WEBVTT - How Macy's Thanksgiving Parade Works 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:03.520 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of five 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:12.640 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:16.279 I'm Josh. There's Chuck. Jerry's out there dressed as a 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:21.760 turkey dresses a kilgrim weirdly and uh that makes us 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:25.279 of course. Stuff you should know. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:29.320 Parade edition. That's right. This is an episode we've wanted 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:31.840 to do for a while and there's a lot here. 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:34.840 It's it's really pretty interesting. Do you watch, By the way, 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:38.320 I'm just curious too, if I missed one, I would 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:42.239 just be in Shamble's crime. I love the Macy's Thanksgiving 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:46.560 Day Parade for sure. I don't think I've ever watched one, really, Chuck, man, 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:50.360 you I'm really surprised, especially in the eighties too, that 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:52.720 you didn't watch it back back in the day. Yeah, 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:56.320 it's it's great, man. It is a very fun thing 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:59.959 to watch. It's like full of glad tidings and cornucopias, 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:04.000 pumpkins and stuff, and it's great. I mean, I feel 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:08.360 like it's on at houses that I go to, so 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.800 it's not like I don't have never seen bits of it, 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.080 but I've never like popped the popcorn and sat down 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:17.600 and be like, I get my parade on. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:21.520 some people do that weirdos. But for the most part, 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:23.760 it's meant to just kind of be seen as you 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:25.480 see it, you know what I mean, Like you'll you'll 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:27.600 see some of it and then while you're making your 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:30.160 trimmings and stuffing. Yeah, or you can sit down and 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:31.880 watch bits of it. But if you sit down from 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:33.959 nine to twelve, I'm quite sure there are plenty of 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:36.640 people out there who do do that. Um, but there, 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:38.440 you know, for the most part, it seems like something 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.680 you just kind of watch here there, you know. And 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:43.240 I know we talked about it at some point because 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:45.160 I did tell the story about Emily and I going 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:48.400 to We were in New York every Thanksgiving a couple 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.640 of times, and both times we went the day before 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.680 to watch the balloons being blown up. Yeah, that's a 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:56.640 lot of fun. That's an event in and of itself. 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:59.320 Inflation Day is what they call it now. Yeah. It's 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:02.000 really a good time and just little kiddos everywhere. And 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:04.360 I can't wait to go back with my daughter one 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:06.960 day once uh, once it's safe to do so. Yeah, 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:10.360 And one of one of my friends Molly. Um, she 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:12.919 worked for Macy's for a very long time. Okay, well, 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:16.520 Molly has been in the parade. This is going to 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:19.200 be her fourth time as a matter of fact, And 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:21.239 she said some of her best member I was texting 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:23.600 her about asking her some questions, and she said some 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.639 of her best memories ever were formed because everybody is 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:29.600 just in the best mood and watching the parade and 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:32.359 you're just marching down the street waving and everything. She said, 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:35.920 it's just amazingly cool. Yeah, and I think can we 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:37.560 go ahead and drop the fact of the episode for 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:41.600 me since you said that? Okay, does that make you nervous? Yeah? 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.120 Which one? Well I never knew this, but you know, 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:48.640 except for the performers and you know, the the host 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.600 and stuff like that, everyone you see in that parade 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:54.120 is worked for Macy's. Yeah. Or they're a friend or 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:56.240 a family member of a Macy's employee. Yeah. I never 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:58.240 knew that. And I'm sure like a straggler might get 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.720 in there, but it is. It is largely Macy's friends 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:05.600 and family and employees. Yeah. So, and that's actually um 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.040 to kind of get into the history of this. That 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:11.880 is a tradition from the very beginning, so like the 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:16.560 first ever Macy's parade wasn't even a Thanksgiving parade. It 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:19.080 was called the Macy's Christmas Parade, even though it was 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:23.400 on Thanksgiving. Still. Um. Back in Um there were a 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.600 lot of recent immigrants to the United States from Europe 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:30.520 who were working for Macy's who said, Hey, we've got 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.160 these parades that kind of celebrate things over in Europe. 