Gazing across the field at Fiesta park during the Special Shapes Rodeo or at
any shapes gathering for that matter, you are met with all sorts of flying do-dads,
thig-a-ma-jigs, what-ya-call-its, and widgets. The only thing they seem to have in
common is that they are all filled with hot air and powered by propane burners.
As they lift off and fly through the sky, you can’t help but wonder how many times
someone utters that famous opening line..."Look! Up in the sky! It’s a..., no it’s uhhh, it’s a pink elephant or yellow submarine, or Santa Claus, or Garfield, or Hagar, or Sugar Bear, Smokey Bear, or_" etc., etc., etc.
Magical though they are, have you ever wondered where the ideas for some of these flying gizmos come from? Well, as another old TV show used to say; "there are a million stories in the naked city."
Jacques Soukup and Kirk Thomas first brought us Chic-I-Boom
because they thought balloonists took themselves too seriously. Later, while
living in London they decided she needed a boyfriend and Uncle
Sam was born-a natural for two Americans living overseas. Another of
their shapes, Chesty, the Marine Bulldog was an idea from Kirk
Thomas’ sister-herself a policewoman and Marine reservist.
For Rusty and B.K. Elwell their Fred B. Rabbit was their entrée into ballooning. As a rabbit special shape, it was their idea that it would be a natural at events wherever hare and hound events were run. And why the name Fred B. Rabbit?
"I used to have a terrible time remembering people’s names," explains Rusty. "Fred was my generic name for anyone I couldn’t remember. The initial B surprises people-they forget he is a rabbit, so Fred B. (Bunny) Rabbit."
By the way, while the Elwells have been invited to numerous rallies around the country, Fred now works for a living as a commercial icon for Hershey’s.
In the tiny Texas community of Nassau Bay (that’s Nas-saw not Nas-suh, population about 3,000) they were looking for a symbol to help promote tourism to the city. Located just across NASA Road One and the front door of the Johnson Space Center, the choice was a natural. The Space Shuttle debuted at Houston’s Ballunar Liftoff in August. The town’s convention and tourism budget provided the funding.
Inspiration for special shapes can come from virtually anywhere. Nursery rhymes for example. A few years ago we got The Cow Jumping Over the Moon. This year two new such shapes debuted that Mother Goose would be proud of; Greg and Edna Thompson’s Old Woman Who Lived in the Shoe and Brian and Susan Owen’s Humpty Dumpty. Others are spawned by comic strip characters such as Garfield and Hagar the Horrible. Still others by literature as in the case of Smaug the dragon.
Others find inspiration in their family pets, or their work. For Japanese pilot Toru Takahashi, the balloon Beloved Arrow is a tribute to a dog the family adopted and nursed back to health and who went on to become a loved member of the family until its death in 1990.
Dr. Steven Komadina of Corrales, New Mexico delivers babies for a living and wanted to celebrate his life’s work. Great Eggspectations, the stork balloon delivering a bundle of joy was the result. As Komadina himself says, "that’s how I see myself, as sort of a stork’s helper." And there is J. B. Gallegos; an Albuquerque motorcycle policeman whose idea it was to build Hot Pursuit.
When Russian pilot and musician Stas Namin set out to build a balloon, what more perfect irony than a Yellow Submarine. "It’s art, it’s entertainment, it’s surrealism all at the same time," Namin has noted.
The late Malcolm Forbes Sr. was well known for his shapes built to honor the various countries visited by his Friendship Trips. Two well known exceptions though were his Harley Davidson motorcycle and Fabergé egg. Each represented two of Forbes’ life long interests outside of ballooning. Visitors to the Harley Davidson factory and museum in Pennsylvania can see one of Forbes’ bikes with a picture of the balloon directly above it.
Of course many special shapes are inspired by the commercial products they represent. Yet sometimes, a good idea deserves to be copied. Peter Mason landed a contract for the Financial Times balloon and thus was designed the rolled up newspaper. A few years later, when Mason landed a contract with American Racing Forms the same rolled up newspaper design worked equally well for a different client.
Money is an inspiration we can all relate to. Canadian Harold Warner operates the largest fleet of shapes outside the US and is a master at turning his shapes into money makers. While most of his shapes were built to fulfill a particular contract, their dinosaur was an exception. Originally built just for the fun of it, it didn’t take long to sell banner space on T-rex to Sinclair.
Indeed, taking a closer look at all those shapes from around the world, it would seem that the line from Field of Dreams could apply equally to special shapes and baseball fields..."if you build it, they will come." But there is one case where that didn’t happen, at least in the US. In 1989 Family Health International commissioned The Balloon Works to build a condom balloon. The balloon debuted at the 5th International Conference on Aids in Montreal but later that year was denied entry into Fiesta’s first Special Shapes Rodeo. There were reports that the rodeo sponsor, United New Mexico Bank threatened to withdraw their sponsorship if the balloon was allowed in, but the official line given by Fiesta officials was that the condom balloon’s entry was submitted late.
Today, according to The Balloon Works spokesman Joel Blom, the condom shape is doing well and flying in Europe promoting safe sex programs.
So indeed it would seem that virtually any idea, no matter its purpose or inspiration can be turned into a special shape balloon. Next time don’t be surprised at what you might see when someone near you shouts out, "Look! Up in the Sky!"
