Straight Jacket Revisited

In my very first blog (now defunct) I wrote quite a bit about the Straight Jacket Escape. Specifically, my hatred for it and yet love of it. I felt it had been overdone and often ruined by performers who didn't understand what they had. In addition, though I've laughed at many of the comedic routines presented with a straight jacket escape, I also dislike in the strongest terms the idea of using such a grand device in comedy.

And to add fuel to the fire, I dislike the hanging upside down straight jacket escapes also. In truth, I wouldn't mind them if the performer gave the audience a real show, a real struggle to escape. But when a performer gets out of a straight jacket in 10-30 seconds then why even bother. Honestly, why bother even putting it on if you are going to get out that fast. Where is the challenge? There is none.

I myself do not do a traditional straight jacket escape. I opted instead for the rather unusual Steel Straight Jacket Escape. But my current wide girth doesn't allow for that escape, at least at the moment. So that is not in my show either.

However, yesterday while thinking about how to turn the Straight Jacket Escape on it's head, basically do something with it that has never been done, I came up with an idea that frankly contains more drama than hanging upside down, and more danger than if the rope were on fire. And NO ONE has done it. There is only one problem.....it actually IS dangerous. And as Penn Jillette says "actually putting yourself in harms way in magic is morally wrong" (or something to that effect).

So while I'm figuring out how to at least lesson the danger factor, I'll hold onto.

GHOST in the Machine

This began last weekend on October 14th. I was visiting my ancestral home and staying at a very nice B&B. Turns out the building was once the local Mortuary. This didn't set well with me at first, but I soon forgot about it.

I habitually use my phone as an alarm clock and put it next to the bed, just as I always do. I set the phone next to the bed, with a full charge, 100% battery life. Off to sleep I went. In the morning I checked to see what time it was and my phone would not turn on. The phone was totally dead. This has never ever happened to me before. Very strange.

The next night I kept it plugged in and had no repeat of the problem. However, on the way home I noticed the 'Voice Control' on my phone kept coming on. And occasionally music would begin playing (the itunes feature). It was driving me nuts, as I had not dropped the phone or every had this problem. Even the first day back the problem continued.

Now, as if it had never happened, the phone is fine and the voice control does not come on by itself and the music won't play unless I go to itunes and turn it on. Very strange stuff!

New Updated Video

A few years ago I decided to take some of the footage from the numerous tapes of the Underground Magic Theatre shows and create a DVD. It would be called 'The Best of The Underground Magic Theatre' and it turned out quite well. I sold a lot of the videos and was getting ready to make a new batch when I discovered something shocking. The video files were gone.

Apparently, in my rush to save data from my old computer to an external drive, before the computer totally died on me, I must have not done something correctly. I had the footage, but it was not in the timeline, so basically all I had was the raw unedited footage but not the finished project.

At first I thought this was going to be a nightmare. But as it turns out it was a bit of a blessing. I chose to change some of the content from the original show and insert things I had not featured before. Many of the original content stayed the same, but somethings ended up on the cutting room floor this time around.

Something that I had wanted in the original DVD was a video I shot of me walking through the entire theatre, showing the Museum Walls and so forth. But I lost it and was not able to add it to the original DVD. Well, since that time I have located it and now it's part of the this DVD. I also chose to add a 'Teach-a-Trick' routine to the DVD and have included a trick inside the DVD package.

The stinker is, I've only got about 50 DVD covers available and once they are gone, I'm not sure I'm going to print them again, which means, these last 50 will be a special edition and there will be no more.

The Doug Henning Paintings

The following images are paintings I did of Doug Henning. They were all done back to back within a day or so of each other. You'll notice how I incorporated elements of the two smaller ones into the painting with the white background, which to me is the best of the bunch. That particular painting was one selected by Stan Allen to appear during the Cover Party during one of the MAGIC Live conventions.
I remember Bill Malone coming over and saying some very kind things in regards to my artwork, which was very nice of him.

Without Doug Henning, many of us wouldn't be in magic today. A biography about Doug called 'Spellbound' which was written by John Harrison, mentions that a very young David Copperfield was present on the opening night of Doug Henning's show on Broadway. I doubt he was known as Copperfield at the time but it sure was interesting to read that he was there as history was being made.

These three Henning paintings are all done in acrylic. I'm pretty positive they won't be the last time I paint Doug Henning.

Thurston The Magician-Art

It's hard for me to say who is my favorite magician. I go through phases where different ones are more appealing. Howard Thurston is certainly near the top. He was an amazing individual and frankly, even more amazing to me after having read the recent biography that Jim Steinmeyer wrote.

The picture above was done in 2000 and is actually taken from an earlier painting that I did of Thurston presenting the Sawing in Half. I liked the face so much I recreated it for this painting. Later, I decided to try it one more time, slightly differently and that third painting is in a private collection today. The photo above though has the unique distinction of being signed 'Dean Alan'. This was done before I started signing DAC to the artwork.

This next piece was done in 2009 I believe. It's painted with acrylics on canvas. The size is 16x20. The painting appeared in the August 2010 edition of the Kidabra Journal. It is currently in my collection, though it is available for sale.

This last piece is a drawing I did of Thurston. It goes back to my high school days, many moons ago. It ink on paper and approximately 10x12 I think. It's not available for sale.

