Still More Houdini Statues and Busts

Just when I think I've found them all, more Houdini art shows up. In this case, I'm looking for sculptures and statues.

This first one I found on Pinterest.com. I'm including the location of where I found the image. It's apparently a custom made piece. Still, very cool. http://www.pinterest.com/pin/103793966385452613/










This next bust was created by artist Peter Close. It had been available through

http://www.arspraestigium.com however their site seems to be suspended. There is no telling what that means, it's the internet, so maybe their site was hacked, who knows. But the bust is an interesting one with Houdini in a straight jacket.

As I recall, the site offered some other busts of famous people, like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But with the site down, I can't go back and check. Hopefully, it will be back up again soon.

Now here we have something interesting. A Houdini bust from across the pond, as they say. It comes from TheTwinsFX, through, http://www.illusioncraft.co.uk/harry-sculpture/
This is cast in resin and comes in two different finishes. It stands a whopping 21 inches tall. The website says it is limited to 100 busts and it also says the first run sold out. So maybe they are doing more than 100, or they cast less than 100 to start. At any rate, check their website for purchasing info.












Next up, a Houdini and Bess set. I think I might actually have these. I know I own something very

similar but they are in storage. I have no idea who made these and I'm sure they are no longer for sale. But they are an interesting addition to the Houdini bust collection.










There is an amazing sculpture and article featured over at HoudiniMuseum.org that you must go check out. There are several photos of the piece created by sculptor  Mel Zapata. It's a truly striking piece of Houdini art.

The final one today was featured over at WildAboutHoudini.com. It's a sculpture by artist Victoria Mock. The piece has Houdini in a straight jacket sitting on a box. It's quite cool.

If you want to see more Houdini art, check out some of the past articles on the Houdini Busts.
I'm sure I'll be back with more!

Houdini Hand Carved Sculpture & More

I was so excited to discover this yesterday. What you are viewing is a wooden hand carved sculpture by artist Ed Pribyl. He is an American Folk Artist from Northern Illinois. Every piece is hand carved from basswood then painted using his unique multi-layered antiqued finish. And as you can see, the pieces are amazing.

The Houdini Water Torture was a commissioned piece for a client and sold for $5500.00. Ed told me he is willing to recreate it for the same price and is open to doing other Houdini poses/tricks. So for the collector out there who wants something extra special, Ed's website is http://www.edpribyl.com/?page=home

Next we have a magic related sculpture, the iconic magician pulling a rabbit from top hat. It is titled "Abracadabra" and is 18 inches tall, 9 inches wide and 4 inches deep. The cost for this sculpture is $1200.00










Finally, we have a very cool sawing a woman in half sculpture. It is titled "Two For One" and is 17 inches tall, 16 inches wide
and 12 inches deep.  This is simply a beautiful piece of art.
It is available for $1800.00

To see additional images of this piece go here.

More Houdini Busts and Statues!

Joe Fox has really gone the extra mile and provided me with some great photos of MORE Houdini Busts. Just when you thought you'd seen them all, a few more pop up!

First is the Collectors Workshop Bust called 'The Houdini Bronze'. The bust stands 14 inches tall, weighs approximately 15 pounds and rests on a polished wooden base. Many years ago, I visited Nick Ruggerio at the Collectors Workshop-Workshop. And he had one of these busts in the office. I remember holding it and hearing Nick tell the story of how they went about recreating the bust. It was a limited edition of only 18. As I recall it had a pretty hefty price tag at the time.






Next, we have an unusual bust that Joe Fox can't recall where he got it. But it's clearly Houdini

though not of the same quality and craftsmanship as some of the other busts. I'm wondering if this was maybe a plaster cast that was sold and people could paint them on their own. It has a similar look to the copper colored bust in the article
Houdini Busted!

It appears maybe to be a copy of a copy because some of the details are less visible on this particular bust. Though it could just be the white color, which makes it look like a white chocolate bust of Houdini......(that sounds rather cool).

Gary Frank, the magician and historian offered this Houdini bust a few years ago. It's 9 1/4 inches tall and weighs approx 5 lbs. It was limited to 200 pieces and the ad for the bust mentions it was the first in a series of magic busts. But I don't know if any others were created.








The final two don't actually fit into the category of BUST. But they are statues of Houdini. The first

one is a ceramic covered Beer Stein. I want to say the Fox Brewery from Appleton commissioned this but I'm not 100% on that. The one in the photo is Joe Fox's (no relation to the Brewery). Mine is in storage so I can't look at the bottom to read what it says. But it's a very cool. The stein is 9 1/2 inches tall and will hold 26oz of liquid.

 A companion item with the beer stein was a Bottle Opener with the same sort of design as the beer stein.












The final 'statue' was done by sculptor Mo Flint. His statue of Houdini in a Straightjacket is incredibly
striking and looks 100% like Houdini. I had contacted Mo when these were first announced and he was hoping to do other Houdini statues if these sold well. But I think the sale of these statues was a little disappointing. From what I've heard, the run was supposed to be 500 but only 250 were ever made. No other magic or Houdini statue followed.

A friend of mine who is an amateur sculptor created a Houdini statue for me many years ago. It was a statue made from the image on the left. It was an amazing statue. It stood a little over 12 inches tall and my friend put real chain on where needed. The reason I cannot show it to you know is ole Houdini in Chains committed suicide! One day he fell off the shelf he had been displayed on and came crashing into too many pieces to repair. Sadly, I never took a photo of the amazing piece of art, my loss.






*Special Thanks to Houdini Historian and all around great guy, Joe Fox, for sharing the above images from his collection!

Houdini Busted! Updated!

My previous article about the statues dedicated to magicians points out that there are no HOUDINI statues. However, there isn't a shortage of Houdini busts. It's not likely I'll get all of them captured here, but I'm going to try and get the top ones.

