Posted by Geoff Beauchamp on Tue, Mar 04, 2014 @ 02:25 PM
Did you know that today marks the date of two very important leaders in history?
On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln became the 16th president of the United States. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as our 32nd president in 1933 on this same date.
Also on March 4, 1952 a very famous writer named Ernest Hemingway finishes his short novel entitled "The Old Man and the Sea". Upon finishing, Ernest told his publisher that it was the best writing he had ever done and his book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953.
Where would we be without this valuable knowledge being taught in our History and English classes in school?
With our Mobile Ed Productions school assembly programs, we bring you that education through entertainment when we bring talented performers into your school! Assemblies such as “Benjamin Franklin” and “Thomas Edison” and “The Living Lincoln”, bring history to such life that your students will think the person is really standing in front of them! At one school during the performance of “The Living Lincoln” as student asked: ”Shouldn’t you be dead?”
Our reading and writing assemblies of “Reading More Than Words”, “The Treasurer of the Six Traits”, “Books Made the Man: Lincoln and Reading” and “Young Authors Day” get students interested in books, reading and writing through story telling, mime, and even acting out their own stories.
Cindy Kruczynski is the Office Manager here at Mobile Ed and the one that keeps us all from flying off into space. Despite being the hardest working employee on the planet she found time to write today's blog article!
Posted by Geoff Beauchamp on Thu, Feb 27, 2014 @ 01:49 PM
is almost here, and hopefully with it the Spring! We can all use a little nice weather after this winter, I am sure! With the Spring comes the release of schedules and dates for all our awesome programs for next year. But before we do so, we thought it might be nice to look back at some of the reactions we have had in the last month or two to several of our school assemblies.
I know...”there they go, blowing their own horn again!”. But in truth, we work very hard to ensure the programs we bring into your school are going to be the finest you have ever had, so it is really nice when that work is recognized.
Let's start out with our newest program, The STEM Museum, which is in Colorado right now.
Stephanie Turner of Holy Spirit in Overland Park writes
“Great show... the kids loved it...the teachers loved it”.
And Cheryl Sullivan of South Routt School in Yampa, Colorado said:
“Great program – well organized – our parent volunteers enjoyed helping – kids and teachers loved it!”
Meanwhile, our star performer David Mitchell has been enjoying a stay in Texas early this year. David carries several shows. Here is what Leslie Tewell of Baccus Elementary in Granbury, Texas, wrote about Dave's Ben Franklin show:
“Awesome presentation. With a full moon, on a Friday afternoon, I was worried about 550 kids sitting still for 45 minutes. Ben Franklin entertained the kids from the moment he started until the final applause 45 minutes later without one interruption. Kids were lined up in the library to check out Ben Franklin books, the teachers lounge was overflowing with positive comments about the performance, and the kids learned!”
And David's awesome Stronger Than a Bully was equally loved by Rhonda Alm of First Baptist Academy in Universal Academy, Texas.
Now, out in California, the Left Coast residents have a great bonus to compliment the California life style because our wonderful Barry Cutler is resident there year round with a raft of great assemblies.
His The Magic of Science was at Westside Park in the Adelanto system not too long ago and Jeff Steenerson wrote:
“Barry did a great job entertaining and teaching!Everyone was impressed!”
But Barry has also been one of our best Abraham Lincoln performers for years. Check this out from Davis Feldman at Lawrence Middle School in Chatsworth, California:
“For the past 20 years Barry Cutler has been delighting students at Lawrence Middle here in Chatsworth!”
Wow! Twenty years. Awesome.
But while we are discussing Abraham Lincoln let's not forget our other amazing Lincoln presenters either.
Out on the East Coast our Living Lincoln tour is helmed by the amazing Richard Waddingham. Here is a comment from Kathleen Anderson at St. Bridget in Massachusetts:
”We had two performances K1-3 and 4-8 and at each performance not a child made a peep...they were memorized by the likeness and story telling of Abe Lincoln and his life adventure. At the end of the performance the children were eager to ask questions about Abe's family, and what happened next...the show got everyone talking and interested in learning! Excellent All Around Thank-You!”
