There was a time when children looked forward to going to amusement parks like Disneyland to see their favorite cartoon characters come to life.
Now Visitors to Las Vegas and the Hollywood Strip are amazed and delighted to see superheroes and famous movie and television stars in the flesh. For vacationers and kids , it’s all fun and games , but for the
street performers it’s a serious business.
Some of the “buskers” as they are called are actual employees of businesses such as the M and M candy people and the Statue of Liberty outside the tax office. Most , however, are free lancers who have created their own jobs in the face of daunting unemployment numbers. Although some cities have made police sweeps to discourage the practice , the courts eventually became more lenient.
On a given day, last week, a survey of the Las Vegas strip turned up Sponge Bob Squarepants, Mickey Mouse, Spiderman , Super Mario, Superman, Transformer Bumble Bee , Elvis ( of course), Marilyn Monroe, Wonder Woman ,Captain Jack Sparrow,the Mad Hatter, and Beetlejuice.
In addition to some very expensive Halloween costumes, some wardrobe have been handmade. .Some of these costumes are quite complex and an investment of money and effort has been made as well as the time spent in make up. Competition for a location may be extreme and there are many unwritten rules that might be trampled on . There are cases of characters having major disagreements and it’s not impossible to see Batman and The Demon from KISS punching it out over control of a street corner !
That’s bad enough , but as a potential customer, be careful not to aim your camera in the general direction of a busker . You might be shooting a picture of the MGM lion or the Eiffel Tower of Paris Casino , but if a costumed character is in the corner of the frame he might be expecting a tip !