Happy Valentines Day with A Little Magic

I actually wanted to post a video of David Copperfield doing this trick, but I couldn't find it! I have it somewhere but not handy. Still, Jansenson does a fantastic job with this trick, in fact he has an added twist to it that was not in the version that Copperfield did.

For the magic history buffs, this dates back to Nate Leipzig and was not originally done with paper hearts. Enjoy!

We Still Miss Doug Henning

It's been 12 years since Doug Henning passed away. If you're a younger reader to my blog, you might not be totally aware who Doug Henning was. He is credited with bringing about a rebirth of interest in magic in the 1970s. His MAGIC SHOW on Broadway was a big hit and it was quickly followed by several years of annual 'Doug Henning's World of Magic' TV Specials on NBC. He was only 52 years old when he died on Feb 7th, 2000, the same age as Houdini.

His magic was mostly old school presented in a modern way. He didn't dress like a magician nor did he act like any magician that modern audiences had seen. He was young and vibrant and most of all enthusiastic about his art. He constantly said words like 'wonder and illusion' like they were candy and they became synonymous with him.

Even though he did tricks for a living, Doug always seemed to believe there was real magic out there, somewhere. An incident that happened to him in 1971 appears to be a turning point in his career. He was booked to perform in an area several hundred miles from the North Pole. It was a tour for the Canadian Armed Forces who were stationed in the frigid arctic region. During the tour Doug also did a show for a group of Eskimos. Who didn't respond at all during or after his show. No clapping or laughing or anything. They paid attention but gave none of the usual reactions that Doug was used to getting from his magic.

After the show Doug spoke to one of the Inuit Eskimos and asked about how they liked the show and it was clearly some sort of misunderstanding. They did not understand why he did magic when in their view magic was everywhere. Doug tried to explain his various tricks were magic in his eyes. The group spoke amongst themselves and told Doug they understood why he did magic, they said "It's because your people have forgotten the magic and you do this to remind them that there is magic in the world"*

That was Doug's mission after that, to bring 'wonder and magic' to the world. He inspired so many of us that are around today. Now in the 21st Century, magic has changed a lot. Attitudes and styles and techniques have evolved. Doug's magic seems a little dated by today's standards, yet the real magic of Doug Henning had nothing to do with the tricks, it was the man himself.

By the way, I want to point you to an article on another blog that is about Doug and one of his props and his influence on the life of a female magician. http://ariannblack.blogspot.com/2012/04/doug-henning-blue.html

Oh, and in case you're wondering if Doug had any influence on me, take a look at the photo below.

*I found this story on the Magicpedia page on Doug Henning. It's very possibly from the book by John Harrison, but I don't have that handy to check it.

The Hat of Robert Heller

A short time ago I had been contacted by an auction house who had acquired a top hat said to belong to a once famous magician. They contacted me because of my many articles about this magician on my blog. The hat belonged to Robert Heller.

It had remained in his family all these many years, but for whatever reason the family felt it was time for the hat to have a new home. I will tell you, the hat sold for more than I expected, but having said that in my honest opinion the hat is priceless. There are precious few artifacts from Heller's life that remain and this item, though not part of his performing act, is still a wonderful piece.

Heller deserves a much more prominent place in the minds of magicians, but today is mostly forgotten. I have tried as best I could to get the word out about him. In fact, I will continue to write stories and articles about Heller in the future.

I don't know who won the hat, but I hope you cherish it for the rare piece of history that it is.

For those who missed my previous articles, please check out this link to the many stories I wrote about William Henry Palmer, known professionally as Robert Heller.

Trivia Questions & News

I'm currently working on a number of history projects, but they are all behind a bit because work has shifted into high gear. I'm putting together some articles on other magic theatres and places devoted to magic performances. If I can find the time, I've got another magic grave to scope out and trip to investigate some rarely seen magic artifacts.

And I have two trivia questions. The first, "which famous magician owned this hat?" There is a very cool story that goes along with the hat and I'm going to be doing a blog article about it in the future, but I wanted to see the variety of guesses that come in.

The next trivia question. Who referred to himself as "The first authentic historian of magic?"

If you'd like to take a guess at the trivia questions, just post your answer in the comments.

UPDATE: The answer to question 1, the Hat was owned by Robert Heller.
 The answer to question 2, Harry Houdini referred to himself as the first authentic historian of magic in an issue of Conjurers Monthly Magazine.

The Magic Theatre Series Pt 2 The UMT

First Studio (before)

After writing the article on The Cabot Theatre recently, I got to thinking about other magic theatres and venues strictly devoted to magic. There have been a number of them, some more successful than others. I was actually involved with a theatre of sorts with two friends of mine.

First Studio (after)

It started back in 2000, my friends Ralph Metzler and Adam Burger and I were looking for a place to store our props and possibly rehearse. After much searching we came across an odd place in the back of a shopping center. It was a very narrow space but deep and with high ceilings. We snapped it up, built an office and a loft and hung mirrors to rehearse. It was a really cool place to work and rehearse but it had some drawbacks. For one, there was no air conditioning in the place and in the summer it could get brutally hot. Two, there was no bathroom. Three parking was less than stellar. So even though we liked our spot we kept our eyes open for something else.