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:38.280 We should start doing one here. And they actually led 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:43.200 to the first Macy's Thanksgiving well Christmas Parade, And so 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.120 all the clowns and the cowboys and the people pulling 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:50.760 the caged wild animals, um, they were Macy's employees, and 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:54.320 has always been the case ever since then. Created by 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:59.240 immigrants to the United States. Everybody, yes, rich American tradition. 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:02.080 I love it. So except for a three year break 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:06.360 during World War Two, they have been launching this Thanksgiving 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:10.280 Day parade for ninety six years. Uh. It is morphed 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.560 and changed over the years from sort of a small 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:17.200 thing to a very big thing to an event, one 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:22.160 might say, an entertainment event. About quarter of a million 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:25.760 people showed up on that first one, and I think, 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:27.680 what is it like three and a half million people now? 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:31.720 Go in person. Generally, Yeah, and we should say generally traditionally. 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:34.520 We gotta qualify with that because the parade, thanks to 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:36.880 the paint pandemic, is going to be different, and we'll 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:40.280 talk about it. But like, yes, under a normal year 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:42.680 in the last like decade or so, three and a 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.279 half million New Yorkers or people show up on the 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:47.599 streets of New York to watch this thing, and then 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:51.160 like fifty million more watch it on TV. Amazing, so 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:54.720 quarter of a mill at that first one, um, ads 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.719 read a marathon of mirth is coming to this Macy's 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:02.360 Christmas Parade. And it was about a six mile route 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:05.360 in that first year, and it was it was pretty 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:07.040 long for a while, and then they narrowed it down 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:08.640 there like we can't go six miles anymore, this is 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:11.760 getting ridiculous. No, it started in Harlem and went all 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:15.120 the way down to Harold Square where Macy's flagship stories, 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:18.800 which is where it ends. Like yeah, six miles and 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:22.720 and on that first um, that first marathon of mirth, UM, 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:25.040 like I said, they had caged animals that they dragged 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.920 along and they did that for the first few years, UM, 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:31.279 and then they realized like actually the animals. They're scaring 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:33.919 all the little kids. They're not delighted like we thought, 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:36.400 so they stopped borrowing them from the Central Park sero. 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:38.920 It also wasn't much fun for the animals, I'm sure 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:42.680 as well. Um, and so they replaced the animals with 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:49.200 floats I think in nineteen twenty seven, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.800 And you know, that was a good idea that because 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:56.760 they're like, what do kids not like? Are angry tigers? 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:01.040 What do kids like? Are happy balloon type? Yeah? Especially 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:03.039 when it's cold out you don't want your pants to 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:07.960 be wet, that's right. By the mid sort of nineteen 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.960 thirties is when the Christmas Parade really made the transition 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:15.320 to the Thanksgiving Parade that we know and love, and uh, 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:18.159 that's when pop culture started to be a thing and people, 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:20.839 you know, Felix the Cat was a very first character 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:26.320 balloon in ninety seven, and traditionally, UH, celebrities started taking 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:29.640 part uh in about nineteen thirty four. I think Eddie 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:33.240 Canter was the first big celeb who was a pretty 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:35.200 interesting guy. If you want to look, come up old 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:38.039 ban Joe eyes Eddie Canter. He so not only was 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.240 he the first celebrity to take part. He's also the 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.960 one and only celebrity to have a balloon based on 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:47.680 him too. Yeah, I'm kind of surprised by that. Yeah, 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:51.560 that that's the only one. Yeah, you'd think would have 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.159 I don't know. I'm hoping that this really tips the 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:56.640 scales in our favor, though, Man, that would be amazing. 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:58.920 Mine would be mostly beard, you know, would be cool 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:00.920 as if they made a balloon n of us as 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:07.120 the thing with Two Heads with Rosie Greer and Ray Milan. Yeah, 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:12.040 do you remember that movie? Sort of do? Like? Its 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:16.000 like Ray Milan is like a terrible like horrible racist, 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:20.040 like old rich guy who pays to have his head 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:24.040 put on Rosie Greer's body and they have to get 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:29.800 along the first deep fake I guess. I guess maybe 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:35.720 so parade wise, boy, that's a that's a deep cut. Um, 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:38.200 that's wise. He's shrunk, shrunk this thing down. Like I 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:40.680 said to about forty three blocks that we see today, 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:43.840 the balloons and the floods just got bigger and bigger. 