Heights alum will blow your mind Sept. 8
Cleveland Heights High School has its share of accomplished alumni. Authors and educators, doctors and inventors, artists and entrepreneurs, professional athletes and . . . bubblers?
Yes. Bubblers. Gary Pearlman, class of 1976, is a world-renowned bubbler and has held 15 Guinness World Records for his bubbling feats. We’re talking soap bubbles—the kind you blew through a ring when you were a little kid.
Pearlman, aka Dr. U. R. Awesome, may be a grown man but he makes his living (and makes his mark) blowing bubbles.
He started out as a magician, a job he had for 40 years. His friend and fellow Wiley Junior High and Heights High classmate, Steve Presser, eventually invited Pearlman to perform his magic tricks at Presser’s famed Coventry store, Big Fun. Presser recounted, “Gary wooed the crowd and quickly became a favorite of young and old alike.”
It wasn’t until 2014, when Pearlman discovered the art of bubbling, that he found his true calling. He learned to blow a bubble in a bubble, a cube-shaped bubble, a carousel of bubbles, until, as Presser said, “Gary being Gary, he knew there were bigger mountains to climb and blowing bigger bubbles was his next mission. He went into training like an Olympic athlete, hours and hours each day, seven days a week.”
His determination paid off when, in June 2015, Dr. Awesome shattered the Guinness World Record for an outdoor free-floating bubble, blowing one at University Circle’s Wade Oval that measured 96.27 cubic meters—the size of two school buses stacked on top of each other.
According to Presser, “Guinness World Records are like Lay’s potato chips or tattoos; you can never have just one.”
Dr. Awesome is part of an international community of bubblers, who gather each year in a designated city to bring the joy and marvel of bubbling to the public. After recent gatherings in Berlin, London, and Edinboro, Pearlman convinced the powers that be to bring Bubble Fest 2024 to Cleveland.
With multiple days of events, including a private event on Friday, Sept. 6, and outdoor events at Edgewater Park on Saturday, Sept. 7, and Wade Oval on Sunday, Sept. 8, Dr. Awesome, and his sidekick Presser, will return to the halls of Heights High on Sunday evening for a show in the main auditorium. The two-hour variety show begins at 7 p.m., and costs $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors.
“We figured, what could be better than doing this at our alma mater?” said Presser, who is excited to show the renovated building off to fellow members of the class of 1976, and to show the magic of bubbling off to the entire community.
“These are the best bubblers in the world,” said Presser, “performing on the same stage. For the first time.” He insists that no one, no matter their age, will leave disappointed.
The weekend of fun will be followed by a two-day convention showcasing the latest innovations in bubbling at the Tudor Arms. Presser and Pearlman worked hard to ensure that events would take place on both sides of the Cuyahoga River, highlighting all that makes Cleveland special. “These guys are gonna leave the city blown away,” promised Presser. (Pun most likely intended.)
Tickets to the BubbleFest Variety Show can be purchased here.
Krissy Dietrich Gallagher
Krissy Dietrich Gallagher is a longtime resident of Cleveland Heights, a graduate of Heights schools and a former Coventry School teacher. She is a freelance journalist under contract with the CH-UH City School District, and is proud to raise her two sons in this community.