LGD- Creating the Proper Atmosphere Before the Show Begins

The moment you walk into the theatre on show day, the show has actually begun. Not the stage show, but the overall LGD experience. The ticket taker is in costume in a painted booth which raises him off the ground. Immediately to the right of the ticket taker is a giant dragons mouth which is wide open and you've got to walk through it to get into the lobby. Once you pass through the dragons mouth you'll encounter clowns, costumed characters, jugglers and maybe even Leslie Bartlett and his playful hand puppet dog. What you might not realize while your eyes are taking in the sights, is that there is beautiful music playing and it's not a recording and it's not a player piano.

Lil Av

The music is being played by Avrom Surath, who is also one of the clowns. Avrom and his wife Ann have been with the company since the beginning. One of Avrom's many talents is as a classical pianist and the music that comes out of his fingers is heavenly.  If memory serves there is a piano in the lobby and also another, which might be an organ, in the theatre itself. At the beginning Avrom is playing in the lobby, during intermission Avrom is playing in the theatre. And during the show, you can find Avrom performing on the stage along side Cesareo and David and the rest of the cast. His clown name is Lil Av. You'll know Lil Av in the show because he does some hat juggling bits and is also featured in the Multiplying Bottle routine with David. In addition to this Lil Av plays the accordion (see photo left) while David presents a sleight of hand routine using sparkling balls.

Leslie Bartlett, who I mentioned earlier, has also been with the show since the beginning. He is the father of SETH, who at one time was one of the three main characters in the show, when Seth was just a child. Leslie serves a very important purpose. Along with helping to create the fun, playful atmosphere before the show, he also begins to draw peoples attention towards the front of the stage with his incredible juggling feats. He is the last performer of what I would call the 'preshow' performers that you'll see. Once he is done, the entire audience is looking forward and the stage show is starting.

All the members of the company who are visible, are in some sort of costume. From the folks selling popcorn and refreshments to the cast members selling programs or helping people find seats, everyone is wearing some sort of costume that was hand made by other members of the company. I'm not sure how many cast members are strictly behind the scenes, my guess is not many. They all contribute to the overall production and though you might see them serving popcorn at the start of the show, later they've got an important role to play IN the show.

To me one of the most impressive things happens the day before, when they conduct rehearsals of the various parts of the show. There is a juggling session, barbershop song rehearsal, dance rehearsal and much more. Then on the day OF the show, all the cast members arrive early to prepare the theatre. They all contribute to making sure the theatre is clean and ready by showtime. It's at this time when you realize that this  is much more than just a show it is a labor of love.

Next Article
http://deancarnegie.blogspot.com/2012/04/lgd-original-visit.html

Happy Second Birthday Houdini!

I have to take a brief break from the Tribute to Cesareo Pelaez, to recognize the second birthday of Erich Weiss. Yep, good ole Houdini had two birthdays, March 24th and April 6th. His real birthday was March 24th, but he always celebrated April 6th as his birthday.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN 

HOUDINI

LGD-Marketing From The Golden Age of Magic

Back in the Golden Age of Magic, the most popular form of advertising a show was to use colorful lithographs. Magicians used thousands of these full color posters and would have the town 'papered' or covered with their posters so that everyone knew they were coming or that their show was in town. This was before the advent of radio or TV so it was best way to promote a show.

Le Grand David and his own Spectacular Magic Company have borrowed a page from the book of the old time magicians and adapted a number of their marketing and advertising techniques. This group has produced more unique posters than probably any other magician or magic act in history. They don't paper the town, but they do prominently display their posters in the lobby and in the windows of the theatre. The posters are also pictured in vivid color in their programs.

Another interesting technique that Cesareo and company borrowed from past shows is to create their own newspaper. This paper is produced by them, they sell the advertising, have them printed up and then deliver the papers free of charge to businesses throughout the Boston area. There is a new paper every week. It serves a two fold purpose. It alerts the locals as to what movies are playing at their theatre and it also lets them know about this one of a kind magic show presented on various Sundays throughout the year.

Getting back to the posters for a moment, Kellar, Thurston, Houdini and others used full color lithograph posters to promote their appearances. The images on those posters needed to be striking and breathtaking in order to encourage people to attend their performances. Look at the two posters I have put on this blog. I chose them specifically because not only do they feature a prominent member of the company, in this case Cesareo as Marco the Magi, they also include painted images of moments from the show. Notice, not a detail is left out. If the backdrop is elaborate and colorful, they've included that very image in the painting. I think my favorite backdrop of theirs is the beautiful peacock feather backdrop. You can see a portion of it on the poster at the top of the page, it's in the small square with Cesareo presenting his 'Floating Table' illusion.

Some of the early posters for the company were line drawings. Over time they became more and more elaborate. In my personal collection, I own a poster from the early days which is black and gold. I think this was a silk screened image and it's gorgeous. I purchased it during my very first visit to the show as a kid.

In the 1983, the company published a small book called "The Making of a Magic Poster". I own a copy of it, but I don't have it handy to reference. I do know that many of the poster designs were the idea of Cesareo and then he would have members do the artwork. I'm fairly certain that the majority of full color posters were the creation of Cesareo and Rick Heath. Rick has been with the company since the early days and he is a fantastic artist in my opinion. He also plays the part of Albert Ping-Pong, one of the august clowns in the show. If you've seen the show you might recall the clown with the squeeker voice, well that is Albert Ping Pong. He is also the clown who makes the very tall newspaper tree just prior to David performing the Dancing Handkerchief.

If I had to guess, I'd say that there are over 100 posters created by the company. How many of them were turned into printed posters I don't know. But you can see many of the originals on display in the lobby of the Cabot Theatre and in the Gallery of the Larcom Theatre.

Next Article
http://deancarnegie.blogspot.com/2012/04/lgd-creating-proper-atmosphere-before.html