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.720 Of course, the rockets started kicking their way in in 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:52.400 nine and then in seventies seven, uh, with the addition 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:56.720 of Gene McFadden who was the macy Stay planner, the 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:59.640 parade planner, that's when they started doing the big Broadway 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:03.200 perform Mints is Yeah, Jim McFadden. She was from Texas 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:05.440 and so of course everything is bigger in Texas. She 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:09.280 injected that idea into the Macy's Parade, which was already 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:11.760 like a big deal by the time she came along, 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:14.800 but she really blew it up and turned it into 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:18.400 like this, this incredibly huge event that it is today. 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:22.000 And she also will see brought in sponsors to UM, 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:25.120 which definitely altered the complexion of the parade for the 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:29.760 better and the worst. Really, yeah, I think so. Um. 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.760 They planned the parade for about eighteen months, so if 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:35.440 you do the math there, there's about six months where 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:39.200 there are two parades um being planned at the same time. 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:42.360 Which did you imagine? Yeah, I bet you. It's pretty sigmented. 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:46.160 Though it's confusing. I would be totally bald, I think 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:49.360 if I were in charge of that. Uh. And then 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.320 last year in nineteen it was the nine parade. They 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:57.240 had twenty six floats, sixteen giant helium character balloons, and 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:02.000 forty heritage and novelty balloons, and eleven marching bands. Yeah, 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:05.280 that's a that's a lot, um, I mean, especially up 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:10.360 from four horse drawn floats to you know where they've 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:14.160 got now twenty six and those those giant character balloons, 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:15.880 those are the ones you always see. But in addition 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:17.920 to those, there's all those other balloons you mentioned too. 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:20.400 Like there's a lot going on in this parade. I 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:22.520 mean it's a three hour parade for Pete's sake, that 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:25.000 over two and a half miles. It still takes three 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:28.160 hours or so much to it. Yeah, and it's interesting. 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:32.800 There are a lot of balloons and over the years, Um, 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:34.599 you know what happens is this parade acts like a 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:38.240 time capsule. So whatever's going on in twenty nineteen, they're 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:41.000 gonna try and feature like like very twenty nineteen things 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:44.640 and over the years that is paid off. Um. You know, 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:47.200 you've got your your timeless characters that are always there. 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:51.160 But um, sometimes you're gonna have characters like in ninety 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:53.959 nine when they had the ask Jeeves float or I'm 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:58.280 sorry the balloon and uh you know that one didn't 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:00.880 age so well. Asked Jeeves went away is retired, right, 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.200 he retired for sure. But at the same time, like 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:06.320 fortunate lyst somebody like videotape that and you can go 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:09.920 on the internet now and see footage of the Ask 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:12.800 Jeeves the balloon, you know, like it's kind of the 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:16.320 point though, it's like it does transport you to ninety 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:18.720 nine when you see something that exactly kind of was 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.960 only or if you go on, if you watch the 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:24.719 two thousand and eight parade, you'll see Rick Astley Rick 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:27.760 rolling the parade, like he comes out and sings like 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:30.560 never gonna give you up, And that is about as 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:33.199 two thousand eight as it gets, you know, so like yeah, 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:35.640 it's it's like these these time capsule and you can 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:40.480 go watch and entire parades on YouTube right now. One 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:44.760 of my favorites the parade, remember the Where's the Beef balloon? 