First up is the classic Houdini Bust that we all know, the bust on top of his grave. The original bronze cast of this bust resides in The Museum of the City of New York. This was the creation of sculptor John Cassidy of Manchester England.  After Houdini died, this bust became the property of the Hinson Family. Mr. and Mrs. John A. Hinson donated the bust to the Museum in 1958.

Copies of this bust have been part of the Houdini Grave Site since his death. Sadly, many of those copies were stolen or destroyed.

This plaster copy was recovered recently. It was believed to have been stolen from the gravesite in 1975. John Cox has a full report about the stolen/recovered bust at his site. This plaster copy now resides in the AKA Houdini display in Appleton Wisconsin.

Thanks to the valiant efforts of the Houdini Museum in Scranton PA, a fully restored bust was placed back on the grave site.  Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz are the curators of the museum. They are now the keepers of the grave site from what I understand.I accidentally left them off of here when I first posted this. My apologies to them because they deserve a huge thank you from all Houdini fans and magic fans for the work that they have done!

Without their tireless efforts there would be no bust on the Houdini Grave site today.

There have been various reproductions of this bust over the years in many different sizes. Some lack the quality of the original and even the look. But they are interesting none the less. One of the best was done by Collectors Workshop but I don't have a photo of the bust they produced. It was identical to the Cassidy bust.

These two busts were done by artist Joseph Juneau for the Houdini Magic Shops. The one of the left is called 'The Great Houdini' while the other one is called 'The Young Houdini'. 

They are cast in resin and stand about 10 inches tall.

Next we have the latest Houdini bust, this time by the artists at Spectral Motion. It's an expensive one, $2000.00, but the bronze cast version is breathtaking. They actually produced several busts of magicians, including: Harry Kellar, Howard Thurston, Robert Houdin and Chung Ling Soo.

I think I like this one the best out of all the various busts. It has a little more character to it and shows Houdini at a younger age. I do not think the HOUDINI bust is available any longer however.

Finally, I'd like to show this unique piece. I'm not sure it fits within the traditional bust format, but it is very cool. Unfortunately, I don't recall the name of the artist. I know there was talk of him making several of these in the future of other magicians, but I only ever saw this one. This particular piece is from my own collection.














There are a number of other busts of Houdini in different poses and styles. I'll post links to those below and if I happened to have missed any, let me know and I'd be glad to feature them here, or at least put the link up.

Gifts4Magicians.com has a very nice Houdini Pewter statue which can be seen here.
Sculptor/Artist Robert Toth has a very nice Houdini bust which can be seen on his website.
Sculptor Peter Close created this Houdini bust for this website
A company called BizzareProps.com features this bust, which they say only 50 were made but I don't see where it's available now.
This final bust is being sold by StevensMagic.com. Apparently, it is a reproduction of a bust that Houdini himself owned.

MORE
I shouldn't have been half asleep when I posted this because I missed some stuff. I forgot to add the photo from the Houdini grave about and give Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz proper credit. Also, John Cox over at WildaboutHoudini.com has posted an article about an old issue of Genii Magazine with a picture of a unique Houdini bust on the cover.

I just got this note from Dick Brookz and Dorothy Dietrich, "There was a small hollow olive drab dark bronze colored Houdini bust about 8" tall that I believe Bess herself used to make and sell or give out. It was similar but slightly different from the John Cassidy one. We have two or three in our collection.  We experimented in making these before we attempted the full sized ones.  We even sold them in the store for a while.  We may make some more when time permits.

The final large mold was made of expensive Platinum Silicon which should last 20 to 30 years.  We made several large busts out of different materials until finally we made 3 expensive statuary cement ones, with the best one destined for Houdini's grave site after it was sealed with a special sealer."


I wonder if the greenish colored one above is one of the one's that Bess gave out???

EVEN MORE
John Cox sent me this link of another Houdini bust, which might be one of the ones that Collectors Workshop put out in the 1990s.

AND YET ANOTHER
Here is an image, courtesy of Joe Fox, of the Houdini bust that was given out to attendees of the Society of American Magician's Centenary Celebration. This was during the 2002 SAM National Convention. Only 1000 were made and I think it's rather small if I'm not mistaken.









this original article was first published on August 12, 2012

Thank You For Visiting The Magic Detective!

WELCOME & THANKS!!!

My friend Adele alerted me earlier tonight that this blog was mentioned in an email from Stevens Magic. And sure enough, in my email box was an email from Mark Stevens asking for permission to include my site in their email. As far as Stevens Magic goes, they are a class act. I've always had positive dealings with them and really appreciate their dedication to the art of magic and I'm honored they included me in their email newsletter.

If you are new to my blog, I might suggest you try this link
http://www.themagicdetective.com/search/label/Popular%20Blogs 
which lists some of the more popular articles. You can also scroll along the right side and find articles listed by topic.

The blog usually gets updated several times a week, but I've been out of town on a family matter and just returned today. So hopefully, once things get settled, you'll see some brand new articles on magic history! Until then, there are certainly a lot of articles you can view from the past!

Ricky Jay and Houdini on DVD!

This is exciting. In November you will be able to get the Ricky Jay documentary titled, Ricky Jay Deceptive Practices. It will be releases November 5th via Amazon.  AND also on the DVD front, the 1998 movie HOUDINI starring Jonathan Schaech which was movie made for the TNT cable channel. It has some good moments, and like many Houdini bio movies, some not so good ones. But I always enjoyed it. Now you can get it on DVD through Amazon.com.

And speaking of DVDs, one of my favorite movies of the Summer, Now You See Me, is also available on DVD and Blue Ray.

The Man Who Fooled The Best Minds In Magic

It all began in this carriage house in NYC. An amateur magician fooled the best minds in magic. The performances were held on the second floor right near the windows on the left. A small stage was erected and there were chairs available for twenty people. The performances were invitation only. Those who attended were a virtual who's who in the world of magic. They all walked away puzzled and amazed.

