Land of the Twee

[martin ewen]

America's a lovely place with a huge variety of personalities, the ability to reinvent yourself is an unalianable right and its nieve adolescent mindset can stretch from the cradle to the grave.
Part of the performance variety industry is dedicated to the preservation of all that is fleetingly interesting and comfortably familiar. Entertainment can be a form of prosac, 'art lite'
Whereas "art" examines the human condition, variety entertainment is proactively distracting.
Boy theres a huge market for distraction here and I've only ever briefly skimmed the surface because to fully immerse yourself requires a titanium ego uneffected by surroundings of such middle class depravity with cynical 8 year olds and buildings that are actually party factories with dual rooms hosting events weekend in and weekend out, and the overweight smokers feigning drunken wit outside sucking on their cigs while inside and the utter utter utter lack of innovation that to survive this longterm would require a heart of darkness (or produce one) that I myself only manufacture for entertainment purposes.
You have to remind yourself that at heart these things are about community celebrating itself and that that plus the fee are good things.

First up an Italian Party where I was replacing a performer who had begged off sick (because he had found a better paying gig for the evening)
I rang and let them know that I and not he, would be attending. "stilts ok...what else do you do? do you do fire juggling? Do you do any magic? Can you do any mime without stilts?"
"um no..I sort of specialise, I just do stilts and mime and I have a character piece."
"Well the other guy did a bit of this and a bit of that and had a few things he would do. Are you sure you don't have any other SCHITCK?
(Could someone please tell me exactly what schitck is and where it lives so that I can hunt it down and kill it.)
"Well I'm not sure your going to be any use to us but there no time to find a proper replacement and we've already sent the fee away so you might as well turn up."
"Thank you, I really really really really really really really really really really appreciate it." (I wondered if he caught the sarcasm) Click.

I turn up , get glared at and told to "go down the stairs and first door on the left and tell them you're the replacement"

I go down put my stuff on, go back upstairs and mingle a bit and dance a bit, get given an Italian Flag and take part in a strange 'Parade of nations' then the national anthem is played. Everything changes, I'm OK now because..well...actually I'm doing a great job. I'm strange but a fantastic dancer and you can watch me without me needing you to and really I'm quite funny in my own way.

So thats done and I'm congradulated and given pasta and coke and drive off thinking, 'Well you know that really wasn't that bad, another 100 of these and i could buy a mini.'

The next day, at the Manhatten childrens museum there was a party for Dr Seuss's 100 year birthday (I suspect he'd dead, I told nobody)
There were a handful of us employed to interact with the kids and teach them things like juggling and stilts and I don't know..How to survive their parents smothering expectations. I had 2 pair of childrens stilts and Lurk (me) didn't have his own stilts on. I never usually do this after a pathetic spanish nightclub experience, so lurk (me) was on edge and ready to snap at the slightest provacation.
I thought I'd hide behing juggling for the 3 hours (Justifying it to myself thus, At least its not my whole career and the fee martin the fee)
But the massive box of juggling balls were made of foam and had the tendancy to bounce straight out of your hand, no-one could use them let alone teach anyone them, other performers were lobbing them at kids who would attempt to catch them and fail and they're parents (who had paid $70 a kid or $200 per family) would blanch in horror at their offsprings pronounced deteriation of hand eye co-ordination and would rush them away to a private clinic for a cat-scan.
My dictum has always been (and I'm so very grateful to Gustav Mensies for teaching me this)
Whether a performer or not, your first responsibility is to keep yourself entertained.
So what I did is I started jamming these spongy foam juggling balls into my front pockets one at a time, I could jam 77 balls into my front pockets.
This would take a while and then when it was done I would take them out one at a time and throw them back into the box until my pockets were empty then I'd start again.
I did this for 3 hours, I took no breaks and I was always singlemindly either stuffing or unstuffing my pockets.
I will spend the money wisely.
(and thats why I havn't put any links up for 24 hours)

[jester]

sponge balls

Been there done that. Gone to a gig and somebody pulled out loads of ball pond balls

"I thought you could teach some of the kids to juggle and I've told the parents if they get here 15 minutes earlier the kids could put on some sort of show."

This really pisses me off because:

I have decent workshop kit which I could have brought with me if I had known at no extra cost because I am charging for my time and you are paying me.

