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Back in 2019, I did an interview with host John Michael Marty for his afternoon show on WSMI-FM radio in Mid-Illinois. I knew John through our mutual friend Steve Baker, so we thought it would be fun to do an interview talking about Steve, Houdini, magic history and also my career as well. The interview ran about 40 minutes and was a great deal of fun. I shared a lot of Steve Baker stories. For those unaware, Steve was known as Mr. Escape, and had a very successful career in the 1970s and 80s doing thrilling escapes on TV. Unlike a lot of performers who would do 'escape illusions', Steve would do the real thing. Sometimes those real things turned bad and I shared a couple of those stories.
Mr. Escape
One of those thrilling escapes took place in Venezuela in the mid 1970s. Steve was to be chained to a post. Then he would be covered with a make-shift T-Pee sort of thing. That covering was then dowsed with a flammable chemical and Steve had to escape before being burned alive. The escape was frightening and real and left Steve with major burns.
There were other stories I shared that were not so dangerous, but instead rather funny. So I'm sure those who knew Steve, got a big kick out of that portion of the broadcast.
We also spoke of Houdini because, well HOUDINI! You can't really talk magic history without talking about Houdini. John was kind enough to plug the blog and the podcast during the interview, though listening back, I realized he gave the blog address wrong, lol. It is TheMagicDetective.com, not MagicDetective.com. But that's not a big deal. If you googled it, I'm sure you could find it.
Anyway, I bring this up because I got permission from John Michael Marty to use the interview for an episode of my podcast. Below is the link to listen to the interview. AND, sometime in mid October, I'll be doing another interview with John, so look forward to hearing that one fairly soon.
In the upcoming Oct 2022 Potter & Potter Auction, there are two items that belonged to and were used by The Great Maro. One of them is listed as being Maro's prop, that is Lot#80, Maro's Tri-Color Plume Trick. The actual apparatus is up for auction, and it appears to be a unique take on a Color Changing Plume.
But the real gem is actually Lot#57, which is listed as "Germain's Meteoric Ribbons and Parasol Production". First let me state, that yes, Germain did own this item. But he received it from Maro's Widow Allie Best after Maro had passed away from Typhoid Fever. The poster above, shows Maro presenting the Meteoric Ribbon's on the right side of the poster, with the giant parasol in his hands. This was one of his signature tricks. The auction listing says the parasol cover has been restored, but all else is original. This mystery was also featured in a second Maro poster, where it is the only thing depicted in the poster. That poster is far more scarce than the one above.
*UPDATE: I just came across my notes from the Maro Lecture I did for the Yankee Gathering a few years back. And I had included a photo of the item below in my lecture with the comment, "I saw this in the Klosterman collection, and though I didn't ask him about it at the time, I believe this to be the Meteoric Ribbon and Parasol Production". Turns out I was correct, lol.
It may come as a shock to many, but apparently Houdini had a daughter! Here for the first time anywhere, is archived video footage of Flo Houdini, presenting one of her dangerous escapes that she learned from her father Harry!
Ok, actually, it's Carol Burnett, in a skit that I'd never seen. It's quite hilarious to be honest, but then again, Carol Burnett could make anything funny, she was an amazing performer. Enjoy the video below!
Episode 79 of the Magic Detective Podcast is on Charlie Miller. He was known as a great sleight of hand master. But he was equally skilled with apparatus. I thought you might like to see Charlie in action. The first video is rather grainy and hard to see. Probably taken in the 50s or so. But you can see Charlie's skill with cards.
Next week have Charlie, I think these were from the 1970s on The Magic Palace. He's past his prime here, but still can handle the props. The presentations are a bit dated, but that's to be expected. I really love his Chinese Sticks routine. There are two moves in there that I've not see done before, and they really help to sell this routine. The first one is early on when he shows that the cords are actually connected near the top, but then a moment later, they are not. The second sequence is harder to describe, but its when he is pulling the tassels straight up through the stick, rather than pulling them down. It's an interesting sequence. To see that footage you have to use the youtube link, it won't allow me to embed the video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLElkBMl4To
I hope you enjoy Charlie Miller's magic and check out my podcast too!
Ted Banks was from England. His real name was Edward William Coppin. He was a member of Fred Karno’s Army of British Music Hall Comedians. Karno was a British Theater impresario and really he was a comedian creator. In 1911, Fred Karno sent some of his players over to the United States to appear in a play called A Night In An English Music Hall. Among the ‘players’ sent over to be in this production, Charles Chaplin, Stan Laurel and Ted Banks. Charles soon struck out on his own to become famous in the flickers, or early silent movie motion pictures.
