Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Adventurers Almanac: The Belsky Bass

How did Merriweather Pleasure come to find and purchase the land adjacent to Lake Buena Vista and name it Pleasure Island? Well, that's quite a fish story!

For the next installment in our Tales from the Adventurers Almanac series, we present an article from Volume No. 55, Issue No. 9. Club Curator Fletcher Hodges relates the true and accurate story of the Belsky Bass, one of the club's more notable trophies. Here is the that issue's Curator's Corner column:

Greetings Adventurers; Hodges here. My topic for this 'Curator's Corner" is the Belsky Bass. Now, I'm sure when you have visited the Club, you have had the dubious honor of having a conversation with the loquacious Professor Otis T. Wren. In addition to the many self-aggrandizing events he may have recounted for you, he has probably taken your valuable time to tell you of that glorious day he landed the magnificent fish that perches (pardon the pun) on the wall high above the Treasure Room. I feel duty-bound to inform you of the accurate version of how this particular, and often overlooked specimen, came to be a part of the Adventurers Club.

In 1910, Merriweather Pleasure was floating around Lake Buena Vista assessing the possible purchase of the Ferderber Peninsula. Without warning, a Belsky flung itself into his dinghy! It, of course, began doing its characteristic "Belsky Gyrations," unique to a Belsky out of water. Mr. Pleasure took the sighting of the rare Belsky Bass as such a good omen that he promptly bought the land he had been surveying and renamed it Pleasure Island. He took the fish as a pet - naming it "Sue."

There was an uncommon attachment between the two, which ultimately led to tragedy. One afternoon during the construction of the Adventurers Club, before the patio doors were installed, while Merriweather was surveying the design of the Main Salon, "Sue" spied him from the lake. Apparently longing for it's master's company, the fish did a "Belsky Leap" out of the water, ricocheted off of Zeus, and landed smack dab on a freshly painted wall towering above the Treasure Room. There she remains to this day. Thankfully, Mr. Pleasure immortalized Sue's exhuberant spirit with "Forever Fish" -a natural preservative of his creation. This has prevented the summer heat from taking its toll, if you nose what I mean.


Yours in authenticity,
Hector Pledges, uh I mean,
Fletcher Hodges, Club Curator

KUNGALOOSH!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I think it's time for a hoopla

Jessica said...

I went to Adventurer's Club for the very first time this past week (can you believe that?!) and had an absolute blast. Though I must admit, I spent a great amount of time studying the walls and ceiling soaking in all of the details.

HOOPLA!

Unknown said...

I first experienced The Adventurer's Club during MouseFest under Tim Devine's insitance.

I managed to avoid the attention of the spotlight, but my wife did not and got dragged up front.

My opinion might've been different if I had gotten dragged into the performance