Are You An Original Kids Entertainer?

Remember the third Indiana Jones movie? In the opening scenes, we see young Indy as a boy scout thwarting some thieves in a great chase scene that establishes Indy’s fear of snakes. At the end of this section, the head crook gives Indy his fedora, and we realize that Indy’s look and leather jacket style are based on this man’s…

While this is a very famous movie, note that the fedora hat and leather jacket didn’t catch on as a fashion statement. Anyone wearing it would have people say “Are you trying to be Indiana Jones?”

The genius of inspiration is not to choose something that everyone else does. If you’re painting a barn, and you paint it red, you’re not an artist; you’re a painter. BUT, if you paint it sky blue with clouds or anything else very different, then you’re artist.

As performers, that is what we should strive for: to be artists.

So don’t try to perform the same things the same way that you saw them, that makes you a red barn painter.

And try not to be inspired by the same performers everyone copies. The world already has enough Jeff McClones, Chris Angel/David Blaine Types, Copperfield imitators, etc.

Remember it was only Indiana Jones who saw the gang leader in the fedora and copied some of his style. When Van Gogh paints “Starry Night” it’s original, when lots of people paint blue skies with similar colors, the response is “Are you trying to be Van Gogh?”

And saying “The audience doesn’t know” is wrong. You know. No copy is as good as the original. Be the best you, rather than a poor copy. No Elvis Presley imitator will ever be so great that Priscilla Presley will say “O.M.G. You’re the new king! Here’s the key to Graceland!”