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Man bubbles over at thought of new record
Fort Pierce Tribune (FL)
February 28, 1996
`Mr. Bubbles' John Cook, a 74-year-old retired encyclopedia salesman, took a break from his quest to break the world's record for the longest soap bubble Tuesday, when he stopped briefly at the Kmart near Virginia Avenue and U.S. 1 in Fort Pierce. Story/B2
FORT PIERCE -- So much depends upon a red soap bubble made with tap water beside the white school bus. After all, its maker is but one-millionth of an inch -- the thickness of soap film -- away from immortality.
John Cook, a 74-year-old retired encyclopedia salesman, is traveling the country in an old, white school bus making bubbles. He stopped briefly at the Kmart near Virginia Avenue and U.S. 1 Tuesday morning.
His quest: to break the world's record for the longest soap bubble.
The record in the ``Guinness Book of World Records'' stands at 50 feet, set by a David Stein. But Cook says he's made them 100 feet and longer. Just don't tell the Guinness people, he says.
``Nobody'll come out to see me,'' Cook explains. ``See, if you're in the book, that's public record. But if you say you're going to beat the man in the book, now that's news.''
Why bubbles? Why not? asks Cook.
A year ago, he decided if O.J. Simpson could get on the front page of the newspaper, so could he, and his bubble-making hobby was just the ticket. Cook, his Manx cats and the white school bus have been tooling down highways ever since.
``It's better than just setting 'round the cabin, which is what I was doing,''he says of his life in rural Alabama.
Using a bamboo pole as a handle, Cook dips a long loop of cotton into a bucket of dishwashing detergent and Fort Pierce tap water. ``Of course, I can make a bubble out of most anything -- Coca-Cola, Gatorade, Kool-Aid, you name it,'' Cook says in his Alabama twang. ``I can make bubbles out of orange juice 'cept I got to strain it first.''
Cook lifts up the loop and draws it slowly through the early-morning air.
``You got to do it early so the sun don't dry it out too quick,'' he says.
A serpentine bubble begins to form, tinted with a hint of red from the rising sun. The bubble snakes on for about 20 feet. Its tail brushes the ground and it bursts, its skin of soap and water splashing onto the warm asphalt.
``Gotta be careful,'' he says. ``Even a gnat'll bust a bubble.''
Cook keeps making more, some stretching up to 40 feet before they pop.
``Ah, the weather ain't right here,'' he says finally, wetting a finger and holding it in the air. Cook plans to break the world record in each state and already has done so in 16 states, he claims.
``I'm also going to Mount Rushmore and make a big bubble on top of the president's heads,'' he says.
So how long does he plan to keep at it?
``Well I'm 74, so at least for 26 more years I'm thinking.''
MAN OUT TO BURST BUBBLE RECORD
Stuart News, The (FL)
December 14, 1996
The former encyclopedia salesman traverses the country to make huge bubbles.
For four years and two months, John Cook has traveled through towns in an old white school bus with the words "World's Largest Soap Bubble'' painted across its sides. Everywhere he stops - from Middletown, Conn., to Dothan, Ala., to Stuart - he blows bubbles.
STUART - There are many ways to change the world. For John Cook, known as "the Bubbleman,'' it takes 10 parts tap water, one part blue Dawn dishwashing soap.
For the past four years, the 74-year-old former encyclopedia salesman has been trekking across the nation making bubbles.
These are not mere suds, mind you. Cook spends his time blowing big bubbles - giant, shimmering things that could be listed in world records books. His goal is to make the world's longest soap bubble, something he claims he's done already.
Why? Simply because it's fun, he said, and because he hopes to get children interested in the giant bubble pursuit. "I want to get kids all over America concerned with making soap bubbles,'' he said. "I want them to challenge me.''
Cook, who is from Valley, Ala., started making bubbles in 1987, after his grandson showed him a bubble-making toy. He eventually crafted his own bubblemaker. When he visited his daughter in Connecticut in 1992, he drew a crowd of spectators interested in his bubbles. That's when he decided to bring them to the whole country.
To make the bubbles, Cook uses a contraption fashioned from a bamboo cane and a long loop of cloth. He dips the cloth into a tub of soapy water, lifts it up and draws open the loop using a string. A long tube-like bubble, sparkling and rainbow-colored, trails behind him.
But it isn't as easy as he makes it appear, he admits.
"It's easier to go to the moon and back than to make a 50-foot soap bubble,'' Cook said. "They have the technology for that, and they can go to the moon and back whenever they want to. But you can't make a 50-foot soap bubble whenever you want to.''
For four years and two months, Cook has traveled through towns in an old white school bus with the words "World's Largest Soap Bubble'' painted across its sides. Everywhere he stops - from Middletown, Conn., to Dothan, Ala., to Stuart - he blows bubbles.
He's almost perfected the art and science of bubble-making: Wind, of course, is bad. So are pollen, dust and smog, so bubble-making is best accomplished in the morning, when the air is still and settled. Barometric pressure is important, too; the best bubbles are made at 31 to 32 inches.