It is here, that I must clear up some mis-information. Several magical periodicals, and also newspapers have that Ted then started The Keystone Trio with Stan Laurel and another woman. That is not the case. The Keystone Trio was started by Edgar Hurley and his wife Ethel.
Edgar and his wife were also former Karno performers. Stan Laurel joined with them for a time until the group split up. Stan Laurel went off to team up with Oliver Hardy to become the famous comedy duo, Laurel and Hardy.
What happened to Ted Banks/William Coppin?. He did not go off into the movies like Chaplin and Laurel did. One reference said he went to work backstage for Thurston for a time and then eventually landed in the Blackstone show. I know he started with Blackstone in 1923. In 1927, he married a member of the cast, Della Cowell. She became known by the stage name Sally Banks, so they were Ted and Sally Banks.
There is a surprising article in Billboard Magazine April 17th, 1937. It mentions that Banks has worked for Blackstone for 14 years, but while in Wheeling WV, he left the show. He returned to Colon Mich and was set to take up work on the west coast.
Blackstone & Banks
On Sept 11, 1937, Billboard says that Ted has joined the Percy Abbott staff in Colon. In 1937, 38, 39 and more, Ted was involved as stage manager for the Abbotts Get Together and the IBM National Convention in 1939. On Nov 22, 1941, Ted Banks returns to the Blackstone Show. Why did he leave in the first place. I believe he got diagnosed with a heart condition and life on the road became difficult. When he returned to the Blackstone show, he was given lighter duties because of his heart ailment.
On Sept 2, 1942, the Blackstone crew was in Decatur ILL to perform at the Lincoln Theater. While preparing for the show, actually during the showing of the matinee movie before the live stage show, a fire was discovered next door in the Drug Store. To learn more about the fire and the conditions you can listen to my podcast Ep 78.
The sad part of the story, Ted Banks died of a heart attack that evening after the stressful day of dealing with the fire and moving the show hurriedly out of the theater. He was only 50 years old.
I first wrote an article on magicians of the Holocaust back in 2011. I decided to update the article and put it up on my podcast. This time I've added to the list a female magician named Miss Blanche. There are a few more details on each of the various artists that were not in the original article.
To hear the podcast, you can simply click the link below!
There is an aged old trick known as The Inexhaustible Bottle. There were also versions with Tea Kettles, Punch Bowls and more. The idea was that any drink called for would come forth from the object. It was a wonderful mystery, presented by Robert Houdin, Robert Heller, David Devant, Charles Hoffman and many others.
Then a version came along called simply, 'The Magic Tea Kettle'. I believe it was put out by MakMagic. In this rendition, several different colored liquids were poured out of the kettle and then it was opened to reveal a bunch of dry colored scarves. Honestly, a bit of a let down compared to the original, but with the selling point of 'no skill required' you get what you paid for.
As fate would have it, I got one of these things when I was a kid magician. And I"m not 100% sure it was mine, it may have been my little brothers who for the briefest of time was also into magic. At any rate, regardless of who owned it, not that great a trick.
Fast forward many years to the publication of The Conjuring Anthology by Jim Steinmeyer, and he has a version of the Magic Tea Kettle in the book. He first came up with a routine called Hospitality, which was sold as a separate manuscript. But this newer tea kettle had a very different method and you could pour real drinks, not colored water, from the kettle. I loved the idea and made one up. The trick was called The Accommodating Kettle, on pages 326-332.
As I recall, you could pour, milk, orange juice, cherry drink, lemonade and maybe more. But it began by opening the lid of the tea kettle and pouring in a bottle of soda. So to have this dark liquid go in and then all these different drinks come out, that was pretty impressive. AND you could pass out all the drinks to be verified they are what they are. The routine was based upon a pseudo psychological premise, and was really well constructed.
It all sounds good, right. Well, then I get this 'flash of brilliance' and I decide to add a kicker to the trick (which I will share in a moment). So I'm at a show, I'm doing THIS trick, I'm pouring out drinks, handing out the cups and letting people try them. In this case, because it was an audience of a lot of kids, I thought it best to give the cups to the adults, just to be safe. And each one verified the contents. THEN came the kicker, I poured the orange juice back into the spout and opened the lid...........I then poured out several live swimming goldfish. What a lovely ending I thought.....