Acrylic David Copperfield

David Copperfield, acrylic

David Copperfield has gone from being a magician & illusionist to a legendary performer. He has set so many records over the years, not just magic records but show business records it's not funny. Among them: He has won 21 Emmy Awards, most tickets sold by a solo performer, highest broadway gross in a week, and highest annual earnings for a magician. He has also been in the top 50 highest paid entertainers since the early 1990s, and several of those years in the top 10. So to say, 'he is the man' is sort of an understatement. His biggest record, is probably not one he likes and that is having the most number of magicians rip him off, many even stealing his performing style and presentations. I know some of them, sadly. But David, continues to evolve and grow and offer a show unlike anyone else.

The painting is of Copperfield in the 1990s. If you look closely you can make out a tad bit of a mullet. Perhaps one day I'll paint another Copperfield, probably in a different style though. If you look below however, you'll see a Copperfield that I drew back in the early days. I think he had only done one or two TV specials at this point. It's pen and ink and I had almost forgotten about it.

 

Well turns out this post was quite topical. The Society of American Magicians has awarded David Copperfield with the first time ever 'King of Magic' Award. Long Live the King.

ART - The Magic Profiles

These have been posted here before, but it was back in 2010. So I thought I'd share them all again, in one place. They are all acrylic and I think they are all the same size.

Houdini w Chain

Chung Ling Soo w Lantern

Blackstone and Dancing Hank

Back to ART Magic Hats

This was a series of paintings I did, with a specific theme (outside of magic that is). The idea was to paint magicians wearing different hats. Because it was fashionable for the late 19th century and early 20th century magicians to wear hats, I had an interesting mix to choose from.

I realized after I had done several of the paintings that all but one person that I had painted was named "HARRY". I will list them in the order they were painted.

Houdini

Kellar

Blackstone

Herrmann The Great

Dante

Harry Anderson

A Great Book- Poke The Box

I just finished reading a fantastic book by Seth Godin called Poke The Box. In a nutshell the book says, "get off your duff, stop waiting for people to tell you what to do, and be a leader instead of a follower, be a trail blazer instead of a, ummm, trail follower". Well you get the point.

It's all about taking initiative. It's also got a very good point which I've been guilty of in the past which is not following through with an idea till the end.

It's 84 pages of gold! It's great and I'm about to give the book away in the hopes that the person I give it to will read it, get inspired, and give it to someone else!

POKE The BOX, good stuff!

Saying Goodbye to the Magical Genie

In early June 2011, my friend Eugene Johnson and several members of his family were killed in Maryland by a drunk driver. Eugene was only 52 I believe. He was a super nice fellow, always a smile on his face and always the first to laugh at a joke. He went by the stage moniker of The Magical Genie. I met Eugene through the Society of American Magicians Assembly #252 back in the 90s. In fact, it was because of Eugene that I started going back to the meetings of the very group I started!

In keeping with the traditions of magic, Assembly #252 held a Broken Wand Ceremony for him during the July meeting. Present were the MidAtlantic Regional Vice President David Bowers who came down from Pennsylvania to conduct the ceremony. Because I probably knew Eugene better than the rest of the current membership, I made sure to say a few words about my friend. The Broken Wand Ceremony dates back to Houdini. Magicians traditionally break a wand to signify that this persons magic has passed on to the next world.

His obituary also appeared in the August issue of MAGIC Magazine and I expect it to appear in the next issue of M-U-M which is the official magazine of the Society of American Magicians.

Farewell Magical Genie!

My Past-A Real Job Adventure

I have not always been a full time performer. There was a time when I had what some might call 'a real job'. I'm not sure why it's called that. My job is just as real as the next persons. But perhaps because my job seems more glamorous or fun that is why people don't consider it a 'real job', or maybe because I LOVE my job, lol.

Anyway, I was thinking today of when, many years ago now, I was working as a supervisor and was having trouble with one particular employee. He was a bad seed,  I did everything  to treat him like everyone else. The only problem was he was always causing trouble and I had to call him on it, time and again. I did let him slide on more that one occasion, but even I have my breaking point.

So one day he gets out of line and I decide 'enoughs enough' let's take this to the managers office and have a little talk. The manager talked to him and I figured that this issue was over. As we walked from the office into another part of the building the troublemaker pulled a knife on me. In fact, he whipped it out so fast he dropped it. And he did this in front of about 8 other employees. I walked right up to him with the knife still in his hand and told him where he could 'put the knife' (you'll need to use your imagination on that part). As we stood there face to face, all the other employees were freaking out, the manager even came out. The trouble maker put the knife away and then proceeded to leave the building.

My eye witnesses were still freaked out over it. Being new to the supervisor position, I wasn't quite sure what to do. I wondered if I should file a complaint or something. Looking back it was clear that the police should have been called. However, do you know not ONE fellow employee would back me up and say that they saw him with a knife!!! They all stood there and watched it and not one would support me when I did file a complaint. Oh, for the record, I was very well liked, so it wasn't like they wouldn't support me because I was a jerk. They didn't support me because they feared the knife wielder!

