I was a re-enactor and I'm not afraid to admit it. (Unlike my friends at Picacho Peak.)
In my 9th or 10th grade (it's a blur) AP English and History class we had a project where we presented an "end of the year" newscast for a particular year in the past. My group's year was 1926. By the way, my AP English and History classes were two classes but were occasionally combined for projects. We split up the broadcast and I got sports and entertainment. Well, after a little research (in the encyclopedia and almanacs because Al Gore hadn't invented the Internet yet -- that is at least the non-military portion that was accessible to the public) I learned that the big entertainment news was that Harry Houdini died in 1926. I realized that the best way to present this would be with a re-enactment using non-descript figures. So....my brother's Star Wars action figures were definitely out. I decided that Fisher Price people were the most generic and I got a few. [I don't really remember how I got these but I'm going to definitely say that I didn't "borrow" them from some kids I was babysitting.] I set up a little set depicting the backstage at Houdini's last show. This was basically a white background and a little fake glass tower made of paper with blue swooshes drawn on the sides to depict water. You see, Houdini's last trick was the one where he was in a straight-jacket and was lowered head first down into water and his feet were chained up. The curtain would close and he would miraculously appear (wet) outside the cage. Taa Daa. Well, Houdini was an incredible athlete and he had some serious abs. He bragged about them and had publicly challenged anyone to punch him hard in the stomach. The story is that these two fellows came back stage and caught Harry unawares and punched him twice in the stomach really hard and ruptured his appendix. Now, the stomach punching challenge didn't really work unless he was prepared and could flex his muscles to protect his insides. This, of course, didn't happen there and Houdini took one straight to the gut. Ouch. [I admittedly took a little "poetic license" here because he actually received the punches after giving a lecture at some university and then got sick while on a train to Detroit where he performed one last time.] Anyway, due to his injury, he wasn't able to escape from the water tower and he had to be pulled out. He died a week or so later....on Halloween. Eerie. I re-enacted the punches (with requisite sound effects) and the failure to complete the water tower escape. I then explained that he died of his injuries on October 31, 1926.
I personally think that re-enactments with Fisher Price toys are very educational and I am proud to report that I received an "A" for my efforts. In the sports department, the only thing I can remember from that report is that "Bubbling Over" won the Kentucky Derby. I guess that name alone is enough to be memorable.
Later on in that class (maybe even the next semester), I was part of a group that wrote a script re-enacting Neil Armstrong's and Buzz Aldrin's moon walk. I played Buzz. Which is ironic because he was a West Pointer and I later met him once in Los Angeles where we were both being interviewed by the local TV station (KTLA) covering the Army/Navy game. There were little snipets from grads talking about their experiences. Unfortunately, I have no idea what snipets aired from my interview (if any) because I slept through the airing. [There is no compromise for beauty sleep.] By the way, Buzz was completely off his rocker (in a totally hilarious way). He went completely nuts when someone joked about the moon landing being fake. I mean completely nuts. He almost reached the same level of disturbance when one of the PAs gave him a regular Coke and not a Diet Coke. "I SAID DIET COKE DAMN IT."
oooookkkkaaaayyyy....make no sudden moves and step away from the astronaut....
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