HA!

Dan,

GREAT editing job! I just sprayed <beverage of choice> all over my monitor.

You are one funny <person of questionable parental history>!

Thanks again!

Best,

Dan-

Ugh, plumes! I will try. This is going to be pretty contrived.

This mini-act requires fast outfit changes, you know, the kind where you can walk behind sometime and without slowing down you come out the other side dressed differently. (Think clothing layers and Velcro.) Note also, that all the times the man walks behind the partition (except possibly the last time), the plum can be seen since he is holding it high up and the partition is just slightly higher than the man.

An attractive woman in a black dressy outfit saunters on stage, and yells to the wings:

She: “Are you ready?”

A man yells the word “Red” offstage and then walks on stage wearing a bright red suit carrying a red plume. The woman looks him over, frowns and says:

She: “You’re not wearing that. You look ridiculous!”

The man walks behind a narrow partition on the stage, yells the word “Green” and comes out wearing a hideous green suit. He looks up at the plume, realizes it is still red, shakes it and changes it to green to match his suit. The woman frowns again and exclaims:

She: “That looks awful. Go find anything else to wear! (Pointing to the plume) Why do you have that stupid thing anyway?”

He: “A genie gave me this and said I can use it to change my clothes to be the color of any tropical bird.”

The man walks behind the partition again, yells “Yellow!”, and comes out in a bright yellow suit. His plume is still green. He looks up at it and changes it to yellow. The woman nearly screams at him:

She: “You look totally ridiculous! We can’t go with you looking like that. Can’t you make any normal colors? Black, or perhaps Navy blue?”

He: “I can’t make my feather those colors.”

She: “Some tropical birds are black.”

He: Acts surprised, walks behind again and comes out only in a flesh colored bathing trunks holding a white plume.

She: (Looks shocked, surprised, and then annoyed in rapid succession.)

He: Blackbirds aren’t tropical.

She: (Scowls and says haughtily) “Ridiculous, there are black tropical birds.” Grabs the plume, and walks behind the partition and yells “Black”. She comes out dressed like she’s a dancer in a sleazy club. She looks down, pauses, screams, and grabs him by the arm and pulls him with her as she goes behind the partition again. She yells “White”, and a flock of doves flies from behind the partition. The partition falls forward, and there is nobody there.

(Hey, you didn’t say that it had to “just” have plumes!)

Contest is Closed! Back in a moment with results.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this little exercise disguised as a contest. I find that if I can come up with an interesting idea regarding an effect I don't particularly care for, it makes it easier for me to work with effects I really like. I hope you discover the same. At the very least, it gets your mind working in creative ways. With that in mind, I'm being generous in the awarding of prizes. Pretty much everybody gets something. If you put some effort into it and came up with ANY unique presentation, you deserve a reward. Here's my list of winners:

Automark -- Involved candy, choking, and bleach. A babysitters nightmare, but at least he tried to keep us interested in the nonsense.

clubber89 -- Yes, Dave, you get something! The routine with the plumber shows a lot of inventiveness and would probably play very well.

MagicMan -- Technically he shifted the focus to a color-changing duck and finished with a somewhat tired old pun, but I say "Whatever gets the job done; at least he had a finish."

Daniel Santos -- He may not have realized it, but his sugestion is the most practical. The peacock. For those of you out there who use the plumes, at least think about making the stand look like a peacock. The trick will still be "pretty" but now will also be a nice stage decoration. If anyone decides to market this, you owe Daniel Santos. Pay him.

Eric Rose -- Although a simple solution -- "give them away" -- he presented it in an entertaining way. His method has applications to a much wider range of props, as well.

2bunik -- This method involved a red leather recliner, a drink, a green plant and a french maid. I didn't bother to read the rest. That was enough!

Jon Allen -- Hey, Everybody! It's Jon Allen! What do I have that Jon Allen could possibly want? Well, he'll just get whatever I give him. Anyway, he posted a routine which brought back fond memories of my Vegas days. Then in a blatant attempt to win me over completely, he described a beautiful ritual that I will call "The Burning Plume Festival!" I am pleased.

Danny Hustle -- His use of a classic joke fits perfectly with the plumes. For adults only. If you work comedy clubs, you may want to buy the rights to his routine. Pay him.

Bill Hallahan -- Yes, contrived. And a staging/costuming nightmare. But at least he had the sense to justify the prop. The concept is a great starting point for a quick-change duo.

All of the above folks are winners. They can PM me their address anytime and I'll send out the plumes... uh, I mean prize. Ha! Maybe I'll send Scott Ocheltree something too! Don't worry the prize is definitely not plumes.
--Dan Harlan

Hey, hey Mr. Harlan! I wish it wasn't your last day...love the advice though! Thank you for the nice message you put about my idea for the peacock. My address is:

Daniel Santos
2997 Old Town Road
Bridgeport, Connecticut 06606-1250

I really enjoyed having you! If you have the time, I think it would be cool if you just checked out the Café every so often. Once again, thanks for everything!

Daniel Santos

P.S. ANY of the funny things I said, you may use. I'm just not sure if you saw on the last thread, "Releasing Effects", that I gave you permission. Enjoy and good luck!

Wow Daniel...

You sure are a brave guy to post your address here for the public! Maybe it'd be better to have it PMed to Dan and have your post changed?

Keeps the weirdos away.


Chris

I knew someone was going to say that. I know I'm giving my address out to a bunch of people, but it's like having to give your address out to one person at a time to send you something...you know. So if someone wants to send me something my address is right here for them! Oh yeah, Mr. Harlan doesn't have any more free PM space. I know it may sound a bit weird, but I've just had to type the darn thing out too many times, haha. Thanks for showing some caring quality!

Daniel Santos

My Address is
Automark
2989-C Seth Court
Gastonia NC, 28054

Thanks Man!
Yeah your PM's Are full!

I don't know why it's saying my PM's are full. Just checked, I only have 5 in there. Anyway, I will contact everyone eventually. No worries.
--Dan Harlan