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About Us Brooks Entertainment is Pittsburgh's best Singing Telegram service and more! ' Brooks Entertainment specializes in personalized songs, colorful costumed characters, entertainment and more. We deliver throughout the Pittsburgh area, including all of the surrounding counties, and into West Virginia, plus we offer singing telegrams throughout the nation with eGRAMS and Ringy Dingy Grams. Brooks
Entertainment has been serving the Pittsburgh and surrounding cities
since 1997 and we've been asked many times about opening franchises in
other cities. But owner Ron Brooks knows
that when you spread yourself too thin the quality of the product
suffers. Our attention to detail and quality continues to bring
rave
reviews from our customers and many return to use us over and over.
Don't be fooled by best price come ons by other companies. Remember you get what you pay for! Owner/Performer Ron brings 35 years of professional singing and performing experience to every telegram he delivers and our prices are some of the best in the business and can't be compared to bargain basement generic companies. Brooks
Entertainment has one goal -- to make people
happy! We are absolutely committed to providing the highest quality
service possible -- always first class and always in good taste. Our
Valentine's packages were rated as a great deal for Valentine's day by
KDKA TV! Brooks Entertainment has also been featured on the KDKA radio
Small Business Report. Discover Brooks Entertainment, Pittsburgh's best
source for Singing Telegrams and Balloons.
In the News! Brooks
Entertainment featured in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review! Telegram
singer portrays a wide range of characters, including an IRS agent Ron Brooks wheeled the van that serves as his traveling office into a parking space and started to change into his chicken suit. Shopkeepers in Sewickley were giving him the eye as he pulled on his red socks and oversized chicken feet. For Brooks, who delivers singing telegrams, it was just another day at the office. He routinely dons a gorilla suit or a pink tutu, or dresses like the Grim Reaper, to sing funny songs to unsuspecting strangers. The songs he sings are written especially for his customers' birthdays, anniversaries, graduations and retirements, in addition to the occasional "I'm sorry-gram." "God granted me a gift to write songs," said Brooks, 45, of Saxonburg. On an 80-degree day in Sewickley, he surprised Tony Vinski of Mars on his 30th birthday with a song and the funky chicken dance. A mask that was hot and hard to see through made the message more difficult to deliver. "I'm dying here," Brooks said as he got Vinski to join him in the dance at a local restaurant. "I got a cowboy on my 21st birthday. ... I'm getting kind of used to it," Vinski said. The singing telegram got its start on July 28, 1933, when a fan sent Hollywood singing star Rudy Vallee a birthday greeting by telegram. Until then, telegrams were the signal of bad news. But when George P. Oslin, public relations director of Western Union, asked an operator to sing the greeting to Vallee, it paved the way for the doom-and-gloom telegram to become a modern-day art form. On another day, Brooks delivered a special prom season request from Matthew Goldstein, 18, of Point Breeze to Nancy Jones, 17, of Fox Chapel, both students at Shady Side Academy. After marching into Spanish class with roses and singing "Danke Schoen," he asked Jones if she'd attend the prom with Goldstein. "Yes, definitely," she said as classmates broke into applause. That kind of reaction makes his job all the better, said Brooks, whose cast of characters includes a doctor, lawyer, police officer and IRS agent. "I enjoy my job. I've cleaned septic tanks; I've worked at McDonald's," said Brooks, who travels 40,000 to 45,000 miles a year. Brooks always wanted to be in show business. He joined the Civic Light Opera when he was 11, before he began singing with a barbershop group. A basic singing telegram, such as Goldstein's, costs $70. A double whammy, which sends Brooks to the same location twice, is $130. A triple play is $190. Brooks went into business for himself in 1997 after his then-employer asked him to deliver a telegram with a risque bent. We only deliver things in good taste! Brooks said. Being his own boss allows him to help around the house and be more involved in the lives of his wife, Lynda and son, David, 10. But business has suffered during the recession. "The first thing corporations cut is entertainment," he said. In a normal year, his Santa and Easter Bunny characters are in big demand. He did one Easter Bunny this year. When he isn't making deliveries, he's working on his Web site, brooksentertainment.com, and developing characters. Brooks has done a lot of wedding proposals. "They all said yes," he said. The worst part of his job? The "I'm sorry-grams." "I sometimes have to remind them that I'm only the messenger," he said. About
The Owner - Ron Brooks
At the age of 19 Ron was selected as Barbershopper of the Year for the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter and inducted into the chapter Hall of Fame five years later. In the fall of 1990, he became the musical director of the Butler, PA Chapter. Legendary
jazz musician, Joe Negri, accompanies Ron During
Ron's tenure
there, the Notables went from being a struggling chapter to
a
model
chapter -- winning four Johnny Appleseed District Small Chorus Fresh out of high school, Ron worked for a Pittsburgh balloon delivery company and realized he had an incredible ability to write songs about people, so he was soon doing singing telegrams for the company. Since that time, he has worked for several companies doing singing telegrams. Being somewhat embarrassed and disappointed in what he was being asked to do at times, Ron decided to create his own company where he could control the quality of what was being presented, and be sure it was always in good taste. Ron's involvement outside of his company includes coaching choruses and quartets within the Barbershop Harmony Society, Sweet Adelines International, and Harmony Incorporated. (Above Ron is seen singing with Joe Negri "Handyman Negri" from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood during a Christmas party at the Omni William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh). Ron's uncanny ability to write personalized original songs for singing telegrams has even lead to writing several original pieces which he has had copyrighted. Ron, his wife Lynda and their eleven-year-old son, David, live in Saxonburg, PA just north of Pittsburgh. Somehow, Ron manages to be a stay-home dad, coach David's sports teams AND run Brooks Entertainment. Ron's love and enthusiasm for music, and his desire to share his God given talent and what he has learned through his many years of experience shows every time he performs. Here's a drawing of our Hairy Fairy Godmother by my son David. (age 9 - 2008)
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Ron
started entertaining early in his life. In 1975, at the tender age of
11 Ron was selected to be in the Civic Light Opera's production of
"Fiddler on The Roof" at Heinz Hall. At the same time he also started
singing with the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony
Society and was appointed their musical director when he was a senior
in high school. During his high school years he was always entertaining
everyone and was featured numerous times on talent shows and concerts.
He was chosen as the recipient of the National School Choral Award and
represented his high school in district and regional choral festivals
for fours years in a row. 