Cleve Crudgington and his wife Gloria gathered every Saturday afternoon in their courtyard to drink sparkling wine with friends. Soon however, Cleve, as well as the other champagne enthusiasts, noticed that Gloria became fearful whenever a bottle was opened. After two or three meetings of the "Korbel Club," Gloria's apprehension seemed to build and was severely limiting her enjoyment of the bubbly experience.

Finally Gloria revealed that she had an unusual fear of champagne corks due to an unfortunate incident during her childhood that had left a lasting impression. She recounted that for a major wedding anniversary her uncle had purchased a bottle of excellent champagne to toast his dear wife, and not being a connoisseur, had no idea how to open it. Tragically, he looked directly over the cork as he was twisting it from the bottle, and was killed instantly when the popping cork struck him in the face.

And so the Champagne Opener was invented. Within days of conceiving the idea, Cleve contacted a friend who made a quick prototype just to see if the idea would work. Once satisfied, it was time to build a top quality prototype one that could be used as a guide for production. Cleve contacted a local craftsman who, with German precision, machined a sturdy device out of two blocks of steel. By then Cleve was confident that a worthy and marketable product could be produced, one that people would enjoy and appreciate using.

That was in 1986.

Since then, reputation of The Champagne Opener has spread mostly by word of mouth and sales representatives. Major chains and thousands of independent gourmet kitchen and better wine stores have carried The Champagne Opener over the years. To this day, Cleve Crudgington, along with his wife Gloria, continue to operate the family owned business in their hometown, Monrovia, California.

The making of the animation "Chantée Introduces The Champagne Opener"

After teaching computer animation part-time at Mount San Antonio College and Pasadena City College for over 10 years, Cleve thought it would fun to tap into the skills of several of his best students and put together an animation for his business. Cleve worked closely with Andrew Galassi who developed Chantée and produced all of the animation that you see in the video. Andrew once again showed his innate ability to infuse a charming personality in the characters that he creates.

Cleve first contacted Andrew Galassi over 2 years ago after recalling the superior skills he demonstrated in his Maya Dynamics class at Mt. San Antonio college in the Fall of 2006. Galassi's class project involved designing in 3D a bowling ball complete with pins and a bowling lane. The students were required to set the ball in motion and knock down some or all of the pins. Unlike most of the other students who just made a moving bowling ball, Andrew showed exceptional skills by making a character that tossed the ball.

In a beginning modeling class, the final class project required the students to design and build in 3D space a diningroom table and chairs, with a cutting board with cheese and knife along with a bowl of fruit and several candles with holders. As you can see, Carlos demonstrated exceptional skill in modeling and texturing.