October, 1994 - After the Lemonade Stand I answered an ad for the Scenic Arts Department at Sea World. I was interviewed, I showed my portfolio and was hired immediately. This was the part of the process that took the least amount of time. The day I started was the first of two days of orientation, testing, training and certifying. First they took me to the wardrobe department. There I was issued my three pairs of khaki pants and my green shirts - this particular green being the uniform of a temporary scenic arts worker, not a full timer, supervisor or department head. I was photographed and issued my ID badge. Then I was handed a twenty page booklet of procedures, rules and regulations to read before I was tested on it. After the test, I was given a booklet about safety. The test for that included demonstrating the use of a fire extinguisher. Then I went over to the vehicle department for my written test and driving test to be issued my Sea World Driver's License so I could drive the golf carts and other vehicles around the park and even off property! Ooooh!
So in the afternoon of day two I was taken two miles over to the off-site Scene Shop and introduced to Drayton Knox, the shop foreman. I was told not to use any of the tools there because I had not yet been certified for tool use on Sea World property. I was not allowed to use my own tools or even get them out of the car. Drayton introduced me to his girlfriend, the primary scenic artist on the project. I haven't been able to conjure her name.
She showed me the scene she was working on, a Mardi Gras themed backdrop twelve feet high by twenty four feet wide. It was going to Cypress Gardens, another Anheuser Busch owned park, for their new water ski show. Suddenly I came to understand that they needed a scenic artist, not a scenic carpenter. I thought back on my interview. The HR guy was looking at my portfolio and asking me if I had done the painting on each piece I'd built - some yes and some no. Evidently the HR guy knew they needed someone to paint, but didn't understand the difference between a painter and a scenic artist. Now what? So I took up a brush, ready to launch my career as a scenic artist.
The department head came by to meet me and see how I was doing. I saw him take Drayton aside ant talk to him before going back to Sea World. Drayton told me that the boss wanted me gone and replaced with a real scenic painter ASAP, but Drayton talked him into keeping me to work on other parts of the job.
Meanwhile, once a week, the Scenic Arts Department had the job of pressure washing the algae, rust and mildew from the inside and outside the Sea Lion And Otter Stadium. Every other week, the crew included me. On that Wednesday morning we started at 5:00, which gave us four hours to saddle up, get there, break out the technology, squirt the rust stains with a dissolver, wash the walls and floors, put away the technology, touch up the paint wherever needed and get out before the park opened. The usual day for our department was 6:00 to 2:30. On pressure wash day it was 5:00 to 1:30. I loved it!
The best part for me was being around the critters. I'd be walking through the park with a bucket of paint, and all manner of mammals and birds would watch and/or follow me as I passed their tanks and/or pools. I could hear them wondering, "Whatcha got in the bucket there, champ?" The best one, though, was the morning I was wandering the Sea Lion And Otter Stadium with the squirt bottle of rust dissolver - squirt squirt... squirt squirt... and I came to a door back inside the stadium set. It was pushed almost closed, but not latched. I grabbed the knob and pulled it open - there about two feet from my face was the two foot diameter face of the show's walrus! We both cried out. I closed the door.
When the street scene was done and we had painted in the sky, I finally figured out the crux of the HR mixup. The whole backdrop was getting a clear coat over the artwork, and glitter on the clear coat. Drayton told me that I knew glitter, that that was what he had told HR, that the new hire had to have experience with glitter. Welllll, I'm your man! A glitterist from way back! I taught Drayton and his girlfriend the basics of glitter (not rocket science!) and finally earned my keep.
The last week of my temporary job was spent disassembling the backdrop (still not certified on tools,) loading it onto the truck, riding down to Cypress Gardens with the rest of the department, and reassembling the Mardi Gras scene on their barge. Of course, we couldn't work on it during water ski shows, so we were condemned to sitting behind the set of the old show while young physically fit cuties pie skied in to shore, ran behind the set, peeled off their costumes, slapped on the next costumes and skied back out to the middle of the lake again. Ah, Show Biz!
When we were finished, I was no longer a Sea World employee. They had me drive a company van back to headquarters. Everyone was stopping at a restaurant they knew for lunch on the way back, but I didn't want any part of this farewell. I just drove on back, checked in the vehicle, changed into my civvies, turned in my uniforms and ID badge and went home. I never heard from anyone at Sea World ever again.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Lemonade Stand
Three or four times in the course of events, Al hired in Frank and his crew from Space Concepts to take care of special projects at Image International. They fiberglassed the Phantom statuary. They made a canopy for a storefront set. They took up the slack on several occasions when the volume of work and the time frame were impossible for two of us to handle. So Frank knew me and knew my work when he heard I'd left Image, and he made me one of his crew - the only one, evidently, who was sober.
