This week’s hidden gem is hard to see, not because it’s tucked away in some corner or hidden behind lots of vegetation.  It’s in plain sight, but the problem is it’s inside an attraction that is barely open these days.  If you’re lucky, you may be able to catch Sounds Dangerous while it’s actually open and if so, when you walk into the attraction, there’s a relic from an early part of the Studios history sitting on the side of the stage that many people can overlook.

This week’s hidden gem is hard to see, not because it’s tucked away in some corner or hidden behind lots of vegetation.  It’s in plain sight, but the problem is it’s inside an attraction that is barely open these days.  If you’re lucky, you may be able to catch Sounds Dangerous while it’s actually open and if so, when you walk into the attraction, there’s a relic from an early part of the Studios history sitting on the side of the stage that many people can overlook.

As you grab your seat for the show, on the left hand side of the stage is a facade of an apartment window that is from one of the earliest productions at the Disney-MGM Studios.  The facade is from the short film starring Bette Midler called "The Lottery".

"The Lottery" was a film made in 1989 starring Bette Midler and directed by Gary Marshall (he’s the gray haired owner of the baseball in team in the movie A League of Their Own).  In the film, Bette’s character is a singing instructor who suddenly wins the lottery but quickly loses the ticket and tries to chase it down.  It was a film that was just a few minutes long, but it was featured as part of the old Backlot Tour attraction where guests would see the film and then be shown how stunt work, body doubles and movie sets were used to produce the film.  

Thanks to my good friend Martin Smith, you can view this film one more time and when Bette sticks her head out the window, you’ll quickly recognize the prop from the Sounds Dangerous stage.