Universal Studios Florida took the wraps off its new Western stunt show Thursday, treating a packed house to a pistol-packing Ma Hopper and her bumbling, tumbling sons Clod and Cole.
There was enough punching, kicking and falling in the Wild, Wild, Wild West Stunt Show to make even the meanest cowpoke take cover.
Despite appearances, Universal executives say, precautions were taken to ensure the safety of performers at the Orlando theme park. The company is aware of the problems that its competitor, the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park near Orlando, encountered with its Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular two years ago.
Following an Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation, Disney was fined $1,000 for failing to protect its stunt performers.
The investigation came after several actors were injured. One performer fell 30 feet when a restraining cable failed to work. Another fell 25 feet when a ladder collapsed prematurely.
At Universal, though it appears that fists are flying and that Ma has spilled into a bottomless well, those fists don’t really make contact, and Ma actually lands on a stack of mattresses.
“If someone feels it’s not safe to perform a stunt, they don’t,” said Michael LeFleur, the show’s director. “The actors have worked for eight hours a day for the past three months.”
Stunts involving explosives, for instance, are triggered only if the actor and two behind-the-scenes people give the green light.
Similar precautions are taken on the falls. If Ma is getting ready to tumble from a breaking balcony and sees that someone has left a rake in the way, she forgoes the stunt and climbs down.
The only injuries at the Universal show have been minor bumps, bruises and sprains, LeFleur said. Larry Falck, area director for OSHA in Tampa, said his agency has received no complaints from workers about the Western show.
OSHA has also received no more complaints about Disney’s stunt show, Falck said.
At the Universal premiere, a number of stars of Western shows were on hand, including Chuck Connors, Doug McClure and Denver Pyle. All the rough-and-tumble action, however, was done by the cast.
There are 20 stunt performers, with five members in each show. Many of the cast had previous stunt experience, while some were dancers or proficient in acrobatics, said John Zimmerman, the show’s stunt coordinator.
The performers learned how to fall gradually, he said. First, they bounced on a trampoline to get some sense of being in the air, then they worked on tumbling mats to learn how to flip.
Only then did they graduate to the “practice tower,” where they jumped first from one-foot levels and then progressed to greater heights. Early jumps were done onto plump air bags; more proficient jumpers landed on mattresses known as “porta-pits.”
“They didn’t just start out by falling 30 feet,” said Zimmerman, who has worked on the movies Edward Scissorhands and Problem Child II.
Universal President Tom Williams would not reveal the cost of producing he stunt show. The company has spent about $50 million this year on new attractions, about $40 million of that for the Back to the Future ride.
