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Andy Kaufman and Redd Foxx To Tour As Holograms
HughPickens.com writes: Dave Itzkoff writes in the NYT that years after their deaths Andy Kaufman and Redd Foxx will be united in a most unlikely way as Hologram USA, a technology company that specializes in visual recreations of celebrities, will present shows with hologramic likenesses of Andy Kaufman and Redd Foxx across the country. "They're comedy icons. Both of them influenced so many comedians after them," says Alki David adding that the company is "working with other estates of famous funny guys and funny girls, these just happened to be amenable estates who see the vision." David says that the hologram shows featuring these comedians would include some of their best-known material — say, Andy Kaufman lip-syncing the "Mighty Mouse" theme on the debut episode of "Saturday Night Live" — as well as narrative segments that dramatize biographical details. The shows will have residencies in multiple locations in tourist-oriented cities across the country and will play several times a day for the first year and then eventually be put on a rotation with other acts. As for the future, "there are an awful lot of dead celebrities," concludes David. "There are an awful lot of dead people with a lot of followers. The fresher the memory, the bigger the star."
I realize I'm probably preaching to the choir by commenting here, but the nytimes page linked to had no comment section, or else I would have said something there. But I really wish that people, and especially the media, would stop referring to this sort of thing as a hologram. It's called "pepper's ghost", it's a well-known illusion, and is not anything remotely like a hologram.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
The chances of these "holograms" being actual holograms is down there with the House Benghazi Committee actually accomplishing anything.
These will be Pepper's Ghost illusions, not holograms. Pepper's Ghost done well can be very effective, but the physics is rather different.