Stage name

[John Pezzullo]

In the late 1980s, whilst studying at university, I had a part-time job working as a porter in a hotel. One of the other porters, a Filipino guy named Sonny, used to call me 'Johnny Madrid'. I kind of liked the name and always thought that it would make for a catchy stage name. It was only after a few months that I discovered that 'Johnny Madrid' had actually been a Filipino porn star back in the 1970s.

[Mitch Dutton]

Well, for what it's worth, I remember reading that Houdini said that if he had it to do over, he would never perform under name other than his own (meaning NOT Houdini). I wish I could remember where I read that... --Mitch

[Shawn Preston]

So I finally got around to reading this thread and coicidentally I am having the same "to stage name or not to stage name" issue. My last name is popp (yeah I've heard em all) I've struggled with using my last name for a while for a couple of reasons: First of all my last name has somewhat of a whimsical sound for obvious reasons. This isn't so bad as I perform magic with an emphasis on comedy. However when trying to book upscale corporate shows, I sometime wonder if people question the "sophistication" of my act simply based on my last name. Second, when I have performed stand up shows I constantly get mispronunciations. Oddly enough, some people just can't get the fact that my last name is Popp. Not Dop, Cop, Top. This gets rather frustrating after 30 years of clarifying my name. Lastly, I'm a bit tired of all the comments. Don't get me wrong; I'm very proud of my name and my family and would never change my name officially, however from a more commercial and professional standpoint I would much rather not open the door. Any thoughts???

Regards
Shawn Popp

[Lance Pierce]

Ever wonder what YOUR porn name would be were you to have chosen that path? Simple. Your first name is the same as the name of your first pet. Your last name is the name of the street you live on currently.

Oh, wonderful. "Hi, I'm Molly N.W. 56th Street. Shall we get started?"

Sheesh,

Lance

[Pete McCabe]

Not to take this thread seriously or anything, but there is one practical consideration you may want to... consider.

All of the big acting unionsSAG, AFTRA, AEArequire each actor to submit the name they would like to be billed as. Each name must be uniqueif you get cast on Broadway and your name is Jeff Gardner, you'll have to call yourself Jeffrey, of Jeff Jack Gardner, or whatever, because my old roommate is already in AEA as Jeff Gardner.

However I don't think Jeff has done a SAG film yet, and I'm not sure if the acting unions have any shared-database type arrangement.

Still, if you're a professional entertainer and you're picking a stage name, you might want to check to make sure you won't have to change it should you land a TV commercial, like our friend MaxNY did.

Sorry, back to the Hugh G. Rection jokes.

[Bill Mullins]

Shawn -- Are you the person who bought out Bob LaRue's _Infinity_ magazine? The reason that I ask, is when he ceased publishing (only put out two issues after I had pre-paid for four), I tried several times to contact him for fulfillment or a refund of the other issues ($20).

He never paid off, but finally said that he had sold the magazine to Shawn Popp and that you (?) were responsible for the remainder. What gives???

Bill Mullins

[Shawn Preston]

Bill,
I have sent a private email regarding this issue.
thanks