And let us not forget the estimable Fred Priebe, carrying the Lincoln story into schools all over the Midwest. Laura Dvornak of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Burlington, Kentucky wrote
“Junior high students (6-8th grades) take a lot to keep occupied and interested and Abraham Lincoln incorporated history and short stories, combined with humor to keep students engaged. For 8th grade Literature we are working on famous American speeches and presentation was timely with our study this week of the Gettysburg Address.”,
...while Becky Downs of Saint Joseph's in Crescent Springs, Kentucky simply said:
“Best in-school presentation I have been a witness to.”
Now, as long as we are talking about historical characters, let's continue in that direction with our shows related to Black History month.
This year our Martin Luther Kings have been wonderful (hee hee, as always). In the midwest we have featured Charles Murray, who is already known to East Coast schools where he has performed in the past. Charles was in Illinois not too long ago. Dawn De Matteo of of Lincoln Prairie in Hoffman Estates had this to say:
"I just wanted to let you know that Charles was great and the teachers and students were engaged and thought that he did a good job of talking about MLK and civil rights events... it was great! Thank you again for your help in booking this performance and we hope to be able to use you in the future.”
Down in Southern Indiana in Haubstadt, John Obermeier, principal at Haubstadt Community School wrote
“I heard many positive comments from both teachers and students. It was educational and entertaining. Charles did a very nice job!!”
Taking over from Charles on the East Coast year we were fortunate to welcome back Robert Pirtle who was absent from our roster for the last couple of years. Here is a comment from Heather Ortiz:
“The MLK assembly was amazing! The Principal and teachers are raving about it and the kids were enthralled. Robert is a class act. What a great performer but also was a kind and delightful man. The Kindergarten teachers would like to send letters of thanks to Mr. Pirtle. May we send them to you to forward?”
And, lest we forget, out in Cali we featured Carl Brown, and apparently school loved him (what a surprise that schools love Mobile Ed!).
Darice Johnson, Assistant Principal at Cascade Middle School in Auburn, Washington was ecstatic:
“I wanted to take a moment to thank you for providing us with such a wonderful actor for our Martin Luther King assembly on 1/14/14. He performed for our entire school of 733 students and had them engaged the entire performance! He was the consummate professional. He engaged the students by asking them questions and when they answered correctly, he asked their name and had everyone clap for them. I watched students who normally don’t receive acknowledgment answer questions and get praised by the whole school. I saw one student sit up proudly when he was called on and he smiled the whole rest of the assembly. As the assembly began he immediately captured the students’ attention with his humor and storytelling, and rapidly drew them into MLK’s life and history of that era with the right level of seriousness.
I wish the other middle schools in our district had taken advantage of this opportunity. I would highly recommend this performance to anyone. Many of our teachers said this was the best MLK assembly we have had. Please pass this message along to any relevant party who may benefit from knowing how pleased we are.”
Lastly, let's take a peek at the work of Lluanna Jones, who proudly offers The Spirit to Overcome, an amazing work about the struggles and triumphs of women of color. Jason Vivadelli of Evergreen Avenue School in Woodbury, New Jersey, said this about Lluanna:
“Ms. Jones performed the Spirit to Overcome assembly at our school last week. She was well-prepared, engaging, insightful and provided an overall enjoyable experience for our students. She differentiated her performance and tailored it to fit the needs of our primary and upper elementary students. She easily took command of the large group and found ways to incorporate students to make it interactive. Our students left the assembly having learning something new. Thank you for providing such a nice experience for our students.”
One additional historical character to mention...Mark Twain! In the area around Chicago, we enjoy the services of an awesome actor by the name of Jeff Hoge who is utterly wonderful as the witty somewhat curmudgeonly Twain. Brad Ennen of Jackson Township School in Brazil, Indiana wrote: “Professional, well rehearsed presentation of historic, factually accurate content.” while at St. Michael school in Schereville Indiana, they had this to say:
“Jeff was great! The kids had an awesome time while learning character education.”
