Crew names on props

I know crew members often call the various props by names:

The London crew calls the elephant for "Colin the elephant".

And one of the chandeliers (London or Broadway, can't remember which one) is named Ruthie, after Hal Prince's assistant Ruth Mitchell. Am I mistaken, or was a chandelier named after Maria Bjørnson as well?

Others?

Vegas chandelier is named Maria.
Our elephant is Bertha.

meglett wrote:Vegas chandelier is named Maria.

Aaaaw, that's so nice.

Who comes up with the names, though? I mean, how do the elephant end up being called Bertha (which, by the way, is brilliant!)? Was there a Bertha around, or is it just for fun?

If I had to guess, "Bertha" is a name typically associated with fat women, and the elephant sure is big.

The monkey on the UK tour was called Bob. I worked front of house when it was playing, and one of the crew told me.

On the US Tour, they call the big black cushion that Raoul jumps down into during the Final Lair scene "Slug."

I think I remember reading an article years ago that said the US tour elephant's name was Hilda, but I might be getting mixed up.

I used to know the name of the Toronto monkey, and I now I've completely blanked. Did it begin with T? Or did I just make that up?

phantomgirl110 wrote:I think I remember reading an article years ago that said the US tour elephant's name was Hilda, but I might be getting mixed up.

Aha! The second article on this page says that the elephant's name is Gilda.

Josefine wrote ages ago that "The Angel in the proscenium was in Stockholm called the Angel lift and weighs about 200 Kilos (400lbs)". The Angel lift! I'd love one of those for my penthouse apartment, please.

IamErik771 wrote:I know the US Tour chandeliers (yes, all of them back when there were 3 Tours) were also called "Maria," and I believe the Broadway one is, too. I'd assumed the one in London also was; I hadn't heard that one of them had been called "Ruthie," but perhaps I just heard wrong.

It's the current Broadway one which is called "Ruthie", I got that confirmed the other day.

According to this picture from the South African Phantom site....

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=352855171394403&set=a.244182785594976.77089.209472882399300&type=1&theater

...their elephant is named Trevor.

Fairly sure this was mentioned on the 25th Anniversary Thread, but for the RAH performance they welded a metal plaque with the name 'Maria' etched into it to the bottom tier of the big Chandelier used in that production.

I'll assume it was in tribute to Maria Bjornson.

~Madame~

Madame Giry wrote:Fairly sure this was mentioned on the 25th Anniversary Thread, but for the RAH performance they welded a metal plaque with the name 'Maria' etched into it to the bottom tier of the big Chandelier used in that production.

I'll assume it was in tribute to Maria Bjornson.

Yes, they're writing so in the official Bjørnson site. A nice picture of it too:
http://mariabjornson.com/phantom.html

The chandelier in Las Vegas is also called "Maria," although I don't think it's carved into the side.

R.