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Donal Chayce Inner circle 1770 Posts |
Stan, your rabbit puppet routine is legendary among us, and I know that you've been performing it for a very long time. Would you tell us just how long that is and share with us the gestation and evolution of the routine?
BTW--the way you handled the mechanical snafu at the recent IBM/SAM convention was not only the mark of a seasoned pro, it was hysterical as well. |
Harry H Inner circle 1526 Posts |
Yes killer the rabbit is fantastic.
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shomemagic Inner circle Missouri 2231 Posts |
Was the Rabbit custom made for you? Whats the history of the rabbit?
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Stan Allen V.I.P. 75 Posts |
The rabbit was made by Steiff, a German-based high-quality plush toy company. And, no, it was not custom made. In fact, I bought it mail-order from Tannen's around 1974. It was in their catalog as "Hunny of a Bunny," as I recall, and I paid $28.50 for it. I recognized the value of it immediately, and put it on the shelf for almost two years
Fast forward to January 9, 1976. I was working yet another week at the Magic Castle and trying to think of "something new" to do. While sitting around the swimming pool at my apartment complex, I started working out (in my head) what I could do with "that ol' gray puppet." A couple hours later, I tried out a few moves actually with the puppet on hand, then took it to the Castle that night. In those days, the Palace of Mystery was were the museum is now. The room had about 40 seats and they put about 80 people into them, four times a night for each of the two performers. I put the rabbit and an insurance policy (oh so clever!) in my table for the first show, but chickened out for the first three. The fourth and last show of the night was just one of those shows you wish your friends were at... ya know, everything goes right, every line is funny! When it came time to go into the ending, I asked the audience, "Do you want to see the old ending of the act, or the new one?" They voted for the new one, and I figured, "Hey, it's not my fault." Well, the routine was about two minutes long, and that wonderful audience laughed in most of the right places, and I had a new ending to my act! As to it's growth and development, that came about over the next five years or so. I spent half of my time on ships and half of my time working clubs in Southern California, mostly comedy clubs. On the ships, I had to do three or four different shows for the same audience. That required a lot of material, and we would all stretch everything we did. I tried lots of routines with the puppet, including a levitating rabbit, a mind-reading bit, a bed-time story. Then, I would come back on land and have to do 15 minutes in the club shows, over and over, all week. For that, I picked the best bits from the stretched versions and worked them into the shorter version. It was the stretching of material, then the repetitive performance of the best of it combination that really made the puppet (and me). |
shomemagic Inner circle Missouri 2231 Posts |
Wow that's great..I remember seeing you at the St Louis Midwest Magic Jubilee..forget what year. I think you were the Emcee for an evening show. The Rabbit KILLED.
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