Book Review: Lincoln's Ghost by Brad Ricca

 

Lincoln's Ghost -A Book Review

There is a new book out this October on Houdini, it's called Lincoln's Ghost by Brad Ricca. It has a picture of Houdini shaking hands with a shadowed figure, presumably Abe Lincoln. In truth, the photo was originally Houdini and Conan Doyle shaking hands. But I digress. One thing I noticed about this book was it was awfully familiar. Almost as if I had read it before. And the truth is, I did. I've gone down those paths that the author did to write the book. He did a lot of research I shall say. Sorry he didnt' choose this blog among his sources, but oh well.

Let's get to the book. I really enjoyed the book. I enjoyed reliving the interactions of Houdini and members of Congress. My initial research on this gave me the distinct impression that most of the Congressmen had no idea who Houdini was. And many took what he had to say rather lightly. Ricca does a fine job of sharing this story with the reader. 

I will admit for many years, the Spiritualism or Anti-Spiritualist part of Houdini's life was the least interesting to me. But now that I have lost friends and family members, it seems that this part of his life is actually incredibly fascinating. I like how Brad weaves the various stories together into one cohesive narrative. 

The introduction of Houdini's boyhood idol LINCOLN is quite good. We forget that Lincoln died only 9 years before Houdini was born, so it makes perfect sense that such a man would be an inspiration for the great magician. 

I did have my qualms with the book, in one part the author refers to the mediums as right-wingers. Though they were religious in nature, it's not an accurate description. Most main stream religions did not agree with Spiritualism, it was very much a fringe belief. And there clearly were Democrats and Republicans in this time period, but it's  hard to say there were left wing and right wing groups. There were certainly anarchists and progressives, but those affiliations were not the same as today. I wouldn't' label the mediums by today's political standards, other than to say they were mostly crooks, which was Houdini's belief as well.

An interesting point is the contention that there were mediums alive in Houdini's day who actually performed Seances at the White House during Lincoln's term in office. A book by Nettie Maynard is referenced as the source for this information. Ms. Maynard allegedly being the medium for the Lincoln's. This is highly interesting to me and something I wish to look into further. I do not know if Lincoln himself was into such things, but there is no question that Mrs. Lincoln was a firm believer in seances and mediums. 

As I mentioned earlier, I enjoyed the book. I won't nitpick it apart because overall the story is quite fascinating. As a Houdini historian, it's much easier for me to point out what I think are errors or misinterpretations. But the average reader is not interested in this, rather they want a good story and this comes across as a well researched and fascinating story about two of histories most iconic individuals.

The book is published by St. Martin's Press. It is available through Amazon.com, BooksAMillion and all the places fine books are sold. Get your copy today!!!!

Penn & Teller Have Road Named In Their Honor

 

The Comedy Magic Duo of Penn and Teller have just been bestowed a new honor, they have a road named after them. The road formally known as Viking Street will forever be known as Penn & Teller Court. 

Currently, Penn and Teller are on their 50th Anniversary Tour of the WORLD. I don't think there is any other comedy duo that lasted 50 years and I doubt their going to stop when the tour is over. They have a hugely successful TV show, FOOL-US, which is popular among laypeople as well as magicians. Once known as the Bad Boys of Magic, they are now more like Ambassadors of Magic. They put magic in such a great light that everyone that appears on that show looks like a million dollars. It doesn't matter if you fool them, what matters is you share incredible magic with an enormously large viewing audience!

According to media reports, Penn is 70 and Teller is 77. They certainly have much to be proud of. They could have retired years ago and they would have had a wonderful career to look back upon. But they are doing what they love. And WE LOVE THEM For IT!!!

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!