The Man in the Bottle

In 1749 a newspaper advertisement announced that on the night of January 16th, at the Theatre in the Haymarket an unnamed conjurer would appear at the theatre and would perform for the following feats:

1. He takes a common walking-cane from any of the spectators, and thereon plays the music of every instrument now in use, and likewise sings to surprising perfection. 
2. Secondly, he presents you with a common wine bottle, which any of the spectators may first examine; this bottle is placed on a table in the middle of the stage, and he (without any equivocation) goes into it in sight of all the spectators, and sings in it; during his stay in the bottle any person may handle it, and see plainly that it does not exceed a common tavern bottle.

On the evening of Jan 16th the theatre was sold out for the show. People inside waited for a quite a while for the show to start and had begun to get restless.  The theatre management came out and announced that if for some reason the performance did not go through, everyone would get their money back. The management was aware that at this point, the supposed conjurer had not arrived for his performance and they were understandably nervous.

Faux Magic

Today I'm going to use words that weren't yet invented when this man lived. The fellow I'm writing about today was a real superstar. He was an entertainment icon. His name was Isaac Fawkes, sometimes spelled Faux, or even Fawks. He was born sometime in the late 1600s and he lived into the 18th Century. In a time before mass media, before any of the technological advances that we cannot live without today, this man made a huge name for himself.

Why Mom's Are Awesome

Today is Mother's Day. It also happens to be my Mom's Birthday as well. I got to thinking about how incredible mothers are for all of us, especially those of us who are performers. They are the ones who, quietly in the background, sew our costumes and table drapes when we are starting out. (Though, confidentially, my Mom just sewed three new table drapes for me just recently!) Moms are the ones who sit in the back of the audience chewing their nails while we perform, they are both scared for us and proud of us at the same time.

Moms are our cheerleaders and our support team when things don't go quite right. They are the ones who continue to act surprised after the hundredth time you've shown them the same lame trick. Moms are the ones who act all supportive when we tell them we want to hang upside down hundreds of feet in the air in a straight jacket, while in truth they are secretly planning to have us committed, for our own good.

Moms are the ones who help heal the wounds after a really bad show. They are the ones that teach us real world tricks, like how to fold our clothes and how to dress properly to impress people. Moms are the ones who rush in with the unexpected lunch when we are so engrossed with learning how to do the next trick that will make us a star, that we forgot to eat.

Mom's don't usually like the spotlight. But on Mothers Day, it's our turn to hold open the curtain, shine the spotlight on them and let them enjoy their much deserved day of fame. Come to think of it, for as much as they do, maybe Mother's day should be 365 days a year!  

Happy Mothers Day!!!! Love you Mom!

Just Max

As a student of magic, I often think about what it would have been like to meet some of the historical characters in our art. Of course it goes without saying, though I am saying, that I'd want to meet Houdini. He is hardly the only one. I'd love to meet Kellar, Blackstone, Fu-Manchu, Thurston, Robert-Houdin, Dante, Herrmann, Richiardi, and the list goes on.

But there is one guy who kind of stands out, I suppose because he was a little peculiar and yet his magic was incredible. His name was Max Katz Breit and he was born in 1873 in Ostrov, not far from the border of Poland and Austria. His performing name was Max Malini, or just Malini. I first encountered Malini reading stories that Dai Vernon shared in his Genii column 'Vernon Speaks'. If Vernon looked up to Max Malini, then he is surely someone we all need to pay attention to.

The Little Man of Nuremburg

His name was Matthias Buchinger and he was born in 1674 in Anspach Germany. He became known as 'The Little Man of Nuremburg' and was very famous in his day. It's difficult to say what his specialty was as he was proficient in many things. For example, he was an accomplished artist. The self portrait  above was drawn by Buchinger.  He was an excellent marksman and was equally skilled with rifles and pistols. In the performing arts area he not only could play numerous instruments but it is said that he even created a number of unique instruments of his own design. Finally, the reason he is on my blog is that he was an accomplished conjurer.