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A mention on the Internet of Massachusetts magician Ed Popielarczyk’s flea circus performing at a local library got us thinking about how that kind of old school entertainment is just cool. It also made us think about that old Tex Avery cartoon about Pepe the clown in the flea circus, but that is beside the point. We dug up this old British Pathé footage of a 1949 Parisian flea circus. It is not quite magic, but is pretty sweet. If you are itching for more flea circus stuff, check out this cool site.
DISCLAIMER: iTricks.com does not endorse or guarantee the following item nor have we been compensated to feature said item.
Do not attempt to adjust your monitor (to paraphrase The Outer Limits). The video running above is the trailer for the 1954 Vincent Price film The Mad Magician, one of two times Price portrayed a stage illusionist on the big screen. Since we have most probably posted the trailer already (because at least one guy at iTricks is obsessed with old horror movies [hint: it's Michael]) this time we are bringing you the 3D version so grab your glasses and enjoy.
The reasons why we are posting the trailer for The Mad Magician is that three old promo stills from the film are up for auction on ebay. The auction only runs until Thursday the 13th and bidding starts at just $9.95 (plus $5.95 shipping). If you want to add these cool pieces of magic/movie crossover ephemera to your collection, you can check out the listing here.
Above, we finally found video (well, at least video in English) about PC Sorcar Jr’s run for political office in India from NDTV. iTricks will continue to follow Sorcar’s campaign as it unfolds.
The Lancashire Telegraph told readers about 14 year old magician James Hutchison’s visit to the Blackpool Convention where he got to meet his hero, Dynamo. It is a great illustration of the importance of gatherings such as Blackpool to the magic community… not to mention great press for Mr. Hutchison. The article also spoke with James’ father who thinks his son will stick with magic for the rest of his life, saying “He will always do it, whether or not he makes a career out of it we’ll have to wait and see.”
Strangely enough, iTricks ran across the story of John Milner on a stock trading site 4-traders.com. He is waging a battle against a plan to create a £95 yearly parking permit in his neighborhood, even though he has a driveway and will not be required to purchase the permit.
It turns out that there are not any magic clubs in Tasmania. It was not a problem that iTricks was aware of until Your Afternoon with Penny Terry (ABC Hobart radio) spoke with Bodane Hatton. He talked about his struggle to become a self taught magician and make a career of it… We can’t embed the show but you can download it from the radio station by visiting their blog.
Michael Lauck is a columnist for iTricks. His work appears on Mondays.
In honor of National Reading Month, I am going to tell you the story of The Great Book Of Magic.
It is the story of the most important book ever written on magic. Well, at least to me.
I am not sure exactly when I caught the magic bug, but I was very young. It was undoubtedly from television, though, because I wanted to be a magician well before I was able to read. The fire sparked by seeing Copperfield, Henning, Wilson and Harry Blackstone Jr. on television was fed by the discovery of my uncle’s old Adam’s Hocus Pocus magic set at my grandmother’s house. It was the one from the early 1960s, with a pink box top that had a photo of a rabbit on it. The set, mostly complete, had all of the standards, such as the ball and vase, cups and balls and even a sweet hank pull. It was a start, but it was not enough to make me a real magician and I knew it. I hadn’t seen any of this on TV!
Once I learned to read I discovered that the library actually had a few magic books, all in the children’s section. It did not take long to work through them and realize that I needed something more. There had to be better magic books out there somewhere. It was a trip to the book section of the Famous-Barr Department Store in downtown St. Louis where I saw exactly what my 7 year old mind had pictured: The Great Book Of Magic.
It is hard to describe the utter awesomeness of this book, at least through the eyes of a child. It was a huge paperback, big like a catalog. The cover was a weird metallic, reflective silver with swirling, paisley-like patterns that caught the light with artwork of an old time magician (I was sure it was Houdini) levitating a girl. It just oozed mystery and power. Most impressive of all, magic was in large, red letters. The cover also promised that this tome contained 150 mystifying tricks I could perform. I obviously wanted this book; I obviously needed this book. The only problem: it was $9.95. I am sure my mother reminded me it was actually $9.95 plus tax even though I do not specifically remember it. I was reminded of the “plus tax” by her often enough throughout my childhood to be pretty damn sure it was mentioned on this instance, too.
Magic-Con is not a traditional magic convention. It is an is an interactive conference for those serious about the art of magic, where those in attendance can share ideas, insight, and a common experience while working together towards the advancement of an art form.
Speakers include:
Woody Aragon, Jon Armstrong, Babel, Arthur Benjamin, John Bodine, BJ Bueno, David & Leeman, Mike Elizalde, Jamie D. Grant, Brett Loudermilk, John Lovick, Andrew Mayne, Max Maven, Calen Morelli, Darwin Ortiz, Alex Pandrea, Gary Plants, David Roth, Kim Silverman, Steve Valentine , Blake Vogt, Paul Wilson, Michael Weber, Asi Wind; just to name a few.
Daniel Garcia At The Table Lecture now available for download!
“Draw huge crowds wherever you go . “- Dixie Dooley
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/4060
If you’ve ever wanted to perform seemingly-dangerous large-scale magic, there’s never been a better time.
“One of those legendary, near-mythical effects that people have all heard about, but very few people have actually seen it done live “- Dan Harlan
With professional magician Dan Harlan, we’ve put together the ULTIMATE escape.
1. A professional -caliber strait-jacket.
2. A full, professional stage routine from Dan Harlan: 40 minutes of instruction. A guaranteed crowd-pleaser,Dan’s been performing this routine for YEARS.
3. PLUS: A MASSIVE 3-DVD course on Escapology (escaping from handcuffs, rope, boxes, and more!)
PROFESSIONALS: It’s no secret why magicians do escapes -they’re publicity MACHINES. They capture a bigger , broader audience than pure magic. Sure, some people want to see the impossible …but some people just crave danger.
Get Escape Jacket PRO and get ready for some attention!
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/4060