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August, 2005 • MarineNews 29 had accidents. Phil Grucci remembers the days when his grandfather lit shows with a railroad flare. Manual ignition is no longer permit- ted, of course, nor are wooden barges like those used off Rockaway Playland or Coney Island a half-century ago. "It's still on the books that we need to spread a layer of sand on the deck," said Mr. Gruc- ci, "even though it's a steel barge. We have to get a variance to stage each show with- out a couple of inches of sand on the deck." Besides reducing the odds of a wood deck fire, the coating of sand helped anchor the mortars, the vertical tubes emplaced on said deck to direct the fire- works skyward. "You wouldn't want one of them falling over just as it fires," Mr. Grucci comments. Most bargemen and tugmen would agree. Toward that end, the Gruccis have patented certain construction techniques in a metal gridwork of their design, which their own sustained use has proved ideal. Of copies that have shown-up elsewhere in the industry, Mr. Grucci finds it a sin- cere form of flattery, "but it concerns us, because the reliability of our design is based upon points that not everyone is fol- lowing. We want it to be understood that our design is not something we license for a fee - it's free for the asking." Although the "Fantastic Four" show was a large one, it came together through a sequence of steps more-or-less common to show-business. "We knew what the movie was about," said Mr. Grucci, "and they had a musical score. We put together a soundtrack with a timecode on it. I locked myself up in my studio and lis- tened to every second of the music. I could envision what kinds of fireworks effects, from our inventory of about 3000 characters, will dance and perform in which way. I equate the process with cast- ing a play, where you have some charac- ters that are more dynamic than others. The show in this case needed to be very powerful from beginning to end," and included some giant eruptions designed specially for it. Mother Nature Also becoming powerful on the after- noon of July 5 was the weather, tropical and drippy and foreboding of worse. The crew set-up the grids, then tossed the mor- tars through the air, man to man till the tube of the correct size reached its planned destination in the layout. They were standing the last ones in place when a light smattering of rain, just a teaser, blew across Erie Basin. Large blue plastic tarps, labeled "Fireworks by Grucci," were unfurled and spread over the waiting mortars. "We've fired shows in rainstorms," said Mr. Grucci. "There is the chance the escape charge won't fire if you don't keep your powder dry," but a 3-mil plastic film over the loaded mortar keeps the water out - and permits the "product," including eight-inch-diameter spheres packed with elaborations of charges and firing sys- tems, to blast right through and up a thou- The airborne display begins long before ignition, the crew tossing-along the mortars for exact placement within the patented Grucci frames, there to be wired for ignition from a laptop. The "escape charge" could include up to a pound of black powder. (Photo: Don Sutherland.) Sea Pigeon IV, one of several party boats stemming the tide as nature's own pyrotechnics do their slow- motion thing. (Photo: Don Sutherland.) An hour after a spirited pelting by a tropically-inspired downpour, Megan McAllister noses the fireworks out of Erie Basin, conveniently near Liberty Island, with a lovely warm sunset in full bloom. (Photo: Don Sutherland.) AROUND THE HARBOR Here's a Marine News Exclusive. Fireworks look great from a distance, but greatest of all from directly beneath. They're fired straight up, and fall back straight down, surrounding the observer in a three- dimensional cascade. Don't forget your hard hat. (Photo: Don Sutherland.) AUGUSTMN2005 4(25-32).qxd 8/1/2005 4:51 PM Page 29