The man who put on these shows was Dr. Samuel Cox Hooker and his show was legendary. Years ago, I remember reading through a copy of GREATER MAGIC and coming upon a description of his show and wondering what all the fuss was about. Then in 1993 the Los Angeles Conference on Magic History recreated the show using the original apparatus. In 2007, the conference brought the show back for a repeat performance. I spoke to a few people who attended and the word I heard the most was "I have no idea". Obviously, whatever Dr. Hooker had created was a timeless mystery just as remarkable today as it was nearly 100 years ago.

Both Genii and MAGIC Magazine did extensive articles on Hooker and I've pulled some of my information from those sources as well as a few other places. This great mystery that Dr. Hooker created was not a single trick nor was it a single method. It was numerous puzzle pieces that came together to create what has been called 'The Hooker Rising Cards'. But Dr. Hooker preferred to call his show 'Impossibilities'.

Dr. Samuel Hooker

The show first began in 1915 in the carriage house behind his home on Remsen St. in Brooklyn. I believe the initial show was just a demonstration of his Rising Cards. But Dr. Hooker's Rising Cards were unlike anything anyone had ever seen. The show would begin by handing out a houlette for examination. A houlette is a small holder for playing cards, and according to the book Greater Magic, the Hooker houlette was made of glass. Next, a new pack of cards was borrowed from a member of the audience. The cards were shuffled and then placed into the houlette. Then, any card called for would rise out from the pack! But that was just the beginning. Next, cards were selected, signed and put back in the pack and it then put back into the houlette. The selected signed cards would rise. The houlette was moved to different part of the table to disprove any connection to the table. In fact, the houlette could be handed out for examination again and again. Finally, a large glass dome was placed over the houlette and the cards not only rose up like before, but now they floated higher and higher within the glass enclosure. Eventually, all the cards flew from the houlette and that was the conclusion of the original show.

Harry Kellar was witness to the show in 1914 when it was in it's early stages. It was clear to Kellar even then that this was a remarkable feat. Kellar would attend again a couple years later and by this time Dr. Hooker had added another feature, a bear head he called

Militiades III in action

Militiades III. When the show began the Doctor would speak to the bear and it's eyes would open and it's head would move. He could ask the bear questions and the mouth would move in response. According to an article in the San Diego Union from May 26, 1918, the magicians in the audience seemed fairly unfazed with those antics. But then the bear head levitated in the air and moved about. Dr. Hooker passed his hands around the floating bear head and then passed a hoop around it. All the while the bear head, which he called Militiades after an Athenian chieftan, continued it's facial animations. The newspaper article said the magicians were completely dumbfounded by this. The name Militiades, according to the article by Jim Steinmeyer in Genii Magazine April 2008, was inspired by the Athenian General and a children's book from Hooker's youth called 'The Adventures of Militiades Peterkin Paul'. So his bear head became Militiades III.

When Kellar saw the performance he related to Dr. Hooker just how amazed he was and that he had no idea how the mystery was accomplished. Dr. Hooker then invited Kellar to peer behind the curtain, so to speak, and revealed the workings of this marvel. Kellar was so taken with the wonderful illusion that he eventually asked Dr. Hooker if he could have it for his own home. According to the book, Kellars Wonders by Mike Caveney and Bill Miesel, Dr. Hooker agreed to allow Kellar to build the illusion for demonstrations at his home but swore him to complete secrecy.  There was a catch however. Hooker would not build the effect for Kellar. He told Kellar that he would have to create it on his own and not use a magic builder in the process. This meant that Harry Kellar had to go off his memory of what he saw and experiment with various things in order to build it for himself. He did begin work on it and hired another mechanic to help, but never completed the work.

Magician's who saw Hooker's incredible miracle included: Harry Kellar, Houdini, Charles Carter, Adelaide Herrmann, W. J. Hilliar,  Dr. James Elliott, Guy Jarrett, Theo Bamberg and many others. In 1929, Dr. Hooker decided to revive the show but felt he was too old at this point to perform. So he taught the routine to John Mullholland and Dr. Shirley Quimby who presented it for another round of performances. According to Ted Annemann in the Jinx #87, 1938, the effect was bequeathed to Mullholland and Quimby. Annemann quotes The Sphinx of Sept 1936, "for performance from time to time as opportunities occur." However, I don't think the apparatus for the illusion was actually given to Mullholland, rather the opportunity to present the effect. It doesn't appear that Mullholland ever presented the effect after the run in 1929.  The apparatus for the Hooker Rising Card Illusion remained in the Hooker family and eventually with Hooker's grandson who sold it to John Gaughan.

The Hooker Rising Card was presented at two different Los Angeles Conference on Magic History. John Gaughan restored the original apparatus and together with Jim Steinmeyer, they did their best to recreate a routine based on Hooker's work. The original routine as presented by Dr. Hooker was somewhere between an hour and 90 minutes. The version presented at the magic history conference was twenty minutes. But according to all accounts, the magic of Dr. Samuel Hooker continued to bewilder the best minds in magic of today just as it had done during magic's Golden Age.

One additional note that I found interesting. It turns out that Dr. Hooker, who was a chemist by trade, and a very dedicated amatuer magician, is related to a modern day magician, Paul Romhany.

Copperfield Bombarding the Media

I've read several interviews with David Copperfield over the past few days and even watched a 30 minute video interview which was great. I'm always happy to read about David and I look forward to his next venture. Here are two of the latest articles...by the way, the Forbes article has some incredible photos from the Museum.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2013/09/05/reappearing-act-inside-the-multimillion-dollar-world-of-illusionist-david-copperfield/

http://www.iamrogue.com/news/interviews/item/9631-iar-exclusive-interview-illusionist-david-copperfield-talks-now-you-see-me-blu-ray/dvd-its-planned-sequel-a-possible-houdini-film-and-his-own-legacy-of-magic.html

http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbiz/424058/David-Copperfield-The-master-of-illusion-and-his-fountain-of-youth

Amazing Interview with David Copperfield

David Copperfield is certainly an icon in the world of magic. In this interview he talks about his inspirations. He also shares some magic history, both of his own and of other magicians. It's a longer interview than usual but it's very informative. I hope you enjoy it.

