Bubblicious

Bubblicious

Rebecca Nile tells us how to blow it out our, um, wands.

Blowing soap bubbles may seem like child’s play, but to hardworking professionals—known as “bubblers”—like Rebecca Nile (aka “The Bubble Lady”), blowing a well-rounded, buoyant bubble isn’t just monkey business. Nile, of San Rafael, has been working birthday parties, corporate events, school assemblies, and the like throughout the Bay Area for over 12 years. She even drives around in a Scion XB (the toaster on wheels) complete with a special bubble paint job, a slot for her business cards on the outside and, of course, the license plate “Bubble07.” Seeking to increase my own bubble prowess, I tracked down the Bubble Lady as she prepared for several performances at Oakland libraries this month, and snagged some tips on how to step up my game.

Paul Kilduff: Were you always a bubbler?

Rebecca Nile: I trained, actually. Went to school for chemistry, worked in a laboratory.

PK: Great training for mixing up soap bubbles.

RN: Ended up studying theater, becoming a professional actress in Canada. Then came here, [and] became a professional clown. I met the bubble man, and he asked me if I wanted to do bubble shows and birthday parties, because he didn’t want to. I said yes.

PK: Who’s the bubble man?

RN: Louie Pearl, the famous amazing bubble man.

PK: How long ago was that?

RN: Twelve years.

PK: Is this all you do?

RN: I have an entertainment company. Being trained as a clown and an actress, I have that background. I can bring all that to my performance when I’m using the medium, which is bubbles.

PK: So, the bubble hook is sort of the icing on the cake.

RN: Yeah. It seemed to be a natural progression, so it’s like, “Okay. Well then, let’s keep working with this . . . people love bubbles, no matter what age.”

PK: Are libraries your bread-and-butter venues?

RN: Libraries are a typical venue, particularly in the summertime. They have summer reading programs and so that allows many, many entertainers to come in and give these shows for the kids and their families, [kids] that may not get to see performers otherwise.

PK: And other places? Birthday parties?

RN: Private homes for birthday parties. I do schools and I go to senior homes. I’ve worked with seniors, corporate events, churches. You go usually where there’s people.

PK: That would make sense.

RN: People who want to laugh. I’m in the joy business. I take my work very seriously. It’s a total laughing matter.

PK: I’m going to write that down. So, any tips for the amateur bubblers who want to move on from just blowing bubbles to doing tricks?

RN: One is the bubble slide. You blow the bubble out of the wand. Let the first one go because it’s heavy. Then you make your hands very stiff, put your fingers together, and start to flap them very quickly so you make a breeze. As you practice this, you can move it up, you can move it down, you can move it sideways so the bubbles can run around. It’s like they’re running around playing tag. You can even bop them into each other. The other thing you can do is try using a fan and gently wave it faster or slower and see what happens. Sometimes they end up making more bubbles and make friends.

PK: Bubbles procreating and making friends—we could all learn something from that.

RN: Another is the bubble in a bubble. It does take a good solution to make it work. You blow a bubble using a larger wand and you grab it so it doesn’t float away. The bubbles should be at least four inches across—if your bubbles are too small it’s more difficult. You move your face close to the bubble, maybe an inch away. Then you blow small little puffs of air into the bubble, as if you were saying the word “pooh” or spitting little watermelon seeds.

PK: What about the equipment involved here? You have a gigantic wand. What else can you use?

RN: Anything from a straw to a spaghetti spoon with the hole in it to a rubber band to netting. You can roll up a piece of paper. If you have a tin can, you take out both ends and hold the tin can in your hand.

PK: What about making the bubble solution yourself? Is that doable?

RN: I’m going to give you a formula. It’s an old, old recipe. A lot of people know it, but . . . you take Dawn dishwashing liquid, or Joy.

PK: It really has to be Dawn or Joy?

RN: Because they’re more expensive and they’re better products. Pure soaps don’t work. And I’m not plugging Proctor and Gamble.

PK: Not on the P&G payroll . . . yet.

RN: Ivory’s not bad. But Palmolive, I don’t like it at all.

PK: When you do your shows, you bust out the Dawn or Joy. I can see it now, the Bubblepalooza, brought to you by Dawn.

RN: I have different formulas, but for a home brew you take one part of soap and 10 parts of water. I use distilled because it doesn’t have the minerals in it. Filtered tap water works very well, too. If you’re making a big bucket of bubbles, ordinary tap water out of the hose is fine, too.

PK: How do you mix the water and soap?

RN: Very gently. You don’t want to have foam. It’s not about making foam, it’s just about having a solution. Do the water, then do the soap.

PK: Excellent point. See, these are the trade secrets. Water, then soap, so no foam.

RN: One other thing is if you want extra stretchy or more elastic bubbles, you add corn syrup.

PK: The people who run Walgreen’s are going to be upset.

RN: There’s a lot of people who know this—and yes, every single time I do a show parents still come up and ask me for tips, for pointers, about the solution.

PK: Yeah. Now you’re going to be on the cable news shows as an expert. Let’s go to the Bubble Lady, Transamerica building in the background. You’re blowing bubbles . . .

RN: Bubble Central.

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Suggestions? E-mail Paul Kilduff at thekildufffile@themonthly.com


REBECCA NILE VITAL STATS

Age: Yeah, right! I can vote and I can’t cash in on Social Security.

Astrological sign: Leo—what else?

Birthplace: Fergus, Ontario, Canada where my grandmother predicted my birth and told my dad I would be “piped in.” At 3 a.m. Sunday morning a lonely bagpiper was playing his pipes outside the hospital and the doctor announced to my dad he had a daughter! True story.

First “real” job: 
Sweeping off mini-golf course greens.

Website: www.thebubblelady.com

Faces of the East Bay