A show on the other hand is a completely different ball game....

The other thing I hate is trying to make it look as though the booker hasn't wasted their money when everybody has gone home an hour earlier than envisaged.

I think shoving sponge balls in and out of your front pockets is a brilliantly masterbatory way of passing the time.

Well done Martin.

[Butterfly Man]

Dr. Seuss

So is he dead ... or not?

[martin ewen]

This just in...

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born 2 March 1904 in Springfield, MA. He graduated Dartmouth College in 1925, and proceeded on to Oxford University with the intent of acquiring a doctorate in literature. At Oxford he met Helen Palmer, who he wed in 1927. He returned from Europe in 1927, and began working for a magazine called Judge, the leading humor magazine in America at the time, submitting both cartoons and humorous articles for them. Additionally, he was submitting cartoons to Life, Vanity Fair and Liberty. In some of his works, he'd made reference to an insecticide called Flit. These references gained notice, and led to a contract to draw comic ads for Flit. This association lasted 17 years, gained him national exposure, and coined the catchphrase "Quick, Henry, the Flit!"

In 1936 on the way to a vaction in Europe, listening to the rhythm of the ship's engines, he came up with And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, which was then promptly rejected by the first 43 publishers he showed it to. Eventually in 1937 a friend published the book for him, and it went on to at least moderate success.

During WW II, Geisel joined the army and was sent to Hollywood. Captain Geisel would write for Frank Capra's Signal Corps Unit (for which he won the Legion of Merit) and do documentaries (he won Oscar's for Hitler Lives and Design for Death). He also created a cartoon called Gerald McBoing-Boing which also won him an Oscar.

In May of 1954, Life published a report concerning illiteracy among school children. The report said, among other things, that children were having trouble to read because their books were boring. This inspired Geisel's publisher, and prompted him to send Geisel a list of 400 words he felt were important, asked him to cut the list to 250 words (the publishers idea of how many words at one time a first grader could absorb), and write a book. Nine months later, Geisel, using 220 of the words given to him published The Cat in the Hat, which went on to instant success.

In 1960 Bennett Cerf bet Geisel $50 that he couldn't write an entire book using only fifty words. The result was Green Eggs and Ham. Cerf never paid the $50, btw...

Helen Palmer Geisel died in 1967. Theodor Geisel married Audrey Stone Diamond in 1968. Theodor Seuss Geisel died 24 September 1991.

see also

http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dspolitic/

[Mr.Taxi Trix]

Sounds like you were sleeping on the job. Who pays for ball pocketing? I suggest you give whoever hired you a hundred bucks off.

[jester]

alright alright1

Okay! Okay!

We only asked if the guy was dead.

Whoever taught Martin to type, as fast as he can think, should have taught him that when he's writing his thoughts down it's brilliant, but teaching history?

Come on Martin. Shame Dr Seuss never did an autobiography.

Bet someone comes up with a sick rhyme now.

[martin ewen]

1. Was Dr Seuss his real name?

Not exactly. His name was Theodore Seuss Geisel - Seuss being his mother's maiden name. He started using it as a pseudonym at university. He added the Dr later, as a joke, because his father had always wanted him to get a doctorate and become a professor.

2. How many books did he write?

Between 1937 and 1991, when he died aged 87, he published more than 40 books, which have sold half a billion copies between them - more even than J K Rowling's Harry Potter books. He nearly burned his first book, And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street, after it was turned down by 27 publishers.

3. Did he have children himself?

No. He was not particularly fond of spending time with them either. His widow, Audrey, said in a recent interview that he was slightly afraid of them. She said he was always thinking: "What might they do next? What might they ask next?" She added: "He couldn't just sit down on the floor and play with them."

4. Where did he get his ideas from?
This was a question he hated being asked. His mother was one source of inspiration: she worked in a bakery and would sing him to sleep in his childhood with her "pie-selling chants".

One of his most popular books, Green Eggs and Ham, was the result of a bet that he could not write a book using only 50 words.

These are, in order of appearance: I am Sam; that; do not like; you green eggs and ham; them; would here or there; anywhere; in a house with mouse; eat box fox; car they; could; may will see tree; let me be; train on; say the dark; rain; goat; boat; so try may; if; good; thank.

