1954 Tournament of Roses Glass Slides in the Andrew J. Bramlett Collection

Rose Queen

The first float in the parade belonged to the Rose Queen, Barbara Schmidt of Pasadena City College, and her court of six other women. The float contained 15,000 roses, along with snapdragons, gladioli, carnations, chrysanthemums, and candytuft.

Little Rock

This entry, sponsored by the City of Little Rock, advertises tourism to Arkansas. The official program and front of the float give its name as “From Razorbacks to Diamonds.” The name comes from the book Hurrah for Arkansas: From Razorbacks to Diamonds.

San Gabriel

San Gabriel’s entry was titled The Sign of the Cross. The only close photo of it shows the rear, but a glimpse of its front can be seen in the photo of “The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” The sun that dominates the float was made of yellow chrysanthemums.

Gardena

The City of Gardena’s entry is based on Anita Loos’ book Gentlemen Prefer Blonds, with strong inspiration from the 1953 film version. According to the program, the dress worn by the woman on the float is the same dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in the film.

Though it is hard to see, the parade float behind is The Wizard of Oz, sponsored by Treasure Tone Paints.

San Diego City and County

This float from San Diego is based on the forgotten 1884 novel Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson. The novel is about a Scottish-Native American orphan who falls in love with a Native American named Alessandro. On the float, Ramona and Alessandro were portrayed by Miss San Diego and her fiancé. The heart on the front of the float was made of roses.

Burbank

Burbank’s float was based on A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. The program says the float is a “formal English garden” with “a touch of the Orient.” Pink carnations and white sweet peas were used throughout the design.

United States Marine Corps

The USMC’s entry was inspired by both the Korean War and Leon Uris’ 1953 novel Battle Cry. The float was made with green leaves, blue delphinium, white chrysanthemums, and some unspecified flowers.

Franilla Ice Cream

The Mother Goose float is instantly recognizable. The souvenir program noted that this was Mother Goose’s first appearance in the parade. Franilla Ice Cream sponsored floats at several Tournaments of Roses in the 1940s and 1950s but has been out of business for decades.

St. Louis

Meet Me in St. Louis is an obvious pick for the city, especially since 1954 was the fiftieth anniversary of the World’s Fair at the story’s heart. The story is best known today through the 1944 film, though the movie was based on a series of magazine articles published from 1941 to 1942.

Clydesdale horses, referencing another St. Louis icon, Anheuser-Busch, pulled the float. The float itself was made of roses, orchids, chrysanthemums, croton, ginger leaves, and more. This entry won the national trophy award.

Alhambra

Alhambra, California, was named after Washington Irving’s 1832 book Tales of the Alhambra, so Irving’s book made a natural subject. The float used carnations, chrysanthemums, cornflowers, and orchids, among other flowers.

Las Vegas

Viva Vegas was a 1953 book about the city by Paul Ralli, unrelated to the 1964 Elvis movie Viva Las Vegas. Though it cannot be seen clearly, in this photo, the float is designed to resemble a swimming pool. The pool was made with delphinium, bachelor buttons, and roses. The cowboy represents Vegas Vic, a famous neon sign that has stood in Vegas since 1951.

California State Polytechnic College

Here, Gulliver is seen talking to the miniature Lilliputians in Jonathan Swift’s 1726 satire Gulliver’s Travels. The float used 90,000 flowers, including 15,000 roses and 60,000 chrysanthemums. On the front of the float is Miss California reading to two children.

Minute Maid

Minute Maid’s entry was based on Cinderella. The floats for stories with movie adaptations often bear more resemblance to the cinematic version. This float, however, does a good job of distancing itself from the movie. It was made of 250,000 flowers.

Long Beach

This parade float, titled “American Heritage,” featured Miss USA, Miss France, and Miss Universe. The float won the sweepstakes prize, the most important award at the parade.

Standard Oil Company of California

Standard Oil of California, today’s Chevron, entered this float. It is based on the 1946 book Tales of the South Pacific by James Mitchner, which was also the basis of the 1949 Rogers and Hammerstein Musical South Pacific. The float was made of carnations, maidenhair ferns, Birds of Paradise, Heliconia, and even more exotic flowers.

Southern California Floral Association

This parade float was evidently a late addition, as it does not appear in the official program. However, it is covered in the January 1, 1954, Pasadena Independent. The float is based on Pearl Buck’s book The Good Earth, a story set in China. It was made of roses, azaleas, Yellow Sun Valley roses, sweet pea petals, and delphiniums. It won the parade’s President’s Trophy.

West Colorado Street Neighbors

The 1942 Disney film inspired this Bambi float: in fact, it even played music from the film’s score. It was described in the program as “a forest glade in springtime.”