Well, that's enough for today but look for another entry soon with similar reports about our science assembly programs!
Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fieldsof science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN. He also spent ten years coordinating assembly programs for the elementary school where his own children went to school.
Posted by Geoff Beauchamp on Fri, Jan 24, 2014 @ 08:19 AM
Today is the anniversary of the birth of the world wide Boy Scouting movement back in 1908 in England by Sir Robert Baden-Powell. In honor of the day, here is a reprint of a piece we wrote several years ago about scouting....
The Boy Scouts of America was founded in February of 1910, and just celebrated the 100th anniversary of it's birth. But the Boy Scouts were actually founded a few years earlier than that, back in 1906 in England by Lord Baden Powell.
Anyone who has gone through the scouting program in almost any way, whether as a boy or a parent, can tell you that the iconography of the organization is rife with influences from two places. From it's very beginnings with Lord Powell, right down to the modern organization today, scouting has always drawn heavily from the images, characters and stories in The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. But from those same early beginnings the movement has also borrowed much from the culture of the Native American tribes.
Now every one of us who has gone through scouting can also tell you that every year there is an event in the world of scouting that is of great importance -The Blue and Gold Banquet! It is here, when boys celebrate the end of their Cub Scout lives and the beginning of their journey as Boy Scouts. It is a joyous and also solemn evening or afternoon filled with ceremony and meaning. Once again, the prescribed methodology for this event is filled with words, and meanings drawn from the world of the Native Americans.
The evening, hosted as a Pack Meeting by the Cub Scout pack, is usually composed of a meal and recognition of all the various awards earned by the boys in the preceding months. It culminates with a very special ceremony symbolizing the boys "crossing the bridge" from Cub to Scout or from boy to young man. And then comes the "entertainment".
We have written before about the pros and cons of using a magician, clown or ventriloquist for such an event. We have, no surprise, always come down on the side of using the entertainment portion of the evening to introduce the boys to an equally entertaining but far more beneficial diversion, such as a science assembly or a visit from a historical character. Well, we have now discovered the perfect school assembly program for entertaining at a Blue and Gold Banquet.
Piankeshaw Trails is a new program that introduces children and adults to the culture, history and world of Native Americans in a wonderfully entertaining fashion. Hosted by a trained anthropologist who is not only extremely well versed in this world but also very funny, this school assembly is a delightful 45 minute examination of the early Americans, complete with museum quality artifacts and a lot of hands on interaction. What could be more perfect for an organization and an evening revolving around images from the woodland tribes than to entertain the audience with a marvelous program that specifically deals with this world in such an entertaining fashion?
But if you are charged with locating the entertainment for your Blue and Gold Banquet, don't wait too long! Dates will fill in for various events and you don't want to be left out. And keep in mind, this program is only available in the Midwest. Oh, and just to be clear ... this is also a great assembly program for schools!
Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fields of science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN.
Posted by Geoff Beauchamp on Wed, Jan 22, 2014 @ 02:18 PM
Well, it has been awhile since we posted some of our “bragging rights”. This month has been very hectic so far here at the Mobile Ed ranch, what with major winter storms all over the country playing havoc with our schedules. So many schools have missed performances due to weather closures. Of course, we never charge for that, so that is a good thing for the schools, but no one wants to miss their show and disappoint the kids, right? This month has been just a whirlwind of phone calls and emails and constant scrambling to try to find suitable make up dates for all the schools that lost their day. Thanks for your understanding through all this!
But with all that flurry of activity we have been a little behind our usual game in terms of keeping you informed here on the Mobile Ed blog, and especially in the area of recent comments on our awesome shows!
So, with your indulgence, I thought we might catch up some today.
I have a lot of great comments to post but there are so many for just one show, I thought we would just devote today to that one...The STEM Museum.
