Notes on this magazine article from The Rabbit's point of view:

I ought to mention a few "clarifications" about this article where I'm mentioned, particularly keeping in mind that SPY is a humor & satire publication, with the articles typically written toungue in cheek...

The Rapid T. Rabbit costume described and pictured in the article is actually the "original" RTR built by Tony Guastella in 1986. It was a relatively clunky creation (the guy's only first or second costume, and recall the year too) though it included a working mouth operated by a bicycle cable that ran to a grip mechanism in the right paw. This hand-to-mouth assembly only lasted for the first couple of Easter Parade apperances that I made here in New York City.

By the time that this SPY Magazine article was on the newsstands in the Fall of 1990, I had already received and was using the RTR costume built by Stagecraft Inc. and funded by "Sesame Street"'s Big Bird. (And in the Summer of 1998, that RTR head was completely reFURbished..)

Anyways, the author of the article, Ned Zeaman from Newsweek, just happened to catch a (or I should say "the") very early walkabout episode of the Rapid T.Rabbit Show, in which I was strolling around Madison Square Park in June 1986 near the offices of Manhattan Cable TV...it was NOT in Central Park as the article indicates, and also I did NOT make a little kid cry on the spot (I recall making some kid giggle that day though.) Being that I was still new to costume character performing at that time, it was one of those "let's see what happens" episodes of the RTR show. There was an MTA New York City Transit bus parked there on layover between runs, with a bunch of drivers relaxing inside, and I stepped aboard the bus to say hello. At that point was when I first learned to enter/leave the coach with the head and body turned sideways. Contrary to what the SPY article says, the head did NOT get caught in the bus doorway and spun around a la "The Exorcist".

Mr.Zeaman did very briefly call me up by phone to get some basic information, and later I also got a followup call from a magazine intern who obtained fill-in details. The line they supposedly quoted from me--"Being a giant rabbit is not always as great as it sounds."--was inaccurate, what I said was"it's not as easy as it LOOKS." Nevertheless, the quote as printed in SPY Magazine later reappeared on the quotations page of an issue of Newsweek magazine a few months later. It was then that I learned Ned Zeaman wrote full-time for Newsweek and only freelanced that "American Kabuki" article for SPY.