The best part for me: his shop was located in Kissimmee, about half as far away as Image International. I could go home for lunch if I hurried.
The first thing I worked on was Planet Hollywood Miami. It was mostly finished when I started, and a crew was in Miami installing. There were several additional pieces to fabricate, and fabricate them I did. Meanwhile, Planet Hollywood Las Vegas was gearing up, and it looked as though we were going to have a lot of stuff to do for that.
Details about the three and a half months with Space Concepts are very blurry in my memory. I've told people in the past that whatever company we were working for and they were complaining about was a great company compared to some I've worked for. Space Concepts was the one that stood out bright and bold in my memory.
We had a huge trade show exhibit (20' x 20' x 20' cube of aluminum framing, two stories of exhibit space) for some European computer company that sent us all specs in metric measurements. I had to miss The Eagles Hell Freezes Over tour concert in Orlando because they brought their literature to put in their literature racks, and it didn't fit because Frank hadn't converted the measurements correctly. I had to build and laminate two new literature racks to go into the exhibit before the show opened in the morning.
We did get a pile of work for Planet Hollywood Las Vegas. Frank's business partner Steve took the crew out to install it. While they were waiting for the room to be ready for the inatallation, Steve gambled away the whole company bank account.
For a several weeks, they scraped by by paying us what they would owe us after taxes and Social Security, but then not sending in the taxes and Social Security. My wife was not amused by this little game. She wanted some documentation to show that it was not me defrauding the IRS, but they never provided it. I told them repeatedly: "I'm an easygoing guy, I can roll with it. But you DON'T want to piss off my wife!" They laughed indulgently. I didn't laugh, because I knew that my paralegal law firm manager wife wasn't one to joke around where the IRS was concerned.
We got the job of creating a huge lobster to put on top of a little delivery truck - Space Concepts had done one a year or so before - for Boston Lobster Feast restaurants. There are two details of that job I remember vividly: First, when the truck was delivered to us for the fitting and attaching of the lobster, Frank immediately sent me out in it to the lumber yard to pick up a huge order of plywood, glue, staples, screws and other miscellaneous stuff; second, when the lobster carving was finished, Frank's fiberglass crew went to work, working late into the night. When I came in early the next morning, I was supposed to start sanding so it could be painted, attached and delivered so Frank could pick up the check so we could get paid. I came in early in the morning, found two trash barrels overflowing with empty beer bottles, and the lobster covered with sticky wet fiberglass resin. They forgot to put hardener in the mix. No sanding, no painting, no check, no pay. I went home, changed clothes and applied for another job.
When I went in for my last paycheck, I carried in a big bag of lemons off our tree. "My wife sent these along. She thinks you might better try running a lemonade stand before you try operating a real business!"
Not long after I left, the IRS came knock knock knocking at their door. I done damn told you - you DON'T want to piss off my wife!
The best part for me: his shop was located in Kissimmee, about half as far away as Image International. I could go home for lunch if I hurried.
The first thing I worked on was Planet Hollywood Miami. It was mostly finished when I started, and a crew was in Miami installing. There were several additional pieces to fabricate, and fabricate them I did. Meanwhile, Planet Hollywood Las Vegas was gearing up, and it looked as though we were going to have a lot of stuff to do for that.
Details about the three and a half months with Space Concepts are very blurry in my memory. I've told people in the past that whatever company we were working for and they were complaining about was a great company compared to some I've worked for. Space Concepts was the one that stood out bright and bold in my memory.
We had a huge trade show exhibit (20' x 20' x 20' cube of aluminum framing, two stories of exhibit space) for some European computer company that sent us all specs in metric measurements. I had to miss The Eagles Hell Freezes Over tour concert in Orlando because they brought their literature to put in their literature racks, and it didn't fit because Frank hadn't converted the measurements correctly. I had to build and laminate two new literature racks to go into the exhibit before the show opened in the morning.
We did get a pile of work for Planet Hollywood Las Vegas. Frank's business partner Steve took the crew out to install it. While they were waiting for the room to be ready for the inatallation, Steve gambled away the whole company bank account.
