Fun_People Archive
8 Oct
What do you need to learn to be Snow White?

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Tue,  8 Oct 96 00:28:05 -0700
To: Fun_People
Subject: What do you need to learn to be Snow White?

Forwarded-by: Keith Bostic <bostic@bsdi.com>
Forwarded-by: glen@substance.abuse.blackdown.org
Forwarded-by: TOMALHE@aol.com

Disney experiments with tiny cameras in some characters' costumes
Copyright 1996 The Associated Press

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (Oct 4, 1996 7:12 p.m. EDT) -- M-I-C -- See you on
spy-cam -- K-E-Y -- Why? To protect Mickey Mouse from overenthusiastic
visitors!

The Walt Disney Co. is experimenting with tiny hidden cameras inside the
costumes of some of the characters who greet guests at its amusement parks.

"People are grabbing at them all the time," said Rich Baker, Disney's
director of creative costuming.

"The characters get knocked down. Sometimes they are literally pummeled by
teenagers." Encased in bulky headpieces, most of Disney's costumed characters
have a limited view of the crowd around them during their 30-minute walking
tours.

Handlers with walkie-talkies are nearby, but problems still occur. Children
yank the tails of Pluto and Simba, sometimes hard enough to rip them off.
Sometimes, they throw up on the expensive handmade costumes. And performers
who play Snow White must be trained to deal with men who occasionally grab at
their breasts or talk dirty to them.

The new video cameras are as small as ballpoint pens and can be hidden in
almost any decoration. The performer inside the costume wears special glasses
that show the camera's view in the corner of one lens.

Disney spokesman Bill Warren said there are no plans to install the cameras
in the costumes of all 150 characters. Disney doesn't expect to begin buying
them in bulk until the price comes down from the current $15,000 to $2,000.

© 1996 Peter Langston