I suppose he knew what his fate would be and he never returned and a couple days later he notified us that he quit.  I'm not sure why, it was clear the upper management wasn't going to do anything, cowards! But he left on his own. HOWEVER, that isn't the end of the story. Fast forward a couple years and I find out that this very same guy was now in jail. Why?
Well it turns out, he left our company to go to work for the Postal Service and while there he pulled a knife on one of his supervisors!!!! They didn't hesitate to fire him and have the police deliver him off to jail! He could still be there for all I know, lol!

So there is a story from my days of having a so called 'real job'. And for the record, NO I do not miss those days, lol!!!!!

Summer 2011/Week Two

Another week of Summer shows is finished. June is in the can, so to speak (meaning it's over). Yesterday was an interesting day. I had two shows in Fredericksburg, VA which went really well. Then I drove over to a car dealership and told the dealer I'd buy a car if they could get me OUT in an hour. Amazing how fast folks work with a little motivation, lol.

All jokes aside, the salesman and dealership were fantastic and my new car (see above) is fantastic. The $100 gas every time I filled up was killing me with my Van, so for the time being I'm going with a vehicle with better gas mileage. It's going to put a slight crimp into the size of the show I can travel with. Though very slight. I'll need to rent a vehicle for the big show, though in all honesty, that has pretty much been the case for a while anyone. Some of my illusions are too big even for my old Van.

In regards to Summer, a big change is about to take place next week. I'll either be doing Show A or Show B on the tour, no mixture of material any longer. It's too much to go into, but the material in Show A was designed for one show and one particular audience, as was Show B. They were not designed to be interchangeable, so there will no longer be a 'C' show that mixes material. In the long run it helps me keep track of things.

I expect the two shows to look drastically different in a few days, which will be good all the way around. Plus, more original creations going into show B!

Summer 2011/Week One

My first full week of Summer shows is officially over. It was an exhausting 15 show schedule which was also incredibly fun. I'll share a couple highlights and low lights.

On Monday, I debuted my new version of the Magic Tea Kettle, an effect  from the act of England's greatest magician, David Devant. My version actually was a far simplified version with a surprise ending. The concept is that any drink the magician wants can be poured from the tea kettle. In my version basically, several drinks are poured from the pitcher and tested out by audience members to prove they are the authentic drinks. In my case, these include iced tea, kool-aid, milk and other non alcoholic drinks. For the finale, I had planned to say something about the one drink that had me stumped, ORANGE JUICE. I explained how for some reason the orange would separate from the liquid in a most unusual manner. Then I would pour water from the tea kettle with orange slices, however, after a moment, the audience realized those orange slices were actually Goldfish! Pretty cool ending I thought. Most of the audience LOVED IT! But to my sudden surprise, two people who tested the drinks got a look on their face like they were about to throw up! I had to quickly let them know they did NOT DRINK Fish Water, lol! It was funny, and not funny, and then later still funny to me.

The Tea Kettle was pulled from the show after that until I could rescript the ending. By Thursday, it was back in the show temporarily, and this time out it delivered the punch I was looking for, without any fear of people wanting to vomit, lol. However, the Magic Tea Kettle is probably going to be pulled from the Summer show for another reason. It is too messy and difficult to set up and take down quickly. The Magic Tea Kettle will make a couple additional appearances this summer, but just not in every show.

Oh, also on Monday I got the 'summer welcome' by performing in a building which had ZERO air conditioning. It was actually cooler outside and it was 90 outside! Thankfully, that was the ONLY location like that this week.

This week was very successful, but I have to say I had an idea about twenty minutes ago about totally scrapping the current version of the summer show and starting all over. Not because there was anything bad about it, but I've got some other ideas and areas I'd like to explore. I don't think I'll actually scrap the show, but there are routines that are going to get replaced by some newer things. One in particular is a 'Magic JigSaw Puzzle. This is another one of my crazy ideas that has gone through numerous versions in my head, but I've not yet begun to build the props needed. I do have the puzzle, but I might even replace that one for something a little better.

This week was fun. I'll have more surprises for week 2!

My HOUDINI Artwork

Below are several paintings I did of Houdini. There are numerous styles here, all but one was painted with acrylic paint. The oddball is the black and white image which is water colors. This is not the complete group of Houdini art, but it's all I can find photos of.

 This is a water color painting. I believe I painted this in the late 80s or very early 90s.

This upside down straight jacket escape caricature was done around 1999 or 2000. At least I think it was. It's certainly an older painting though not as old as the water color.

The above caricature of Houdini is actually the second of this type. The first had different colors and I was never quite happy with it so I duplicated the drawing and painted it again with a different color scheme.

This was supposed to be just an experiment in painting eyeballs and I liked it so much I kept it. Because of the green tint, some people think it's the HULK but it's actually the eyes of Houdini.

Speaking of experiments, the above painting was not supposed to turn out. It was another experiment or exercise if you will. I just threw down a quick sketch and then wanted to see how fast I could paint the face. When I finished the face I liked it so much I decided to keep it. In fact, it was the first in a series of paintings that I call "The Magic Hats". This was a group of paintings of magicians all wearing different hats.

A totally different style of caricature and one that I thought turned out really well. It's one of my favorite paintings.

This was taken from an early photo of Houdini. I wanted to see how the whole thing would look in color rather than black and white. The sketch and thus the painting is slightly different from the original photo, but essentially it's the same layout.