Who Is This?

I expect to return to my duties as magic history blogger in a few days. I've had a very busy summer of performances and they will end in a couple days. Then I get a brief rest before the Fall rush kicks in.
I've posted a picture above of a gentleman. I wonder if there is anyone who can identify this individual? Please post your guesses in the comments sections. We'll see if anyone gets it. I'll leave you hints as we go along.....in the event no one guesses correctly.

Hint #1 He is very famous in the magic world for one thing.
Hint #2 Houdini knew him and so did Howard Thurston.
Hint #3 He has been on the cover of MAGIC & Genii Magazines.
No Guesses? Ok, more hints.

Hint#4 He was a Doctor.
Still no guesses? To be honest, I'd have no clue either, lol.
Hint #5 He was friend to Harry Kellar.
Hint #6 He did something that was written about in TIME magazine.

A Piece of Kellar & Houdini History

Norm Nielsen and Harry Kellar

The image above is a wonderful 8 sheet Kellar poster, now in the collection of Norm Nielsen. According to Lupe Nielsen, it may be the only 8 sheet Kellar poster of this image known to have survived. The incredible poster has quiet a story.

Apparently, this poster was a gift from Harry Kellar to Harry Houdini. The poster hung in the home of Houdini, 278 W 113th St NYC. The poster was originally mounted on linen and actually stayed in the house longer than Houdini.  In the 1980s, Dixie Dooley was in NYC and stopped by the old Houdini House. Unlike most visitors, he actually got permission to enter the home and was able to tour Houdini's old home. While on the tour, the owner showed Dixie a table full of posters and gave them to him as a gift. The above poster was among those he acquired and remained in his possession until he sold the large Kellar poster to Norm Nielsen in the 1990s.

According to Lupe, "no restorers wanted to touch it." So they placed it into a giant frame protected by a piece of Plexiglas in the front. It is now in the Nielsen Magic Poster Collection.  The poster was printed by Strobridge Litho, Cincinnati 1894.

*The photo credit belongs to Lee Alex (www.leealexmagic.com) who graciously gave me permission to reproduce it here. I also received permission from Lupe Nielsen to include it, as it is part of the private Nielsen Magic Poster Collection (www.nnmagic.com) By the way, Dixie Dooley talks about this poster in his book Exploits and also in Houdini Question Reality, two books he wrote available on Lulu.com.

All Things Magic Edit-a-thon for MagicPedia

On September 14th, 2013, MagicPedia will be hosting an event called 'All Things Magic' Edit-A-Thon 2013. It's basically a one day event where people from all over the globe can get together 'virtually' and help to update, add and edit content for the MagicPedia Wiki page.

A little known fact is that yours truly, the Magic Detective, quietly has added content to MagicPedia. And I'm not the only one by any stretch. If you are interested in helping, all you need is a computer of some kind and an internet connection. Some areas are having actual events at specified locations so you can check the link below for more information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/All_Things_Magic_Edit-a-thon_2013

News on Magic Detective Youtube Show Return

Sorry if it appears that I've been absent from the blog. I assure you, it's been on my mind even though I've not been able to attend to it as I would have liked this summer. It's been an extremely busy summer with shows, so I've been traveling and performing a lot.

But there is news. I'm working on new episodes of The Magic Detective Youtube Show and I'm very excited about some of the things in store. One of the new features I'm working on right now, is combing through old magic books and finding rarely seen magic routines, basically things that have been forgotten by our modern generation and then actually performing them.

The first routine will be from the book, The Modern Conjurer by C.Lang Neil and it's really unusual and rather brilliant. I'm not going to say WHAT routine it is, you'll have to wait till the episode appears.

I'm also hoping to visit some magicians graves in upcoming episodes and also stop by and see some magic collections! But I've got to finish my Summer run first and I still have 40+ shows yet before the month is over. Rest assured it will be returning!!!

Magic Mob at Denny's Magic July 28th

This will surely be a history making event. A 'Magic Mob' is being planned for both locations of Denny's Magic Shop (Vegas and Baltimore) for July 28th. The idea is the swarm the shops with customers and help keep these shops alive by spending money and supporting the shops. It's a win win all the way around. In the current economy magic shops across the country are closing. They seem to be going the way of the dinosaur. There are multiple reasons of course, the economy being #1, the internet being #2. So this 'magic mob' idea though not a perfect solution, it will certainly help. If you can't attend, you can still shop via phone or the internet on the day of the event. Go to www.dennymagic.com

More information on The Magic Mob at Denny's can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/264035000406189/

BUT WAIT, THERE's MORE!!!

If you're in the area on Saturday July 27th, you could stop by the Comedy and Magic Society for their Saturday Night Show. The CMS is produced by Bob Sheets, Mark Phillips, Brian Curry and Barry Wood. Their show is in Gaithersburg MD. Check them out here: http://comedymagicsociety.com/services-view/july-27-2013/

Happy 104th Birthday Vivian Vance

Vivian Vance, the well known side-kick to Lucille Ball, was born July 26th, 1909. Her connection to magic was via the movie The Great Houdini's with Paul Michael Glaser. Vance played the part of Minnie who was Bess Houdini's nurse. She was also known as a bouncer in the house of ill repute (in the movie).

The Great Houdinis was a made for TV movie that appeared on ABC on October 8th 1976. Vivian Vance also was the narrator for the movie. The Great Houdinis is probably the most historically accurate of all the Houdini bio-pics.

Vivian Vance died from cancer on August 17th, 1979.

Mike Caveney Reveals ALL In Two New Books!

