Maid of the Moon Addition

I wrote an article on an intriguing levitation illusion that had been presented by both Harry Kellar and Alexander Herrmann. It was called Astarte or the Maid of the Moon. I had also posted a video of Doug Henning recreating the illusion for one of his TV specials. Well, at the Los Angeles Conference on Magic History 2013 this illusion was recreated by John Gaughan. And in the January 2014 Digital version of Genii Magazine you can watch a video of the illusion. It is beyond incredible. You  have to check it out! It is a real thing of beauty!

Herrmann - Lasky References

Back in March 2011, I wrote a little article on this blog about Jessy Lasky's connection to magic. I stumbled upon his connection by accident. I knew that Lasky had something to do with Houdini's movies and looking further into it the name Herrmann popped up. So the research began.

Here are some of the sources of the information.
 

Los Angeles Herald, Volume XXXI, Number 327, 21 August 1904 http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19040821.2.314.41#

 

pg 656 Vaudeville, Old and New by Frank Cullen 2006

http://books.google.com/books?id=XFnfnKg6BcAC&pg=PA656&lpg=PA656

 

pg 35 The Moving Picture World Volume 19

http://books.google.com/books?id=UEs_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35

And finally, A website created by Betty Lasky

http://www.jesse-l-lasky.com/timeline.html

I found that some of the resources mention Herrmann the Great, but the time period didn't make sense to me because Herrmann the Great died in 1896. So that is how I figured out it was Leon Herrmann. There were also a number of additional newspaper articles I found through the Library of Congress, but I didn't keep track of that info as best as I should have. Still, looking over the above resources, everything I found can be found above.

James Hamilton had asked me in April 2013 where I found the info, while at the Magic Collectors Conference in Washington D.C.. I mentioned that I discovered it all online, but obviously didn't have the source info handy. Let me state for the record, James Hamilton is THE LEADING SOURCE of Information and Knowledge on the HERRMANN FAMILY today! No question about it. In fact, James and I talked about Herrmann for almost an hour and it was one of the most fascinating conversations I've ever had, one of the highlights of the weekend for me.

  

James also, apparently uncovered much of the Herrmann/Lasky connection a few years previous and spoke on it at a Magic History Conference in 2010. Unfortunately for me, I never heard his talk or was aware of it.  Anything I found was discovered without the knowledge of James's research. But make no mistake, James is the authority on Herrmann. I seriously doubt I would ever uncover anything that James Hamilton was not already aware of. I have the utmost respect for his knowledge, and I'm posting these resources here just to show where I got my information.

 

Still More Holiday Gifts for the Magician in Your Life

I always like to give a wide variety of out of the norm kind of gift suggestions each year. Here are a few more that you all might find of interest. Even though these are suggestions for folks to buy for their magician friends/relatives, there is nothing wrong with buying one of these for yourself! :)

Mike Caveney Books

My suggestion is to pick up the new book Wonders & The Conference Illusions by Mike Caveney. This is a fantastic book filled with history, magic, magic history and more magic! It's a two volume set and it's just wow. But if you are feeling adventurous, there a lot of other titles under MCMagicWords.com to choose from and most of those are magic history as well. You can't go wrong with a Caveney published book for the holidays!

Rabbit and Top Hat Tree Ornament

Ok, this is just cool. A Christmas Tree Ornament with a magic theme. Found this on ebay, so get them while they last.

Rabbit and Hat Wall Stickers

I thought these were just plain cool. I'm not sure I'd put them up, but a great idea for a kid magician!
They can also be found on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/SET-OF-3-RABBITS-WITH-HATS-BOWLER-TOP-MAGIC-MAGICIAN-WALL-STICKER-DECAL-GRAPHIC-/161135137629

Taschen MAGIC

The newest edition, which is also the smaller edition, which is also not really so small, but it's smaller than the first edition! And from Barnes and Noble it's cheaper! So go here http://www.barnesandnoble.com/listing/2689779204888

Hofzinser Books by Magic Christian

I saved the best for last. This is for the hardcore magician. If you don't know who Hofzinser is, you need to find out. If you don't care who Hofzinser is, then get out of magic (and I'm not kidding). Buy these from Conjuring Arts and you can make payments rather than pay the full amount up front!