UNTIL, I noticed one of the adults. Her eyes were wide as saucers, she was turning a bit green, and any second she would begin to projectile vomit! SHE thought she just drank, 'fish water', lol. I quickly explained, she was safe, everyone was safe, the fish NEVER came in contact with their drink. It took a moment to calm them down, and then they all had a very hearty laugh over it. But it was then that I realized, I was being too clever for my own good. The fish ending was scraped after that. But it made a fun story to share, and I hope you got a good laugh out of it.
Take a listen. Sound familiar? This is the music used throughout the 1953 Tony Curtis HOUDINI movie. Though in the movie, it was only the orchestrated version, no lyrics. Here in this clip of Judy Garland singing the song, "Meet Me Tonight In Dreamland", you almost expect Tony Curtis as Houdini to talk into the scene!
And here is an even older rendition of the song. One in which the REAL Houdini would have been familiar. 1909 or 1910.
Sandervalya, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Imagine my surprise while reading an article about Robert Houdin's performance in Algeria, that the theatre that he did his most famous performances in, was still standing today. Those most famous performances were on Oct 28 and 29, 1856. They were the legendary performances that Houdin would claim 'stopped a War'.
As the story goes, Robert Houdin was contacted by the French Government to help suppress some uprisings and conflicts with the local tribal marabouts. The idea was to show that 'french magic was greater than the magic of the marabouts.'
The show took place at the Bab-Azoun Theatre with about 60 chieftains taking up the first few rows and I'm assuming quite a few other locals as well. The show featured much of the standard Robert Houdin fare. The big moments were when he presented his Light and Heavy Chest (see below), followed by a rendition of the Bullet Catching feat.
There is some controversy concerning this event, which Jim Steinmeyer explains in his new blog column: https://jimsteinmeyer.com/2022/04/13/what-we-hide-problems-in-algeria-part-one/ This information is also covered in the book, The Secret History of Magic by Peter Lamont and Jim Steinmeyer. They tear apart the accounts of the Algeria event to discover what was true, what was false, how much was exaggeration. Suffice to say, it's clear now that a great deal of the event as recorded in Houdin's Memoirs, was untrue or at least exaggeration.
But one thing is clear, the shows DID HAPPEN. And the theatre where these shows, which took Robert-Houdini out of retirement, is still standing today. Mr. Steinmeyer mentions on his blog that the theater would be a good place to hold a magic convention. Wow, can you imagine?!! How incredible that would be.
An interesting side note, on the theatre Facebook Page, there are images of a kid-show magician doing a magic show on the stage. I wonder if this young man was aware of the historical event that took place on thiat very stage 166 years ago???
The Actual Light and Heavy Chest in the Klosterman Collection
David Bull, the lead performer of Le Grand David and his own Spectacular Magic Company Show, mentioned on his Facebook page that today, May 27th, 2012 was the last performance of their grand show. It's been 10 years since that show closed it's curtains. And it had an incredible 35 year run.
The brainchild of Cesareo Pelaez, he along with a dozen or so fellow artists/performers, created a one of a kind spectacle of magic and variety arts. They purchased their own theater, The Cabot Cinema Theatre in Beverly Mass, and began work on their multi-cast production. They built their own props, painted their own scenery, sewed their own costumes.....and it didn't look like a poorman's DIY project. It looked Broadway caliber. Look at the poster to the right. This original painting is now in my collection, I see it daily. It captures the joy and the enthusiasm of the show and the cast. You'll never find any devils or demons on their posters. What you'll find is beauty and magic and love in all the designs.
IF you were blessed to see the show, you know how tremendous it was. It was sort of a throwback to the old days of magic, but yet it was it's own thing. A unique take on magic that embraced variety, comedy, spectacle, showmanship and more. Imagine a 2 hour magic show with very little talking. Yet, that is exactly what they created.
I miss that show greatly. But I miss the people more. The photo below is officially ten years old now, because it was the last time I would see the wonderful LGD Show and the last time inside their amazing theatre. I still miss them
The latest episode of The Magic Detective Podcast will feature Fred Culpitt. Here is a man who has really been overlooked by the magic world. Yet, he was the creator of one of the top 10 illusions of the 20th Century. That's not just me saying that, in an article titled, "Ten Best Illusions of the 20th Century" by Jim Steinmeyer, he lists the Doll's House as #8. Today, 21st Century, it's hardly seen. And there are a load of poorly made Doll's House Illusions out there. But the better ones are truly marvels. They have the benefit of being a mid-sized illusion, yet can pack a big wallop (in other words, are still quite amazing).
One article I came across mentioned that most magicians are lucky to get 90 seconds out their Doll's House Illusion. This is true. Even I've made that error...if it's really an error. I suppose it's more a choice of presentation. As I've also had a routine that was closer to 4 minutes with the Doll's House. And frankly looking back, the longer routine had more going for it.