Mike Caveney* is a magical performer, talented comedian and one of the foremost scholars on magic history alive today. If you've ever seen Mike perform you know his material is hilarious and the magic is rock solid.  Mike is also the publisher and occasionally writer of some of the finest magic history books of the last 40 years. A sampling of titles include: Walter Jeans-Illusioneer, Devant's Delightful Delusions, P.T. Selbit-Magical Innovator, Buatier DeKolta-Genius of Illusion, Carter the Great, Servais LeRoy-Monarch of Mystery and many other titles. Mike is also one of the producers of the Los Angeles Conference on Magic History.  And now, for the first time, Mike Caveney is revealing ALL, and then some.

Mike Caveney has just published a new 2 book set called Mike Caveney Wonders & The Conference Illusions. The books are sold as a set, you cannot purchase them separately. Within the pages of Mike Caveney Wonders you'll find his entire act. This is an important point, he'll share with you the methods to the routines, the history behind the routines, the creative process he went through to create the various routines, and humorous stories that happened along the way. In other words, for the historian we are getting a look into the mind of a creative artist and learning the details on how EVERYTHING was done, every step of the way. For the performer, we're getting an education from a true working pro on how to create something really unique and special. It's all in there too, the Arm Juggling routine, The Linking Coat Hangers, The Bow & Arrow....everything Mike has performed!

In my opinion, that volume alone is priceless. But Mike has taken this project even further by adding a second volume called "The Conference Illusions". This book details the various illusions from the Golden Age of Magic that Mike brought back to life during the Los Angeles Conference on Magic History.  For many of us who have never had the good fortune to have attended the conference, this will be a detailed look into the history of the routines and all the work and research that went into recreating them. Some of the illusions Mike presented at the conference include: Dante's Sawing a Lady in Half, Selbit's Bricks, Carter's Million Dollar Mystery, The OH! Chair and many others. The information in this book will be invaluable to the magic historian.

Mike Caveney Wonders is 456 pages, The Conference Illusions is 256 pages and 900 photographs between the two volumes. Often in projects like this, there are two versions a regular version and a deluxe version. With this project there is ONLY a deluxe version which makes them even more special. Please note, this is not a review of the books. But judging by the quality of his previous publications, you can expect nothing short of two fantastic books.

You can pre-order the book from Mike's website right now! This link will take you directly to the page for the book http://mcmagicwords.com/books_mike_caveney_wonders.html
The books will make their debut at the upcoming MAGIC LIVE Convention in Las Vegas and the the orders for books will be shipped out after that.

*Most of us are well familiar with Mike Caveney. But I have a lot of readers who are new to magic history, so I like to give them as many details as I can. IF you are new to Mike, you're in for a real treat!
(above photos are courtesy of Mike Caveney)

The Great Charlie Miller

He was revered by folks like Larry Jennings, Ricky Jay and Johnny Thompson. Dai Vernon said he was one of the greatest card men to ever live. He was friends with Paul Fox, Cardini, Faucet Ross, Max Malini and other greats of yesterday. He was a link between two different time periods of magic. He was born during a time of the great Vaudeville acts and yet he lived to see the rise of close-up magic. His name was Charlie Miller and this is a brief look into his life.

He was born in Indianapolis Indiana on May 25th, 1909. He was well educated and could speak several languages and also had an incredible ability to mimic any dialect he heard.  It is believed that Charlie had a photographic memory. He apparently was exposed to magic through his older brother who then taught him a couple tricks, but after that he was off on his own. At the young age of 20 Charlie Miller was thought to be one of the best sleight of hand artists in the country. He could present any sleight called for from the Erdnase book Expert At The Card Table.

Charlie is regarded as one of the true great card men, and of course as I just mentioned above,  Dai Vernon also agreed with that assessment. A lesser known fact was that Miller was just as adept with apparatus magic. He was truly a well rounded performer. In today's world so many of the sleight of hand performers shun any sort of apparatus.  This is unfortunate and Charlie Miller shows that the bias against prop magic didn't always exist. I'm not going to go into a big rant over that topic, but I do want to point out the fact that Charlie could perform apparatus magic just as easily as his sleight of hand material.

In the 1930's Dai Vernon and Charlie Miller heard about a man from the midwest who could deal cards from the center of a deck. They dropped everything and headed to Wichita Kansas on the hunt for a man named Allan Kennedy. The story is related by Ricky Jay in his new documentary 'Ricky Jay-Deceptive Practice' and also in the book The Magician and the Cardsharp by Karl Johnson.

Charlie Miller was affectionately known as the guest who wouldn't leave and in the 1950s lived with Harry Riser and his family. When Charlie moved to Chicago he stayed in a room at Magic Inc. that became known as The Charlie Miller Suite. And later in the 1960's Charlies moved out to California to be near the Magic Castle and became a resident/guest of Johnny Thompson. Both Johnny and Harry Riser were students of Charlie's and speak of him in the highest regard.

In 1964 he became the writer and editor to a special series in GENII magazine called 'Magicana'. There was and is some incredible magic and history in those pages. If you have access to Ask Alexander.com I would encourage you to spend some time with Charlie Miller's Magicana.

In the 1970's Charlie Miller started performing magic on Cruise Ships. I don't know what material he did but given his vast knowledge and abilities I imagine he did a stage act and probably close-up act as well.

In the mid 1980s, The Greater Magic Video Library, first produced by Steven's Magic I believe, filmed Charlie performing a number of effects. Volumes 17,18 and 29 all have Charlie Miller on them, but 29 also includes Johnny Thompson. I must say that I think Charlie was past his prime when these videos were shot. His hands shake a lot and his handling of cards is not up to the legendary status that we've come to believe. However, despite this fact, I think these videos are important to watch. For the true student of magic and for magic historians there are tons of subtleties and trivia mixed within the various routines he presents. For example, on Volume 17 he opens with a demonstration of the Misers Dreams. There is no explanation included and it's a pretty routine with a couple interesting old jokes included. What is really fascinating is Charlie's production of the coin. He is actually doing the Allan Shaw Coin Production. But he doesn't teach it (more on this later).  There are two other performance only routines on Volume 17, The Rice Bowls with the Al Baker Bowls and The Chinese Sticks. Then he presents 5 routines which are demonstrated and taught.

