Quote:
Originally Posted by Dien Rice
Hi Gordon,
What's the story behind you as the Easter bunny?
Was it an "off-key" singing telegram thing? 
Best wishes,
Dien |
Yes, this was part of the OFF KEY SINGING Telegram service. Earlier that year we had appeared on the Cleveland Morning show with Fred Griffith for St. Patty's day. Fred loved us so much he wanted us back for Easter.
After our St. Pat's show, we were booked solid, in fact, I had to drop out of school to tend to it, and part of the expansion was hiring independent contractors to deliver these things. But our Easter Bunny was very popular and we had 5 different sets of Mr and Mrs as well as 6 regular Easter Bunnies.
A couple of savvy students figured out they didn't need us anymore, and started their own companies, I saw the writing on the wall and shortly after, sold the company and went back to school.
Now, I had a friend in the costume biz, as I've written about before. Both I and one of my kids has been in the "lucrative" mascot biz. I made 400 bux for about 3 hours of work, being a magician in a giant rabbit's hat, on several occasions. Grand openings and store promotions.
My friend was a magician and balloon animal guy, he got a lot of gigs at retail stores where parents shopped.
Probably the most visible of the "Mascots" are the Liberty tax guy/gal standing on a corner, or the Gorilla.
I'm sure this past weekend, tons of people made tons of moolah with their EASTER specials. Pretty, pretty, pretty, EZ money for those who want it.
Thanks for asking Dien.
Gordon