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The Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe is a Starbucks location in Disney California Adventure which has a backstory made to tie-into the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror while revolving around the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror characters, "The Silver Lake Sisters".
History[]
Backstory[]
The fictitious history is the cafe was open by The Silver Lake Sisters: Dolly, Dottie and Ethel Bounds. Known professionally as Fiddler, Fifer & Practical (aka The Silver Lake Sisters). They spent a good part of their lives performing the vaudeville circuit, entertaining the troops in World War I and becoming minor celebrities in nightclubs along the then‐emerging Sunset Strip in Hollywood.
After 20 years of singing, dancing and playing their instruments (Dolly on violin, Dottie on flute, Ethel on piano), the sisters decided to put down roots on Buena Vista Street. The idea came from Ethel, the practical one. She had always handled the trio’s business affairs and was constantly urging her sisters to settle down and open a legitimate business. They finally agreed, joining together to open Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Café, with its name an homage to their act. While on Buena Vista Street, a young Walt Disney was inspired by the sisters when developing his company's 1933 short, The Three Little Pigs.
Tower of Terror connections[]
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror[]
Two posters for the Silver Lake Sisters performing at the Hollywood Tower Hotel with one being for a performance in the Tip Top Club on the October 31 of 1939, the night that lightning struck the hotel. During the final days of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror before it was turned into Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT!, the Silver Lake Sisters would appear singing in the hotel lobby, unaware that it is not the Halloween of 1939.
Other connections[]
The Rocketeer[]
One of the clubs the sisters performed at was the South Seas Club, a location from the film The Rocketeer. On a bulletin-board is a flyer for Bigelow's Air Circus, the main circus which superhero Cliff Secord was a member of in this film.[1]
Trivia[]
- Various historic and otherwise real-world venues are depicted as having hosted the sisters. This includes: the Carthay Circle Theatre, The Music Box in Chicago, the Apollo Theatre in New York City, and Disney's El Capitan Theatre.[2] It also includes the fictional South Seas Club from The Rocketeer, and Club Ritz from Dick Tracy (1990).
- The bulletin-board in the cafe has allusions to real people and fictional characters.
- Real people include:
- A singing lesson class by Adriana Caselotti, the original voice-actress of Snow White in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
- Walt and Roy Disney looking for a child-actress to act in the Alice Comedies shorts. Actresses who had played this role including: Virginia Davis, Margie Gay, Dawn O'Day, and Lois Hardwick.
- A dancing-class instructed by Marge Champion, a reference model used in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Pinocchio and Dumbo.
- Disney's former dixieland band the Firehouse Five Plus Two (listed as the Firehouse Four) holding auditions for new members in the cafe.[3]
- The flyer for an orphan-benefit mentions a performance from one C.C. Nash, an abbreviation of Donald Duck's original voice actor Clarence Nash (1904-1985).
- Fictional characters include:
- Piano lessons taught by Roger Radcliffe from One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1951).
- A flyer advertisement for Otis Bigelow's business Bigelow's Air Circus from the Rocketeer (1991).
- A poster trying to give away the Three Orphan Kittens from the 1935 Silly Symphony short of the same name.
- An advertisement for the KBVS Radio Station with Montgomery Morgan.
- The poster for the Club Ritz features silhouettes of various mobsters from Dick Tracy, the most recognizable being Flattop.
- Others have references to general properties as opposed to specific characters. This includes:
- A flyer on the board mentions a William Tell overture band performance at Paradise Gardens park. This is a tribute to the attraction Silly Symphony Swings in the Paradise Gardens area of Disney California Adventure which is based on the Mickey Mouse cartoon The Band Concert (1935). Another flyer mentions a Friday night dance marathon at the, "Paradise Gardens Ballroom" hosted by one Teddy Morton of, "The Teddy Morton Show".
- A flyer for Miss Shrewberry's first grade ballet recital of, "FLOWERS AND TREES" at Benton Grammar School auditorium alludes to the 1932 Silly Symphony short Flowers and Trees.
- Real people include:
- The Twilight Zone character Anthony Fremont is mentioned on a poster in this cafe.
- There is a thematically similar dining-service to the Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe known as B.B. Wolf's Sausage Co..
Gallery[]
External Links[]
- Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe
- The Magic of Disney Parks Storytelling: Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe at Disney California Adventure Park
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