Another Fine Magic History Site

I received an email today from my friend Adele Friel Rhindress who wanted to let me know about another magic history blog. Well, being the fan of magic history I am I was happy to check out this other site and lo and behold what a fine site it is. It's called Mahatmaland and is located at www.mahatmaland.com.

The site belongs to Tom Ewing, a fellow magic historian. The sites creation has an interesting story. Mr. Ewing had planned to write a book on the history of magic in Philadelphia but realizing the market was pretty small for that kind of book, decided instead to put his findings into an online journal.

For my fellow Houdini friends, there is a page on Houdini's visit to Philadelphia which you can go to by clicking here: http://mahatmaland.com/houdini.html

There are also pages on Kellar, Thurston, Frederick Eugene Powell and others. It's a got a little bit of everything. I look forward to reading more as Tom Ewing adds to his online journal.

Gone Into History

 Cannons Great Escapes
This year has been tough on those who manufacture magic. First to go was Cannon's Great Escapes, owned and operated by Mark and Sheila Cannon. I was fortunate to spend some time with Mark and though I never met Sheila, I did get a number of emails from her over the years. They were super nice people and always helpful. Their company sold Escape Equipment to the magic industry. This included some rather spectacular escape props as well as handcuffs and keys and other misc devices. I believe they single handedly moved the escape business forward by leaps and bounds through their high quality products. They announced in the Spring 2011 that they would be closing shop. Sheila was involved in another venture and beyond that there was no explanation. I don't know if Mark is going to continue doing his escape act or if he has let all that go as well.

Creative Magic
Next was Brian and Rebecca Daniels from Creative Magic. They were the ones who usually had ads on the back page of many of the magic magazines promoting their illusions that could fold up into a bag. That of course doesn't describe all their products but most of the big illusions they sold could indeed fold up or fold down as the case may be to travel much easier. They also offered some radically brilliant smaller pieces like their Change Cap, and Mesh Change Bag as well as a set of temporary tattoos that looked like Bruises. Everything they did was 'out of the box' and highly creative, hence their companies name. I met them both and like the Cannons they were just super nice people. They sold off ALL their inventory to their customers in an unprecedented move. It was just like them to close the doors by doing something no one had ever done before.

Wolfs Magic

Finally, word just came this past weekend that Chance Wolf from Wolfs Magic is involved in a 'different' project and there is a good chance that Wolfs Magic will be no more soon. I never met Chance, but I have seen his incredibly inventive and colorful props. I own one of them and will tell you that it's a thing of beauty.

The Wolfs Magic line of products were mostly new takes on older props. They were often done in a very cartoonish style which gave them a refreshing modern appeal. Not everything was cartoonish, but everything was extremely well made. I HOPE he sticks around but I can't blame him for trying other things.


WHY?
Each of these companies are run by one or two or a handful of people. They each have their reasons for closing down and I respect all their decisions and wish them all well. Each one will be missed and each one leaves a giant hole in the magic community. The why is something you'd have to ask them individually. But I thought it would be nice to acknowledge the actual people who were brave enough to venture out with these companies. A standing ovation is certainly deserved for each of their efforts!

Mark & Sheila Cannon of Cannons Great Escapes

Brian & Rebecca Daniel of Creative Magic

Chance & Shelly Wolf of Wolfs Magic

WILD ABOUT HARRY: William Kalush discusses Houdini's enduring fame a...

During this years Essential Magic Conference, William Kalush (above) author of the The Secret Life of Houdini and director of the Conjuring Arts Research Center gave a short abbreviated talk on Houdini and what made him so successful. It turned out to be one of the highlights of the conference for me. This past weekend, Mr. Kalush was at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles to give the hour long version of this fine lecture.
John Cox of WILD ABOUT HARRY was there and covered it quite well. Please click the link below to read John's blog about the Kalush talk on Houdini.

WILD ABOUT HARRY: William Kalush discusses Houdini's enduring fame a...: "William Kalush, author of The Secret Life of Houdini and director of the Conjuring Arts Research Center , gave a talk on 'Houdini and His ..."

The Elusive Moth BOOK

I was quite excited when the mailman delivered a package to me yesterday containing a brand new book. The title, Memoirs of an Elusive Moth by Adele Friel Rhindress. I've mentioned Adele before in my blogs, but in case you don't know she worked with Harry Blackstone Sr. for several seasons. This book is about her adventures from that time period.

First thing I want to say, is it ok to give a book a standing ovation? I loved this book!!! For one, though it is about the Blackstone show, you really get the see the show through Adele's eyes. She has a number of her own adventures that she shares as well. I got a kick out of the 20 hour sleeping story. Actually, I enjoyed all the stories! I also had the honor of hearing a number of these stories in person last summer when I was in Pigeon Forge and Adele and I went to lunch one day.

She describes in the book, a letter that Harry Blackstone Sr. sent her about the new season and how he wanted her to come back to play the part of 'The Elusive Moth', a new routine they were creating specifically for Adele.  I actually got to see the letter during our lunch last year. Also, Adele was a featured speaker during my 'Magic Detective' Session at KIDabra and she shared a couple stories about Harry Blackstone JR. that also appear in the book. But there are many things I had not heard before and she captures them so well. She talks about Del Ray and Nick Ruggerio as well as a number of her fellow female assistants in the show. Adele also shares stories about the non performing cast members and helps the reader to see how important each and every person is/was in the production of the stage spectacular known as Blackstone And His Show of 1001 Wonders!

Besides giving the reader a sense of what it was like traveling with the Blackstone show,  she also gives a glimpse into her own life as well, which I was really happy to read. The book is about HER and her experiences and I'm so glad that she included some none magic history in there as well.