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:48.960 She was great and she was great, or that I'm 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:51.600 not going to pay a lot for this muffler lady, yeah, 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:55.320 or the them It's time to make the donuts guy, 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:57.120 or ninety nine. I think they also had the Fight 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.679 Club float, which was fantastic. It was it was just 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:03.080 Edward Norton staring at his hand with a lie chemical 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:07.080 burn growing on it. We're getting about all this, by 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:08.920 the way, although I wouldn't be surprised if they wears 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:11.960 the beef Lady might have. She was pretty big. She 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:16.480 was very big. Uh, so maybe we should take a 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:38.280 break and really get into these balloons after this. Okay, 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:41.160 so um balloons, like we said, first, came about to 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:44.839 replace those poor animals from the Central Park Zoo. Um, 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:47.319 which was a good move. And there was a guy 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:51.880 who really put the first stamp on the Macy's Thanksgiving 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:54.760 Day parade. His name is Tony sarg and this guy 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:57.520 is just such an amazing character. He has his own 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:01.120 American Experienced documentary about him. Watched that. I have not 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:02.640 seen it. I saw a clip of it to make 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:08.200 sure we were pronouncing his name correctly. How is it good? Yeah, 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:10.160 it's good. It's short and sweet. Did you see the 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:14.400 beginning part, that little stunt he did about the sea monster. Yeah, 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:18.360 it's pretty great. And I mean that was that was 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.360 a Macy's Day float. I mean, it wasn't a Macy's 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.920 Day float, but it's essentially what what it was. I 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:26.160 think it was originally and he borrowed it. I'm pretty 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:28.640 sure it was used in the parade and he repurposed it. 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:30.960 So so I guess for those of you the million 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:33.040 of you who don't know what we're talking about. This 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:36.120 guy Tony Sarry. He was a puppeteer, a designer, and 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.480 he was responsible for creating the first floats and balloons 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:42.240 in the Macy's Parade. Um. He was also a bit 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:44.240 of a prankster, and he took one of these a 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:47.240 sea monster balloon from the Macy's Parade and had it 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:50.320 come ashore on Nantucket as like a sea monster. It 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:53.320 was like this early, like nineteen thirties prank. But he 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:56.800 was just this whimsical, great guy who really kind of 0:12:56.840 --> 0:13:00.400 took this you know, hum drum parade and turned it 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:03.080 into like a major annual event for the first time. 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.040 Yeah he was Uh, he said he was a puppeteer. 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:10.240 He is the father of American puppeteering, so very big 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:14.480 figure in puppeteering in the United States. Um, and yeah 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:16.920 he's he's what really I think I think it was 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.199 basically in the history of the parade, you can look 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.920 at Tony sarg and you can look at Gene McFadden 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:26.040 is kind of being the two people that really injected 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.320 the most. Uh. I don't want to see enthusiasm because 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:35.120 everyone's always been enthusiastic. Yeah, magnificence, it's the Sorg McFadden effect. 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:40.000 It's a good band name. Uh So in nineteen eight 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:43.040 they had a little promotion. It's kind of funny to 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:45.040 look back on these promotions over the years and little 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:47.720 things that you try that don't necessarily work out, But 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:49.559 this was one of them. They said, here's what we're 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:53.360 gonna do. We're gonna release five balloons, like release them 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:55.400 and they have slow release valves, and they're going to 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:57.280 just sort of float around the country and get lower 0:13:57.280 --> 0:13:59.920 and lower and lower, and about a week later, they're 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.120 the land. And if you gather this thing up, travel 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:05.360 to New York City and bring it back to Macy's. 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:07.960 I guess, could you bring it back to your local Macy's. 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:10.440 I wonder I think you had. I don't know. Anything 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:13.800 I say would be a guess. Okay, but you bring 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:15.640 it back to Macy's and you get a hundred bucks. 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:19.800 And uh That ran for four years until a dangerous 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:23.240 thing happened, which was people started using their airplanes to 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:26.000 try and go catch these things. And they said, you 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:28.280 know what, let's we did it for four years. Maybe 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:30.480 we'll just kind of trim that down now, yeah, I 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:34.040 think it was either Civil Air Patrol or Tuskegee Airman 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:36.440 episode where we talked about like that was about the 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:39.640 time when flying was like this cool new thing that 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:43.400 people were trying, and they were also dummies, so they 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:47.320 would do horrible daredevil stuff like that, which you know 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:49.800 that is to Macy's credit that they stopped doing it 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.560 rather than they're like, yeah, let's see what happens, let's 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.000 keep this going. Have you ever been to that Flagship 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:58.880 store I have? They have like the original escalators in there. 