weather report. ?╟úI?╟╓d better check right now. Last time I called them was at six this morning.?╟Ñ International art contest As Pope dialed the Weather Bureau, General Manager Ward said to me, ?╟úWe?╟╓re putting the finishing touches on the International Arts con- test. It?╟╓s supposed to help sell Christmas cards. We?╟╓ve got fifteen paint- ings from all over the world out on the lawn and two professors of art to judge them. A Miss International Arts, too.?╟Ñ ?╟úBeautiful girl, former Miss World from Sweden. Wait till you see her,?╟Ñ Pope said. ?╟úHello, yes . . . Absolutely no possibility of frost, eh? Xlrighty. Sure beats New York.?╟Ñ He put down the phone and said, ?╟úWe have to watch the weather every second. Got a million dollars out there in plants.?╟Ñ ?╟úThey want you and Mrs. Pope as judges for the contest,?╟Ñ Ward said. ?╟úMe??╟Ñ Pope said with a laugh. ?╟úWhat do I know about art? Oh, well, nobody else will know anything either.?╟Ñ ?╟úI?╟╓ve scheduled the contest for two-thirty, and I?╟╓ve alerted the photog- raphers,?╟Ñ Ward said. ?╟úI think that about cleans it up.?╟Ñ ?╟úMake sure that girl washes and sets her hair,?╟Ñ Pope said. ?╟úRight,?╟Ñ Ward said, and stood up. Pope looked blank as an empty billboard for a moment. ?╟úCome on,?╟Ñ he said. ?╟úI?╟╓ll show you the Gardens. Haven?╟╓t been out there all week.?╟Ñ The phone rang. ?╟úDamn,?╟Ñ said Pope. ?╟úOh, well.?╟Ñ He picked up the receiver. ?╟úHello. . . . Yes. . . . Calling all the way from New York? Well, how are you. ... So you are going to come down and shoot that ad. Good. Since you were here last we have done the impossible. . . . Built several islands* a combination of the South Seas and the Riviera. . . . Every* thing?╟╓s beautiful. . . . I?╟╓ve got the most beautiful girls in the world. . . . Yes, I got sailboats. ... I got sports cars. You tell your photographers that they?╟╓ll be down in my country. You tell ?╟╓em to do what I say. I got a nice new Lincoln automobile to put at their disposal . . . just send a wire. . . . You?╟╓ll have no problems.?╟Ñ A few minutes later Pope headed for the narrow wooded footbridge that leads across a canal into the botanical gardens. On the way we passed a stand selling orange and papaya juice. ?╟úWe try to keep commercialism out of the Gardens,?╟Ñ he said. ?╟úWe want to make it as tranquil as possible. The only reason we sell orange juice is that this is Florida and people expect it. Old ladies come here, walk through the Gardens, and break out crying, they find it so beau- tiful.j| We crossed the bridge and came upon a trio of Scarlett O?╟╓Haras seated against a background of flame vine. Pope waved. They smiled. ?╟úMy back hurts. I wish they?╟╓d put backs on these benches,?╟Ñ one of them said as we passed. ?╟úWe can take any kind of picture here,?╟Ñ Pope said. ?╟úI did the pub- licity for the town of St. Petersburg, which is by the sea, without leaving Cypress Gardens. We did all the beach shots on our three artificial beaches. One of them is portable. Besides the beaches, we have; artificial walls, floors, clouds and skies. We have props too: imitation grass and Among the undying traditions of Britain, none is more happily pre- served than that of CINZANO, the world?╟╓s most treasured vermouth. Drink hearty Cinzano Italian Vermouth, imported from Italy, and Cinzano French Extra-Dry Vermouth, imported from France. Delicious ?╟÷ straight or ?╟úon the rocks?╟Ñ and they make your best cocktails. What?╟╓s the world?╟╓s most treasured vermouth? CINZANO VERMOUTH Sole Importer, Cinzano, Inc., New York City 124 ESQUIRE : September