For a several weeks, they scraped by by paying us what they would owe us after taxes and Social Security, but then not sending in the taxes and Social Security. My wife was not amused by this little game. She wanted some documentation to show that it was not me defrauding the IRS, but they never provided it. I told them repeatedly: "I'm an easygoing guy, I can roll with it. But you DON'T want to piss off my wife!" They laughed indulgently. I didn't laugh, because I knew that my paralegal law firm manager wife wasn't one to joke around where the IRS was concerned.
We got the job of creating a huge lobster to put on top of a little delivery truck - Space Concepts had done one a year or so before - for Boston Lobster Feast restaurants. There are two details of that job I remember vividly: First, when the truck was delivered to us for the fitting and attaching of the lobster, Frank immediately sent me out in it to the lumber yard to pick up a huge order of plywood, glue, staples, screws and other miscellaneous stuff; second, when the lobster carving was finished, Frank's fiberglass crew went to work, working late into the night. When I came in early the next morning, I was supposed to start sanding so it could be painted, attached and delivered so Frank could pick up the check so we could get paid. I came in early in the morning, found two trash barrels overflowing with empty beer bottles, and the lobster covered with sticky wet fiberglass resin. They forgot to put hardener in the mix. No sanding, no painting, no check, no pay. I went home, changed clothes and applied for another job.
When I went in for my last paycheck, I carried in a big bag of lemons off our tree. "My wife sent these along. She thinks you might better try running a lemonade stand before you try operating a real business!"
Not long after I left, the IRS came knock knock knocking at their door. I done damn told you - you DON'T want to piss off my wife!
The End
The spring of '94 was a death march to the auction. We went through every set in the inventory - and there were hundreds - and spiffed them up, repairing and replacing broken pieces and putting a fresh coat of paint on everything. There were six or seven sets I had never seen in six and a half years, buried far back behind other sets. Some of them Al didn't even remember. We sort of half-assed assembled them however we could, knowing in our hearts that it didn't matter - the new owners would do with them whatever they wanted anyway.
A week before the auction Al came back to the shop and called together the whole Production Department. He stood before us and laid out the plans and described the contracted work in hand for the next four months. I don't remember at all what he said. What I remember is that there was nothing in that speech that made me want to hang around for four months. Al left and I gave my notice to Eddie.
During the three days leading up to the Big Day, we set up everything. The castle was inside the building, along with many other tall and wind-resistant things. The rest of it was set up outside in the parking areas and the lawn. Every single set we had was on display, and I must admit that it was impressive.
I know who bought the castle, because he hired me to set it up its first time out. I know who bought the dinosaurs. The rest... no clue. It was just a little bit sad to see all of this stuff, so much of which I'd built, nearly all of which I'd wrestled and pinned on numerous occasions, being dispersed to the four winds. And anything that wasn't sold was crunched up into the big-ass dumpster.
I still have the little wood tool box I made in the spring of 1988 - for the Pirate party. In it I had (nearly) everything I needed for installing a show. Almost all of it was Image property, but I had kept it close and safe for six years while the Goofies lost or broke fifty times what I had in my box... Eddie said that if I left all those little hand tools, they would go into a big box with the rest of the hand tools, and the whole box would auction for five bucks, with or without the stuff I had.
I still have it. All of it. Still safe, still useful every day. Much of it has "IMAGE" engraved on it. That and all of these stories I carried away in June of 1994. The end.
A week before the auction Al came back to the shop and called together the whole Production Department. He stood before us and laid out the plans and described the contracted work in hand for the next four months. I don't remember at all what he said. What I remember is that there was nothing in that speech that made me want to hang around for four months. Al left and I gave my notice to Eddie.
During the three days leading up to the Big Day, we set up everything. The castle was inside the building, along with many other tall and wind-resistant things. The rest of it was set up outside in the parking areas and the lawn. Every single set we had was on display, and I must admit that it was impressive.
I know who bought the castle, because he hired me to set it up its first time out. I know who bought the dinosaurs. The rest... no clue. It was just a little bit sad to see all of this stuff, so much of which I'd built, nearly all of which I'd wrestled and pinned on numerous occasions, being dispersed to the four winds. And anything that wasn't sold was crunched up into the big-ass dumpster.