The latest of the Houdini's. This was was actually changed slightly, but I don't have a photo of the updated image. It's still basically the same I just made one minor change. I personally was quite happy with "Stained Glass Houdini", though it's actually on canvas!

There are others but as I said, I had photos of these and I don't have photos of the others.

My Le Grand David Artwork

The original painting I did for Cesareo & Company

Cesareo Pelaez was very encouraging in many parts of my life, writing and painting were two big ones. These blogs are a continued reminder of his words to 'keep writing'. And with over 100 paintings devoted to magic, I think that speaks for itself. Among the 100 paintings though are several I did of Cesareo and David Bull. Three of my paintings hang in the Gallery at the Larcom Theatre in Beverly. Below are a few of the ones I painted and there will be more to come.

LeGrand David & My Folks

Mom, Cesareo, Dad

I just finished writing a little about my visits to see Cesareo and the cast of the LeGrand David Show in Beverly Mass, over at my other blog. Well, I thought I'd share with you some photos of a trip that I didn't take but was taken on my behalf. My folks went up to see Cesareo and LGD family. I'm sure part of the reason was to say thank you to Cesareo for the positive affect he had on my life.

Always Evolving

That title refers to my show, or shows. They are always getting tweaked, altered, changed and improved. It seems that the driving force for change is when a performance is good, above average, almost great, or the reverse, when you've had a bad show. I don't ever seem to learn much when a show goes GREAT! But when it's good, or above average or God forbid, bad, then I learn a lot.

I was driving home last night from a series of performances all of which went well. I received some incredible feedback from the shows. One gentleman came up to me at the end of the last show to shake my hand. His grip was firm, and his words were very heartfelt. I chose his grand daughter to help out in the show and it brought so much joy to him and his family that he went out of his way to let me know. It was beyond the regular thank you, but instead he wanted me to know for sure  how important it was to his family.

So while I was driving home, I was reflecting on this and a number of other things that happened. The choice of one volunteer in the show was wrong. It didn't seem to be at the time, but looking back, I made an error. No one would have guessed that. But I realized later if I had picked a certain person, or certain segment of the audience it would have been even stronger.

Also, there was a routine in my show that I've been toying with the script trying to get it worked out right. I feel as if it's close, but not quite there. Imagine my surprise as I'm driving home and I stumble upon the perfect delivery of the material. I had just done 5 performances and suddenly NOW I've got the perfect patter. Better late than never. The good thing is I have two shows tomorrow and I'll be able to use the newer version.

This is the way it goes. Very rarely is a routine a hit right out of the gate. There are so many elements that go into making a strong magic routine. This is why magicians get so angry when 'secrets' are revealed. The secret is only one element of a magic routine. There is the script, the blocking and movement, the audience interaction, the comedy if it calls for that, and many other things that go into the routine but when some idiot reveals a secret it often kills all the work that went into creating an entertaining routine.

For entertainers, what we do can always be improved, it can always be made better. The smart performer is always evolving.

UPDATE: The revised patter that I mentioned above was fantastic. I used it twice today and it played incredibly well!

Relearning a Show

I can't begin to tell you how many different shows I've developed over the years. I'm always amazed at how I remember every detail of the show even if I haven't done it for a while. That is, unless it's a new show that I've only done a few times. Such is the case this week. A new show I developed in the fall that I've presented a dozen times or so but not since December. So now I have to relearn everything. It's not the effects as much as the script. It's a very specific kind of show where the script is VERY important to the overall program.

As I looked over the notes I easily remembered about 80% of it but that 20% can make or break me so I need to work really hard to make sure it's all ready to go for seven performances this week. These seven shows may very well be what I need to lock it into my subconscious for good!!!

My Interesting Ancestors

This past week has been crazy. I've had several shows, booked a bunch of shows, watched as my Carnegie: Magic Detective Blog hit it's highest one day number ever thanks to Harry Houdini's birthday, and I've been working on my family tree.

I've mentioned the Ancestry thing before but it's really taking off. I found the mysterious missing relatives that were part of my Mom's side of the family, though to them, WE were the missing relatives. A cousin from my Dad's tree got in touch with me and we've been writing daily. Actually, several members of my Dad's side of the family are now in touch with me. The interesting thing is, he had no idea that some of them existed, and others he hadn't heard from in 50 years. But again, to some of them, WE were the mysterious missing relatives.

Here is a happy couple, my Great Great Grandparents. Never expected to ever see a photo of them and now I have seen five different pictures of them in a week! I also found a church cemetery in South Dakota where probably half the people buried there are related to me in some fashion.

As of now there are several people along with me working on various parts of the tree. It's rather exciting when you find a new gem of information. The crazy thing is how many people have little parts that when you put them together make up the entire story. It's wild and I've got no idea where it will end up.

Just so you know, there are almost 250 in my family tree at the moment. Some branches go back to the 1600 and 1700s.

The toughest story of the week was finding out the tragic fate of my Great Great Grandfather on my Mom's side who was killed by a train. Though I must admit the ongoing saga to find out the story of my Uncle Charley has been filled with ups and downs. But I think we've got it mapped out pretty well, thanks to my two new cousins.