He lives out of his white school bus, he said, and is kept company by half a dozen cats - two of which talk, he said. Boots and Lightfoot, who know about 12 and 20 words respectively, usually talk in the morning, when few people are around, he said.
For those who might not believe him, he has a tape recording of Lightfoot to prove it. "Al, Al, Al,'' the tape begins, sounding like "Meow, meow, meow.'' It continues: "Al, Al, Al, Al, I love you.''
"You know what people think when I tell them my cat talks?'' Cook said.
That he's crazy?
"No, they think that cat's crazy,'' he said, laughing.
Despite his love of cats, Cook said that bubbles are his main interest.
The world's longest bubble, 50 feet long according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was blown by David Stein in 1988. Cook says he can beat that easily, even though he has a different way of going about it.
"I want to break the world record in every state in the union. If I can break the record in all 48 states, my daughter said she'll fly me to Hawaii and Alaska to break the record there. And then, they'll be able to tie me, but they won't be able to beat me, because they'd have to add a state to do that.
"If I get in (the Guinness Book), I want to do it spectacular, because I'll get in the eyes of the young people,'' he said. If anything other than bubbles interests Cook, it is getting others interested in bubbles, he said.
"I want to stir up as much talk, interest about the bubblemakers as I can,'' he said. "Everywhere I go, it interests those people out there, and that's what I like. ... I'm gonna keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger, until I get the interest of all those little kids out there.''
Cook parked his bus in front of the former Jerry's Family Restaurant, by the Wedgewood Commons shopping center on U.S. 1. He said he'll continue blowing bubbles until sometime Monday.
"I'll be here. And anytime somebody comes by, I'll make them a bubble, weather permitting,'' Cook said.
A BIGGER, BETTER, BALLOONING BUBBLE HE PRODUCES A VISUAL OPERA WITH SOAP JOHN COOK TRAVELS THE COUNTRY JUST TO ENTERTAIN.
Tallahassee Democrat (FL)
April 5, 1997
The ``Bubble Man'' is back in Tallahassee.
Alabama native John Cook, also known as the ``Bubble Man,'' arrived in a white school bus with the words ``World's Largest Soap Bubble'' on the side. His daughter bought the bus for him five years ago for $1,000. Since then, he has traveled up and down the East Coast with six cats keeping him company, delighting his audiences with soap bubbles.
``Children everywhere go wild about these bubbles,'' said the 75-year-old Cook as his energetic blue eyes peered from beneath a camouflage cap. ``I've made them in Tallahassee up to 80 feet before.''
Cook, who has stopped in Tallahassee for the past three years, doesn't have an elaborate bubble machine. He simply owns a bucket and a bamboo pole and uses dish-washing detergent - Dawn is his favorite - mixed with tap water.
Dipping a 10-foot bamboo pole, with a large loop of cloth fastened to one end, he raises it, walks, and creates large, long, radiant bubbles.
The official world's longest soap bubble was made by Alan McKay of Wellington, New Zealand. He created a bubble 63 feet, 10 inches long on July 30, 1995, using a bubble wand, dishwashing liquid, glycerine and water. But Cook claims he has doubled him.
``I can go up to about 120 feet long; I've made two that long in 10 years,'' Cook said. ``You get more people excited if you beat the guy with the record, but to heck with it, I'll beat him to death every day without the record, and enjoy every minute of it.''
Cook said there's a method to his madness. Everything depends on the weather. He needs clear skies and high barometric pressure, medium humidity (it shouldn't be below 30) and medium winds. Cook says he makes the best bubbles in the early mornings when there are few cars and the dust is settled. His favorite locations are level terrains, fields, parking lots.
Cook has been in the ``bubble business'' for about 10 years. He remembers back in 1987 when he met David Stein, the man who he says invented the bubble maker.
Cook said the inventor's partner gave him their formula and he experimented and came up with his own mix. Cook showed the two inventors how to enlarge the bubble from 25 to 50 feet. According to Cook his formula put Stein in the Guinness World Book of Records in 1988 for a 50-foot bubble.
Besides the enjoyment of making bubbles, Cook likes the company of his cats as he travels. He says they talk to him, but hesitates to tell people. Not because people would think he was crazy, but because people would think the cats were crazy.
``I have one cat that says `hello Helen' and `oh no,' '' Cook said. He says he also taught one cat to say ``Al Gore'' in an attempt to make a commercial for Bill Clinton and Gore.
Cook says he has had things happen in his life that many people wouldn't believe and he continues to come up with ideas. ``Somewhere these ideas are going to help somebody,'' Cook said.
The Bubble Man, John Cook, 75, produces a giant, wobbly, multicolored bubble just for the fun of it in a field behind Albertson's on Thomasville Road. He says he's made bubbles in Tallahassee up to 80 feet long
John Cook walks with his bubble-making equipment beside his bus, while his six cats wait for him inside. He says the cats talk to him, but he hesitates to tell people because people would think the cats were crazy.