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Messages - scallywag

#1
Thanks for the advice Graham; felt sure you might know the answer. Looks like shopping centers might be a good place to start.

Martin  :D
#2
I am sure this topic has been brought up before; but I am trying to find out how easy it is to sell balloon models myself say in a high street or on a beach. There seem to be three licenses out there. 'Street trader' which is designed for market stall holders . 'Busker' which I am technically not as a busker is not allowed to charge for balloons (I think); the third license is a 'Pedlars Certificate' which seems to be designed for door to door salesmen.

Has anyone else managed to sell balloons locally; do you need a license? and if so which one? How feasible is it?

Any feedback greatly appreciated!

The Scallywag  :D
#3
Thanks Captain! I think it would be interesting to hear from others. I notice we have a few members who work outside the UK. I would love to hear from people in other countries; does there seem to be a reduction in attention spans where you live? Are parents less willing to discipline their children where you live?

As no one else has replied yet, I'll start the ball rolling shall I?!  :D

Recently I had a kid about 4 years old (I was entertaining 5 year olds) a little younger than the others their. My act tends to be very silly, I drop things and get things the wrong and the children correct me. This little fella got a little over excited walked up to me hit me in the leg and said 'smelly bum'. I ignored it but he kept walking away and coming back again and doing the same thing again and again. I could see I was starting to lose the other 30 kids and needed to rein him in. I asked him to stop because he was spoiling it for the other children. He carried on. I could see the parents finding the whole thing amusing. No one stepped in to discipline him, Finally I resorted to handing out sweets to the good kids. This worked and he (wanting a prize) fell into line.

He was a lovely kid who really did well and I ended up shaking his hand and giving him a prize by the end because he was listening and joining in so well. The parent who booked me praised me for my amazing patience and ability to control the children so the party was successful. Super human patience does seem to be a necessary requirement for children's entertainers these days!

What surprised me was his mums attitude. I noticed at one point after I'd rained him in he started hitting another kid and at that point his mum waded in pulled him out and had a chat with him about how wrong it was. Yet when he was thumping me she did nothing other than laugh a bit.

What is this teaching her son. he must not hit other children, but hitting adults is perfectly all right? Its ok to thump someone in a costume? It really surprises me that mum would have this attitude, but I do see this a lot.

I am in my early 30's; I know if I had done the same thing as a child, I would have been in a lot of trouble! I would have got a smack for sure (now I do not advocate violence towards children, I believe in 2010 times are very different and there are many things a parent can do without having to resort to physical discipline) and I would certainly have been told off and I would have been told why what I did was wrong.
So why in 2010 do some parents seem to feel that its all right to let there children get away with this kind of thing? And what do other entertainers do to deal with these kinds of situations?
#4
Welcome / Greetings from the Scallywag!
January 07, 2010, 06:52:57 PM
Hello.

I've posted twice now; I guess its time I introduced myself properly. My name is 'The Scallywag' real name Martin Scully. I trained as an actor but am now a children's entertainer specialising in character driven entertainment (see http://www.madhousekids.com).

I work as various characters and specialise in bespoke parties and corporate events. I also present and work for events companies on team builds and murder mysteries; anything that involves character interaction and creation.

I have a martial arts back ground this along with training in stage combat allows me to perform slapstick confidently and more importantly without injury. I am self taught I plate spin, juggle just but specialise in magic and balloons; I am constantly trying to improve and evolve hence joining this forum.

I work a lot with Dov aka Captain Calamity and we formed MAD House Entertainment together. We skills share often and teach each other balloon designs we pick up. This industry can be a lonely one, so its nice to have someone else who is willing to share and grow with you.



Martin
The Scallywag
#5
Just to clear things up I am a different person to Captain Calamity! I have changed my profile picture which may clear it up a bit. I work with Dov as part of a double act as well as by myself.  :shock:

Back to the discussion! :geek:

The extract from David Kay's book 'Seriously Silly' does prove a point... as 'Mike and the Machanics' put it in the song 'Living Years' "Every generation blames the one before". What it shows is that every generation thinks they where better behaved and had a longer attention span that the one before. Did they? Do we look back with rose tinted glasses?

I find quite often its the parents who are impatient and want a a balloon for there child now, rather than waiting; they are the ones in a hurry! children are happy to wait a bit. When doing shows I find you do have to change your angle of attack! Do 15 minutes of magic, 10 minutes of dancing, 12 of twisting and so on. The real art of entertaining children comes in knowing what to do when in my opinion. You don't need to be a master twister or magician; you do need to know when the little people are getting bored.

What is certainly unique to the next generation is a massive leap in technology. Mobile phones, internet, 100's of TV channels, instant meals, emails. There is an expectation of having things straight away, perhaps people in general have less patience and our children will learn this lack of patience. This may be controversial but I have also noticed a change in the willingness of some  parents to discipline their children. For example if a child walks up to you and hits you, or tries to break your props parents often ignore this. As and entertainer I am not there to discipline other peoples children so its can be frustrating. I think controlling and keeping children's attention spans has become more and more difficult and more and more a central part of our profession.
#6
There will always be people to continue the craft... I'm sure of that. But looking at the much bigger picture... There has been over time a move away from creative practices. Once upon a time we needed people who could make things now a lot of things that would have been made/crafted by a skilled person are imported or made in a factory so quickly and so cheaply that there is less need and less people see the point of learning a creative ability.

Look at our schools more and more children who are good at maths, english and science are called 'intelligent' and those who are good at creative subjects are called 'unintelligent'. The emphasis in school is on the academic subjects. Artistic subjects are considered 'soft' subjects not to be encouraged. As someone who studied for a BA in performing arts I can tell u a lot of people think u r unintelligent or wasting time.

A lot of crafts are dying out... I really hope twisting is here to stay...