The Cure for Movie Theatres

I just read an interesting piece in Entertainment Weekly about a Fix for the Movie Biz. (March 18th, 2011, RX For the Movie Biz in the Feedback Section)

They propose: 1. making the seats wider. 2. Stop giving away all of the movie in the Trailers (duh) 3. Start showing Classic Movies in digital 4. And from a Movie Theatre Employee- Don't blame the concession stand. Skip the butter and have some self control and don't get the large popcorn.

UMT Still Gets Requests

In 2005, at the end of the Summer run we closed down The Underground Magic Theatre. My two partners were leaving the area and it was a bit much for me to handle all alone. The UMT as I called it, was a 50 seat theatre/museum/warehouse/office/storage space. When you walked through the doors you first saw the museum and as you walked through you'd get to the actual theatre.

Every year since it's been closed I get calls from people and groups wanting to schedule visits to the see the show. I just got off the phone with someone who was raving over the fantastic performances that she recalled at the theatre and she was sad to hear that it was no longer open.

The funny thing is, since we closed, several other performers in the area have taken the small theatre idea and gone in slightly different directions with it and made something of it. Ours was patterned on the old Robert-Houdin idea of a small intimate theatre with a touch of LeGrand David's Cabot St. Cinema Theatre thrown in for inspiration. Steve Cohen patterned his after Max Malini's hotel shows. I can't say what everyone's inspiration is, as I don't know, but sometimes it's nothing more than the desire to present a unique show in an intimate setting. In my area, Rich Bloch, Glenn Gary, David London, Josh Norris and the members of the Comedy Magic Society; Bob Sheets, Mark Phillips, Brian Curry and Barry Wood are all busy with small theatre shows.

I keep threatening to return to this type of venue, and I have made a few steps forward but my existing performance schedule always gets in the way. I guess it's time to really put the effort forth to get this going.

Releasing The Brakes

Releasing the brakes was a term I first read in The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. The idea was that to get moving, you've got to let go of the brakes and GO! Sometimes we hold ourselves back and just releasing the brakes is all we need to do to see a change.

Well today must have been some kind of 'Releasing the Brakes' day. Though not for me, lol. For my clients. I could not keep up with the phone calls and emails for shows today. I DID get back to everyone eventually but I spent the entire work day on the phone scheduling shows. It got to the point it was kind of funny because I'd think to myself, "wow this day was great but there is no way the phone is going to keep going like that" and then it would ring again! I wrapped things up at 6pm, but just found four more emails for gigs.

It's no secret that my show is popular. It's also not because I have a big head. It's due to constant marketing, promotion, handing out business cards and materials, meeting new prospects, in other words, besides having a very good and entertaining show, it's a lot of hard work that goes into it. Plus it's having fantastic repeat customers that make performing for a living an absolute joy.

I'm very grateful for every client that books and for all the new clients I pick up. Thank you all for days like today and I look forward to bringing my show to your events soon!

First M.C. Gig

Well tonight was a first for me. I actually acted as the M.C./Host for a show other than my own. It was actually quite fun to be honest. Occasionally I did a magic bit here and there but for the most part I just introduced people and kept the flow moving and even had a nice ad-lib joke in there too. Come to think of it, I've done this before on smaller scales, but this was the first time from a stage.

Now that I'm home I've decided to spend some time in the 19th Century again. Actually, it seems that I spend my days in the 21st Century, and my nights and my sleep in the 19th Century. The reason being that I spend so much time devouring magic history books from that time period that it's almost as if I live there. I know I've gone to sleep at night and had dreams of these times and places. Even right now, I can barely keep my eyes open but I know the moment I'm asleep, I'll be awaking in a long gone time. Maybe, I'll bump into Robert Heller and I can talk to him about his type of magic. Who knows. For now, good night all...

First Week of March

Well this has been a busy busy week. The funny thing is, half the week was booked LAST WEEK! And as the week progressed more and more people were calling and had to be pushed to next week. I certainly had a blast, but there is no time to rest. I have to get ready for a performance tomorrow evening where I will be the M.C. of a show. Then things kick in again on Monday with another busy week.

I hope you've been checking out my magic history blog, as I try to make it as interesting as possible. There are lots of articles on Houdini, but also a lot of other performers as well. I love the history of magic and I am constantly inspired by what magicians of yesteryear have done and what they went through.

Recently, I was astonished to find that in the 1800s it was common practice for the magician to actually rent a hall or theatre and take 100% of the risk involved to sell tickets and pack the house. It wasn't until Vaudeville came along that all that changed. Now, in some areas that concept has actually returned.

I'm researching a lot of the old spirit medium acts and discovering tons of incredible material that would still play incredibly well today. The Davenport Brothers, Anna Eva Fay, and even Harry Kellar were all involved in this type of performance. The Davenports and Anna Eva Fay later in life admitted they were fake. Kellar never claimed to be real and even exposed the fakers in his show. But from the spirit medium acts came the Escape Act that Houdini would later make popular. Honestly, the spirit medium acts also gave birth to another style of magic known as Bizzare Magic. And even Mentalism has some of it's roots in the spirit medium days. It's a rich playground to find new performance pieces.

Another person I did a lot of research on recently was Servais LeRoy. WOW was this guy ever brilliant. You have no idea how much stuff I purposely left out of my blogs when I wrote about him. He has a catalog of unbelievable ideas that would play so well for modern audiences.