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:02.000 That's a that's all I can think about when I 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:03.560 In fact, sometimes I'll go to New York and I 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:06.520 will ride that wooden escalator just to do it. It's 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:09.440 so cool because if you look through like the the 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:12.480 gap between the handrail and the stairs, you can see 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:16.400 the army of monkeys cranking the levers to make the 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:24.360 thing go up. No, the monkey poop. Um. So all right, 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:28.240 thanks to our buddies at Mental Flaws, we know that. Um. 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:31.520 How these balloons are done these days, Uh, they are 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:34.120 hand drawn at first, which you might, you know, kind 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:37.840 of assume, and it's kind of cool how they used 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.440 to do it. They used to create an actual model 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:43.840 and immerse it in water to see how much to 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:46.480 kind of calculate how much helium they would need to 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:50.240 float this thing. UM Today you can use just math 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:54.040 and science and computers to do all that and figure 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:56.480 it out. But you still start with that pencil sketch. 0:15:57.000 --> 0:15:59.640 Then you UM submit it to a three D modeling 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.160 soft where you're gonna fine tune it, and then you're 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.640 gonna three D print a few of these things. They 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:06.360 probably do a bunch, because I would want to take 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:08.800 one home, but they print a couple of them to 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.360 use UM. One to use that the actual hand paint 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:14.400 to say like, here's how it's supposed to look like 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.000 every part of it is painted exactly right. And then 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:20.240 another one is a blueprint that's going to guide UM 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:22.560 the cutting of the fabric and the heat ceiling of 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:25.840 the fabric and everything like that. So the dimensions of 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:28.960 the balloons very obviously according to what kind of character 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:31.720 it is, but most of them are about five or 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:35.760 six stories UM, about sixty ft long, about thirty ft 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:41.280 wide ish, And they actually have to UM employ UH 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:46.000 engineers and aerodynamic experts just to make sure these things 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:49.240 do what they're supposed to do, which is float with 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:52.320 with you know, uh, guidance from their human friends on 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:54.960 the ground, which we'll talk about. But they don't want 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:58.880 that kermit arm dragging along down behind them like it's 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:02.080 a gimpy or something, or even worse like flying higher 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:06.120 than the head. No, and let's it's supposed to. Well, 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:08.399 sure if it's opposed to, but what kind of world 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:10.480 is that? Well, I don't know. You know, he waves 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:12.320 his arms about in a crazy way, and he does 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.000 case he wanted to do somethun like that. I've been corrected. 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:20.440 But they make these balloons. It's not just one big balloon. 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:22.919 It's a bunch of different chambers. And they do this 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:26.880 for a few reasons. One is because one like, let's 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:28.760 say you do want that arm. Let's say it's uh, 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:31.840 it's the where's the beef lady high fiving somebody. You're 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:34.200 gonna want that arm higher than the head in that case, 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:38.679 so more helium, less air. Um. And also if where's 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:43.159 the beef lady which never existed, um, the balloon that is, 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.680 like let's say her leg popped or something, the whole 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:51.600 thing wouldn't go down. They'd be able to still float her. Yes, um. 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:54.440 And that's the other reason to have it in chambers too. 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:57.399 Plus I believe it's easier to make in different parts 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:00.480 different components that you end up putting together too. So 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:03.720 where do they do this though? They have what's called 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:06.280 it's one of the most magical places on the planet 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:09.000 from what I can tell from videos I've seen Macy's 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:12.200 parade studio. And they used to have in a tutsie 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:18.160 roll factory in Hoboken, which is a pretty new Jersey sentence. Um. 