The Fred Culpitt Doll's House routine was a talking routine. In fact, it was a comedy routine. Though I believe most of the jokes from that time period would fall flat today, not because they weren't funny in Culpitt's time, but because I'm not sure people would understand the humor. For example, as he shows the Doll's House, it is filled with furniture, and there are lines about most every piece that comes out of the box. Then he takes the chimney off the roof of the house and he turns to the audience and says, "Anyone want the flu?" It's both a topical joke, because from 1918-1920 the world suffered from the Spanish Flu Pandemic. But it's also relatable because many people at that time knew what a chimney flue was. Today, I'm not sure they'd make the connection, nor truly understand the joke.
By the way, another of Culpitt's great creations was his Bathing Beauty routine. Truly a wonderful routine in it's simplicity. Easy to understand, the nature of the routine causes the audience to anticipate what is coming, and the finish that everyone sees coming, has a twist to it. Unfortunately, this same trick, The Bathing Beauty is terribly politically incorrect by today's standards. I'm sure it would trigger people to yell words of sexism and misogyny. I find that opinion offensive in itself because you have to take into consideration the time period it came out. I'm including a video below of the Bathing Beauty effect done with a slightly less provocative routine. It's presented for historical purposes only. And after that I follow with a quick version of the Doll's House Illusion.
By the way, the prop I'm using was made by Abbott's, I believe. All of the marketed versions of the Bathing Beauty Trick, were different in method to that which Fred Culpitt created. His version, though it appeared pretty much the same, same effect, the method was drastically different.
Today, May 3rd, 2022, would have been Doug Henning's 75th Birthday. Frankly, it's doesn't seem all that long ago when he passed away. But to think he would be 75, wow.
I can tell you, Doug Henning was the first celebrity whose death really hit me hard. I never knew Doug, never got to meet him. But he was such a part of my magic world, that when he died, it was like that song by Don McLean, American Pie where there lyric is "the day the music died". In our case it was "the day the Magic died." That's how it felt.
Watching Doug Henning now is nostalgic, and not everything he did holds up. But there are so many lessons that modern performers could learn from....both good and bad. In the good department, his theatricality is wonderful. His showmanship is stellar. His upbeat personality and likeablity is wonderful. He never demeans magic, never speaks poorly of it. Some of the magic happens to him, some of the magic is caused by him. He is more wizard than magician, and he loves what he does.
As much as I loved his TV Specials, there was nothing better than seeing Doug Henning LIVE. The live performances were pure Doug, minus some of the cornier dialog that was found on the TV shows. And the magic, oh man, just killer. Have you seen Doug do the Floating and Rising Cards? It's as close to real magic as you can get. His Metamorphosis presentation is the one every tried to copy, until The Pendragons came along. But even then, his routine is perfect.
I could go on and on about Doug Henning. But let me stop and simply say, Happy Birthday Doug!!!
The incredible estate of Siegfried and Roy goes on the auction block June 8th and 9th, 2022. The auction house Bonhams will be conducting the auction LIVE in Los Angeles. It appears that the auction is made up of furniture, jewelry, and personal possessions of the two Masters of the Impossible. However, I did note that there are show costumes in the mix. So will there be actual magic related items, books, memorabilia, props, illusions???? That I am not certain.
In Oct 2003, during a show, and also on his birthday, Roy Horn was attacked by one of his tigers on stage at the MIRAGE Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. Roy's tiger Mantacore, bit Roy in the shoulder and dragged him off the stage. The duo claimed that Roy was having a stroke and the animal sensed Roy's dilemma and dragged him off the stage to safety. Roy did have a stroke, but it's not know if it was before or after the animal bit him. And further, the animals bit severed Roy's spine and caused an incredible amount of bodily damage. This ended the careers of the long lasting show on in Las Vegas. And it confined Roy to a wheel chair for the remainder of his life. He could stand and walk short distances, but with great difficulty.
On May 8th, 2020, Roy Horn died of complications due to Covid-19.
Siegfried Fischbacher died Jan 13, 2021, only 2 days after revealing to the world that he had terminal pancreatic cancer. He was 81 years old when he passed away.
They were larger than life personalities and this auction is going to feature some breathtaking items for sure. Below is an example of a beautiful wooden carved chair among the auction items.
These are Houdini's Conradi Lamps that he used in his 3-In-One Show in 1926. These are being presented by Doug Henning on one of his annual TV specials. The clip is short, it only shows the Conradi Lamps.