I've got two big projects in the works and I hope to be able to reveal one of them right here, very soon!

Combined Blogs

I think 4 blogs is too much for anyone, lol. So I took two of my blogs and combined them into one. It's actually a lot more like the old artistofmystery.com blog without the historical stuff. The magic history will remain over at deancarnegie.blogspot.com. The graves will remain in a blog all their own as well, which is deadconjurers.blogspot.com.

I've been so INTO the magic history and the graves of late I wasn't doing anything with my art blog or the daily blog so I just combined them.

The cool thing is, I turned carnegiemagic.blogspot.com into a super EXCLUSIVE blog, which means invitations only. There isn't anything there right now, it's all been removed. I've got some really cool ideas for this but that is for later in the year.

A Little Burned UP

Read this article from Forbes.com. Wow did that article ever make me think.  The author says that 'stage performers' are on the decline and then lists; magicians, jugglers, clowns and dancers. That tells me the author has no idea what he or she is talking about because for one, I don't know any clowns that do stage acts.

The market for full time dancers is pretty small also though on the rise due to shows like So You Think You Can Dance and Americas Got Talent. Jugglers on the other hand are very adaptable to stage and non-stage events. You can find jugglers on cruise ships. comedy clubs, Las Vegas Revues and more. Then you have magicians. The majority of magicians who do stage acts is probably not all that big. Granted the illusionists do stage acts. But magicians are found doing trade shows, hospitality suites, corporate banquets, restaurants, festivals, cruises, schools, and on and on.

The number of full time performers in any of those fields is small. The number of jobs in those fields is also fairly small compared to those of retails, or restaurant or other kinds of regular 9-5 jobs. There are also far more part time performers doing the magic, juggling and clowning sides of things. Did the author factor in full time vs. part time? Did the author know there was a difference?

Is the author aware that traditionally in a down economy the one area that sees the least amount of loss is entertainment? I have a friend who is a balloon twister. He works 7 days a week and usually has several gigs per day and turns down work. On the other hand I have a friend who is a hypnotist who moved to Las Vegas and has trouble getting work. But that is largely due to their being a HUGE amount of performers in one place. I have another hypnotist friend who travels the country and he's as busy as he has ever been.

In the end, for the writer of the article to say that 'technology and movies' are the culprit for killing the jobs of stage performers is just not accurate.  Movies and television did seriously damage the live performing arts venues back in the 1920s and 30s. The live performing venues like Vaudeville theaters and Nightclubs almost completely vanished. THAT was the time you could use the excuse of technology and movies. However, smart performers adapted and changed with the times as they continue to do today. Performing arts is a highly specialized field, its never going to be something that the masses go into for an occupation. But at the same time, live entertainment always survives. People still go to concerts, the theatre, performing art centers, fairs and festivals and the like. They also see performance art in many other non traditional places like shopping malls, outdoor events and so on.

Live performance art is not the same as a typewriter or video rental stores. Watching a performer on an ipad or on the internet, is no different than watching them on TV because its a recorded viewing. But people will still go see live performances whether they be theatre, concerts or whatever.  It will always be here.

One other point to be made. Entertainment is not just a product of the US. Good entertainers can and do travel all over the globe presenting their shows.  By the way, I read this article this morning, in between doing two stage shows. Oh the irony.

More on Houdini & Kellar

I just posted a blog about Harry Kellar and Harry Houdini over at Carnegie: Magic Detective. But I wanted to write a bit more about these two performers. For whatever reason I can't get enough of Kellar and Houdini. The more I find out about each of them, the more interesting they become.

Kellar of course was the first big named magician in America. Robert Heller and Herrmann the Great preceded him, but Heller was English and Herrmann was from France. Kellar was born in Erie PA so he was a native born son. It's said that Harry Kellar was the inspiration for the character of the Wizard in the Wizard of OZ. His posters SOLD his show. He was around before radio/TV/internet/movies, all of it. He had newspapers and outdoor signage and that was it.

There are a number of effects in Kellar's show that have always intrigued me, probably because I saw posters for them when I was starting out in magic and the images stuck with me. Two in particular were Flyto and OH!. Flyto was an illusion invented by Charles Morritt and it consisted of two upright rectangular cabinets on the stage set several feet apart. A woman would go into one and a man into the other and instantly they would change places.

OH! was kind of a challenge vanish, I think that's the best way to describe it. Both of these effects, with their original methods would probably not work well today but they deserve looking into and I'm doing just that! I can tell you there is something I'm borrowing from Kellar that will be part of my show later in the year. I can't wait!

HOUDINI amazes me about once a day. I would never have imagined that after all these years, new things about Houdini would continually show up. But new photos, new posters, new information on Houdini comes up all the time! Just tonight my friend John Cox over at WildaboutHoudini sent me a link to a Houdini photo I'd never seen. I'm hoping that eventually some of the lost Houdini posters and even props show up again.

In regards to his performing material I've always been intrigued with the escapes but lately it's his magic that is pulling me in. I never in a million years considered doing the East Indian Needle Trick, but I'm giving it some serious consideration now. It's an effect that has danger (real danger) and suspense and it appears totally impossible. It's frankly brilliant and Houdini recognized the trick for how powerful it was. He would do it in newspaper offices, he even did it on the stage at the Hippodrome Theatre, one of the largest stages in the world! Watch for it in my act, because it's coming.

