Ivan Reitman Has Passed Away at 75

 

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 Evolution to 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.

365 Days of Magic Videos

 

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!

Unique Magic Poster Site

 

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.