Friedrich Conradi was a German Magic Dealer and builder who built wonderful apparatus magic around the turn of the 19th into 20th centuries.
Here is the updated list of Houdini episodes from the Magic Detective Podcast. I've tried to put them mostly in chronological order, or as close to it as I possibly could. Twenty-two of the 75 episodes feature Houdini. And there are more coming! Just click the image above to see a larger version of the picture.
Finishing my Houdini Week is podcast Episode 75. In this episode I take a deep dive into Houdini's Needle Mystery. I've written about it several times on the blog. So I took ALL of that information, plus some info from other articles and some new information and compiled them into a great episode.
For those who would like to listen to it, well, just look below!
March 24, 2022 was the 148th birthday of Harry Houdini. I'm not sure what was up this year, but it seemed like every single magician on Facebook had a post about Houdini's birthday, far more than the normal amount. That is very cool.
I had planned on doing a Houdini Week of video tie-ins with my Magic365 Project. On Tuesday I did The Trick That Fooled Houdini. But Wednesday a major sinus headache kept me from making a video. Thursday, which was his birthday, I produced two videos. The first shows an escape from a pair of Hamburg 8 Handcuffs, but then a bit of history on the cuffs and a shot of me wearing Houdini's own Hamburg 8s. Then a second video posted later in the day had a routine I created on Houdini's Vanishing Elephant Illusion. It used a common piece of magic apparatus, a Silk Cabby. I realized one day that the Silk Cabby was very similar in look to Houdini's Vanishing Elephant Cabinet, at least from the descriptions. We don't really know exactly how it looked because it was never photographed, nor does it survive to this day.
I have one more video on Houdini but I won't be posting it until Saturday. The Elephant video has not received near enough views yet, and I haven't posted it over on Instagram. So I'll use it for tomorrows video and then post one more new one on Saturday. Below are today's two videos, enjoy!
The event took place Feb 6th, 1922 at the Great Northern Hotel in Chicago. There was a banquet for the Society of American Magicians and Houdini was the guest of honor. At some point in the evening Sam Margules brings Vernon over to meet and show Houdini a trick. One article I read said, Houdini rolled his eyes and reluctantly agreed. The young Dai Vernon, brought out a deck of cards, shuffled them and had Houdini remove a card and sign it. Houdini wrote 'HH' on the card. Then Vernon, took the signed card and placed it second from the top. Everything was very slow and deliberate. Vernon then turned over the top card and there was the selected-signed card. Houdini was stunned. Dai Vernon did the trick again. The second time Houdini was also surprised. He began to call out possible methods, all of which were incorrect. A third showing, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, and seventh and Houdini was fooled each time. One telling of the story features this addition, "Mutual friends seated at the table said: "Don't quibble, Harry, you're fooled this time". According the a promotional piece of Vernon's, Houdini finally made the admission and added, "Vernon is certainly the best man I have ever seen with cards." Thereafter, Dai Vernon, who was going by Dale Vernon at that time, used the moniker 'He Fooled Houdini' in all his promotions. Quite reminiscent of Thurston's approach with Herrmann. If you're wondering about sources, I found this story in Genii Magazine, but also in the book, He Fooled Houdini-Dai Vernon A Magical Life by Bruce Cervon and Keith Burns, and it's in other books as well.
Episode 74 of the Magic Detective Podcast is finally up and ready to listen to. After a very long delay I was finally able to finish it. As I mention in the podcast, I got distracted with some other interests, so the podcast took a break for a while. But I have had this episode 2/3rds finished since December, so I just had to get it done. I chose to not repeat a lot of information that is I included on other podcasts. Instead, I just gave the episode numbers for anyone who wanted to check them out further. However, to make it even easier, I will put links to those episodes below. AND I will put a link to all the Anna Eva Fay articles on this site, so you can SEE some of the things I spoke of, like the grave for example.
Thanks for being a listener and reader to my blog and podcast. I do intend to continue this project for many years to come!
I just stumbled upon this site by accident. These are hand painted Harry and Bess dolls. I'd say it's a rather good likeness of the loving couple. They are bit pricey but hey, where else are you going to find dolls that look like Harry and Bess??? https://www.celebritywithyou.com/rrr/houdini-and-bess588
You no doubt have read about The Houdini Festival on here, several times in the past. That poor festival has suffered some serious setbacks, as have many events over the past few years. The organizer is Wayne Alan, a professional illusionist and he is also a theater owner. He owns the Historic North Theater in Danville, VA. Wayne is an award winning illusionist. In fact, he won the Gold Medal for Illusion at FISM in 1982. But what you may not know about Wayne is he is an avid Houdini fan and has been researching Houdini for 30 years. He is writing a book, that I can tell you will be eye opening, probably controversial at the same time. But you are in for some big surprises. What kind? I can't tell you. I'm sworn to secrecy for the time being.