5. Where did he live?

He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, where his grandparents lived on Mulberry Street - hence the title of his first book. He studied at Dartmouth College (in the US) and Oxford University (in the UK). In 1948 he and his first wife Helen bought an old observation tower in La Jolla, California, where he would shut himself away in a studio for at least eight hours a day, sometimes literally wearing a thinking cap.


6. Which are his most popular books?

The Cat in the Hat, published in 1957, and Green Eggs and Ham, published in 1960, are the two biggest sellers. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is third on the list of most popular Seuss books in the US. The tongue-twisting Fox in Socks is third in the UK. The Cat in the Hat Comes Back and the counting book One Fish Two Fish are also near the top of the table.

7. What impact did they have on children's books?

A revolutionary one. He has been credited with killing off "Dick and Jane", the sterile heroes of older children's books, replacing them with clever rhymes, plot twists and rebellious heroes who do the unexpected. The Cat in the Hat was commissioned following publication in 1955 of an influential book, Why Johnny Can't Read, which said children were being held back by boring books. An article under the same name in Life magazine called for more imaginative illustration, and named Dr Seuss as a good example of what could be done. Now one in four American children receive Dr Seuss as their first book.

8. Have the books ever been made into films?

There have been a number of animated films. More recently, a version of How the Grinch stole Christmas! starring Jim Carrey became the highest grossing film in the USA in the year 2000. A film of The Cat in the Hat, starring Mike Myers, was described by some critics as the worst film of the year in the USA in 2003, though it also did well financially. (It will be in cinemas soon in the UK.)

9. What did he think was his greatest work?

He once said it was not a book or an illustration, but the Lion Wading Pool at Wild Animal Park in San Diego, which he donated in 1973.

10. Which was his most controversial book?

The Butter Battle Book, published in 1984, about the arms race. Taking the place of the US and the USSR are the Yooks and the Zooks, who disagree on whether bread should be eaten butter-side down, or butter-side up. The story ends with a blank page, allowing readers to imagine the result of the rising tensions for themselves. The book remained on the New York Times' bestseller list for six months - for adults. The televised version of the book was shown in the USSR in 1990; Dr Seuss joked that it was after this that the country began falling apart.

[worldwidese]

Children's Museum show

We did A CM Show here in New Orleans Lundi Gras (day before Mardi Gras) but we didn't find the time to stuff sponge balls in our front pockets.

It took us time to even get to the unloading spot, because
(1) many streets were filled with bleacher stands and traffic couldn't flow properly,
(2) All the streets are one way,
(3) The street we absolutely had to get into was completely blocked at the end by a stage and audition booth and a big truck for The Fear Factor, a TV Reality Show, so we lost time having to back out and look for another way to get to the Museum.
(4) It was raining buckets. We thought there would be an empty house.

Well we finally got in set up, and did a Show that rocked the nearly full house.

From that Show we got booked to conduct workshops at two Summer Camps, we got booked for a Summer Reading Program at in city and out of town libraries, and we booked three just straight Shows at regional Festivals.

So I'm glad we didn't have time to stuff sponge balls.

[martin ewen]

Thats obviously why you make the big bucks while I just have mishapen trousers.

[theballoonman]

On Mr. suess....
unsubstantiated,but from a proffessor of literature...the actual pronunciation of suess is the emphasis on the first syllable
sooo-es,,,and oddly enough the good doctor is a relativle unknown through most of europe due to translation..
"je ne mange pas des oueff verte et cochon,sam je suis"

just not the same....

"a persons a person no matter how small."

mike shick
The Balloonman show

[jester]

Dr Seuss is not unknown in Europe. Thanks mainly to the television adaptations of his work.

The Germans and French are very good at translating works and using a bit of artistic licence so as to carry the effect of the language as well as the literal meanings.

Seems difficult to us, but then we watch so few foreign movies we just stick subtitles underneath. Listen to a dubbed German movie though. Sean Connery sounds just like Sean Connery, Arnie, De Vito, etc etc.

I only know this because I understand a fair amount of German (I lived there as a child) and when I'm drunk I can't tell whether I'm watching German or English Channels on the Sattelite.

Hang about. Maybe Sean Connery sounds like Sean Connery because he is Sean Connery. Maybe he they reshoot every movie in German. Or maybe I'm so drunk that actually I'm watching the English movie? Who Cares? Not Vannessa Redgrave that's for sure.