I still have the little wood tool box I made in the spring of 1988 - for the Pirate party. In it I had (nearly) everything I needed for installing a show. Almost all of it was Image property, but I had kept it close and safe for six years while the Goofies lost or broke fifty times what I had in my box... Eddie said that if I left all those little hand tools, they would go into a big box with the rest of the hand tools, and the whole box would auction for five bucks, with or without the stuff I had.
I still have it. All of it. Still safe, still useful every day. Much of it has "IMAGE" engraved on it. That and all of these stories I carried away in June of 1994. The end.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Jurassic Fiasco
The blistering hot summer of '93 (weren't all summers in Orlando blistering hot?) was dinosaur summer. Moments after the movie Jurassic Park was released, Al Caputo had a sculptor in to carve movie-styled spitters, pterodactyls, veloceraptors, a sixteen foot tall brachiosaur and a twelve foot tall tyrannosaurus rex. Eddie and I were there to help with fiberglassing and assembling. We were even empowered to make and install teeth, claws and other minor pieces parts.
I realize now that I've never explained the medium we used for sculptures - be they alligator, Phantom angels and such, X-wing fighter bodies, moray eel heads or dinosaurs. All of these were carved out of big blocks (4' x 8' x 2') of urethane foam, a dense, fragile, grainy foam that can be carved with saws, knives, sandpaper, whatever. One can also use the two liquid parts (called "A" and "B") mixed together to pour into a mold (careful, it grows to about five times the volume of liquid!) or to glue together the carved pieces. This foam has no strength once it is reduced in volume, so we clad it in fiberglass to protect it and make the surface right for painting. Being covered in urethane foam dust, fiberglass resin and sanded fiberglass fibers is the absolute best way to spend a blistering hot summer.
By the end of August we had a shop full of dinosaurs. The first time out for them was a big Jurassic Adventure party in a soundstage out at - you guessed it - Universal Studios, Florida. This included a huge thirty foot high waterfall set up on scaffolding using all of our rocks, all of our plants, all of our erosion cloth, and a truckload of other plants rented for the occasion. A truckload of union stagehands did most of the work on this party.
Now, if one did not know the true cluelessness of Alexander Caputo, with his "I've got forty million dollars so I don't have to follow the rules" attitude, one might think that Image would have gotten proper licensure before the first big party, since the party was happening at the Florida home of the studio that produced the movie from which our dinosaur designs were stolen. As it happened, however, the day after the party, a letter came by certified Special Delivery. Its return address proudly proclaimed that it was from Amblin Entertainment - Spielberg's company. It warned of dire legal consequences for the continued use of these props or the word "Jurassic" in any future marketing.
Sea World's Hallowe'en Spooktacular was the next time out, dispersed here and there along the trails through the park. They were painted so they did not so completely resemble the movie critters. There was no advertising about dinosaurs at Sea World, and a splendid time was had by all. There were no lawsuits filed that I know of.
A month or so later, one of our guys took the tyrannosaurus rex to a function in New York City. Now the rex was in two parts, the six foot tall leg assembly and the body, about twenty four feet long from its head to the end of the tail. It fit fine on the truck, but the freight elevator in the destination building - not so much. Our guy ended up borrowing a hand saw and sawing off the tail. When it came back, Eddie and I made the removable tail work well and look better.
Next trip out was a Dinosaur Happy New Year at the Buena Vista Palace. We made a section of tall chain link fence with a "10,000 VOLTS" sign on it being trashed by T-Rex, hung pterodactyls from the ceiling as usual, built a bamboo gazebo from scratch, and on New Year's Day there were three parties to strike.
The spring of 1994 was the beginning of the end of Image International, which in any case was now called Noro Orlando Associates Destination Management. The scuttlebutt was that Al's five year contract with Noro was coming to an end, and he was being squeezed out. There were other convention services companies going out of business or at least cutting loose their themed party accoutrements. Al saw these companies having auctions to sell off their stuff. He wanted to have an auction too! He did.
The last I saw or heard of the dinosaurs, they were decorating the miniature golf course out back behind the Mystery Fun House on International Drive in Orlando. This was in '95. I'm sure they're long gone.
I realize now that I've never explained the medium we used for sculptures - be they alligator, Phantom angels and such, X-wing fighter bodies, moray eel heads or dinosaurs. All of these were carved out of big blocks (4' x 8' x 2') of urethane foam, a dense, fragile, grainy foam that can be carved with saws, knives, sandpaper, whatever. One can also use the two liquid parts (called "A" and "B") mixed together to pour into a mold (careful, it grows to about five times the volume of liquid!) or to glue together the carved pieces. This foam has no strength once it is reduced in volume, so we clad it in fiberglass to protect it and make the surface right for painting. Being covered in urethane foam dust, fiberglass resin and sanded fiberglass fibers is the absolute best way to spend a blistering hot summer.