Houdini's Walking Through a Brick wall is another piece that is simply genius. Though I don't expect to Walk Through a Brick Wall anytime soon (it won't fit in my Van). And frankly, I have a new found respect for the Milk Can after having done a ton of research on it. The Milk Can restarted a stalled career for Houdini and then when he was ready to replace it with the Water Torture Cell, he found continual uses for the Milk Can.

It's funny that Houdini and Kellar didn't really become friends until after Kellar retired. Houdini always looked up to Kellar which is amazing in itself because Houdini didn't really look up to anyone, at least not in the magic world.

But their relationship is a valuable lesson. No matter how big you get, there is always someone out there you can look up to. No matter how famous you are, there are people out there that you can admire.

There is one more lesson. Examining their lives is a great help to modern performers. Studying their contrasting styles and approaches to magic reveals so much incredible and useful information for the modern performer. As a working magician, or even as a hobbyist, you just can't go wrong studying those that came before us. I do, and I'm constantly inspired by these unbelievable showman of yesterday.

If you are interested in learning more about Houdini or Kellar here is a list of books that will help you.  I used all these books and a few others in my research for blog at Carnegie:Magic Detective on Harry Kellar and Houdini

Books on Kellar
Kellars Wonders by Mike Caveney and Bill Miesel, MAGIC Words Publishing
A Magician's Tour-Revisited by Harry Kellar and Phil Temple
Illustrated Magic by Ottokar Fischer
The Illustrated History of Magic by Milbourne Christopher
MAGIC A Pictorial History by David Price

Books on Houdini
The Secret Life of HOUDINI by Bill Kalush and Larry Sloman
HOUDINI: The Career of Erich Weiss by Kenneth Silverman
HOUDINI The Untold Story by Milbourne Christopher
HOUDINI Art and Magic by Brooke Kamin Rapaport
HOUDINI The Key by Houdini's Ghost/Patrick Culliton

RIP Tim Conover

I have to admit, I did not know Tim Conover. He lived in my area, in Northern VA when I was younger. I saw him on a local TV station once and was stunned by the magic he did. It wasn't long after this that I got to see Tim perform his coin magic live at a magic gathering in D.C.. He could do things I never knew were possible at the time. I was unfamiliar with the Ramsey material back then and was told it was extremely difficult, so this gave me an even higher appreciation of his skill.

I had heard that Tim became a full time performer and the next time I saw him was at The World Magic Summit in Washington. This time he was not doing any close-up magic but instead he was doing his mentalism act. I was blown away. It was unusual and different and quite astonishing.

I'd hear Tim's name come up from time to time as I knew many of the same people he did. But the only time I would cross paths with Tim would be conventions and I never saw him by himself so that I could say hello and introduce myself. Why I never tried to reach him via email is beyond me, I guess you just take for granted that people will be around forever.

A few days ago the news came out that Tim had passed away. It hit me rather hard. I guess I always expected to meet him and get to know him eventually. I never even knew he was ill.  I've read all the comments that people have made about Tim on Facebook and a recent piece on The Magic Newswire. It's clear that he was a very special person and it's my loss for not having met him and it's the magic world's loss for loosing such a great artist. It's also clear, that his passing has left a hole in the hearts of those that knew him, and frankly even for me. It's funny that we as magicians focus on the magic part of things but a person's life is always so much more. Reading the comments by his friends show that Tim was a caring, thoughtful, and passionate human being.

My prayers go out to his family and friends who are grieving. I hope that as a community we can do something to honor his memory, whether it be an annual award in his name or something.

Rest in Peace Timothy Conover

David Devant Painting

Another favorite of mine. Not the most popular of my paintings but I really like it. Devant was an English Magician who worked with John Nevil Maskelyne for a time and is considered Britian's greatest conjurer. He had some marvelous creations and maybe his most ambitious was something he called "The Mascot Moth". He said the idea came to him in a dream when he saw a moth hover of the flame of a candle and vanish into the smoke.

In Devant's illusion, a woman dressed in a moth-like outfit would disappear from the stage in full view of the audience with no coverings at all. This effect was recreated for the Doug Henning MERLIN Musical on Broadway in the 1980s. A few years ago it was a featured effect at the LA Conference on Magic History.

In my painting, you'll see a figure of a moth on Devant's lapel. It's probably the one big tip off as to who it is. His mustache is not unlike that of Dr. Wilford Brodie, so some might mistake the painting for Brodie, but in fact it is David Devant.

This piece is in acrylics and is 16x20.

Rope Escape Wednesday Night

I had the honor of doing a show for a great family audience of about 100 people on Wednesday. One of the things I decided to do in my show was a Rope Escape that I sort of learned from Steve Baker.  He gave me permission to use his routine and I apply it to my routine.

So I get two people up to tie my hands on Wednesday night. It's been almost a year since I last did this and frankly these two people tied me like they were out to win a prize. My hands have never discolored so quickly. I usually give myself a minute to get out, given that only my hands are tied. But for whatever reason this night I said 30 seconds.