Let me tell you this. Among the collectibles that Wayne Alan owns, is the floor grate from the hospital room that Houdini died in! Yep, he visited there just prior to that part of the hospital being torn down. He's got some other very cool Houdini stuff, but I'll save that for another day.
For now, let me just get back to the Houdini Festival. It has been moved to March 2023. Wayne wanted to be sure we were all clear of Covid before he went through with this festival. He already has quite the line-up in store. That's assuming that there are no changes in the coming year. Here are a few names you might be familiar with: Johnathan Pendragon, Dan Harlan, Robert Baxt, and Dale Salwak. Also on the bill is recent FOOL-US Fooler Wes Iseli, and then there is yours truly, ME! I'm sure there will be others added to the bill over the coming months.
The town of Danville is getting a major upgrade soon and this will likely be a positive boon for the Houdini Festival. At one time, Danville was a bit off the beaten track, but now it's going to be a major travel destination. Hey, and if nothing else, the famed Confederate Civil War Gold is rumored to be buried in Danville, so you could always go hunting for gold, lol! To stay up to date and to register for the festival go to https://thehoudinifestival.com
I am confident that in 2023, the Festival will be a GO!!!
The death of director, writer, producer, Ivan Reitman is sending shockwaves through Hollywood. But it should also send shockwaves through the world of magic. If not for Ivan Reitman's involvement, there would have been no MAGIC Show on Broadway starring Doug Henning. What kind of course would the world of magic taken had it not been for Henning's rising star giving new birth to the popularity of magic?
The two would meet at McMaster University. Their first venture together was when Reitman asked Doug to play a part in his upcoming production of Lil Abner. In Doug Henning's own words, "I was terrible, but I had a ball."
Their next collaboration would be a magical musical called SPELLBOUND. Ivan would be producer and the director, Doug would handle the magic. It played at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto. This show eventually led to being picked up for a Broadway run. It was retooled and altered and it eventually became The Magic Show on Broadway. This was the magical musical that put Doug Henning on the map.
After The Magic Show, the two would have one more collaboration and that was the Broadway musical MERLIN. At first Reitman was reluctant to get involved, but was later persuaded when Hollywood friends expressed their interest.
Ivan Reitman would best be known as the producer of such comedy hits as Ghostbusters, Stripes, Meatballs, Kindergarten Cop, Twins, and Evolutionto name a few.
Doug would go on to have a great career, starring in his own touring show and numerous Network TV Specials.
Ivan Reitman passed away in his sleep, Feb 12th, 2022, he was 75 years old.
Ok, that title is a bit misleading. The truth is, it's 365 magic videos in a year. They might sound the same, but the truth is, I know I won't be able to get one video per day done. But over the course of the year, there will be 365 videos, if not more.
The next question is, why? LOL. That's a good question. There are multiple reasons. One is exposure. Another is it's a challenge. A third, and one that I wasn't expecting, it's improving my magical skill sets. But the main one is exposure. And I'm approaching this in a very unorthodox way. I'm putting the videos up on multiple social media sites: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, and more. And I'm putting them up on international social media sites as well. I just did my first Russian video, and I'll follow that up with a Norwegian, Swedish, Italian, and French version of various videos.
The magic videos are generally short. Though some of them have longer routines. Most of the material will be stuff that is no longer in my working repertoire, however, some of the material is finding a new place in my show. There are two things so far in the first 20 videos that really struck me. One was the Linking Hearts. I had this for years, and never used it. I pulled it out strictly for the video and was astonished by the number of views and comments it received. Clearly, it was an effect that people could relate to. As a friend of mine said, "it's so much better than stupid rings! People can identify with hearts and it opens a world of possibilities for stories and presentations." Ok, I'm sold.
The next item was a rather astonishing Monte effect which has a whopper of an ending. I saw my friend Bob Sheets do this a few years back. He had a slightly different ending to his, but it was no less a fooler. I inherited the effect from a friend who passed away, so I decided to learn it for the video. It's just killer. I will post both of those videos below.
I'm going to try and create a 'magician's only' page about the Magic 365 videos. Which will have information on each of the various effects and where they can be found, whether they are commercial items, or in books, or original creations. I'll try and credit folks appropriately as well. I don't have that ready to go yet, it's coming.