Riverside

This “Book of Knowledge” float includes locations from across the globe, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. The book itself was made of chrysanthemums. The globe was actually revolving.

Temple City

This float was designed for Temple City by the Walt Disney Studios. The “partly animated” Pinocchio was made of rose petals, delphinium, and lilies. The oyster shell was made of lavender and pansies.

San Pedro

Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is the subject of this dramatic float. The sea was made of 60,000 blue cornflowers, with white chrysanthemums for the foam. This float, in the program, is attributed to the City of San Pedro as a whole, while newspaper accounts say it was made by the San Pedro Fisherman’s Fiesta Committee.

South Gate

William Thackeray’s Vanity Fair was selected by South Gate, California. Though difficult to recognize, the woman in pink is supposed to be sitting in a punch bowl. Much of the float utilized sweet pea blossoms.

Helms Olympic Bakeries

Made of pom poms, roses, delphinium, orchids, carnations, ferns, and more, this float shows the classic story of the Gingerbread Man. It was made by Helms Bakeries, which closed in 1969.

Post Cereal’s Division of General Foods

This float is based on Emerson Hough’s 1922 book The Covered Wagon. Two western stars rode on the float. Shown clearly in the second picture Dale Evans, an actress and singer. Also present is Roy Rogers, riding a flower version of his horse, Trigger. Rogers and Evans were married from 1947 until Rogers’ death in 1998.

San Francisco

This entry is based on the unimaginatively named book San Francisco. It used two types of orchids, pom pom chrysanthemums, roses, and carnations. This float received the Governor’s Trophy

Hawthorne

The City of Hawthorne’s float covered a classic subject – the family album. The album was made of “sol d’narcissus,” while the flowers in the vase prominently featured Croton leaves.

Pasadena City Schools

Mark Twain’s classic novel Tom Sawyer was the subject of Pasadena City Schools float. It is one of two stories by Twain featured in the parade. The flowers used to make the book and catfish were not specified, though the green base was made of spruce and fir.

Texas

Made with brown chrysanthemums, the Alamo is perhaps the most recognizable symbol of Texas’ history. The part of the float directly beneath the woman in red was a star (also made of chrysanthemums) that rotated. This book this float is based on is unclear.

Hoffman Television

In stores across the United States, color television manufacturers set up their products to show broadcasts of the 1954 Tournament of Roses. One of these companies was Hoffman Television, a forgotten TV manufacturer in California. Their float is based on The Ice-Maiden, a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen.

Van Nuys

In 1947, Thor Heyerdahl set out across the Pacific Ocean on a Polynesian raft named the Kon-Tiki. Heyerdahl’s goal was to prove that the people of South America populated Polynesia. This float was inspired by his 1948 book about the trip, Kon-Tiki. Much of the float was made using chrysanthemums.

Note the “Life of the American Workman” float sponsored by Detroit, which is directly behind this float.

Pasadena Water and Sewer

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is the subject of this float, and it seems to draw inspiration from the 1951 film adaptation. Each character was eight feet tall, using roses, delphiniums, bachelor buttons, and chrysanthemums.

Norwalk

The City of Norwalk’s float was based on Edna Ferber’s 1924 novel So Big. In 1953, a movie adaptation was released starring Jane Wyman, Sterling Hayden, and Nancy Olson. The giant flowers are roses, an apt choice for the Tournament of Roses.

Native Sons and Daughters of the Golden West

The man in the center of this float is Gordon Norris, the author of the 1949 book Golden Empire. From 1953 until 1961, he served as California’s poet laureate. This float used poppies, sweet peas, and ferns.

The following float, while hard to see, is based on the play What Price Glory, and likely the 1952 film version. It was sponsored by the American Legion’s Pasadena Post 13.

Altadena

Shown here, in Camelot, are the women of King Arthur’s court, along with Sir Lancelot. The horse was made with black croton leaves, Lancelot was made of gray sage, and the castle was made of lavender and chrysanthemums.

Behind is the float Football’s Finest Hour, sponsored by the Shriners.

Glendale

Peter Pan is seen here in Neverland with the Darlings and mermaids. Captain Hook is on the back of the float. This float was made with white sweet peas and pom pom chrysanthemums.

Union Oil Company

Uncle Wiggly Longears was a children’s character created by author Howard R. Garis. He appeared in almost 80 books between 1912 and 1962, though the character was first introduced in short stories in 1910. The characters here actually moved, thanks to the magic of puppeteer Jack Shafton. This float utilized roses, gladioli, maidenhair firs, vanda, carnations, and orchids.