This has been a busy year for Mobile Ed's inaugural season with our new flagship school assembly. Interest in STEM is running so high, and The STEM Museum is such a perfect show to capitalize on that all that momentum, that the tour has been totally sold out through the Fall and now into March. We do still have a couple of days open in Colorado coming up, a few in Texas, and then a few more later in the Spring in California, but overall the tour has been a smashing success and schools and libraries everywhere have loved it.
Let's start with an online newspaper account from a school in Grand rapids, Michigan that hosted the show back in early December.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/12/testing_theories_students_get.html
Cool, huh?
Then, just last week we were in Painesville, Ohio at the Hale Road School. Here is what the principal, Mr. Tim St.Clair had to say:
“The STEM Museum was by far THE best assembly we’ve had with Mobile Ed. The parent volunteers loved it, the kids raved about it and the teachers enjoyed seeing their kids have fun in a hands-on assembly. The presenter was easy to work with throughout the day.”
Thanks, Tim! We are glad you liked it!
Back in December we also visited the Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Indianapolis and our coordinator there, Jennifer Julian, relayed this comment:
“Hi Geoff, We really enjoyed the STEM museum. The person presenting the show did a great job. He was on time, very friendly, knowledgeable, and accommodating. The kids really liked the 3d printer and the robot! … Thanks again for another wonderful program!”
Now for any of you interested in how we measure up against standards, here is something from Mary Jefferson, the principal at badger Elementary in Kinsman, Ohio whose school hosted this awesome program about a week ago:
“...STEM was great. We thoroughly enjoyed Mark and the entire experience. Teachers all said that it hits home with the Common Core. It went well. We will definitely have this one again.”
Thanks, Mary!
But these are just a few, and to be quite honest we have been getting very similar reports from everyone that experiences this amazing new school assembly. Still, it is nice to hear the compliments and know that all our hard work put into to creating this new program have paid off and found an enthusiastic audience.
Next time we will hear about some of our other super cool shows.
Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fieldsof science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN. He also spent ten years coordinating assembly programs for the elementary school where his own children went to school.
Posted by Geoff Beauchamp on Mon, Jan 20, 2014 @ 11:11 AM
Last week, on January 15 was the actual the anniversary of the birth of the Rev, Dr. Martin Luther King. But today, January 20, is the holiday on which we as a nation look back to honor this great American and his accomplishments.
What has changed since Dr. King's assassination on that awful day in Memphis so many years ago? Well, we think it would please Dr. King immeasurably to see a man of African American descent elevated to the highest office in the land. We believe, indeed, that Dr. King would have been very pleased by the election of Barrack Obama as President of this great land.
Obviously, in the long tale of race relations in this country things do change, albeit slowly. Too slowly for many but too quickly, quite obviously, for others. The hate mail still received by President Obama shows that very clearly.
But progress in relations between the races has never been quick in America. There are too many scars and there is too much guilt and there is far too much distrust and animosity.
Yet progress does occur.
We look forward to February when we celebrate African American accomplishments during Black History Month. And there are many, many great accomplishments to celebrate, far too many to enumerate them all here.
Certainly, we look back to the famous leaders of the past, such as Frederick Douglass, Harriett Tubman, Sojourner Truth as well as those whose example has been inspirational such as Nat Turner, Crispus Attucks and Rosa Parks. We think of the great sports leaders that have initiated breakthroughs for people of color and the first name that comes to mind for many is Jackie Robinson followed by Hank Aaron. But the history books are filled with other names... scientists and inventors, scholars and educators, actors, and musicians, artists, dancers and painters and the list goes on and on.
Many toiled in obscurity but what they suffered and what they accomplished lives on for us today as inspiration not just for the millions of African Americans alive today, but for all Americans. We long for the day when all Americans will take pride in the whole nation with equal pride in all of the many Americans of all colors, races, genders and religions, who all come together as a whole to make this nation great.
Happy Martin Luther King Day!
PS – If you have not already done so, check with us today. We may yet be able to arrange for a visit to your school this year from one of our great African American History school shows – Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass, The Spirit to Overcome.
Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fieldsof science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN. He also spent ten years coordinating assembly programs for the elementary school where his own children went to school.