If you are wondering what this has to do with 'magic history', well to be frank, lots. Over the course of the year, there will be plenty of historical pieces in the line-up. In a way, almost all the magic we do is steeped in magic history. Take the One Cup and One Ball mystery created by Al Wheatley. It's such a common piece today, we forget about it's history. And of course, it was a variation of the classic Cups and Balls, which is hundreds, if not thousands of years old.
One thing that I haven't really yet pointed out is that I will eventually be posting 'variants' of the episodes. For example, the video that is on Facebook, may be different from the one on Twitter or TikTok. As I build an audience, I hope that people will search out the variants. Also, I'm hoping to open a dialog with viewers as well, even taking requests. This is part of the challenge really. If someone speaks up and says, "can you do something with a candy bar, or do something with tissue paper" or whatever, I'll see what I can come up with. Granted, there may be existing material to choose from, so in those cases, why re-invent the wheel? But in other cases, why not create something new, or some new variation of an older routine.
So my friends, please enjoy, Magic 365 this year and beyond!
I stumbled upon this site by accident. I thought I'd share it with you all just the same, It's called Magic Posters Direct, or https://www.magicpostersdirect.com. They produce magic poster reproductions on wood. They only have one size from what I can see, 24x36.
I can't vouch for the quality or anything, I am just letting you know about them. I know some folks in the magic history world, don't care for reproductions and would rather have the real thing....wouldn't we all. But these look like they'd make for a nice display. They aren't super cheap, but not super expensive either. One great thing about them is they do not need to be framed, which is often as much or more than the poster!
They don't have the selection the selection that Nielsen Magic has however. But I like fact they are printed on wood. Now speaking of Nielson Magic, Lupe has a huge amount of poster reproductions in various sizes. She also has incredible magic for sale, most of which she builds herself. She's got a great selection of books for sale and other magic items. I always encourage folks to check out her site.
There is a word in the magic lexicon, that I frankly despise. In fact, I think as each year passes I hate it more. That word is 'trick' or 'magic trick'. It makes what we do sound so cheap. The word trick has negative connotations. No one likes to be tricked. For example:
A cunning or skillful act or scheme intended to deceive or outwit someone.
A mischievous practical joke
An illusion. (again, not OUR type of trick) ‘I thought I saw a flicker of emotion, but it was probably a trick of the light’
A skillful act performed for entertainment or amusement.
Worst yet
A prostitute's client.
Looking over the list, OUR type of trick ranks 4th on the list. Only slightly above, "a prostitutes client." No wonder I hate the word trick.
Looking to the past, I discovered that Robert-Houdin referred to most of his magic as 'Experiments and or Inventions". Granted, many of his items were inventions, so it fit. But he also referred to card magic as tricks. No doubt because of the manual ability needed to present them. And the charming Johann Hofzinser has references to tricks, carnival tricks and more. So the word has a long history. But in Hofzinser's case the word is used sparingly and it's always joined with other words, like dexterity for example.
I would surmise that the word began when we in the magical arts were known as jogglers, or jugglers. I suppose everything those jugglers did were tricks, tricks of skill. Then over time the term, conjurer and eventually magician, replaced jugglers...though juggler continued on, but it now had a more specific meaning, someone who played with his balls...or something like that. (just kidding, jugglers are skillfully incredible)
My point is, maybe it's time to rethink the word 'trick'. I am aware that there is a huge faction of the magic world that likes to downplay the whole idea of 'magic'. In fact, they put great emphasis on 'tricks'. Penn and Teller, are a fine example. But I also note that they don't only use the word trick, Penn has a large vocabulary.
Think about this for a moment, the movie The Prestige came out and created three words, that I don't recall ever being part of the magic lexicon. Those three words were: The Pledge, The Turn, The Prestige. I love that, but those words seem a bit 19th century for todays world. I am leaning towards the word 'composition'. It's definition: The action of putting things together; formation or construction.....
also: A work of music, literature, or art.. BINGO!!! We present magical compositions. We could take other words from this area as well, a word like 'set' for example. Musicians use it to the describe their series of songs, thier set. Longer versions would be 'concert'. Of course, paired with magic, then you get magic set,,,,,,hmmmm?! Perhaps, 'magical set'.
Do mentalists use the word trick? No, they avoid it. Escape Artists too, avoid the word trick. Even illusionists refer to their next routine as their next illusion, or next piece of magic, etc.. But they rarely use the word 'trick'.
