GK: Fred Newman grew up in Georgia, his family is famous across the South for their fireworks. They do the big boomers on New Year's Eve (ROCKETS, AND BOMBS). They do the famous Lake of Fire for the Baptist revival meeting (SFX). They do weddings (SFX) and they do divorces (SFX). Of course the Fourth of July is the big one, and their big show stopper after all the rockets and Roman candles is the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius along with the San Francisco earthquake and the Sinking of the Titanic (SFX). And in the offseason July the 5th through New Year's Eve, they lead a quiet life on their Georgia plantation, reading good books (MURMURING OF READER, PAGE TURN, MURMURS) and casting for rock bass (CAST, SPLASH).
In the fireworks business, you have to keep coming up with sensational new effects. People get tired of the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius after awhile, and you try to entertain them with the Siege of Leningrad (SFX) and that's okay for awhile, and then you bring in the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (SFX) and that's a big hit, but then people need more.
They experimented with minimalism ---- the idea that less is more ---- but it didn't work. (POP OF STRING OF FIRECRACKERS) When it comes to fireworks, nothing succeeds like excess. So for this year, they're putting together the Battle of Gettysburg ---- four days of heavy artillery all concentrated into ten minutes ---
GK: -- people are already fleeing Lenox to get away from it (HORNS). Not today. On the Fourth. Today the Famous Newmans are fishing for rock bass (SFX) and slapping at mosquitos (SFX) and lighting the barbecue (SFX) and grilling big chunks of tofu. Having a cold beer. Not the pop-top, the screw top. (SFX) They're experimenting with the exploding lunatic rocket that goes all over (SFX). The delayed rocket. (LIGHT FUSE) ----- Okay, we'll get back to that. And the flaming venus flytrap which spins around on the ground and spews out flames as it chases the person who lit the fuse (SFX). And evidently the delayed rocket has gone out. I don't see a spark or anything. And Fred ran away so there's not much to be done. We'll just kick that back into the band and we can take care of it later. Here's the DiGiallonardo Sisters and a tune called--------
(IN INTRODUCTION TO TUNE, ROCKET GOES OFF, DIGIS SCREAM IN HARMONY)