Three Pranks

Three pranks that recently made headlines:

Riding the elevator
Elizabeth M. "Betsy" Ormsby's state Supreme Court lawsuit against Michael W. Behling, her former supervisor at the Washington Street office building, continues. Mrs. Ormsby, wife of Jefferson County Legislator Barry M. Ormsby, alleged she was duct-taped to a chair while working at the building in April 2006 and then, while bound, sent to several floors on an elevator. She claimed she complained about the incident to Mr. Behling, the building's superintendent, but was told by him to keep the matter quiet.

Gorilla Chases Bananas
Last week ten students in larger-than-life banana costumes ran through the halls of the Zion-Benton Township high school with an eleventh student dressed as a gorilla giving chase. "The boys entered the school's main entrance around noon last Thursday and made their way through the English and science hallways before running into a crowded lunch room and then out a back door. All the while they flailed their arms and yelled "Seniors '08."" School officials have responded by giving the bananas and gorilla a seven-day suspension.

Prank or Art?
Potted plants were taken from the atrium of the Center for the Arts at Luther College and moved into a single room, where they blocked students from moving around and accessing projects. This sparked a debate about whether moving the plants was a prank or an artistic statement. Jeff Dintaman, professor of theatre and head of the art and theatre/dance departments, noted: “Artists will always push the boundaries, and if we’re not doing that, we’re not artists.” But Kate Martinson, Professor of Art, said: "I think ‘prank’ is the word whether it’s artistic or not."

Pranks

Posted on Thu Apr 24, 2008


Comments

That is the worst bunch of bananas I've ever seen. They lack appeal. They sorta look like KKK guys dipped in yellow. The gorilla looks authentic, tho. A peel... i couldn't resist. Anybody else remember that stupid Sid and Marty Kroft dreck called The Banana Splits? That's what they look like, running around like the Monkees. God I hated that show, but it's my guess the gorilla liked it. Ow, stop doing that. It hurts
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Thu Apr 24, 2008  at  11:56 PM
I can't believe those kids got suspended. How stupid.
Posted by Maegan  on  Fri Apr 25, 2008  at  08:45 AM
Yes, Hairy, I do remember the Banana Splits. In it's day it was high art for the Saturday morning crowd.

You may not know but it did help launch the careers of a few now well known people - The Danger Island segment involved Richard Donner (director of The Goonies, Lethal Weapon series, The Omen, etc.) and a very young Jan Michael Vincent (the Airwolf television series).
Posted by KDP  on  Fri Apr 25, 2008  at  09:27 AM
Following along that divergently tangental line, let me also point out that Ron Howard's younger brother Clint(?), most recently seen as the radar operator in the Austin Powers flicks who report seeing a large johnson, played the proto-human monkey guy in Land Of The Lost. Dunno who played the Sleestaks, but it wasn't me. Dick Cheney would be my guess.
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Fri Apr 25, 2008  at  10:00 AM
Discussing the first appearances from nearly forty years ago of currently well known actors kind of makes you feel old, doesn't it?

And maybe a bit remorseful about our misspent youth.
Posted by KDP  on  Fri Apr 25, 2008  at  12:06 PM
Well, actually , I think that Clint Howard's first regular TV role was as a kid sidekick to Gentle Ben, but I could be wrong. Discussing 40plus year-old tv trivia doesn't make me feel old at all. I'm pleased to still be able to remember the shows and get the names right. When I walk down the stairs and forget what the hell I came downstairs for, now That makes me feel old. That and the grey hairs that keep popping out of earlobes. And the way that women tend to call me Honey and Sweetie just to make me feel better. Never did that when I was young. Like petting an old dog. Sure, they kinda stink, but come on, they're old, dammit. Give them a pat on the head, sit them in front of the TV, and put on old reruns. Dogs like that, too.
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Fri Apr 25, 2008  at  01:48 PM
These guys got 7-day suspensions for running through the school dressed as bananas. Fighting warrants a 5-day suspension. When I saw someone get thrown through a floor-to-ceiling glass window during a fight in the cafeteria during my junior year, the thrower got a 5 day suspension.

Senior pranks in the past have included filling the pool with goldfish or ice cubes, stealing archery deer (THAT prank made it on MTV), setting loose baby pigs or rats, and "shooting" underclassmen with bleach-water-filled squirt guns. None of these pranks were ever punished.

The real issue the school had was the fact that these students were "signed out" for the day and as a result supposedly were not allowed, legally, to be on the campus. Talk about taking a simple issue to the extreme.
Posted by Former Z-B student  on  Fri Apr 25, 2008  at  10:23 PM
The reason, as far as I understand, that the students got in trouble for being on campus while being "signed out", is: It's important, from a safety standpoint, to know exactly who is in the school at any one time. Teachers have student lists they keep handy to account for all during any emergency. Nobody wants emergency responders looking for students who aren't there, or trying to account for students who are supposedly signed out. This isn't a police-state, lock-down fascist effort, hell no, it is truly for the safety and security of the students and faculty. Myself, I'd have run naked, and let them count my banana amongst the bunch, but that's just me.
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Fri Apr 25, 2008  at  11:15 PM
That gorilla prank is hilarious!
Posted by Dorm Pranks Blog  on  Fri Sep 19, 2008  at  05:25 PM
Ah it is pranks time again, when the schools out, the pranks is in so to speak.
Posted by Backstreet Boys  on  Sat Jun 06, 2009  at  02:15 AM
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