Forever Blowing Bubbles in Chester

You could call Keith Michael Johnson a bubblehead and it wouldn't be an insult. That's because Johnson is an entertainer who has created a young people's program on bubbles that combines soapsuds with science. Johnson recently presented his program, The Secret World of Bubbles, to a delighted audience of some 80 children at the Chester Meeting House. The Friends of the Chester Library sponsored the program, which was arranged by children's librarian Patty Petrus.

Many young members of the audience had to climb up to reach the adult-sized chairs in the meeting house. Once sitting, most of the spectators' feet did not touch the floor.

The audience, nonetheless, was not too young to appreciate the bubble magic Johnson presented. He blew bubbles using the standard wand found in jars of bubble liquid; he blew bubbles using three pieces of string held out to form a triangle; he blew bubbles using a spatula with a hole in it. Johnson blew clouds of individual bubbles of all sizes, then he blew bubble sculptures, joining one bubble atop another.

"It's a snowman," the audience members shouted.

He created a Jurassic bubble, encasing a plastic dinosaur in an airy circle of soapsuds. The trick, Johnson explained, is to coat the plastic dinosaur in soapsuds. When a bubble touches something wet, it doesn't break; it disintegrates when it touches something dry.

For the finale, Johnson encased something much larger than a 12-inch plastic dinosaur in a bubble. He encased a member of the audience, six year-old Emma Elizabeth Brockett in a series of huge bubbles created by a hula-hoop dipped in a small wading pool filled with soap and water.

"It was a little scary, but it was fun," Brockett said afterwards.

The humidity made it a perfect day for a bubble show, Johnson said. The bubbles last longer in humid air, he explained. And unlike some large corporations, which don't divulge the secret formulas that make their products successful, Johnson gave away the prefect recipe for making lasting bubbles. It's nine parts of water to one part of liquid soapsuds and one part thickener like glycerin. For soap, Johnson says he prefers Dawn Concentrate.

Johnson, whose catalog of one-man shows focuses on educational entertainment for school audiences, said that the bubble program grew from his own fascination with bubbles.

"It's a hobby that I've made pay for itself," he said.

His roster of other offerings includes programs on weather, mathematics, and oddities of science.

All the subjects that Johnson presents in his programs engage the attention not only of young audiences, but also of professional scientists. Johnson, however, presents his material with flourishes that would be unusual in a formal laboratory. That's because in addition to graduating from college with a degree in performance, Johnson is also a graduate of the Ringling Brothers Clown College. He taught his audience a complicated clown-like routine for applauding his tricks that included giving a seal of approval by having everyone clap hands and bark like a seal three times.

There was no doubt about the genuineness of the seal of approval. Sophie Scrivo, 5, said she liked the big bubbles that Johnson blew. Henry Byrne, 3, said he liked when the bubbles popped.

Cameron Costanzo, 3, wasn't picking any favorites.

"I liked everything," he said.