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Intricate timing and exact combinations of powders, fuses, boosters and paper parachutes are needed to achieve fireworks like these.

He Sets the -sky on Fire!

By FRAN!( J. TAYLOR

Here's how an expert pyrotechnician-master of fireworks-creates

that extravaganza in the heavens at your state fair. He's one of the

last of the hereditary experts who set off bombs to amuse the crowd.

N Sacramento the directors of the California As usual, after half an hour of Mr. Lizza's sales- A short, stout man who manages to waddle ener-
I State Fair were deep in parley over how to stay good humor and ready to go along-skyrockets, getically , Lizza perspires great beads of inspiration
manship and kidding, the directors were in great
within the budget, when a chunky little human
when he thinks in terms of fireworks pageantry. He
bombshell in baggy clothes pushed his beaming bomb bursts and flares- and the budget be damned. nervously brushes back an unruly cowlick of hair,
face into the room and loosed a burst of verbal pyro- The directors, it should be said, have been push- then mops his brow and explains, "Me, I don't do
technics. He could, he said, produce a more mag- overs for Lizza for three decades. these shows for the Fair Board; I play to the crowds
nificent fireworks display than anyone had ever Which is as it should be, for effervescent Patrick in the grandstand."
seen this side of Mount Vesuvius, near whose slope Lizza, of Redondo Beach and Saugus, California, is Lizza is far too great an artist to fool with home
our hero, Mr. Patrick Lizza, was born. one of the world's outstanding artists in fireworks. fire)Vorks, such as firecrackers, Roman candles, and
"I got a great idea, gentlemen, the greatest idea Lizza loves to light the sky with his fiery waterfalls pin wheels. Let the ninety other fireworks manu-
that ever comes to me before. All we need is a little and forests, his ger ndoles and sparkling portraits facturers in the country have that business. Lizza
more money, just a few thousand dollars more, and of notables, his animated Mother Goose and Walt maestros only magnificent extravaganzas that call
we put on the greatest fireworks show in any state Disney characters done in fleeting bursts of flame. for the starry heaven for a backdrop. In good years,
fair. You gentlemen go along with me for a little he and his crews have staged up to 200 shows at
more money and we really light up the sky." PHOTO GRA PHY BY GENE L ESTER state faii:s, coliseums, (Continued on Page 172)
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