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Paul Young and I had a terrific correspondence
over the splurge guns and his design is excellent
as are the pictures from the production of
Bugsy Malone.
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 01:59:48 +0100
Subject: web site/splurge gun
From: "Paul Young" <illustration@paulyoung.demon.co.uk>
Hi Bob
Just like to thank you for putting your design
on the web. I built it and it worked.Just
as I thought I had it cracked, I was handed
a can of splurge.Back to the drawing board.The
possibility of a continuous splurge came to
light.A day designing,I must add, around your
original structure,produced a gunfull of splurge.
Continuous firing for the kids,yes until they
emptied the can.
I have just heard from the Director that all
went well tonight (first night of Bugsy)and
that the first scene set the splurge tone
for the rest of the play.
The first victim was head to toe covered in
splurge,despite strict instructions to be
leniant with the splurge.Hell I was a kid
as well,I would have fired away until it was
empty.
On a technical note,I encased the can of slurge
within the magazine case and the rear handle
slid forward to depress the nozzle
in a (seesaw)lever action.Couldnt have done
it without your origional design inspiration.Cheers.
Bugsy Malone,Theatre Clwyd.N.Wales .U.k.Childrens
Theatre Group "Jolly Good Productions"
Why did I face the splurge gun problem...it
was fun.Thank goodness it worked.3 nights
to go,I know the guns will survive,I hope
the splurge supply does.If there is any left
there's a long line backstage of over 30 teens
who wanna get hold of the guns and splurge
........well anybody!!
Cheers for your help.
Paul
From: Bob Dickason <bob@bobdickason.com>
Hi Paul
Many thanks for your feedback and interest.
I've had a lot of queries in the past but
yours is the first report I've had from someone
who actually made the gun. And the improvements
sound fantastic.
Please may I have a photo. Or photos. And
one of the production maybe?
Are you planning to put your design on the
web? I'd be glad to post a link on my site.
Alternatively, I'd be happy to publish your
modifications on my site with an email link
to you. I'm sure many other productions would
benefit. Please tell me more about the splurge
in a can and I'll try to find it in Australia
and make a note on my site.
As for splurging "..... well anybody",
you probably shouldn't have seen the stage
manager and myself in the workshop as we "tested"
our prototypes.
As to why I did them originally myself - well,
I love a challenge, particularly an entertaining
or spectacular one, and to make props which
would survive youthful enthusiasm for about
10 (I think) performances and had to squirt
stuff and make a mess ... well how could I
resist?
Thanks for your note
Bob
From: "Paul Young" <illustration@paulyoung.demon.co.uk>
Hi Bob
Thanks a lot for your reply.It was great to
hear from you .I will be very happy to post
my designs on your site.I will send them to
you as soon as I can.I had two schools
asking about the guns after watching the show,so
I am sure that it will help other productions,especially
school productions.
I got involved in designing the guns as the
director was at a loss,and as usual,as is
the way of things, short of time.The guns
worked...to well,and we almost ran out of
splurge.I filmed the last but one show and
watched the final show.The first victim,poor
soul was encased head to shoulder in splurge(despite
the strict rule "shoot at the body!!"
)the audience loved it.(Oh how I wanted to
be a victim..a splurger....anything)
I have attached some photo's,some of them
have..well, a little motion blur to them as
I was working with my new Fuji 6900 dig camera
and had not at that point figured out how
to bump the ISO up from 100 to 400.I think
it does give some flavour to the images though.
You might notice the central victim in Fat
Sam's on one of the shots has sustained and
severe splurging.
Your original design created some classic
fledgling .... how to fill the gun moments.If
you can imagine three people,one holding the
gun,one the can of shaving foam,and(Me and
my alterations to your design holding a plastic
adapter).There wasnt much foam in the
gun at that first attempt..but there was a
lot of foam...everywhere else,we mopped quite
a few times times out of our hair ,eyes
and up our noses, finally getting it right.We
did get it to work ,and your Slurge Gun worked
brilliantly.It was a day later,just as I thought
my work was done that Rob (Director)handed
me a can of "Slurge" and said mm..do
ya think you could......?
Thats when I begun S.G.two.(I did feel really
sad though, that after researching and finding
your gun design and building it,that it wouldnt
be used)Perhaps that it the nature of design,I
will be interested to see the slurge gun family
tree in a decade or two.
On the note of the" Cans Of Splurge".It
is called Blizzard from a firm called Smiffy"s.I
think it is a British firm but I will send
you the details when I have them.
Still unsplurged but hopefull
Paul
BELOW: Paul's version of the pump gun.
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