Posted by Geoff Beauchamp on Tue, Jan 07, 2014 @ 07:51 AM
Well, 2013 is in the history books now, so we thought you might like a quick recap of our top ten school shoes from last year. Here is what we had for you! Not that these are the best shows we have ... all our shows are absolutely awesome! But of all the more than thirty great school programs we offer, these are the shows you, our clients, scheduled the most often! These are the top ten most often scheduled school shows from 2013.
Starting out in our number ten slot is a real favorite. Crime Scene Science is a fun-packed exploration of the science behind solving crimes.
Coming in at number nine was a personal favorite pf mine, Young Authors Day. Focusing on creative writing, this awesome program involves the kids in a story writing process and then rewards them when they are able to see our amazing performer bring their stories to life before their very eyes.
Next on the list, in the eight position, is our warm and fuzzy Animals and the Environment. Kids love animals, and this supper school show allows them to see and touch a whole bunch of really cool critters while they learn about the environmental issues affecting wild animals around the globe.
While it is mostly requested for Black History Month, or in January to celebrate the great man's birthday, Martin Luther King is a winner anytime. That explains why this wonderful show earned a number seven on our list of top ten best school assemblies.
And right in front of Martin Luther King, at number six, we find the fantastic Stronger Than a Bully. Working to reduce bullying has become a foremost concern for schools everywhere, and Stronger Than a Bully, starring the outstanding David Mitchell, is the perfect way to augment that process.
Now we come to the top five assemblies of the year. These shows were scheduled a staggering amount of times during 2013.
Coming in at number five is the perennial favorite The Magic of Science, showing that science can be amazing and fun!
At number four we find a stalwart, veteran schools show we have offered for more than than twenty years, and the show is still amazing and moving audiences everywhere. The Living Lincoln first appeared for Mobile Ed back in 1989, and has been dazzling audiences ever since. A good thing never gets old!
In our number three slot we find our brand new and totally awesome STEM Museum. Appearing in the number three slot is all the more amazing considering that, unlike all the rest of the shows on this incredible list, The STEM Museum accomplished all these performance dates only between late August and now. Demand has been so high that the show just never gets a day off! And there will not be one anytime soon, either. All Midwest dates are already sold out and all that remains for this year are a few in Texas and California later in the year plus two days that are still open in Colorado. If you are looking for this one for next year, you better act soon! We already have a growing waiting list for dates for The STEM Museum for 2014-2015.
Now the excitement is really building!
Which were the top two school shows for 2013?
Well, they were two really big shows, literally!
In the number two position we find the whole world! No, really.
The Earth Dome brings our beautiful planet Earth into your school in the form of a quite gigantic three dimensional representation. The Earth Dome is a globe that is twenty feet tall and covered in highly detailed high resolution photographs of the planets surface taken from the space shuttle. It is almost our most popular show!
But that honor, the single most popular program offered by America's favorite school assembly company, goes, once again, to the outstanding Sky Dome Planetarium. With an enormous silver dome shaped performance space, and a state of the art digital star projector, Sky Dome takes your kids on a high tech journey through the universe. It just doesn't get any better than this!
But regardless of which one you choose (and they are all great!), from this list or any of the other outstanding school shows offered by Mobile Ed, you can rest assured that you will be receiving the very best school show available for the money. Mobile Ed has been striving for nothing short of that since 1979, and as we enter a new year we promise that we have not stopped or even slowed down. Watch for announcements of our newest school shows for 2014 to begin appearing soon! It is going to be a really great year!
Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fieldsof science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN. He also spent ten years coordinating assembly programs for the elementary school where his own children went to school.
Posted by Geoff Beauchamp on Mon, Jan 06, 2014 @ 01:06 PM
Maybe you are in sunny California, or some other part of the world where the rigors of winter are not currently affecting you, but here in the Midwest we are getting hammered. Following two weeks off for the holidays, our office was scheduled to reopen this morning, but Mother Nature had other ideas, I guess.