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:21.120 And then they moved to a different part of Jersey 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:24.119 Moonaki not to be confused with one of our former 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:28.919 favorite words on the podcast, um. And they went from 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:32.000 sixteen thousand square feet and the tutsie roll factory to 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:35.240 seventy two thousand square feet in forty four ft high ceilings. 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:38.520 So now they can like build these balloons and test 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:43.280 them indoors in their enormous magical parade studio. Yeah, and 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:46.800 here's another cool little fun fact um. Up until the eighties, 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.439 they would repurpose the balloon sometimes, which I think is 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:55.240 pretty cool and efficient. The Smile balloon, uh, the little 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:58.200 Smiley Face from nineteen seventy two, just one year as 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:03.480 Smiley Guy um was actually made from Elsie the Cow, 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:08.320 which was Borden's mascot, and then after that repurposed into 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:11.440 hot air balloon for Old Alban and the Chipmunks in 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.480 their float. I love that fact too, pretty neat. They 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:16.320 also have they have something kind of newer. I think 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:18.280 it's started in two thousand five. Maybe it's called a 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:22.359 Blue Sky Gallery, where they're like, how about you famous 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:25.400 artists submit some designs for a balloon that you would make, 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:29.240 And so there's like a Yayoi Kusama balloon. Um, there's 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.840 a Cause balloon to Kashi Murakami balloon. But then the 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:35.359 Balloon of Balloons, and I'm not sure how many times 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:39.720 it's flown, but its first flying first flight was in 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:42.560 two thousand and eight. Is a Keith Herring balloon. So 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:45.880 you know, like his little kinetic figures. Of course, it's 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:48.480 one of those, a black and white um kinetic figure 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:50.520 and he's holding a red heart over his head. So 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:52.360 I guess in that case you would want the arm 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:56.120 above the head um. And it turns out that apparently 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:58.840 Keith Herring had for a very long time wanted to 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:03.040 design balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but died 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:06.480 before he got a chance to. Yeah, he died of 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:10.399 complications from AIDS in nine and I think this is 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:14.520 a lovely tribute, um, you know, in two thousand eight, 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:17.239 on the fiftieth anniversary of his birth to do this, 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:19.119 I think, I think that was really really neat and 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:22.440 it was wrangled by his family, his father and his siblings, 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:24.960 which is really really beautiful. Yeah, and keep keep an 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:27.040 eye out for the Keith Herring balloon because it makes 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:31.400 another appearance later in this episode. That's right. So what 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:34.720 you were talking about was UM Inflation Day, right, where 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:38.080 people go and watch the balloons being inflated, and it's 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:41.640 the day before into the wee hours before the parade 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:45.800 UM and it's outside of the Museum of Natural History, Right, Yeah, 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:49.119 it's really cool. It's um. I mean, don't expect to 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:53.439 go and have just a very leisurely uh you know, 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:56.600 it's pretty hectic, you know there. If you think there 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:57.960 are a lot of kids at the parade, I felt 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:01.919 like there were even more kids at the UH Inflation Day. 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:05.440 But it's fun, it's relaxed that you walk around, the 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:07.920 opposite of what you said, Well, no, I mean it's 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:10.520 it's it's not like it's not an organized thing. That's 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:12.159 what I meant by relaxed. You can just kind of 0:21:12.160 --> 0:21:16.359 wander about and um, how close can you get? I 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:18.159 mean you can get really close. We got over. We 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:21.960 have a great UM picture we recreated probably fifteen years 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:25.560 later in front of Kermits, so we did a nineteen whatever. 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:27.520 I don't even know the years, but they're about ten 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:30.560 or fifteen years apart. That's yeah, it's good. And they 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:34.760 use up something like four hundred thousand cubic feet of 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:38.680 helium to fill all those balloons every year. Yeah. And 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:40.800 if you listen to our helium podcast and we talked 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:43.879 about the helium shortage, UM, we're actually good right now. 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:47.400 There have been three major shortages over the years, and 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:52.840 apparently we're doing great UM because of the pandemic. Oh, 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:55.880 people aren't buying like balloons and stuff as much. That's 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:58.159 what that's this article and that's what it said, and 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:01.440