Volume 18 begins with three performance only routines: The Paper Mystery, Mutilated Parasol and Malini Egg Bag and then he presents and teaches 5 other routines. The real gem of the bunch though is Volume 29, which has Charlie Miller and Johnny Thompson. The presentation is far more conversational and it's more of a look inside a magic session rather than your typical teaching tape.
Volume 29 has a segment on the Cups and Balls with some really interesting moves. The Egg Bag with Charlie presenting his version and Johnny doing his version. Part 3 covers cards and again you get two masters sharing thoughts and ideas on various routines. Don't judge Charlie Miller on his skill level on these videos because he was much older. Instead, enjoy the knowledge and insight he shares on the various magic pieces.

I want to go back for a moment and talk about his Misers Dream routine. Charlie Miller is not easy to find in print, but he is there. For example, in Bobo's Modern Coin Magic Book you'll find a number of pieces by Charlie. And on video try Levent's DVD The Ultimate Guide to The Misers Dream (3 DVD Set). On DVD#2 there is a whole section on Charlie Miller and his routine and some extra bits and ideas. You can also learn the Allan Shaw coin production on DVD#1 of Levent's series on the Misers Dream. And if you really want to explore more on Charlie's coin work, check out John Carney's DVD The Video of SECRETS Volume 1. John demonstrates the Misers Dream and shares a technique for producing a coin taught to him by Charlie Miller.

In regards to his card work, Jean Hugard's book Expert Card Technique has several items credited to Charlie Miller and a number of things that were Charlie's that are not credited to him. There are also some smaller books/pamplets with Charlie's material which include: "An Evening With Charlie Miller, "Black Art Well Tricks", "Charlie Miller on the Card Index", "The Charlie Miller Lecture Notes", "Charlie Miller's Diminishing Cards", and "Charlie Miller on the Malini Egg Bag" all published by Magic Inc.. 

Charles Earl Miller passed away on August 13th, 1989. He was one of the true greats of the 20th Century. Below is some footage of Charlie doing card magic. He is much younger here than he was in the Greater Magic Video Library videos and his skill and dexterity are apparent.

Houdini TNT movie on DVD

The HOUDINI movie that was made for TNT back in 1998 is finally on DVD. It's being offered on the WB website. This is the movie that starred Johnathon Schaech, Stacy Edwards, Paul Sorvino, Rhea Perlman and Mark Ruffalo as Hardeen. Like many Houdini movies this was has it's flaws, but it also has some fine moments as well. I love the opening sequence where Schaech/Houdini is escaping from the Jail Cell, great way to open a movie.

There are also a fair amount of flaws to the movie as well, but for me at least, I enjoyed the movie. The link to the site is http://www.wbshop.com/product/houdini+1000412546.do?sortby=ourPicks&from=Search It's selling for $18.95 and is available only in the U.S. at the moment.

The Great Lafayette Funeral Footage Found!

A couple years ago I wrote a blog about the Great Lafayette (Sigmund Neuberger).  I had discovered during the research that Houdini had made arrangements to have the funeral filmed because he could not be there in person. I also learned that there was funeral footage in the UK but I couldn't view it. I was unsure if this was the UK footage was what Houdini had commissioned or was someone else's footage and I still don't know.

Well, a reader of my blog posted an address where the footage of Lafayette's Funeral can be viewed. It's only 2 minutes long but it's so cool to see it. Here is the link http://ssa.nls.uk/film.cfm?fid=1620
and a special thank you to Fiona for the information!

The Great Henley Reeves!

It's not often that I brag about a fictional magician, but in this case I have to brag about the portrayal of Henley Reeves by Isla Fisher in the movie Now You See Me. I should begin by stating that I have some issues when it comes to female magicians. I also have issues with kid show magicians and illusionists and escape artists and comedy magicians. It's probably more a matter of taste for me, what I like and don't like.

Alana Moehlemann

My number one favorite female magician working today is Alana Moehlemann. Alana is a real artist who does a fantastic job with her magic. When she performs the magic looks 100% natural for her and totally believable not to mention incredibly original. That is not always the case with some magicians, both male and female.

Another female magician I like is Angela Funovits. She also looks 100% natural and believable and it's a joy to watch her perform. I'm pretty sure Angela is also a genius because she just became a Doctor, as well as a fashion model, photographer and who knows what else. Everything she does, she does exceptionally well.

But there are some female magicians who I just don't connect with. And please don't think it's because I dislike female magicians, that is not the case. I wish there were a whole lot more and I'm encouraged to see more and more women getting into magic and establishing themselves as true artists in the field. But to me some people 'get it' and some people 'don't get it' no matter how hard they try. One of the things that bothers me are the performers who 'overdo the sexy' aspect. This goes just as much for women who are assistants as those who are the magicians. Sexy is ok, dressing like a pornstar is not.  It's not just female magicians either. Comedy magicians drive me insane because many don't get it. Many of the comedy magicians I've seen ruin the magic by exposing it for a cheap laugh. But then you see a Michael Finney, John Archer, Nick Lewin, Mac King and/or Kyle Eschen and you say, WOW now THEY GET IT! They do strong magic, totally believable and are exceptionally entertaining.

When I saw the movie Now You See Me, I did not think for one second that Henley Reeves was a 'magician's assistant'. She struck me as the archetype for female magicians. Her character was confident, in control, engaging, smart and totally believable. Isla Fisher played her perfectly. And she apparently had a pretty good coach. She studied with a real professional female magician Dorothy Dietrich. I was not aware of this when I saw the movie. But I'm certain that studying with someone who has done magic and escapes for a living made all the difference in her portrayal, as frankly, the most magical of the four magicians in the movie. According to Isla, she also studied all the video footage available on Houdini.

