New Magician Figurine

 

I love figurines, statues, sculptures of magicians. They are few and far between compared to clowns, angels, kids, pretty much anything else. And when I see a cool one, I try to get it. Here is one, made of acrylic that comes in 2 styles and various sizes. I love the fact that it has a stained glass look, as this is something I'm working on currently and will reveal later. Seems it would make a great gift for a fellow magician as well. Not keen on the custom printing at the bottom, but that's just me.

To get your cool stained glass magic figurine, here is the link: https://www.coenk.com/3612?ads=C1005A-C1005A%E7%BB%841-p_3612_1129451&fbclid=IwY2xjawNVSdVleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFTZnAzUEpLdG5ZdDIyeHB5AR4nTVuUKPu5tlDNdQ7YT1BPXu8FUjALr5Pp4fyGMQRTJfA3ItE6KlkmA7VLTQ_aem_nCCqIMGudICWSWSDfQl7Ug

Tommy Cooper Biography - A Must Read & Still Available

 

In 2007, John Fisher wrote a book called Tommy Cooper -Always Leave Them Laughing. And it further says, 'The Definitive Biography of a Comedy Legend'.  I only learned of this book fairly recently. It was also the basis for most of my research for Episode 113 of my podcast. I did have other sources, but the majority came from the Fisher book, and even those other sources, I found the same information eventually within the pages of the Tommy Fisher biography.

I was able to find a copy of the book on eBay. I can tell you, there were a bunch of other copies there as well. And it is also available on Amazon.com as well. So there is no excuse not to get a copy. The next question is, why? Well for one, Tommy truly was a magician through and through. His delivery was comedy, but in his heart that man was a magician. In fact, I learned from the book that his greatest trick was making us think his act was haphazardly presented. Everything he did was calculated, down to the pauses in his patter, and his facial expressions and where he stood. He made it seem like he was just grabbing random objects off a table and messing with them. That's why when he did succeed in his attempts at magic, everyone was so surprised.

In addition, he was very thoughtful and careful with his exposures. He gets a lot of flack from people who think all he did was expose things. But he was careful to only do that with things that had already been exposed many times before. AND, this is my theory, take it for what it's worth, I don't think any lay person paid any attention to how tricks were done. They were busy laughing at the big and lovable buffoon. I hardly think they thought what Tommy Cooper was doing were the actual tricks used by other magicians.

John Fisher explores everything you can imagine about Tommy Cooper. From his parents, his upbringing, the various places he lived. He explores his early fascination with magic, as well as sharing how he developed his comedic persona. You'll discover where that crazy red Fez came from. You'll also learn about the origins of some of his most popular effects. Did you know Tommy Cooper used comedy writers? Sure did. Not his entire career, but once TV came calling, he needed more material than any one person could come up with. He also borrowed, with permission, bits and ideas from other magicians. 

I do mention that at one point Tommy owned a magic shop in England. His wife ran it behind the scenes and Alan Alan the escape artist was their chief demonstrator. Eventually Alan Alan went off and started his own magic shop. But one thing I didn't mention, was Tommy's younger brother also had a magic shop of his own as well.

I also didn't cover some of the more personal things in Tommy's life. These are addressed in the book. It covers the good and the bad. It doesn't white wash anything. You'll even learn how much money Tommy made in various years, sometimes it's how little he made and other years how well he did. Then there is the long standing feud with Tommy and his manager that is covered in depth. 

Do yourself a favor. If you like magic,  comedy, or just Tommy Cooper, go find one of these books on eBay or Amazon and enjoy reading about the wild life of a comedy magic legend. While your at it, go listen to episode 113 of my podcast!

The Great Nicola's Iron Maiden Illusion

 

I've suddenly become enamored with illusions again. After doing the research on Ep 112 of my podcast, on the life of William Mozart Nicol, better known as NICOLA, my fire was lit! The first illusion to catch my eye was his Iron Maiden, which you can see above.

In truth, this was one of several illusions Nicola purchased from a British Illusionist. His name was P.T. Selbit and he was the father of mutilation type of illusions. He created, sawing, stretching, crushing, spiking, and all manner of illusions that would seemingly wreak havoc on the human body, only to find no harm was done to it.

This illusion by Selbit, was known as The Pin Cushion Illusion, and it's impressive. Selbit debuted the illusion in 1923. This thing resembles a real like medieval torture device. It has a giant crank on the side or back. It can be examined before and after. And the illusion is near perfection. It truly appears that 80 some steel spikes are shoved through the body of another human being.

Over time it's mostly become associated with Nicola. However, Thurston had one, I'm sure Carter likely had one, a European illusionist Carrerre had one. I found a photo of Jasper Maskylene performing one. And I wouldn't be surprised if there were others. The Pin Cushion Illusion gave way to  different illusions using spikes. The Table of Death sure looks like The Pin Cushion illusion laying on it's side, but that's where the comparisons end. In some cases, the spikes were replaced with light bulbs as in the version that Blackstone used. And there was a version created by Alan Wakeling the uses neon lights. Slightly different methods to these various things, but all great mysteries.

The most non threatening version I would say is the Cane Cabinet by Jim Steinmeyer. It's actually more like a vertical sword cabinet done with canes. Of course, all of these things are distant cousins to a lot of Selbit ideas. This was featured by both Doug Henning and Lance Burton. Henning's cabinet no longer exists. It was originally purchased by a friend of mine at the first Doug Henning auction. Then he sold it to another magician, with the exception of the canes, which my friend kept. The new owner stored the illusion outside under a carport. And eventually the elements got the better of it.  Incidentally, the canes from Henning's Cane Cabinet are now in my collection. 

Below is Simon Drake performing the Nicola Iron Maiden, during an Iron Maiden rock concert. The trick begins at 5:14, so I would fast forward to that section.