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Why 16-Foot-Tall Plungers Are Taking Over LA's Malls
We feel like pink isn't really Susie's color. (Courtesy Amazon)
Ah, a beautiful day at the Grove, enjoying the fountain and taking a quick trolley ride when WHY IS THERE A GIANT PLUNGER OVER THERE?!
It's part of the pre-Emmys awards season promotion for Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a delightful show about a 1950s housewife becoming a comedian after realizing her husband isn't funny.
One of the giant plungers dotting L.A.'s shopping landscape this week. (Courtesy Amazon)
Why a plunger? It's in honor of Alex Borstein's character Susie Myerson, Midge Maisel's friend and manager, who ends up going undercover as a maintenance worker to help Midge book gigs in the Catskills. She won two Emmys last year (one for Maisel, another for Family Guy), and Amazon would probably be psyched for her to repeat.
You can find the immense plungers at seven malls around the L.A. area:
- The Grove
- The Americana at Brand
- Palisades Village
- Santa Monica Pier
- Westfield Century City
- Westfield Fashion Square - Sherman Oaks
- Westfield The Village - Woodland Hills
The giant plungers come complete with notes seeking their safe return to Susie -- a play on the fact that her dearly beloved plunger went missing in the middle of her Catskills romp, after they had developed a deep emotional bond. (Susie and the plunger are the two characters we're shipping the most.)
The dream of those with big heads everywhere. (Courtesy Amazon)
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The Maisel PR people go hard -- in New York City, they're paying tribute to Midge's fashion sense with giant... blue... hats. They're also only eight-feet tall, and there's only two of them, so I think we win?
Later this month, they're also doing a promotion with Postmates in both L.A. and NYC -- from June 17 through June 24, you can order a Marvelous Mrs. Maisel meal pack. It includes a classic Reuben, black and white cookie, tomato juice (why are you forcing this upon us you monsters), and a plunger keychain. (We'll leave it up to you to explain to your friends why you have a plunger keychain.)
That follows previous Maisel promotions like a room at Refinery29's 29Rooms art pop-up, offering their own version of the Maxwell House Passover Seder Haggadahs, reviving the Carnegie Deli as a pop-up, and more. They're also holding For Your Consideration events with the show's stars for Television Academy members to woo their votes.
If only the statue could've been holding the plunger. (Courtesy Amazon)
The giant Marvelous Mrs. Maisel plungers are up at L.A. malls through this Friday. No launch date has been announced for the show's third season, but it's started filming and the previous two seasons have dropped near the end of the year, so a late fall/early winter season 3 seems likely.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
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