I can't help but wonder if there might be a Now You See Me 2 down the road.  IF there is a NYSM2, I hope Henley gets a bigger part in the movie!!! She is awesome. I can tell you that the first time I saw the movie, I went with a buddy of mine and we thought we were in the wrong theatre because it was us and 90 females! And thankfully they stayed for the whole movie and really enjoyed it. Now they might have been there for the young male stars in the movie, but I can't help think they got a charge out of Isla Fisher's role as Henley. And perhaps, Henley will inspire a new generation of females to explore the world of magic in the same way that magic movies and TV specials inspired so many of us!

The Beginning & Maybe The End of Rabbits From Hats

Comte

The rabbit and hat trick. Old as recorded magic history some might think. But actually not quite so old. The first recorded event of rabbits magically appearing did not in fact come from a hat, but rather from a woman giving birth to them. The woman's name was Mary Toft and she was from Surrey England. She apparently gave birth to numerous rabbits over a short period of time. News of this event caused quite an uproar and soon an investigation took place. Eventually, Mary Toft would admit the entire thing was a hoax. Too bad. I do not see a real connection to conjuring however, even though Barry & Stuart used this incident as an idea for their 'rabbit from hat' routine. There is a video of B&S doing their rabbit routine but I'm not going to post a link because it's graphic (not meant for younger eyes).

The first magician to pull a rabbit from a top hat might have been Louis Apollinaire Christian Emmanuel Comte, known as 'The Kings Conjurer'. Born June 22, 1788 in Geneva Switzerland, Comte became a popular Parisian performer. One of his more famous effects was borrowing a hat and producing various objects from it.  I have found several places that list Comte as the first to present the rabbit from top hat effect, but I don't can't seem to find where the original source information came from.

John Henry Anderson

Milbourne Christopher in his book The Illustrated History of Magic says the rabbit from hat trick originated in the 1830s, but does not give the name of the first person to present the effect. 1830 was the height of Comte's career so perhaps he was the one.

But Christopher does give a great deal of credit to John Henry Anderson, the Great Wizard of the North, for popularizing the trick. John Henry Anderson was born in 1814 in  Scotland. I had always heard that Anderson was the first to do the rabbit from top hat, but if it began in 1830, it would have been before J.H. Anderson's career started. There are numerous posters and woodcut illustrations of Anderson not only pulling a single rabbit from a hat, but numerous rabbits from a top hat.

The top hat itself seems to have originated in Europe sometime in the late 1700s. Given the size and shape of the hat it was an ideal object for a magician to borrow and make things appear from. Even into the 20th Century magicians were still using a borrowed hat for productions and even for the Misers Dream effect.

Magicians today have shifted from the top hat to other ways of producing rabbits but unfortunately, those days may be coming to an end. The long arm of the US Federal Govt has decided that magicians and rabbits need governmental supervision. They now require magicians to have a liscense to use a rabbit in their show and apparently, magicians must also provide the USDA with a detailed disaster plan for protecting the rabbit in case of dangerous weather. This news came about from magician Marty Hahne of Missouri who has been all over the news of late with his story of the USDA Rabbit Police. No offense to rabbits, but I don't even have a written disaster plan for myself! I guess this means every undocumented rabbit puller is now an outlaw. Fantastic (not)! For the record, I've never pulled/removed/extracted/picked up or lifted a rabbit out of a hat. I don't own a rabbit, so nothing to see here, move along! I have recently purchased a top hat as strange as that is for me to admit, but upon last check, it was rabbit free!

The Grave of Compars Herrmann

photo courtesy Heinz König

I received the quite the surprise in my email today from Heinz König who found and photographed the grave of Compars Herrmann. I had a photo from the Sphinx magazine which showed the grave and location but now we have a full color image of what the grave site looks like today. Some of the decorative metal work is missing, and the names have been painted in with gold leaf recently. So I assume that there are repairs going on. Actually, if I'm not mistaken, Magic Christian was working to get the grave of Compars Herrmann repaired, so perhaps we are seeing the grave in transition. It does appear that the top of the structure is missing. There was a marble piece at the top in the shape of an urn or vase.

Also buried in this cemetery are fellow magicians Johann Hofzinser and Kratky Bashik.

Compars Herrmann -Born Jan 23, 1816 Died June 8, 1887

Wiener Zentralfriedhof (Vienna Central Cemetery)

: XI. Simmeringer Hauptstrasse 234, Vienna Austria

Section: T1 Group: 6 Row: 29 Grave: 38

 photo courtesy Heinz König

Deceptive Practice /Documentary - Review

I was very fortunate to see the new documentary about the life and mentors of Ricky Jay. I have a lot of admiration for Ricky Jay so I was looking forward to this documentary. The full title is Deceptive Practice The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay. The documentary is just as much about the history of magic as it is about Ricky. There is archival footage of Dai Vernon, Charlie Miller, Al Flosso, Tony Slydini, Cardini, Francis Carlyle and more. Portions are narrated by Dick Cavett, long time magic enthusiast and former talk show host. But mostly we hear Ricky telling his own story.

I thought it was very well done. It was interesting watching the movie as a magic insider and also enjoying the reactions of those in the viewing audience who were witnessing much of this magic for the first time. There were bouts of laughter as Slydini presented his Paper Balls O.T.H. routine (from the Dick Cavett Show). And gasps during some of Ricky Jays demonstrations that were caught on film from this stage show Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants. Oh, and Dai Vernon steals the show several times sharing stories which are quite hilarious and told as only Vernon could tell them.

You'll also get to see a very young Ricky doing magic as he apparently began performing at a very young age. He even took lessons from Slydini and wore one of those incredible costumes that were hand made my Tony. In fact, you see a pretty decent progression from young Ricky Potash to a young long haired Ricky Jay. He mentions his first TV appearance was on the Tonight Show but they did not show that footage. They do however show footage of Ricky from The Alan Thicke Show, DINAH, Mike Douglas, the HBO Special and numerous other TV spots.