By the end of August we had a shop full of dinosaurs. The first time out for them was a big Jurassic Adventure party in a soundstage out at - you guessed it - Universal Studios, Florida. This included a huge thirty foot high waterfall set up on scaffolding using all of our rocks, all of our plants, all of our erosion cloth, and a truckload of other plants rented for the occasion. A truckload of union stagehands did most of the work on this party.
Now, if one did not know the true cluelessness of Alexander Caputo, with his "I've got forty million dollars so I don't have to follow the rules" attitude, one might think that Image would have gotten proper licensure before the first big party, since the party was happening at the Florida home of the studio that produced the movie from which our dinosaur designs were stolen. As it happened, however, the day after the party, a letter came by certified Special Delivery. Its return address proudly proclaimed that it was from Amblin Entertainment - Spielberg's company. It warned of dire legal consequences for the continued use of these props or the word "Jurassic" in any future marketing.
Sea World's Hallowe'en Spooktacular was the next time out, dispersed here and there along the trails through the park. They were painted so they did not so completely resemble the movie critters. There was no advertising about dinosaurs at Sea World, and a splendid time was had by all. There were no lawsuits filed that I know of.
A month or so later, one of our guys took the tyrannosaurus rex to a function in New York City. Now the rex was in two parts, the six foot tall leg assembly and the body, about twenty four feet long from its head to the end of the tail. It fit fine on the truck, but the freight elevator in the destination building - not so much. Our guy ended up borrowing a hand saw and sawing off the tail. When it came back, Eddie and I made the removable tail work well and look better.
Next trip out was a Dinosaur Happy New Year at the Buena Vista Palace. We made a section of tall chain link fence with a "10,000 VOLTS" sign on it being trashed by T-Rex, hung pterodactyls from the ceiling as usual, built a bamboo gazebo from scratch, and on New Year's Day there were three parties to strike.
The spring of 1994 was the beginning of the end of Image International, which in any case was now called Noro Orlando Associates Destination Management. The scuttlebutt was that Al's five year contract with Noro was coming to an end, and he was being squeezed out. There were other convention services companies going out of business or at least cutting loose their themed party accoutrements. Al saw these companies having auctions to sell off their stuff. He wanted to have an auction too! He did.
The last I saw or heard of the dinosaurs, they were decorating the miniature golf course out back behind the Mystery Fun House on International Drive in Orlando. This was in '95. I'm sure they're long gone.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
So Many Trees
During my six and a half years at Image International, there was really only one absolute certainty: we were working New Year's Day. For several years before I got there until the year after I left, the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress had a "Vienna Woods" New Year's Eve party. I like to make up stories, so my invention about this event is that Al Caputo realized that every Christmas tree lot in Orange County had trees left over on Christmas Day. These trees had to be disposed of somehow. What could he do with them to make money? Hmmm
So every year on Christmas morning, Al and every cheap labor employee he could rope into it set out with the semi and went to every tree lot in Greater Orlando, picking up every leftover tree - for free! The owners were happy to get rid of them - for free! Unlike most Caputo deals, everybody made out on the deal. The semi, crammed full of trees, returned to the shop, cheap wire stands were screwed to the bottoms, they were flocked with fake snow and stuffed back into the semi.
As soon as the biggest ballroom at the Hyatt was free, we went in, set up the stage and installed The Vienna Castle set, put mirror panels around the room and the trees started coming in. Only about a quarter of them came inside. Early in the morning of New Year's Eve the main entrance and the drive leading up to it were closed off. Al, his decorators and his Goofies (laborers) lined the portico and the driveway with trees and fake snow. If Eddie or I were called out there it was to set up a teflon skating rink nestled in the trees. As night fell and the lighting was turned on you'd swear you were in a pine forest. They shuttled guests from the parking lot in horse-drawn carriages, and they were surrounded by trees and snow until they went home. The Florida Symphony was the entertainment, and a splendid time was had by all.
New Year's Day was the strike. When Vienna was the only party, shop guys came out, took down the set and stayed until everything was loaded up. The biggest crew was taking cheap wire stands off tree bottoms and feeding them into a chipper truck rented for the occasion.
