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Lofthouse once described his occupation as "Somebody pays us a whole lot of money, and we build these big toys. It's all fun." Lofthouse ran Phoenix Decorating Co., which made floats for the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif. His company typically produced half of the parade's floats -- around 25 per year -- which cost $85,000 to $400,000 each. Parade rules require that all visible surfaces consist of "organic material," not just flowers. He pioneered the use of rice, beans, sesame seeds, seaweed, spices -- anything that would get him the look he wanted. Lofthouse also specialized in animation, getting more and more complex until the movements required computer control. "Bill was always looking for the newest thing, the biggest and the best thing that would make the crowd go 'Wow'," a company spokesman said. "He always wanted people to wonder: 'How did they do that?'" He got into the business accidentally in 1955: he followed a cute girl into a barn, and was put to work building the float that was inside. He married the girl, and worked on floats every year for the next 53 years. Lofthouse died July 5 from pancreatic cancer. He was 68.
From This is True for 6 July 2008
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