In the Sixties my father was a teacher for the L. A. County School District and he was acquainted with another elementary school teacher who was throwing small “Medieval Fairs” at her school. He thought this was a novel idea and took the family to check it out. I remember it being on the school’s playground and was a “village” built out of plywood, cardboard, crepe paper and yarn. The teacher and parent volunteers, along with the school children “cast” all wore hand made costumes. It was cute but just another themed carnival put on by a grammar school. Years later I started attending Ye Olde Renaissance Pleasure Faire in a wooden area in Agoura. The school carnival had expanded. At one such fair in 1975 I met Jim Rump. Rump quickly came to represent the Renaissance Faire to me and as a cartoonist and animator I instantly related to his artistic style and appreciated his subject matter. A few years later in 1978 we collaborated on, what I believe is the only, Rumph-based hologram. I had studied holography at San Diego State and had made holograms and I thought Rumph’s sculptures would make tremendous holograms. He sculpted a frame to hold the “HAUNTED MIRROR” and I used his two headed planter to make a hologram of the Sorceress which will appear within the center of the haunted mirror. At that time most holograms were viewed by shining a light through them which made viewing awkward but by mounting it flat onto a mirror we could light it from the front and have the light bounce off the mirror and through the hologram. My late brother also became a big fan of Jim’s and the three of us would venture out on occasion (but that’s another story). As a professional animator at the start of the Disney Renaissance, I pitched Jim on the idea of a movie based on his characters and design esthetic. I had prepared the standard pitch elements: a pilot script, character breakdowns, story bible and various design elements based heavily on Jim’s drawings and sculptures. He wasn’t interested. I bring it up now because after recent health scares, like covid, and advancing age, I recently rummaged through old files and found these materials. One set of song lyrics I had written as a “music video” section of the story I’ve had friends complete and would like to present it as a reminder of the kind of friend or acquaintance that makes your life just a bit more magical.
The Realm Of Rumph
(Featuring the Haunted Mirror and Puff the Magic)
She seemed quite ethereal as we left the ball
And our chariot awaits
So I drive us past her gates up to her hidden lair
With all the pleasures promised there
But little did I dream she was not what she had seemed
Or rather was exactly that
Just my imagination sorely lacked for she had made realities
Of her romantic fantasies
The Realm of Rumph, a factory of slime
In the realm of Rumph is the circus of the mind
In the kitchen by the stove theres a tableaux to behold
Of a wizard with a whisk
While elfin fairies take the risk of being seen in broad daylight
Next to the Priestess, stood straight upright.
A sorcerer’s holding up a mirror through which the sorceress appear.
And a troll with fern green hair
Sits on the table, lost in a stare while a dragon in a pond
Bids you puff the magic wand.
The Realm of Rumph, a factory of slime
In the realm of Rumph is the circus of the mind
Little knickknacks here and there momentos of Renaissance fair.
A time and place that’s hard to find
Unless you look inside her mind. So I must soon decide
If in her world I could reside
I’ve made no vow that I must keep so I guess tonight I won’t get sleep.
But it’s only fair I stay around
And explore this land I’ve found if It’s my plan to triumph
Here, in the magic realm of Rumph
The Realm of Rumph, a factory of slime
In the realm of Rumph is the circus of the mind
