TREVOR Position Paper
or
What's In A Name?
My name is TREVOR "The Games Man". I've entertained over 1 million people at over 5,000 events since 1972. I work primarily throughout New England and am well-known in the Connecticut River valley from Brattleboro VT to Hartford County CT. I was voted "The Best Children's Entertainer" in the Valley Advocate readers' poll. My adult and teen shows get rave reviews throughout New England, too.
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FACT #1: As a professional stiltwalker, my picture gets in the paper a lot; often 2 or 3 times a month. Add in other media and my other shows, and I often consistently get weekly coverage somewhere.
FACT #2: Because it's standard practice in the industry to refer to everyone by their last name, reporters routinely ask me, "What's your last name?" and then won't believe that I don't use one. I don't. My birth surname was constantly mis-spelled in the media in my early years. I want potential clients to be able to find me if there's something about me in the paper. If my name is spelled wrong, most readers won't be able to find me... especially with the outrageous mis-spellings I was getting. It got to the point that I was so frustrated with this that I had to give up my old last name for professional reasons in 1991. I just plain don't use it any more, not on paperwork, not on my checks, not even with friends. And, in fact, since my only phone is listed under my business name only, nobody could find my phone number under my old surname anyways.
FACT #3: I'm not alone in the entertainment world in using a single name: Lulu, Prince, Madonna, Midori, Divine, Jewel, Christo, Pigpen, Donovan, Sinbad, Melanie, Bozo, Bluebeard, RuPaul, Vangelis, Sade, Rev. Ike, Mr. T, Twiggy, Fabian, Donfeld, Falco, Jan & Dean, Flea, Charo, Tiffany, Kreskin.... The list goes on and on.
FACT #4: Most sports fans wouldn't recognize the name Edson Arantes do Nascimento. (Pele) Nor would most music fans know who Cherilyn Sarkisian is. (Cher) And the same goes for Gorden Matthew Sumner, Hector Hugh Munro, and Giovanni Battista Montini. (Sting, Saki, Pope Paul VII) Do sports reporters ever refer to "Nascimento" scoring an amazing goal? No. Do music reporters refer to "Sarkisian" or "Sumner" having a new cd? No. Do religion reporters ever refer to "Montini" having led Mass somewhere? No. And the reason is because nobody would know who they're talking about. So, despite the industry standard, effective journalists actually use the person's known name, be it a stage name or the original birth name.
FACT#5: I'm known as TREVOR or TREVOR "The Games Man". Please.
Thank you.