The funny thing is, I don't really mind variations of the word, like trickster, or tricky. But the word trick itself, just bugs me. And maybe in the end, it's just me. Perhaps everyone else is fine with it. What do you think? Do you have an alternative you like? Please share, I'm quite curious to hear other opinions.
A cinematic exploration of the long history between magicians and playing cards and the murder mystery hidden in their art.
Producer, Director, Jon Ornoy of Animal Mother Films is working on a feature Documentary along with magician Shawn Farquhar, about the what is often called the Mystery of the Suicide King. There are some major magic stars connected to this beyond just Shawn, and it looks to be a very exciting documentary.
This is magic history, world history, and a murder mystery all wrapped up in one program. They have created a Kickstarter page to raise money for the production. So far they have raised quite a bit but they need more. With your help they can reach their ultimate goal and produce a stellar program.
Joshua Jay has a new book out called How Magicians Think. According to Joshua, "it's his love letter to magic." I will say it has the most unique layout of any magic book I've ever seen. It's nice to have a magic book in color, which is a welcome change. The book has a whopping 52 chapters. Hmmm, 52. hmmm?
Some of the chapters are strikingly short, a single page. Some are rather well fleshed out. Some chapter headings are provocative, some are quite curious. There are countless quotes by the famous and not so famous. And throughout Joshua Jay gives his opinion on every subject. You'd be wise to listen to his opinions because they are backed up by years as a professional performer and as a man obsessed with magic.
As another man obsessed with magic, I can tell you I totally enjoyed Joshua's book. I don't agree with everything in the book, but that is MY opinion, and me being nit-picky, lol. You may think otherwise. BTW, it's ok to not agree on every point. That is what makes each of us unique.
I enjoyed his book but I was even more surprised to discover he has taken the concept of his book and turned it into a podcast called, How Magicians Think. Hmmm, how did he come up with that? lol. It's a refreshing look at magic, again, like his book. He shares stories from his life and experiences that help to reveal the true secrets of magic, not the methods, but all the other things that go into creating great magic.
Joshua's book is written for the public, but clearly the bigger audience will be magicians. I wonder just how many laypeople will sit through the entire book? I will tell you, they should, and you should. As Seth Godin says on the back cover, "This generous book is about becoming really, really good at something, and doing it for the right reasons. It's a message we all need to hear."
I also noticed that the cover of the book contains this statement, "and why magic matters" Is this something going around? It's how David Copperfield opened his new book on the History of Magic with those exact words. As I said in David's review, those are IMPORTANT WORDS. David explains them from a historical context, Joshua explains them from a modern and even psychological context.
I enthusiastically encourage everyone, whether you are a lay person, magician, magic fan, or beginner in magic to get Joshua Jay's book. Especially, if you are beginning in magic because it will help you to understand our world better. There are clearly a lot of misconceptions that people have about magic and beginners come in carrying a lot of those misconceptions. Mr. Jay will help dispel them and put you on the faster track to become a good magician, or just finding a new found appreciation for magic that you might not have had before.
NOW, I would be remiss if I didn't also tell you to check out his podcast. He is only a few episodes in, but each one is informative and unique. I'm a bit reluctant to listen to the latest one with The Masked Magician. I have a unique dislike of that man. But I'll bet it's a brilliant interview and eye opening one at that because if there is anyone who knows how to ask the right questions it's Joshua Jay. I have enjoyed every episode to date.....(with the exception of the Masked Magician one because I haven't listened to it.....yet)
Once Upon A Time, I wrote a book about the methods Houdini used to become famous. Actually, I wrote it, but didn't finish the last chapter. Then I was about to finish it a few years ago, when my Dad died, followed soon after by my Mom. In other words, LIFE got in the way, and those things are more important.
But now it appears I'm back on track with the book. Not only is the last chapter finished, but the entire book is getting a re-write, or perhaps update is a better word.
The book deals with the Marketing Methods used by Houdini to become famous, AND how you can use those same techniques to find fame in your own career, life, etc.. No, you're not likely to become AS famous as Houdini. But if you apply some of these concepts you may find it helps you to get that promotion you were looking for, or become more famous in your own little part of the world.
My friend and marketing genius, Billy Diamond, recently interviewed me about the book and about HOUDINI. It's a great interview and I know you'll find something interesting here. It's part history, part marketing and all Houdini.
For the Houdini buffs, I believe I borrowed a story from either Blackstone Jr or Pat Culliton about Houdini and the Milk Can. At the time I meant to credit the story, and the way the interview ran, I didn't get it done. There is also reference to an odd escape from a horse, which comes from the book, Metamorphosis by Bruce MacNAB.