After "O Ghost Who Walks" and then "Jurassic New Year" were added, Eddie struck a deal that we would start at 7:00, go from hotel to hotel to hotel and disassemble every piece, then go home, leaving the cheap labor to load it all out. Another win-win situation
I'll leave this reminiscence with the words of a song sung by Curtis Hayes, one of the goofiest of the Image International goofies. It's sung to the tune of O Tannenbaum.
Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Regency
Why do you need so many trees?
We cannot lean them against your walls
We cannot leave them in your halls
Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Regency
Why do you need so many trees?
So every year on Christmas morning, Al and every cheap labor employee he could rope into it set out with the semi and went to every tree lot in Greater Orlando, picking up every leftover tree - for free! The owners were happy to get rid of them - for free! Unlike most Caputo deals, everybody made out on the deal. The semi, crammed full of trees, returned to the shop, cheap wire stands were screwed to the bottoms, they were flocked with fake snow and stuffed back into the semi.
As soon as the biggest ballroom at the Hyatt was free, we went in, set up the stage and installed The Vienna Castle set, put mirror panels around the room and the trees started coming in. Only about a quarter of them came inside. Early in the morning of New Year's Eve the main entrance and the drive leading up to it were closed off. Al, his decorators and his Goofies (laborers) lined the portico and the driveway with trees and fake snow. If Eddie or I were called out there it was to set up a teflon skating rink nestled in the trees. As night fell and the lighting was turned on you'd swear you were in a pine forest. They shuttled guests from the parking lot in horse-drawn carriages, and they were surrounded by trees and snow until they went home. The Florida Symphony was the entertainment, and a splendid time was had by all.
New Year's Day was the strike. When Vienna was the only party, shop guys came out, took down the set and stayed until everything was loaded up. The biggest crew was taking cheap wire stands off tree bottoms and feeding them into a chipper truck rented for the occasion.
After "O Ghost Who Walks" and then "Jurassic New Year" were added, Eddie struck a deal that we would start at 7:00, go from hotel to hotel to hotel and disassemble every piece, then go home, leaving the cheap labor to load it all out. Another win-win situation
I'll leave this reminiscence with the words of a song sung by Curtis Hayes, one of the goofiest of the Image International goofies. It's sung to the tune of O Tannenbaum.
Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Regency
Why do you need so many trees?
We cannot lean them against your walls
We cannot leave them in your halls
Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Regency
Why do you need so many trees?
Friday, September 10, 2010
Playing Dress Up
There were several occasions when it fell to me to be a costumed character for Image parties. I had long hair and a beard, so all I had to do was paint them white and put on a red suit to play Santa Claus, which I did several times. The best part of that was riding my motorcycle down Interstate 4 and watching the reactions of the other drivers as I zoomed by.
As I mentioned in the Oz posting, I wore a Cowardly Lion suit twice, once for a full-blown Wizard of Oz party, and once as a game operator in an Oz-themed carnival party. On the first occasion I was walking around among the guests, and the costume got damaged in vicious attacks by children whose parents stood there and laughed at how cute their kids were while they were ripping pieces of the costume off. Little bastards!
The best one, though, was an impromptu "change of plan" thing improvised by Al Caputo himself. See, Image International was a full service agency that would book the flights and hotel rooms and meeting spaces for your hundreds of attendees, arrange rental cars, provide transportation to and from the hotel and whatever attractions anybody wanted to visit, provide audio visual services, and even theme parties. Many many things went on in this regard of which we were not even a little bit aware, which became abundantly clear one late morning.
Al came back to the warehouse with a crazed look in his eye. "Guys! We need to clean the warehouse real good. Pull out all of our casino stuff." We had roulette tables, blackjack tables, craps tables, wheels of fortune, that kind of thing. "Hide the theme party sets and stuff and bring out all of our crates. We're having a "Warehouse Party" in here tonight, like a speakeasy kind of thing!" Alex Ostovich and I were conscripted to be gangsters, fitted into pinstripe suits up in the costume loft, and told we were working the party. We were sent to dinner early and told to be back at 5:00 in costume and ready. To our dismay, once we were dressed we were each issued a firearm loaded with blanks. Mine was a stainless steel sawed off double barrel shotgun. Both guns belonged to Al Caputo.