Did I mention they tied me super tight? As I began the escape in front of everyone the first thing I noticed was I couldn't even twist my hands around. The bonds were so tight that it prevented any movement of my wrists. I could hear the time keeping calling out 15 seconds 20 seconds...in the back of my head I'm trying to figure out what to do because 30 seconds is almost here and I don't think I'm going to pull this one off (a minute is what I need)

27 seconds, 28, seconds, 29 seconds, THIRTY! And I'm OUT!!!! Not exactly 100% sure how either, but I was out. This is not a fake piece of rope or a special tricky tie. It's all legit and they tied my hands in a manner that I'd never encountered before. My wrists hurt like crazy and the rope marks were clearly embedded in my skin. But I got out!

Note to self, next time tell them 1 minute

19th Century Four Walling

I'm having a blast working on my Magic Detective Blog. I can't get enough of the history of magic. But I have to say that the 'Go To HELLer' Blogs wore me out. I still have another Heller blog yet to do and I've decided to put it off for a while because I'm tired, lol. Give me something easy like painting, lol!

Actually, I'm working on a piece on Raymond right now that has to be done pretty soon (personal deadlines). But I wanted to mention something about Heller that I found interesting. Back in Heller's day you rarely got hired to do a show. Instead, you had to rent the hall and do all the promotion. Basically, Heller invented what we call today 4 Walling! If you aren't familiar with that, it's the technique used by the Casinos in Las Vegas. The shows lease the theatre and have to pretty much pay for everything. The hotel casino has very little risk in those cases. If a show makes no money they get kicked out and a new one comes in....but you still owe the money.

Though in Heller's case he knew what he was doing. He died with an estate worth over $350,000.00. That is 19th Century money, it would be in the millions today.

Heller, died in 1878 and was WAY ahead of his time.

My Life In Steampunk

I just learned about Steampunk over the weekend. Well, actually, it's something that has interested me for years but I didn't know there was a name for it. The design concepts in Steampunk were things that I always have gravitated towards. Plus, I've been spending so much time researching turn of the century magic history that I feel like I'm in the Victorian age!

If you don't know what it is, I'll try and give you a definition but it's best to do a google search. Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s.^[1] Specifically, steampunk involves an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century and often Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology or futuristic innovations as Victorians may have envisioned them; in other words, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. This technology may include such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne or real technologies like the computer but developed earlier in an alternate history. (that very long description is from Wikipedia)

 It's so ironic that I found there is a whole sub-culture devoted to Steampunk because my style of magic has been going in that direction for a while. Like I said I just had no idea there was a name for it. I've already adapted a few routines to this style. I don't think my whole act will go this way but it's fun to explore.

The Underground Magic Theatre/Upstairs

Back in 2002 two friends and I built a magic theatre. It was a small thing, 50 theater style seats, with a make-shift museum that you had to walk through to get to the theatre area. It was very cool and very popular. We called it the Underground Magic Theatre and it was the first, before all the other magic undergrounds and the like. The reason we called it that was simple, we were actually underneath a shopping center so the title fit really well.

One of the last things I did before we closed it down was video tape one of the evening shows. I turned this tape into a DVD called 'The Best of The Underground Magic Theatre' and I typically offer it for sale after my theatre shows. It's a little dated now, the DVD menus have improved since I did that DVD, the music in the show is also a bit dated at this time. But it's a fine record of what went on in that little theatre.

Now I have to share with you the 'Above Ground' part of the story. My niece who is 5 has a copy of the DVD.  To my surprise this is one of the DVDs she watches over and over and over again. She can recite all the patter from the show and the jokes, lol. Well last week my parents were out visiting my brother and his wife and their daughter. My niece decides she is going to put on a 'little show' for them and proceeds to get out her Hannah Montana microphone, and she gets the special showbiz theatre lights set up that my Dad built for her, and she puts on a show. Apparently during the introduction for her show she said that it was going to be 'In the Underground Magic Theatre Above Ground!' LOL!!!! That is hysterical to me. Too too funny. I only wish I had seen the show she did because apparently she sang some songs, did some skits and made a bunch of jokes that were rather humorous from what I hear.

I guess the UMT (as I call it) is living on afterall.

*Just found out she actually said "Underground Theatre-Upstairs" but it has the same meaning.

2011 New Year

I don't usually make resolutions for the new year. What I do instead is set goals. But I think this year will be a little different in that I'm setting goals AND making a new years resolutions. My resolution is to stick to my goals better, lol. I know that sounds like a joke but it isn't. Because I write everything down, it's easy to track when I did well and when I got off course.

For those of you who need some motivation or help getting your goals in order, I'd like to suggest a book for you. The book is called "The Success Principles" by Jack Canfield. This book covers more than just goals, it also covers methods of motivation, reasons why we don't do things, suggestions on improvement and many other things. I love the way it discusses the various topics because it gives examples of other people who have done the same things we do and how they overcame them. Or often it tells how others used the principles and succeeded.

Jack Canfield is one of the authors of the highly popular Chicken Soup for the Soul books. It's not one of those books that you read once and then put it on your shelf. My suggestion is reading it and then going back and actively doing the things it suggests. Don't be afraid to mark it up, write in the blank spaces, use a highlighter on it. My copy is all marked up, it has book marks everywhere in a dozen or so different chapters. I find when I am continuously reading the book it really helps me stay on track.

The Success Principles is available through Amazon.com