Baby Macaws at the Hamner Barber Theater

This inquisitive pair of baby Greenwing Macaws were hatched about 7 weeks ago as part of a licensed domestic breeding program arranged by Dave and Denise Hamner under the direction of Linda Hughes of Rainbow Realm Aviaries in Rhome, TX.  “Linda is one of the best parrot breeders we have ever worked with,” said Dave Hamner.  “We can’t say enough nice things about her facility in Texas.”

As these colorful birds fill out their plumage and grow to full size, they will become highly intelligent and perhaps they will even make an appearance on stage at the Hamner Barber Theater and fly high above the heads of the audience as their parents did before retiring to the breeding program.

A Few Feathered Facts

Greenwings are considered the smartest breed of the large macaws, with an ability to learn things quickly. They are the second largest in size next to the Hyacinth Macaw.  Interactive socially with both people and parrots, the Greenwing macaw often possesses a sweet nature.  With a life expectancy of 60-80 years or more, they can make excellent life-long companions, but raising a parrot as a pet is not for everyone.  Parrots don’t provide unconditional love and a caretaker needs extreme patience and skill to earn a bird’s respect.   These birds also require a great deal of physical and mental stimulation, as they are famous for their mischevious nature and need to chew and destroy.  A healthy and proper diet is essential, and over a lifetime, raising a parrot (let alone an entire flock) can be extremely expensive.

Help Us Name The New Babies

The Hamners have devoted the greater part of their lives caring for over two-dozen of these wonderful winged creatures.  They truly think of them more as children than they do as pets.  With the arrival of these new babies, we at the Hamner Barber Theater thought it would be fun to give our online friends an opportunity to come up with the names that these two Macaws will carry for the rest of their lives.  It’s an important assignment, and one not to be taken lightly.  Here’s how you can participate…

Enter Today for Your Chance To Win

Send us an email and include only one name for each bird.  One is a male, and the other is female.  Be creative with your selection and you’ll have a chance to not only claim the title of “Bird Namer to the Stars,” but you’ll also win a fabulous prize package from the Hamner Barber Theater valued at over $100.00 that includes Hamner Barber DVD’s, Magic Tricks, Puppets, Show Tickets and more suprises!

Submit your entry no later than 11:00pm on Friday, August 28, 2009.

The entire staff, cast and crew of the Hamner Barber Variety Show will be given a list of each entry and asked to select their favorite.  The entry with the most votes is the winner.  Should no entry recieve more than one vote, the Hamners themselves will then determine the winner.

We’ll announce the winner on this website on Tuesday, September 1, 2009.

Put your thinking caps on, and send us your names today.  Be sure to include your name and shipping address so we can mail your prize package should you be the winner.  You may also post comments to this article below, but only name submissions sent via email will be considered for the contest.

Thank you for participating in this feathered fun!

Though the sporty images taken by photographer Marshall Meadows were intended to be published in the newspaper, both Dave and Jim enjoyed a break from their responsibilites at the Hamner Barber Theater to throw a few lines in the water.

The article is entitled: “Fast Chat with the creators of the best variety show in Branson, Dave Hamner and Jim Barber.”

Editor and publisher John Sacoulas asked the performing duo several questions related to their career and personal lives as well.

An excerpt of the article is shown below.

Do you guys really like to fish?

Dave: Yes, I really enjoy fishing… used to be out on the lake quite a bit… since managing the theater, I have only been out about three times… bummer… Jim and I have never had the opportunity to fish together… also, another bummer… so busy…

Jim: I love to fish. I prefer fly fishing, but in this photo Dave and I were faux fishing! What I love best is the quiet solitude and cool air coming off the water. Listening to the sounds of nature and water slapping the shoreline is very tranquil and relaxing to me. If I catch a fish, I’d rather release it than keep and clean it. I don’t find enough time in my schedule to go fishing very often, which seems silly when we live in the midst of some of the best fishing lakes in the country.

The article continues with the following questions:

• “Where did you first meet?”
• What personality traits makes your professional partnership work so well?
• How does your Christian faith come into play for your success?
• How did you get your wives to agree to be such a big part of what you guys do?
• With the level of talent you guys perform at, you can entertain anywhere in the world. What makes Branson so special to you?
• What has been the strangest gig you have ever done?
• Jim, how did David Letterman’s people know about you for the special appearance on his show?
• If you couldn’t be in the entertainment industry what would you be doing?

To read the answers to the above questions, please read the full article by downloading a PDF version of the Branson Christian News - June 2009 Edition.

Related Websites: Branson Christian News, Meadows Images

The real truth, is that the two met in the mid-90′s in Branson. The Hamners were guests in the audience of the Glen Campbell Goodtime Show and saw Jim perform as the featured comedian. At the time, the Hamners were performing with the Osmond Brothers, Hot Country on Ice show. A few days later, Jim and Dave bumped into each other at a local shopping center and personally got to know each other. Dave was impressed with Jim’s unique performance and thought he was the greatest ventriloquist he had ever seen. Jim then went to see the Hamners perform their famous Pirate Parrot Act at the Osmond Theater and was equally impressed with their originality and dynamic stage presence.

Over the years to follow, Dave and Jim kept in contact and discussed the possibility of one day having their own show together. In 2002, Jimmy Osmond hired both Jim Barber and The Hamners to be featured variety acts in his new American Jukebox Show. Sharing a tiny dressing room backstage, the performers became quite close and their friendship grew stronger.

Shortly after the American Jukebox Show closed in 2003, The Hamners and Jim Barber were offered the evening slot at the (then named) Sons of the Pioneers Theater on Shepherd of the Hills Expressway. This was their opportunity to finally perform together in their own show as they had dreamed about 10 years before. The owners of the theater renamed the venue, The Victorian Theater and the Hamner Barber Variety Show took flight for it’s first season in Branson.

That first year was full of tremendous challenges as the theater owners were going through some financial difficulties. Both Dave and Jim were determined to keep the show running and offered to take financial responsibility for running the venue by leasing the theater from the owner with the goal of purchasing the property. In 2005, The Hamners and The Barbers took ownership of the theater and the land around it and changed the name once again to The Hamner Barber Theater, a name they feel confident will remain on the venue as long as they desire to perform the show.

“We are excited to interview Bucky and AJ Heard as our first guests on the webcast,” stated Dave Hamner. “Bucky is currently featured in a new production called “The Entertainers” at the Andy Williams theater and has been an outstanding Branson entertainer whose talents go far beyond his incredible singing abilities.” Bucky’s wife AJ also discusses her career over the years as a dancer, singer and choreographer in some of Branson’s finest productions. “AJ has an exciting announcement for folks who may not have seen her in awhile… actually, two exciting announcements,” added Jim Barber.

The show hosts look forward to many new additions to the webcast in the coming weeks, and will be scheduling interviews after the holidays subside. Interested parties who would like to appear as guests are invited to contact the producers by visiting the BransonWebcast.com site. “This has been an extremely busy year for us all,” stated Barber, “but we are very enthusiastic about adding this project to our schedule. It’s a refreshing way to promote Branson artists to a global audience in a way that print ads, tv spots or radio commercials just can’t do.

As each new episode is uploaded to their server, it will be archived in an easy to search database so that visitors far into the future have an opportunity to enjoy their favorite Branson celebrities, and meet many new undiscovered personalities in the Branson area. The site will also feature occasional news articles and stories of interest to Branson visitors. Visitors may subscribe to the webcasts by e-mail or via an RSS reader. A commenting and rating system has also been implemented to give visitors a fun way to interact and share their thoughts about the interviews online.