One of the high-ranking women up in the office, "Patty Paycheck," we called her, was married to a State Trooper, and we were told to go sit in his patrol car. He finally told us what was going on.
Image had arranged to transport two busloads of conventioneers to the "Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre" nearby - but it turned out that the place was unexpectedly closed that evening. Instead of just telling everybody what was up, we were going to hijack the buses and take them to the Image warehouse for a speakeasy casino party instead. Oh, is that all? No.
The warehouse was still being set up and decorated, the booze was being brought in, the bartenders and game dealers were being rounded up and organized - in short, our first job was to stall for time. Our State Trooper mentor suggested a brilliant plan for this. First, as the two buses neared the dinner theatre location, he came up behind them with his lights a-flashing. They immediately pulled over. I believe the drivers WERE told the plan in advance. Then Alex and I, brandishing our weapons, strolled in a liesurely fashion up to the doors of the buses and climbed aboard. Then, using our best improvisational skills, we went one by one to each passenger and demanded a one cent ransom. It was actually great fun, messing with this captive audience that had no clue what was up. And by the time we had collected a penny from each passenger, State Trooper Man got the "all clear" and led the way three blocks to the Image warehouse. When the buses were parked, Alex and I exited and each fired off a round from our guns, just to let the passengers know we were a "serious threat."
After that, it was just a matter of hanging around the party as part of the ambience. At 11:00 Al collected his guns and sent us back to the costume loft to change into our civvies and go home. Just another day in show biz.
As I mentioned in the Oz posting, I wore a Cowardly Lion suit twice, once for a full-blown Wizard of Oz party, and once as a game operator in an Oz-themed carnival party. On the first occasion I was walking around among the guests, and the costume got damaged in vicious attacks by children whose parents stood there and laughed at how cute their kids were while they were ripping pieces of the costume off. Little bastards!
The best one, though, was an impromptu "change of plan" thing improvised by Al Caputo himself. See, Image International was a full service agency that would book the flights and hotel rooms and meeting spaces for your hundreds of attendees, arrange rental cars, provide transportation to and from the hotel and whatever attractions anybody wanted to visit, provide audio visual services, and even theme parties. Many many things went on in this regard of which we were not even a little bit aware, which became abundantly clear one late morning.
Al came back to the warehouse with a crazed look in his eye. "Guys! We need to clean the warehouse real good. Pull out all of our casino stuff." We had roulette tables, blackjack tables, craps tables, wheels of fortune, that kind of thing. "Hide the theme party sets and stuff and bring out all of our crates. We're having a "Warehouse Party" in here tonight, like a speakeasy kind of thing!" Alex Ostovich and I were conscripted to be gangsters, fitted into pinstripe suits up in the costume loft, and told we were working the party. We were sent to dinner early and told to be back at 5:00 in costume and ready. To our dismay, once we were dressed we were each issued a firearm loaded with blanks. Mine was a stainless steel sawed off double barrel shotgun. Both guns belonged to Al Caputo.
One of the high-ranking women up in the office, "Patty Paycheck," we called her, was married to a State Trooper, and we were told to go sit in his patrol car. He finally told us what was going on.
Image had arranged to transport two busloads of conventioneers to the "Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre" nearby - but it turned out that the place was unexpectedly closed that evening. Instead of just telling everybody what was up, we were going to hijack the buses and take them to the Image warehouse for a speakeasy casino party instead. Oh, is that all? No.
The warehouse was still being set up and decorated, the booze was being brought in, the bartenders and game dealers were being rounded up and organized - in short, our first job was to stall for time. Our State Trooper mentor suggested a brilliant plan for this. First, as the two buses neared the dinner theatre location, he came up behind them with his lights a-flashing. They immediately pulled over. I believe the drivers WERE told the plan in advance. Then Alex and I, brandishing our weapons, strolled in a liesurely fashion up to the doors of the buses and climbed aboard. Then, using our best improvisational skills, we went one by one to each passenger and demanded a one cent ransom. It was actually great fun, messing with this captive audience that had no clue what was up. And by the time we had collected a penny from each passenger, State Trooper Man got the "all clear" and led the way three blocks to the Image warehouse. When the buses were parked, Alex and I exited and each fired off a round from our guns, just to let the passengers know we were a "serious threat."
After that, it was just a matter of hanging around the party as part of the ambience. At 11:00 Al collected his guns and sent us back to the costume loft to change into our civvies and go home. Just another day in show biz.
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