As fate would have it, another unit in the back would eventually open up. This unit was 5 times the size of the space we were renting, it had an office that was air conditioned and more than enough room for storage, rehearsals and a bathroom! So we snagged it.

This new unit was also in the back of a shopping center. Coincidentally, in the front of the shopping center was an old movie theatre that had recently shut down. The new tenants wanted to renovate the place and they knew that I had done some shows there in the past and offered to GIVE me as many seats as I wanted. So my two friend and I loaded up 100+ cast iron seats and lugged them to our new location. It was back breaking work and we only did it because Ralph and I had this crazy notion of fixing them up and selling them on eBay!  As it was, our friend Adam suggested taking some of the seats and putting in a theatre. I'm not sure how keen we were on this idea at first, but he kept bringing
it up, so in the end, it was really his idea to have a theatre.

Installing Chairs only days before First Show at Theatre

That is where things begin. But now it was a matter of transforming what was essentially a warehouse spot into a theatre. We wanted to keep the warehouse look, but 'clean it up'. And we had a tight budget....practically no budget really. So we painted the walls black. We purchased industrial looking lights that we could hang down from the ceiling. There were probably 25 or more lights. We put our old mirrors back up at the back of the area that would be the theatre. And to show just how devoted to the concept we were, we only installed 30 seats. Eventually we would install 50 seats.

The walls were decorated with vintage magic posters and various pieces of memorabilia. The theatre area itself was covered with my magic paintings. Along the wall as you walked into the theatre were large scale magic illusions on display.

When we were working or rehearsing in the space we always used the florescent lights that were part of the unit when we moved in. But when it was time to transform the place, we turned off the florescents and turned on the hanging lights. The first time we did it we were stunned at how cool the place looked. I had come up with the name 'Underground Magic Theatre' (UMT). And we were the 'first' to use the underground name, before Mark & Jinger's Magic Underground, and before others as well.

Though having our own theatre was our friend Adam's idea, he actually didn't want us to install the seats. He thought folding chairs would be better. But the inspiration for what it would become came from two sources, the Larcom Theatre in Beverly MA and Robert-Houdin's Theatre in Paris. At the Larcom, which is the sister theater to the Cabot, they have a huge room upstairs with a gallery of magic posters on display. In the basement is another gallery of all their props and illusions that have been used over the years and were retired from the show. The way this looked inspired what would become known as the 'magic museum' area of our space. The intimate theatre was really from Robert-Houdin and just as he did everything from stage magic to illusions, so would we.

We did not have a raised stage, it was floor level. And the front row was actually part of our performing area. There was an isle down the center dividing the chairs into two sections. My friend Ralph sewed the fabric of what would become the theatre curtains for the entire run. And though I helped, Ralph also drilled 99% of the holes in the concrete so we could install all the cast irons chairs!

We used the space for rehearsals, video taping segments of our shows, magic lectures, magic workshops, birthday parties and field trips. In the summer months, I offered field trips to Summer Camps to visit 'The Underground Magic Theatre'. Not really sure how it would play, it became a surprise to everyone involved that the concept took off! During the first show, the audience was so into things, two boys in the back of the theatre were heard saying "This is awesome magic" and his friend replied, "NO, this is UNDERGROUND magic!". As part of the field trip, the campers saw an hour long show and were taken on a guided tour of our magic museum. First year, we also offered a magic class, but we discontinued that after year one.
We found the show and tour of the museum was more than enough value as people would contact us saying "this was the kids favorite field trip of the summer". Oh, and we did not do a 'kids magic show'. We presented a theatrical magic show with stage magic and illusion and music and costumes. In fact, one evening we opened the theatre up to adults and they loved the show as much as any camper that had come through. It was never designed as a kids venue, it was designed to impress all ages.

My friend Ralph used the theatre to present birthday parties. It was so cool because he could do a much larger show, then set up tables and chairs for the party. We never advertised the parties yet stayed pretty busy with them.

 The theatre also became a 'hang out' of sorts for magicians who were passing through the area. Of the magicians who stopped by at one time or another, they included: Bob Sheets, Bob Fitch, David Kaye, Ken Scott, Mark Daniel, Tim Hannig, Jozo Bozo from Croatia, Joe Romano, Bruce Bray, Scott Humston, Joe Holiday, Dave Risley, Trixie Bond, and many others.

The theatre ran until the end of Summer 2005. At that point, my friend Adam had already moved away. My friend Ralph had decided it was time for him to move as well and he moved out west. The theatre didn't seem the same without my friends, so I closed it down and regretted the decision off and on for years.

It's now 2013, and for the first time since we closed the UMT, I've decided to take a version of that show back on the road this summer. I call it 'The Traveling Underground Magic Theatre Show' and basically taking the best parts of the theatre shows and creating a traveling version. There won't be any illusions, at least not as of this date. But the show will be about the 'history of magic' so it will be fun and educational at the same time. It will pay homage to the original venture, but this will be something unique in it's own way.

Below is a video of what the place looked like with the florescent lights up. It was not the look that theatre goers saw however. But it's still pretty cool looking back. Coming Soon: Part 3 The Magic Salons