If you love history, get this book. If you know Adele, you must get this book. But if you just want to just read a book that will make you smile, then without a doubt get a copy of this wonderful book, The Memoirs of an Elusive Moth!

To order: http://www.squashpublishing.com/product_info.php?products_id=256&osCsid=d4fac40e497eb5d7bf8baa0a530d8c39

Houdini Wax Recordings

Yesterday during the Essential Magic Conference, David Copperfield took all the viewers of the conference on a virtual tour of his museum. One of the stops along the way was the Edison Wax Cylinder Recording of Houdini's voice. Houdini fans have heard this before no doubt. But something struck me as odd when I first heard Copperfield play it back.

It's slightly different than the version I had heard in the past. My guess is that Houdini recorded this speech several times, but I had never heard anyone ever mention that fact. Proof of the 'different' recording was not easy as I had to replay the Copperfield clip and then find one of the other clips. The speech pattern is almost identical. However, there was one giant give-away when on the Copperfield clip Houdini is heard to say "after it has been filled to the brim with water". But on the clips you can find on youtube and other places, Houdini says "after it has been filled with water". NOT 'filled to the brim', but just 'filled with water'. There are a couple other changes in script as well, so it is a different version.

Though not a major discovery, I'm wondering if anyone else picked up on this. You can listen to Houdini speak below. But you would have had to register for the EMC 2011 Conference to hear the other version. If you did, it's on Session 9.

UPDATE: John Cox over at WildaboutHoudini.com has an article about the original 'first' discovery of the Wax Cylinders. http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2010/11/houdini-speaks-in-1970.html

Essential Magic Conference 2011 is Complete

I'm a big fan of Luis DeMatos's magic. And so his Essential Magic Conference that he puts on along with his partners, Marco Tempest and David Britland is a must see for me. This is the worlds ONLY online magic conference. I mentioned a few days ago that David Copperfield would be conducting a tour of his museum. Indeed he did. And indeed it was FANTASTIC! What did he show? Houdini's Sub Trunk, Milk Can, Water Torture Cell, several posters and he even played the Wax recording of Houdini's voice*.

David Copperfield also showed a set of Nest of Boxes owned by Harry Kellar, Howard Thurston's Disembodied Princess, Dante's Sawing in Half and a dress worn by Moi Miller. He also presented Germain's Blooming Rose Bush which was incredible! Ken Klosterman had a duplicate of the Germain Blooming Rose Bush and gave it to Copperfield as a gift. Below is a photo of the original Germain Blooming Rose Bush in the Klosterman Collection. David finished the tour with a demonstration of two Robert-Houdin automaton.

Germain's Rose Bush in the Klosterman Collection

The talk that William Kalush did on 'Why Houdini is Still Popular 85 years Later' was brilliant!  Mike Caveney's talk on the Walter Jeans Millions Dollar Mystery was great then he followed it with a video of him performing Carter The Great's Million Dollar Mystery.

I've not yet had a chance to watch the entire conference, but I can tell you that every single thing I've seen so far has been great. Watching Rene Levand perform was breathtaking. And I tell you, I really enjoyed both of Paul Daniels' talks and performances. The Buck Twins make you stand back and just say WOW. Jordon Gomez's act with CDs fooled everyone even after he had already explained most of the effects before he did the act. It's so great to have Rudy Coby back in magic and see him do his magic. David Kaye was on hand to talk about kids magic in a very mature manner and both of his talks were superb.

The talent present at this event is awe inspiring and the generosity of the speakers is beyond compare. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the conference and rewatching my favorite parts. They outdid themselves this year and I can't wait to see what surprises they have in store for 2012.

Carter Beats The Devil, Again

Glen David Gold wrote a fictional book in 2002 about touring illusionist Charles Carter called "Carter Beats The Devil". It was an interesting book in that he took many true stories from the world of magic and weaved them into his book. It made quite the splash in the magic circles and an even bigger splash with the general public. So much so that Tom Cruise purchased the rights to make the book into a movie. This was very exciting for magicians as well, but then nothing happened.

It appears now that the Carter Beats The Devil is back and getting a green light by Hollywood. Let's hope it makes it through this time. The talk in regards to the movie is that Johnny Depp is being looked at as the lead. It's a shame this wasn't made 25-30 years ago, as my vote would go to Charlton Heston, whose real name was John Charles Carter!

As much as I enjoyed the Glen David Gold book, I must be fair and say that the OTHER Carter Book is far better from a historical point of view. That would be the Carter Book by Mike Caveney. When I first read this book I could hardly put it down. Before reading it the only thing I knew about Carter was that he had some really cool posters, like the one above, and the Carter on a Camel poster (see below) and the Vanishing Elephant poster. But his life story is so much more interesting than his posters.

Houdini Coffin For Sale

This appears to be a prop made for a show or maybe a movie or tv program.  It's for sale on Ebay, http://cgi.ebay.com/Custom-Designed-Harry-Houdini-Coffin-/180690281728?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a11fae500

As of right now, there are 6 days left on the auction. There is no denying this thing is cool looking.

Essential Magic Conference 2011

In a few days the second Essential Magic Conference will begin. This is the world's only ONLINE ONLY Magic Convention. It was the brainchild of Luis DeMatos, David Britland and Marco Tempest and frankly last year was incredible!

If you have not registered yet, you should do so soon. Why? Well besides the obvious, there will be some Houdini talk. William Kalush will give a talk on Houdini on July 8th. Then on July 9th, David Copperfield will be taking the registrants of the conference on a virtual tour of his museum, which will no doubt feature quite a few of his rare Houdini items.

Also, Mike Caveney will be on hand talking about magic history as well. If you love magic, you can't go wrong with registering for this incredible conference. OH, and if you register before July 4th, you get a free months membership to The Conjuring Arts Research Library. So, go register at http://www.essentialmagicconference.com