Beginning on Saturday, and continuing through last night, the Detroit Metro area, where Mobile Ed is based, was hit by a major winter storm. This same storm has has left a trail of heavy snow followed by record breaking cold temperatures all across the middle of the country, and is heading now across the Eastern states. Parts of the Plains states are experiencing temperatures well below zero and wind chill factors of 30 degrees below zero and worse.
Here in the Motor City we were hit with heavy snow that started on Saturday and continued relentlessly through last night. We awoke this morning to snow fall accumulations of between 13 and 18 inches. Now, Detroit is used to snow, and small amounts don't even register on the radar of most people who live here, but this was a large amount to dump all at once.
So, this morning our office did not re-open as planned. The fact is that most of us could not get out of our neighborhoods this morning.
Snow Day!
And so it was for at least two of our programs which had been scheduled to play today. The No Bully Zone was scheduled for a performance in Princeton, Indiana. The STEM Museum was scheduled for a gig in Kentucky. Neither school was open so our performers are hunkered down hoping for better luck tomorrow. Sigh...
Of course, it is well known that Mobile Ed does not charge schools a fee for weather related school closing cancellations on scheduled play dates. Just one more great reason to choose your school shows from America's favorite school assembly company!
Now, where did I put that shovel?
Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fieldsof science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN. He also spent ten years coordinating assembly programs for the elementary school where his own children went to school.
Posted by Geoff Beauchamp on Fri, Dec 20, 2013 @ 08:23 AM
Today is December 20, and at about lunchtime today we will be swinging the heavy gates shut for awhile here at our home office in Michigan. We will all be taking a little time off for the Christmas holidays, as most of you will be, too, we hope!
The office will essentially be closed until the morning of January 6. But don't worry! A few of us will be popping in from time to time to check the voice mail and answer emails. Additionally, our “skunk works” guys will still be hard at work (those guys never sleep!) in the back room, making repairs to current shows and continuing to develop our exciting new programs for next year, as you have come to expect from America's school assembly company, your source for the very best school shows and school show performers in the country.
Regardless of what special holiday your family celebrates this time of year, we here at Mobile Ed Productions offer you our best wishes for a happy, safe and altogether wonderful holiday! And a very Happy New Year!
See you next year!
Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fieldsof science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN. He also spent ten years coordinating assembly programs for the elementary school where his own children went to school.
Posted by Geoff Beauchamp on Mon, Dec 16, 2013 @ 07:51 AM
Nothing about school assemblies today. Rather, a recognition of the death of someone we never knew and yet still considered a friend.
Yesterday marked the passing of a great man and one of and possibly the greatest actors of the modern era, the wonderful Peter O'Toole.
Born in 1932, his exact place of birth in uncertain. Mr. O'Toole possessed two birth certificates, one from England and one from Ireland, and was himself uncertain as to which was accurate.
His career began on stage and grew to include the motion picture screen, where he became on of the brightest stars of his age. A flamboyant artist both on and off screen, he was nominated for more Academy Awards I acting than anyone else before or since.
His breakout role was that of the lead character in the peerless Lawrence of Arabia. But he went on to star in countless films, many among the greatest ever made, and including The Lion in Winter, Beckett, The Ruling Class, Man of La Mancha, My Fair Lady, The Stunt Man, My Favorite Year and Goodbye, Mr. Chips.
This was spite of a larger than life personal life that included legendary drinking binges and countless offscreen adventures often in the company of many of the other greatest actors of his time. These included Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Anthony Hopkins and more.
Stories of his excesses are beyond legendary. One of our favorite involves a production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Mr. O'Toole was about to open in the lead role in a stage production. For the scene following the murder of the King, the character of Macbeth was to enter the stage covered in blood from the deed. The director complained in rehearsals that the costume was not “bloody” enough. So Mr. O'Toole, applies more blood. The director was still unsatisfied. This happened several times. The following day, prior to the rehearsal, Mr. O'Toole is reputed to have had a tub backstage filled with pigs blood from a local butcher shop. He then immersed himself in the tub from head to foot before entering for the scene in question literally soaked with blood and trailing copious quantities behind him.
