The Magic Detective Podcast Breaks the 50,000 Mark

 

Breaking 50,000 downloads is quite the milestone for this little podcast. And I am grateful beyond words. Yet, I'd like to make it to 100,000 FASTER than it took to get to 50,000. A lot of the blame lies with me not getting out episodes regularly. I get them out, but not on a very consistent schedule. Various reasons, which usually boils down to work taking over. If I had a 9-5 job, I could do the podcast regularly. But I'm a self employed magician and that means I'm doing most everything myself. It's that old saying, Show Business is made up of 2 parts, show and business. The show is such a tiny part of things, it's the business stuff that take the majority of the time. And when it consumes my time, the podcast gets put on the backburner.

But even though, I've not had a new episode since February, the podcast still shot past 50,000. This is due to new listeners coming on board all the time. I just discovered a had a couple more 5 Star ApplePodcast Reviews, again, I am so grateful for those!

In honor of the 50,000 downloads, I've got a contest for you. This one is different than the one which will be on Episode 100. Today, May 3rd is the birthday of an iconic magician. What was this iconic magicians middle name?  Send your answers to:  info@carnegiemagic.com  put the words: 50,000 Contest in the subject line. Include your name, address (in chase you win) and the ANSWER to the question. I'll draw a winner from among the entries. OH, and the winner will receive a piece of authentic magic memorabilia.

The Baker Challenge Belt

 

The picture above was hand made by escape artist Steve Baker. It was part of a run of 25 belts, but mine was unique in that it was the only black belt, the only one with gold cuffs and gold trim. Kind of the Rolls Royce of Challenge Belts.

The original belts were called Tom Horn Belts and also known as Australian Torture Belts. The originals did not have handcuffs, but rather chains with padlocks. From what I can find, there were ads in The Linking Ring for the Tom Horn Belts back in the 1950s. Later, Prince E. Wheeler had a few for sale. John Novak wrote about the Australian Torture Belts in his book on the Art of Escape Volume 5.  Steve Baker was using a Tom Horn Belt back in the late 1960s and decided to create his own version which he called The Escape Proof Challenge Belt. Below is a photo of Steve's belt.

I never liked the name because the whole idea behind the belt was to escape from it. But Steve created it so he could challenge other performers who would then not be able to escape, thus the name. It should have just been called The Steve Baker Challenge Belt. It's one of the few items that Steve never presented on Television.  But he did perform it live, many times. As you can see it combines the aspects of a handcuff escape with a straight jacket where the arms are held in place, this time with with leather straps instead of the sleeves with straps. 

When Steve built mine, I had no idea it was going to turn out the way it did. And I am especially lucky because Steve's health started to deteriorate as he was making these belts. If memory serves, there were several belts he never finished. I know most people got their belts, but I do believe there were 2 or 3 who may have never gotten a belt because Steve's health went down hill fast. One of his issues was memory. He had a good long term memory, but his short term memory was failing. I can recall being on the phone with him and about every 5 minutes he acted as if I just called, and we'd repeat the same conversation again and again. The other issue were his hands. Years of abuse via escapes had taken their toll on him and doing any sort of work with his hands became more and more difficult.

Let me get back to the belt. So my belt has the distinguished honor of not only being made by Steve Baker, but another famous escape artist from the 20th Century actually wore it during a challenge, and that was Norman Bigelow. I loaned my belt to Norm to use in a Challenge between him and Steve Baker. I spoke about this on Episode 37 of my podcast. Norm went all out and even used the neck restraint that came with the belt. This was an optional piece and I don't think it was offered on the standard belts. Below is Norm Bigelow in my belt. 

Finally, here is the one time I wore the belt. Yes, I said one time. The belt is so nice I feel bad even using it. It's more a work of art in my opinion. I may use it again, at some point, but the next time, will be the last time....maybe.

Happy Birthday Joseph Dunninger!!!

 

Good Ole, Joe Dunninger was born this day, April 28th, way back in 1892. He died March 9, 1975, so he just made his 83rd birthday and then passed away a little over a week later. Largely forgotten today by the magic community and certainly almost completely forgotten by the general public. Yet he was an incredibly fascinating character and his life deserves a far more extensive look than has been done in the past. 

On my podcast, episode 99, I covered the Young Joe Dunninger, and sometime later I'll go over other aspects of his career, like his foray into Mentalism, his work with celebrities, his marriages, his radio and TV appearances and more.

For now, here is an item you might find interesting. This is from my collection, a billet used by Dunninger while he performed at The Blackstone Hotel in Chicago. It is approximately the size of a post it note.