Whims For Rent

One man wanted a talking robot to deliver a marriage proposal to the woman he loved.

Another devillish soul sought a horse to leave in a friend's apartment as a gag Christmas gift.

A mother wanted a marching band to strut down the street on her son's birthday.

All these people were customers of Whims For Rent, a Philadelphia firm that caters to these flamboyant people who love jokes and crazy parties.

"Our motto is: We fulfill your fantasies, just as long as it's legal," said Joseph Ball, president of Americal Advertising Services Inc., which created Whims For Rent.

The unusual 4-year-old firm has the contacts to supply a belly dancer for a club picnic, a football star to serve as a butler at a dinner party, or a man dressed in a gorilla suit to deliver a bouquet of flowers.

Whims for Rent has so many requests for girls to jump out of cakes, that the company built its own cardboard cake, 2-metre in diameter. "Sometimes we can't get it through doors," Mr Ball said.

"A common request that we have to say 'no' to is the pie in the face," Mr Ball said. "That's assault and battery. A lot of people want to do it as a joke to people they like. They think it's funny." - UPI


Source: Straits Times, Monday, January 12, 1981