WEBVTT - How Is Forest Lawn Memorial Park the 'Disneyland of Cemeteries'?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren Vogelbon.

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<v Speaker 1>Here in Glendale, California's Forest Lawn Memorial Park, there are

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<v Speaker 1>plaques scattered throughout that detail its creator's vision. When doctor

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<v Speaker 1>Hubert Eaton took over the three hundred acres FO one

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and seventy hectors in nineteen seventeen, he installed a

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<v Speaker 1>massive stone tablet engraved with what he called the Builder's

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<v Speaker 1>Dream and the Builder's creed. It speaks of a quote,

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<v Speaker 1>a great park devoid of misshapen monuments and other signs

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<v Speaker 1>of earthly death, but filled with towering trees, sweeping lawns,

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<v Speaker 1>splashing fountains, beautiful statuary, and memorial architecture. The plaques are

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<v Speaker 1>all signed the builder. Before the article of this episode

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<v Speaker 1>is based on how Stuffworks. Spoke with James Fishburne, PhD,

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<v Speaker 1>Director of the Forest Lawn Museum. He said, that's how

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<v Speaker 1>we refer to Eton the builder. It's very grand. You

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<v Speaker 1>get that grand sense when you visit. There are rolling hills,

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<v Speaker 1>studding landscapes, mountain views, and you can see the ocean

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<v Speaker 1>in the distance. And then the art collection is also

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<v Speaker 1>very grand. Forest Lawn is a cemetery, but it's not

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<v Speaker 1>like any burial place before it. While more than three

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<v Speaker 1>hundred thousand people are buried there, including some of America's

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<v Speaker 1>most famous names, it also boasts gardens, churches, a huge mausoleum,

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<v Speaker 1>and an art museum. It's lively enough that over sixty

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<v Speaker 1>thousand people have actually gotten married there. Fishburne said it

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<v Speaker 1>was designed quote so it didn't feel like a place

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<v Speaker 1>of death and decay, but rather a celebration of life,

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<v Speaker 1>a place you would want to visit today. There are

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<v Speaker 1>six Forest Lawn Memorial Park locations in southern California, but

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<v Speaker 1>the original is in Glendale. From the beginning, the art

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<v Speaker 1>has been a major draw a. Fishburne said, one of

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<v Speaker 1>the early ideas was to sort of recreate what the

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<v Speaker 1>Grand Tour used to be. If you were very wealthy,

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<v Speaker 1>you could go to Europe and travel all over and

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<v Speaker 1>view amazing cathedrals and sculptures and paintings. To bring that

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<v Speaker 1>to Southern California in a time when international travel was

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<v Speaker 1>prohibitively expensive and time consuming, and when there were relatively

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<v Speaker 1>few publicly accessible art collections in Southern California. The museum

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<v Speaker 1>houses original art and replicas of famous works, including one

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<v Speaker 1>of the largest replica collections of Michelangelo. There's even a

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<v Speaker 1>reproduction of his famous statue of David that stands seventeen

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<v Speaker 1>feet tall that's about five point two meters, which is

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<v Speaker 1>the same grand size as the original. They built an

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<v Speaker 1>entire building to house another piece in their collection. The

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<v Speaker 1>largest painting in the West during the United States, Jonstka's

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<v Speaker 1>The Crucifixion, which is one hundred and ninety five feet

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<v Speaker 1>wide and forty five feet tall. That's about sixty by

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<v Speaker 1>fourteen meters. That's more than twice as wide as an

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<v Speaker 1>Imax movie screen and nearly as tall. European cemeteries evolved

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<v Speaker 1>over the centuries alongside different periods of art and religion

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<v Speaker 1>and thought about death. In the United States, the largest

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<v Speaker 1>cemeteries on the East Coast were established in the early

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen hundreds and thus were tied to the conventions of

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<v Speaker 1>those times. But when Forest Lawn began on the outskirts

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<v Speaker 1>of the growing city of Los Angeles, Eton and the

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<v Speaker 1>founders could rethink those conventions and they got the timing

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<v Speaker 1>just right to be a new cultural center. Fishburne said,

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<v Speaker 1>when Forest Lawn was established over a century ago, it

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<v Speaker 1>was immediately between two population centers. It's located between Pasadena,

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<v Speaker 1>which was already booming in the early twentieth century, and

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<v Speaker 1>downtown Los Angeles. A few years after we opened, the

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<v Speaker 1>Los Angeles Aqueduct was constructed, and there was just a

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<v Speaker 1>population boom. At the same time, the film industry was

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<v Speaker 1>exploding in southern California and movie stars needed a final

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<v Speaker 1>resting place. Forest Lawn is the burial place of celebrities

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<v Speaker 1>like Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Nat King, Cole Clark Gable,

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<v Speaker 1>Michael Jackson, Will Rogers, and Elizabeth Taylor, just to name

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<v Speaker 1>a few. But don't expect to see a list of

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<v Speaker 1>who's who, or rather who's where a Forest Lawn employees. No,

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<v Speaker 1>people come to see the famous graves, but they won't

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<v Speaker 1>help you find them. Fishburne said, we try to respect

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<v Speaker 1>the privacy of the families that we serve, so we

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<v Speaker 1>don't do celebrity grave tours. We don't advertise X, Y

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<v Speaker 1>and Z are buried here. Many of the final resting

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<v Speaker 1>places of celebrities are openly accessible to the public and

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<v Speaker 1>people are welcome to come visit them. Others are in

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<v Speaker 1>locked gardens or in private areas. A Walt Disney is

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<v Speaker 1>also buried in Forest Lawn, but that's not the only

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<v Speaker 1>connection between him and this memorial park. A. Forest Lawn's

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<v Speaker 1>tutor inspired architectural style extends through its many burial sections,

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<v Speaker 1>which have names like Eventide, Graceland, Inspiration Slope, Sweet Memories,

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<v Speaker 1>Whispering Pines, and Dawn of Tomorrow. There's also a heart

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<v Speaker 1>shaped area called Babyland for infant burials and Slumberland for

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<v Speaker 1>children and adolescents. It's reminiscent in many ways of the

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<v Speaker 1>different areas and esthetics of Disney's nearby amusement park. Fishburne said,

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<v Speaker 1>Eton and Disney ran in some of the same circles,

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<v Speaker 1>and Forest Lawn and Disneyland share the zeitgeist of the

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<v Speaker 1>early and mid twentieth century, the sort of storybook style

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<v Speaker 1>that you see in a lot of early Disney movies

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<v Speaker 1>and in Disneyland. Forest Lawn is sometimes called the Disneyland

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<v Speaker 1>of Saries, but Fishburne sets the record straight quote forest

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<v Speaker 1>Lawn was founded first. We like to joke that actually

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<v Speaker 1>Disneyland is the amusement park of Forest Lawn's. Ultimately, as

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<v Speaker 1>with all cemeteries, it's a place as much if not

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<v Speaker 1>more for the living than for the dead. Fishburne said,

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<v Speaker 1>when you visit on the day of a family member's funeral,

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<v Speaker 1>that's obviously going to be a very intense and very

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<v Speaker 1>sad moment. But we want you to be able to

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<v Speaker 1>come back time and again, bring friends and family and

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<v Speaker 1>celebrate that person, and celebrate Southern California and celebrate life.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article inside LA's Forest

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<v Speaker 1>Lawn where the biggest celebrities rest in Peace on how

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<v Speaker 1>stuffworks dot Com, written by Kate Morgan. Brainstuff is production

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<v Speaker 1>of Byheartradio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and

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<v Speaker 1>is produced by Tyler klang A. For more podcast It's

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<v Speaker 1>My Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

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