Glen David Gold wrote a fictional book in 2002 about touring illusionist Charles Carter called "Carter Beats The Devil". It was an interesting book in that he took many true stories from the world of magic and weaved them into his book. It made quite the splash in the magic circles and an even bigger splash with the general public. So much so that Tom Cruise purchased the rights to make the book into a movie. This was very exciting for magicians as well, but then nothing happened.
It appears now that the Carter Beats The Devil is back and getting a green light by Hollywood. Let's hope it makes it through this time. The talk in regards to the movie is that Johnny Depp is being looked at as the lead. It's a shame this wasn't made 25-30 years ago, as my vote would go to Charlton Heston, whose real name was John Charles Carter!
As much as I enjoyed the Glen David Gold book, I must be fair and say that the OTHER Carter Book is far better from a historical point of view. That would be the Carter Book by Mike Caveney. When I first read this book I could hardly put it down. Before reading it the only thing I knew about Carter was that he had some really cool posters, like the one above, and the Carter on a Camel poster (see below) and the Vanishing Elephant poster. But his life story is so much more interesting than his posters.