You also gain some insight on Ricky through interviews with Michael Weber, who is a friend and business associate of Ricky's. And you get to hear from Ricky's Manager and also from his long time film and stage collaborator David Mamet. One of my favorite stories from the documentary comes from a reporter with the Guardian Newspaper who shared a story of going to lunch with Ricky and having such a profoundly magical experience that it caused her to cry. I don't want to tell you what she said, but for those of us who do magic, pay attention. She tries her best to explain why she was moved so much by the experience. It's worth taking the time to contemplate everything she says because she expresses well, something we often take for granted.

All in all, it was an enjoyable journey through magic history and the life of Ricky Jay. You can see how Ricky is a direct link to magic's past. He learned from Vernon, Charlie Miller and others and even saw Cardini live. Performers who are legends today were personal friends of Ricky Jay. The documentary treats magic respectfully and as a serious performing artform. Do yourself a favor and go see it if it's playing anywhere near you, you'll be glad you did.

It's playing in Washington D.C. at the E St Theatre from now until July 4th. The website lists other locations across the country where it is playing.
http://www.rickyjaymovie.com/
And be sure to go over and LIKE  https://www.facebook.com/RickyJayMovie

The Great Salon Magician Hofzinser

J.N. Hofzinser

I can't say I've been as nervous and unsure about a topic as I am with this one. I have been doing some research on Johann Hofzinser, the great Viennese Magician. However, during the course of my research, I've discovered that much of what I read was probably wrong. The early history of Hofzinser was recorded by Ottokar Fischer, but according to magic scholar Magic Christian, Fischer was wrong about a lot of his information. Because Fischer was wrong, many of the later biographies of Hofzinser are also incorrect. Houdini gets a lot wrong in his Conjurers Monthly Magazine about Hofzinser.

One fact that is clear, Johann Nepamuk Hofzinser was born June 19th, 1806 in Vienna Austria in the Landstraße district. He was a cousin to fellow Viennese Magician Ludwig Dobler. It's possible that Dobler is the one who first sparked Hofzinser's interest in magic. Johan held a job within the Viennese government in the financial ministry from which he would eventually retire from in 1865.

Several years earlier he opened his first Magic Salon in 1857. He moved to 5 different locations from 1857 to 1865. Then after his retirement from the financial ministry it appears that Hofzinser took his show on the road. But it's his Salon work that is what is most important. Hofzinser was basically the father of Parlor Magic or Salon Magic. In his parlor presentations he presented both card magic, manipulation and apparatus magic.

According the Dai Vernon, Johann Hofzinser was the Father of Card Magic. I'm intrigued with his card magic but sadly am not quite as familiar with it as I would like to be. I know a bit more about his none card magic mainly because of the book 'The Magic of J.N. Hofzinser' by Ottokar Fischer.

The Rose Mirror

There are many intriguing pieces in his repertiore, but I am personally drawn to the routine known as The Apotheosis of the Rose.  

The effect begins with a hand held mirror which is shown on both sides. Then it's covered for a moment with a scarf and when the scarf is removed the image of a red rose is seen on one side of the mirror. As the performer speaks the rose grows paler and paler until it has completely lost it's color. The scarf is held in front of the mirror again and the image vanishes. The scarf is held over a glass vase and the white rose appears inside it. When he removes the rose from the vase it again changes color leaving the red rose.

And to that I say, WOW! I can't go into the workings, because I do not divulge magic secrets on this blog. But look at the photo to the left and you'll see the actual Rose Mirror used by Hofzinser, now in the collection of Ken Klosterman.

Fountain of Love

The next routine that I find really interesting is called The Fountain of Love. It begins with a glass goblet containing some sort of murky dark water apparently from the 'Fountain of Love'. A borrowed ring is tossed into the water to test whether the volunteer who lent the ring has true love, for if he/she does, the water will turn crystal clear. The performer covers the glass goblet with a scarf for a moment and then when it is removed the water can be seen to be clear and there are a a couple goldfish swimming inside the goblet. But the even more amazing part, one of the fish apparently has the ring in it's mouth! A net is used to retrieve the fish and the ring.

That is a fantastic effect, but according to the book, Hofzinser was not happy with it and changed the props and even altered the method. The later routine became known as The Ink of the Enamoured and it was basically the same general idea but Hofzinser added some additional beats to the routine to prove there was really ink in the vessel. He put a white feather into the liquid which came out black and used a ladle to remove some of the ink and pour it into a glass.  In the collection of Ken Klosterman is the original Fountain of Love goblet along with the Ink Ladle which can be seen in the image to the right.

Another interesting effect in Hofzinser's show was called The Card Automaton. It was a small box in which a pack of cards was inserted. Any card could be called for and it would rise out of the box. According to the book 'The Magic of J.N. Hofzinser', the prop is actually in the possession of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. I do know that Ken Klosterman also has a Card Automaton in his collection but it looks a little different than the one pictured in the Ottokar Fischer book. Still, Klosterman might very well own the original, I don't know. I was not aware that the Library of Congress possessed any Hofzinser items, but apparently they do.

The list of Hofzinser's original sleights, card effects and apparatus tricks is staggering. He was an incredibly inventive artist who not only invented many methods still used today, but improved on countless props that existed in his time. On top of that he wrote poetry that was used in his presentations and also composed music for his act as well. In the video below, you can hear one of the pieces that Johann Hofzinser wrote for his show and see a number of wonderful images of the great Viennese Conjurer. Enjoy!

According to Magic Christian's wonderful website on Hofzinser (Hofzinser.net) the final performance that Johann Hofzinser gave was New Years Eve 1875. He would become ill shortly after this and was sick for six weeks until he finally passed away on March 14, 1875. He is buried in Vienna Central Cemetery in Vienna Austria.

By the way, there is a wonderful tribute to Hofzinser in the Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants Show. Ricky does a version of Everywhere and Nowhere with a nice twist at the end.  The routine is at about 36 minutes in....click the link to see the entire show on youtube.