The Adventurers Club was a multidisciplinary adventuring group which had splintered off from the Society of Explorers and Adventurers (S.E.A.). The group shared ties with pilot and S.E.A. member Jock Lindsey.
History[]
The Adventurers Club was founded in Pittsburgh, PA in 1907 as occasional dinner parties thrown by industrialist tycoon and Society of Explorers and Adventurers member Merriweather Adam Pleasure for his globe-trotting cronies. Former US president Theodore Roosevelt was reputed to have been an original member.[1] Unlike S.E.A. which was perceived of as stuffy, Pleasure's group centered around globetrotting and celebration.
In 1911, Pleasure moved his family to Lake Buena Vista, Florida and built his canvas/sail making empire on the Federber Peninsula (which became Pleasure Island after the world's largest firecracker was detonated in celebration of the end of WWI). His wife, Isabella, grew tired of all the artifacts that were piling up in their home and told Merriweather to get them out. To settle their debts in a high stakes domino game that they lost to Merriweather, historic architects Sir Edwin Luytens, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and Eliel Saarinen designed the club building, which hosted an impressive assortment of artifacts from across the world (including many of a paranormal nature) which were all mounted (sometimes twice) by club curator Fletcher Hodges. Amongst the notable artifacts were a sentient stone statue known as Babylonia, a pipe-organ haunted by a pianist called Fingers Zambezi, and the still living taxidermy head of the rare "Mongolian Yakoose" (hybrid of a yak and moose) which a club member had hunted and killed.[2]
TIMELINE A[source?]
By 1941, Merriweather had missed nine annual meetings in a row and always sent a telegram saying, “Sorry Chums. Spirit is Willing, but Body Is Somewhere Else! Carry On!” That year’s telegram carried the ominous message that his famous yacht the “DOMINOE” had been seen pitch poled in the Antarctic, and that no trace had been found of Pleasure, his daughter Merriam, or the crew. Everyone present raised a glass of champagne in honor of their beloved founder, and the Club was sealed. Pleasure’s sons Henry and Stewart take over operation of the Island. Between Isabella's death on Christmas Eve in 1949 and 1955 Hurricane Connie devastating the Island (as well as nearby Placid Palms Resort), the Pleasure Brothers decide to abandon the Island.[source?]
TIMELINE B[source?]
In 1944, a group of corrupt land developers used bribes so that on New Year's Eve, ownership of Pleasure Island would pass to them. Before this could happen, however, Hurricane Charlotte hit Florida and devastated Pleasure Island, leaving it in ruin. Merriweather Adam Pleasure had led an evacuation during the hurricane but was presumed to have been killed in the effort. It has been theorized that the events were tied to the spirit of the Funmeister, a Germanic god worshiped by Merriweather and the island's indigenous Seminole tribe (The I4 Nomads) whose ghosts Pleasure had encountered when first coming to the land.[3]
Indiana Jone’s 1937 Visit[source?]
In 1937, while dusting the Club’s immense artifact collection, one of the Club’s French Maids, Tallulah Buttertart found the Maharaja of Pankot’s voodoo doll of Indiana Jones and became infatuated with him. Whenever she was called on by Club members to perform her “Hooha“ on the Library stage, she would use the opportunity to employ the Club’s broadcasting equipment in order to send a message out to Dr. Jones asking for him to take her away from the Club. To entice Dr. Jones even more, she and Club’s Paranormal Pianist, Fingers Zambezi composed a song that she sent over the airwaves to her beloved archeologist.[source?]
(To the “Raiders March”) “Indiana, Doctor Jones / Makes his living digging up old bones / And Talulah’s quite a find / And she wants him to grab her and kiss her and whip her behind” (Bull whip sound effect)[source?]
On New Years Eve of that year, during the Club’s Open House to encourage new membership, handsome Club Aviator, Hathaway Browne tried to bring Tallulah to her senses telling her that Indiana Jones was just a myth and she should focus her attentions on him. Just as she was coming around to the idea, Dr. Jones broke into the Library, flourished his whip and yelled Tallulah’s name! She fainted on the stage and Indy helped to bring her around with her muttering “It’s only a dream. It’s only a dream”. When she came too and Indy assured her it was real, she exclaimed “Oh my God you’re much more Hanson than the doll!” and Indy fireman carried her out of the Club, Tallulah’s rhumba panties on display for all as she yelled, “I love you Adventurers Club!”[source?]
They re-entered the Club to participate in the “Rhythm Ritual“ where Tallulah said that Indy had just taught her how to charm a snake and gave a musical demonstration on the recorder. They then joined in the evening’s “Bon Voyage Hoopla” where they shook their money makes on top of the Library’s bar to Samantha Sterling’s rendition of “The Happy Wanderer”.[source?]
Post Pleasure Island Legacy[source?]
The Adventurers Club became close with Jock Lindsey and frequented his airplane hangar in the town of Disney Springs, Florida. In 1955, the Adventurers Club assisted Jock in transforming the site into "Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar" and were photographed by the Source Gazette at the bar's ribbon-cutting ceremony. In particular, the ceremony was attended by members Samantha Sterling, Hathaway Browne and Otis T. Wren. Following the bar's opening, photographs of Jock dining and drinking with club members would be put up as decor throughout the establishment.[4]
Behind the scenes[]
The Adventurers Club originates from the dining-service of the Adventurers Club from the Pleasure Island area of Downtown Disney. Tributes to Pleasure Island are scattered throughout Disney Springs as a result with a few others being featured at Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar. This includes the statue of the goddess Babylonia which is an artifact from the Adventurers Club's headquarters, Samantha Sterling's passport in the lost & found, and Jock's ice machine coming from the "Yakoose Ice Co. Est. 1938" which references the Mongolian Yakoose from the Adventurers Club.
Appearances[]
- Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar (Pictured only)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Disneyland – Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar
- ↑ Walt Disney World – Adventurers Club
- ↑ Walt Disney World – Pleasure Island
- ↑ Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar