Auction Price for Houdini Poster

Ok, I had to stay around for the Houdini King of Cards Poster Lot 1889 which had a estimate price $800-$1200 . It just sold for $7000au, which I think is about $7221.65 US. There were other Houdini items, but they sold before I got on so I missed them. Pretty fun to watch. Go over to John Cox's website WildaboutHoudini.com for the other prices on Houdini stuff.

Max Malini Memorabilia

I was just online watching the auction from Australia for Houdini and various other magicians memorabilia. I was planning on bidding on an item listed as 'magicians clothes'. I knew they were not 'magicians clothes'. What they had there was Max Malini's clothes AND something else. But before I tell you what that something else was, let me tell you about the item before this which was a cigar holder that belonged to Malini with sold for something like $8000. CRAZY!

By the way, the lot was recently corrected to say "Max Malini's Magician's Outfit" Ok, now to the 'something else'. Amongst the items was a little cloth bag and two wooden eggs. Max Malini's egg bag was IN THAT LOT and not even LISTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A piece of cloth from Signor Blitz's egg bag sold for $2000. This lot, with Malini's pants, gloves, walking cane, shoes and his egg bag and eggs, sold for $5000. Three thousand dollars less than the cigar holder and a way bigger bargain. http://www.lawsons.com.au/asp/fullcatalogue.asp?salelot=7919A+++1863+&refno=31006282&image=0

The auction estimate was $300-$600. I was willing to bid in that range, but the auction opened at $3000. So I was out pretty quick, lol. Some of the books have been selling quite low, can't imagine what will happen with the Houdini items, the auction estimates on those are pretty low, but I imagine they'll go through the roof.

Happy Valentines Day with A Little Magic

I actually wanted to post a video of David Copperfield doing this trick, but I couldn't find it! I have it somewhere but not handy. Still, Jansenson does a fantastic job with this trick, in fact he has an added twist to it that was not in the version that Copperfield did.

For the magic history buffs, this dates back to Nate Leipzig and was not originally done with paper hearts. Enjoy!

We Still Miss Doug Henning

It's been 12 years since Doug Henning passed away. If you're a younger reader to my blog, you might not be totally aware who Doug Henning was. He is credited with bringing about a rebirth of interest in magic in the 1970s. His MAGIC SHOW on Broadway was a big hit and it was quickly followed by several years of annual 'Doug Henning's World of Magic' TV Specials on NBC. He was only 52 years old when he died on Feb 7th, 2000, the same age as Houdini.

His magic was mostly old school presented in a modern way. He didn't dress like a magician nor did he act like any magician that modern audiences had seen. He was young and vibrant and most of all enthusiastic about his art. He constantly said words like 'wonder and illusion' like they were candy and they became synonymous with him.

Even though he did tricks for a living, Doug always seemed to believe there was real magic out there, somewhere. An incident that happened to him in 1971 appears to be a turning point in his career. He was booked to perform in an area several hundred miles from the North Pole. It was a tour for the Canadian Armed Forces who were stationed in the frigid arctic region. During the tour Doug also did a show for a group of Eskimos. Who didn't respond at all during or after his show. No clapping or laughing or anything. They paid attention but gave none of the usual reactions that Doug was used to getting from his magic.

After the show Doug spoke to one of the Inuit Eskimos and asked about how they liked the show and it was clearly some sort of misunderstanding. They did not understand why he did magic when in their view magic was everywhere. Doug tried to explain his various tricks were magic in his eyes. The group spoke amongst themselves and told Doug they understood why he did magic, they said "It's because your people have forgotten the magic and you do this to remind them that there is magic in the world"*

That was Doug's mission after that, to bring 'wonder and magic' to the world. He inspired so many of us that are around today. Now in the 21st Century, magic has changed a lot. Attitudes and styles and techniques have evolved. Doug's magic seems a little dated by today's standards, yet the real magic of Doug Henning had nothing to do with the tricks, it was the man himself.

By the way, I want to point you to an article on another blog that is about Doug and one of his props and his influence on the life of a female magician. http://ariannblack.blogspot.com/2012/04/doug-henning-blue.html

Oh, and in case you're wondering if Doug had any influence on me, take a look at the photo below.

*I found this story on the Magicpedia page on Doug Henning. It's very possibly from the book by John Harrison, but I don't have that handy to check it.

The Hat of Robert Heller

A short time ago I had been contacted by an auction house who had acquired a top hat said to belong to a once famous magician. They contacted me because of my many articles about this magician on my blog. The hat belonged to Robert Heller.

It had remained in his family all these many years, but for whatever reason the family felt it was time for the hat to have a new home. I will tell you, the hat sold for more than I expected, but having said that in my honest opinion the hat is priceless. There are precious few artifacts from Heller's life that remain and this item, though not part of his performing act, is still a wonderful piece.

Heller deserves a much more prominent place in the minds of magicians, but today is mostly forgotten. I have tried as best I could to get the word out about him. In fact, I will continue to write stories and articles about Heller in the future.

I don't know who won the hat, but I hope you cherish it for the rare piece of history that it is.

For those who missed my previous articles, please check out this link to the many stories I wrote about William Henry Palmer, known professionally as Robert Heller.