I don't like to put trick suggestions up in case you're wondering. The main reason is, I believe, as performers we should be selective in our material. If everyone is doing the SAME tricks what is so special about us? Now that certainly flies in the face of helping magic trick creators, but I'm looking at it strictly from a performers stand point. GO TO YOUR LOCAL DEALER, or favorite magic dealer and ask them if you really want advice on tricks. There are many cool effects that come out every year. But as a rule, if you buy a good book on tricks, like one of the Tarbell books, or the Card College books, you'll have so much more material to chose from and usually about the same price as a singe trick. Good luck shopping. Please support your local brick and mortar magic shop!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays 

from The Magic Detective!~

Even More Unique Magic Related Statues

I just love when readers contribute! Here are two images for magic statues that I've never seen. The first is a Tommy Cooper Jug.

Guild/Tommy Cooper Toby Jug.

Tommy Cooper Toby Jug Collectors Guild 1996/97 by Kevin Francis Ceramics manufactured by Peggy Davies Ceramics. This 9.5" Toby Jug captured the great man on stage, wearing his trademark red Fez , matching red socks and black evening suit with white shirt and bow tie, pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Tommy Cooper is one of the few magicians to have a life size statue of himself as well.

Next we have, a wooden figurine which is amazing. It's a female magician pulling a rabbit from a top hat. The figurine is the work of artist Ben Godi. This piece is made of wood as I mentioned, and has a run of 200. I read about the process on how he creates them and it's quite amazing. He begins by creating a unique hand carved figurine from wood. Then he has a machine that duplicates his figurine though he still has to go back and work on each of the 200 copies by hand to fix and imperfections and smooth them out. Simply amazing. This figurine is 9 inches tall and there are still some available if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Just visit his website http://www.ben-godi.com/artwork/natural-girls/i-am-not-your-rabbit.html And there are additional views of the figurine on the site, it's a wonderful piece.

Thank you to Christina from Luxembourg for the contributions!

Holiday Gifts for Magicians - Organizations & Periodicals

I'm going to give you some real practical suggestions for gifts. A subscription to any of the following magazines and organizations will pay for itself over and over again. First up we have the GrandDaddy of all magazines, GENII. Along with the subscription, you also get access to the digital version and the entire archives of every Genii ever printed.

Next we have MAGIC Magazine. Always well done, always great articles. And they featured my artwork on two of their magazine covers! They offer a monthly subscription or a yearly. They also have a digital version of the magazine which I think is a separate subscription.

If you are into the history of magic, and you should be if you are reading my blog, then you'll want to get a subscription to MAGICOL, the Magazine of Magic History and Collectibles. I love this magazine!

The Society of American Magicians is the oldest continuing magic association in the world. They publish a great magazine monthly MUM, and hold a wonderful magic convention each year. In addition they have assemblies all over the globe that meet monthly to share magic and learn magic.
Any magic group is only as good as the effort put forth by it's members. It is a great learning ground for the beginner and a wonderful place to hang out with fellow magicians.

The International Brotherhood of Magicians is the second oldest magic association in the U.S. and was founded in 1922. Like the SAM, they put out a monthly magazine called The Linking Ring, and have local 'rings' that meet monthly across the globe. You can't go wrong with a membership to the IBM!

KIDABRA International is the Association of Kidshow and Family Entertainers. They also have chapters that meet in various cities in the U.S. and abroad. They publish an online only magazine called The Kidabra Journal bi-monthly. And they run an annual convention in Pigeon Forge TN called......The Kidabra Conference. If you are a family entertainer, this is the group to be associated with.

The Magic Castle and home of the Academy of Magical Arts. This is for the more hardcore magician and magic enthusiast. One visit to the Magic Castle will make you want to be a member. But you can't just walk into the Castle. You have to be a member or be the guest of a member...thus membership isn't such a bad idea.

Finally, if you are in the U.K. you should consider applying for membership with The Magic Circle. This is the oldest continuing magic organization in the U.K.. Unlike the SAM, IBM and Kidabra, the Magic Circle has their own Headquarters, with it's own meeting room, museum and theatre.