On another occasion, he was appearing on stage in a play opposite fellow drinking buddy Richard Harris. By chance there was a 20 minute period during the play in which neither was on stage. There was a pub across the street. During one performance, the stage manager burst into the pub seeking both actors and found them both extremely inebriated. He shouted to them that they were “on” in moments. Both men leapt to their feet and bolted across the street and into the stage door. Harris entered first, flying through the backstage area and barely reaching his entrance in time, only to trip and make that entrance flat on his face sliding all the way across the stage to land at the edge of the stage with his head hanging off the edge, almost in the lap of an elderly female theatre goer. Smelling the alcohol, the patron loudly exclaimed:
“Good Lord, man, you are drunk!”
To which, without missing a beat, Harris replied:
“If you think I'm bad, wait'll you see O'Toole!”
But it was the performances that Mr. O'Toole gave that have earned him a secure spot among the greatest actors of all time. And we have heard from many actors that it was these performances and Mr. O'Toole himself that first inspired them to take up acting.
His presence in this world was, for many of us, a wonderful comfort and inspiration. His loss, though expected, leaves the world somehow a colder and darker place. We are thankful that he lived in the age of film and that his legacy will live on to continue to brighten the lives of people down around the world forever. Thanks for a great ride, Peter!
Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fieldsof science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN. He also spent ten years coordinating assembly programs for the elementary school where his own children went to school.
Posted by Geoff Beauchamp on Fri, Dec 06, 2013 @ 08:56 AM
There are moments in our world when events transpire that have meaning beyond words across the entire globe. Yesterday the world experienced such a moment. Nelson Mandela passed from this world yesterday and with his passing the world lost one of the greatest and most influential men of our time. Men die everyday, of course. Some are mourned by hundreds or even thousands of people while others die in lonely obscurity. But few pass with an impact felt by so large a community throughout the world as has Nelson Mandela.
Why is it that this single, solitary individual is loved by so many?
Simply because his entire life was spent in devotion and dedication to the simple truth that we all deserve to be free. His life, words and deeds, changed the course of history by bringing to an end the oppressive white minority rule in South Africa. In the process, he spent 27 years in prison. But the experience served not to embitter the man but rather to deepen his love, compassion and wisdom.
Such are the men whose names we cherish and honor. Those who have changed the world for the better, not through violence and warfare, but through compassion, humanity and love of mankind, aiding in bending the flow of history toward a better world for all. Nelson Mandela joins the ranks of others of his kind. Men such as Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
We join the world in mourning the passing of such a powerfully important and iconic figure, but, at the same time, we choose to honor him by celebrating his life, joyously, and with full knowledge that we are the better for having lived in the same brief moment in history as did he.
We choose to celebrate the memory of these great men by remembering them. In ancient times, the lives of great men were remembered in song and stories told to great affect around the fires at night. 
In much the same manner, but with a modern twist, we retell these stories and honor these great lives through reenactment for children so that they too may know and understand the impact that one life may have on many. By extension, we hope they may realize the very same greatness that exists potentially in us all.
As we move toward the time of year when many of us will celebrate the birth of one whose impact makes all others pale in comparison, we look ahead toward the cold dark months of January and February when students cannot easily receive the benefits of outdoor play and many a day is spent entirely indoors. These dark months are the perfect time for gathering around the proverbial fire and retelling the stories we pass down from one generation to another. 
and Ben Franklin whose birthdays we celebrate in January, or Abraham Lincoln in February. Frederick Douglass, the ex slave who rose to become the leader of a newly freed people. All of these great men have important stories and they are tales that need to be told and retold so that the great legacy of their lives is never forgotten.
If you feel the same way, please contact us and let's see if we cannot bring one of these experiences to the students of your school in the months to come. In some small way, we believe by honoring the memory of one, we will honor the memory of all.
Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fieldsof science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN. He also spent ten years coordinating assembly programs for the elementary school where his own children went to school.