Monday, December 18, 2017
The Art of Magic Stamps 2018
These are impressive looking. It's nice that the US Postal Service has recognized magic as an art. I do like the artwork for these, though not particularly thrilled with the subject matter. The Rabbit/Hat is iconic to magic, though, you could count the number of magicians who pull an actual rabbit from a top hat on one hand, and likely no one does it currently. The Turban Wearing Crystal Gazer is another kind of tired image. but hey, I like the design work, so I'm not going to complain. Im THRILLED the USPS will have these available. I'll be using them like crazy for business, as well as saving a bunch for my collection. I still have tons of sheets of the Houdini stamp from a few years back.
Here is a write-up I found on the stamps, "The Postal Service celebrates the art of magic with this pane of 20 stamps featuring digital illustrations of five classic tricks magicians use to amaze and delight audiences: a rabbit in a hat (production), a fortune teller using a crystal ball (prediction), a woman floating in the air (levitation), an empty bird cage (vanishing), and a bird emerging from a flower (transformation)."
The designs were done by Jay Fletcher, his instagram can be seen here. I'm not sure the actual date they get released other than some time in 2018. Keep watching for them!!!
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Wednesday Wonders by David Copperfield
Are you on Instagram.com? Well, you might want to sign up. David Copperfield announced this week he will be posting photos from his collection every Wednesday in a project he calls #WednesdayWonders. I love this. The screen shot above is from his first announcement of the project. But it wasn't the first photo. Later in the day a photo appeared that showed a cool glimpse of Robert Houdin's Pastry Chef Automaton.
Instagram is owned by Facebook, and it's easy to sign up. It's also easy to follow people on there. David's name on Instagram is d_copperfield. Mine by the way, is carnegiemagic. I would encourage you to follow David to keep up with his #WednesdayWonders project, and please while you're at it follow ME as well. AND ALWAYS be sure to press the 'heart' button on the page to show you LIKE the photo. :)
Monday, December 11, 2017
Christmas with Houdini
Houdini loved Christmas. A simple google search for Houdini and Christmas will unveil a multitude of different Christmas Cards and Christmas Greetings from Houdini and Bess. One of my favorite things that I discovered about Houdini was he also loved to work during the Christmas holidays. To set the stage, this was a time of year when a lot of Vaudeville acts went home to celebrate. And traditionally, the Vaudeville houses saw a decrease in attendance during this time too. But Houdini, never turned down Christmas work. In fact, the Vaudeville theaters loved Houdini because he was such a draw and his appearances over the holidays was just the edge they needed to bring people in.
It's true Houdini was Jewish. But I know a lot of Jewish people who enjoy Christmas. As a dear friend once said to me, "my family and I LOVE to get gifts, so yes we celebrate, and we have a Christmas tree and everything!". I'm told that there is a photo of Houdini and family with a Christmas tree in 278, his home in Harlem. But for some reason I can't seem to locate it at the moment. At any rate, Houdini certainly celebrated and enjoyed Christmas.
I think my favorite of the Houdini cards is the one below. It's a classic and I've loved it since the first time I saw it years ago.
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