On New York City streets, enterprising musicians, dancers and artists have always been able to make a quick buck by showing off their stuff to passing pedestrians. But what if you want to make some fast money and your talents and training are limited? What to do?

Well, if you follow the resourceful young man here, you get yourself two tree branches, attach some string in a triangular shape and cart yourself and a pail of soapy water to some busy city spot with tons of foot traffic. (Like here, in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art just before Sunday closing time). There, wearing a snappy outfit (when’s the last time you saw knickers with striped socks?) you dip your sticks in the suds and proceed to create gigantic bubbles with wondrous, ever-changing shapes and colors.

Never having seen this particular apparatus in action before, I was as mesmerized as all the little kids watching the enormous bubbles with streaks of rainbow colors streaming off the string. It was a toughie to photograph though. Our Bubble Guy kept moving, trying to stay in sync with a brisk wind. It became a contest, seeing who could break the bubbles first: the wind or the super-charged kids competing with each other to see whose fingers could make the first kill. Even with the kids crowding him and his bubbles, Bubble Guy kept his cool and kept smiling while urging them to “Stay back. Stay back!”

Feeling less charitable (the little monsters were destroying the bubbles before I could get a decent shot) I nevertheless restrained my self from displaying annoyance at either the kids or mothers who made no move to restrain their little darlings from their boisterous, bubble destruction.

As it turned out, the little bubble busters were Bubble Guy’s biggest tippers, dispatched by their moms to drop bills into his tip bucket. While I was there he made a pretty good haul. And why not? He had come up with a fresh, innovative money making idea, had put it into action with style and succeeded. Bravo!

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