The "Stars" of San Fernando
by Austin McClelland
The "Stars" of San Fernando Heights
In the the year 1949, the San Fernando Heights Orange Association had a problem. They had a harvest of citrus, but were running short on wrappers and packers for the harvest. This would have created a dent in profits for the season. But somewhere along the line, someone had an idea. . .
HOLLYWOOD
Yes, Hollywood was the solution to the problem of the shortage of wrappers and packers. In a slick move, the association cut a deal with Columbia pictures in order for the packing house and fields to become part of the set of an upcoming movie. And a star studded movie at that! The movie included Mickey Rooney, Terry Moor, and William Demarest.
The movie included scenes from the San Fernando Orange Association. Originally the movie was was titled “Freddie the Great”, but was later named “He’s a Cockeyed Wonder“
Interestingly, this decision to work with Columbia Pictures turned out to work almost too well. The packing house was inundated with applications for workers. Floods of would-be “stars” looking to be “discovered” were now working the grounds. The packing house indeed had enough workers and the picture had enough extras in the background.
In the movie, the grounds of the San Fernando Orange Association packing house are known as “The Golden Drip Packing Company”. Freddie (Mickey Rooney) is an orange sorter that has fallen in love with Judy (Terry Moore), who happens to be the foreman’s daughter. The comedic story of Freddie, Judy, and the foreman unfolds from there.
Of course, if the reader would like to own a piece of the cross-section of history where the golden background of California citrus industry meets star studded Hollywood, three great options do exist! We currently have three crate labels from this San Fernando Heights Lemon Association in stock.
These three labels depict what is commonly known as a stylized version of the San Fernando Mission. Which is history unto itself.
But that is another story. . .
Checkout these three labels on thecratelabelshop.com.
