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White House visit a real stretch
By RYAN DAVIS, Times Staff Writer HOLIDAY -- Joe LaMonica can make a dog in 30 seconds. An octopus in fewer than three minutes. And a fruit basket with pears, apples, bananas and grapes in 12 to 15 minutes. LaMonica, an 89-year-old retired postal worker living in Holiday, can twist a balloon into just about anything. Once he made a life-size motorcycle. He wrote books that list nearly 50 animals, people and objects he can create. Next month, he'll perform at the most prestigious venue of his 60-year career: the White House. "It's nice that you can say, "I performed at the White House,' because everybody holds the White House up here at the pinnacle," he said while shaking his right hand above his white hair. "But it would be just like going next door and doing it." LaMonica will work June 5 at the congressional picnic on the South Lawn, making balloons for lawmakers' children, he said. "I just hope nobody asks me a political question," he said. "I don't know a thing about politics." And maybe he can get President Bush -- who LaMonica describes as "all right" -- to sign one of his balloon books, he said. LaMonica thinks he just might be the oldest balloon artist in the country. His career started with hypnotism at his Brooklyn, N.Y., high school. He had a classmate put her hands on a desk and had her believing they were stuck there. That led to a trip to the principal's office. Then it led him to expand into balloon making, card tricks and illusion. While doing magic in his spare time from his Buffalo, N.Y., post office job, LaMonica performed in front of as many as 2,000 people. He brought his show to the Tampa Bay area when he retired here about 20 years ago. For a man who can make anything disappear, his quaint one-story house is stacked with career mementos, including videos of his shows. In one, a family friend pops out of a doll house crisscrossed with swords. Her name is Michelle White. Her husband is Worthington Wyatt White, a lawyer who works at the White House. They asked for LaMonica's help next month. He won't get paid for this gig, he said. At least not in money. "The kids looking up at you," he said. "That's the satisfaction. It's hard to explain."
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From today's Hernando Times Letters |
