The new Supreme Spring/Summer 2014 Collection will be unveiled on February 20th at their New York and LA stores and available online starting on the 27th. To help build a little buzz before the new line goes on sale, Supreme enlisted Harmony Korine (Kids, Spring Breakers) do make a little video with some skaters, David Blaine (fresh off his visit with Toronto mayor Rob Ford) and a geek magic classic. They simply call the piece Needle. We call it cool.
The video above is Wayne Kawamoto’s latest promo piece. He is the guiding hand behind About.com’s Magic Section.
In one of the weirder stories to come across the iTricks news desk lately, the National Post, the Toronto Star and others are reporting that embattled Toronto mayor Rob Ford, best known to the world for admitting to smoking crack, met with David Blaine on Friday. According to the Star, Blaine simply phoned City Hall Thursday night and expressed interest in meeting with the mayor.
The News Observer website is reporting that a number of streets recently named for “obscure magicians” may be changed. John Scarne, Robert-Houdin and Hofzinser are among those currently honored with streets in the Walnut Terrace development. Evidently, housing authority officials were having difficulty getting answers about the street naming policies and therefore submitted a list of names selected by its director Steve Beam (the article notes he is a “card magician”) as a reference to the development’s magical success being constructed without federal funds.
The annual Blackpool Magic Convention kicks off this Friday in, well, Blackpool. You can get more information at the official website. If any of the iTricks readers will be attending, we would love to hear about it.
David Blaine’s Real Or Magic will be airing in England on Channel 4 January 1st. In the lead up to the special London Evening Standard reporter Jane Mulkerrins caught up with the magician. In the piece Blaine touches on his personal life as a father and confesses a desire to do a magic show completely surrounded.
Celebrity Cafe contributor Lori Alamia visited Monday Night Magic and has posted a small piece on the long running show. Check it out here.
According to a NewsOrbserver.com article, some in the Raleigh, North Carolina area are questioning the amount of time Raleigh Housing Authority Director Steve Beam spends on his hobby of magic. At issue is the amount of vacation and comp time afforded Beam, the creator/editor of now defunct The Trapdoor and a series on “semi-automatic” tricks. The article goes as far as trying to match Magic Cafe posts with Beam’s work schedule.
Michael Lauck is a columnist for iTricks. His work appears on Mondays. The first six months of 2013 where covered here.
Magic had a great year in 2013.
There were ups and downs, of course, with new triumphs and lost friends. All things considered, though, magic raised its profile in 2013.
After the first six months of 2013, magic was in an interesting position. The Magic Castle was celebrating its 50th year and Genii was entering its 76th! There had already been two big screen projects featuring magic and on the small screen, America’s Got Talent was just kicking off. It really looked like magic was making a comeback.
July kept the momentum going. Although it had already run in Europe, Dangerman: The Incredible Mr. Goodwin made its US premiere on BBC America. Of course, America’s Got Talent was still moving along and featuring several magicians. The CW had already announced that it was reviving the series Masters of Illusions and it began taping the large scale stage magic segments. On the street pieces would follow. The documentary Magic Camp, which had been seen in limited release and festivals, was finally widely available through video on demand services.
The magic community also lost a few members in July. Among them were one time SAM Magician of the Year Jack Bridwell and Albert Ching Jr. (left). Probably best known as a restaurant owner when he dies, Ching had used the GI Bill to attend the Chavez School or Magic and went on to a very successful career in New York, even appearing on Ed Sullivan’s show, before moving to the West Coast.
August also saw the loss of a few interesting characters. On the 3rd, intelligence analyst and magician Bart Whaley passed away. When he was not designing high level military simulations the Magic Castle member was writing books on Erdnase and Orson Welles. At the end of the month, Mandrake the Magician ended its decades long comic strip run. Even though he was fictional, Mandrake spawned a real life magician (Leon Mandrake).
John Calvert turned 102 years old early in the month. Magic Live! was held and included a special Potter and Potter auction which included Cardini’s gimmicked wristwatch. On the more unfortunate side, Paul Daniels was quoted as making a few less than charitable remarks about why there were not more women magicians, which he later maintained were misquotes.
Magic continued to be big business in the entertainment world. The Travel Channel premiered JB Benn’s Magic Man series and A&E confirmed that Adrien Brody would star in its planned Houdini two part movie. Now You See Me continued to rake in the ticket sales across the world, making it the sleeper hit of 2013. A sequel was officially announced in August.
September would be one of the saddest months of 2013 for magicians. Shortly after a false report of his death spread through social media, John Calvert (right) passed away at the end of the month. Not only had Calvert been a successful magician, he had been a world class adventurer who had flown and sailed around the world and even had a film career.
Despite the sad news at the end of the month, September had otherwise been a pretty good month for magic. America’s Got Talent ended. Highly touted teen heart throb Collins Key made it all the way to the end, ultimately finishing 5th. Winner Kenichi Ebina was billed as a dancer who incorporated multimedia, but he also used so good old fashioned magic along the way! David Copperfield was in the middle of a wave of publicity due to his new Vegas contract, which included a new production company and strange claims that his islands contained the fountain of youth. Forbes even placed him on a list of people poised to become billionaires in the coming years. Best of all, though, David Oliver finally returned home after a lung transplant. For the record, David could still use everyone’s help so check out the Do Magic For David Oliver blog.
October was, understandably, overshadowed by the death of John Calvert. More sad news came with the passing of Fantasio’s wife Monica Roucau. There was better news, though, Criss Angel debuted his new show BeLIEve on cable’s Spike Network on the 15th. Just a few days before Ben Hanlin’s Tricked premiered on England’s ITV2. Even though it had just ended a few weeks before, America’s Got Talent was already starting auditions for the 2014 season in Miami. Meanwhile in the mountains, Magic In The Rockies was celebrating its 20th anniversary. Across the pond, Paul Daniels started his farewell tour, although he dubbed it the first of many.
Australian TV was big magic news in November. Self described unusualist Raymond Crowe made a very respectable run on Australia’s Got Talent. He made it into the Top 6 and illusionist Sam Powers placed in the Top 12 (that is Sam at the top of the page). Meanwhile former Australia’s Got Talent runner up Cosentino (left) cha-chaed his way to reality show glory by winning Australia’s Dancing With The Stars. On American television, David Blaine made a triumphant return by messing with celebrities on his Real Or Magic special. On the Internet, iTricks returned to podcasting with a special look at women and magic.
Of course, December is not quite over yet but it has already been an interesting month for magic. Derren Brown found himself in a tiny bit of trouble (or at least embarrassment) after his publicist connected his upcoming art heist themed special with a real life London theft. Art and magic also mixed in Teller’s new documentary Tim’s Vermeer, which was placed on the official short list for an Academy Award earlier this month. The big screen attention on magic continues, too, as we end the year. India’s biggest action franchise released its third installment on the 20th. Dhoom 3 features a magician robbing banks and has already set box office records.
Potential billionaires, breakout hits movies, magic on television… Magic had a pretty good 2013. It seems as if the credibility of magic is on the rise again. There are new shows scheduled, big project planned. We can only look forward to 2014!
While shooting for Real or Magic, David Blaine apparently left a fair amount on the cutting room floor. One such stunt was a breath holding endurance test possibly leaving Blaine submerged for nearly 15 minutes in Will Smith’s pool.
The proof came out on Instagram. The picture features the whole Smith clan including wife Jada, actor son Jaden and singer daughter Willow holding Blaine underwater while an iPad shows a timer over 14 minutes.
The family is wearing the same outfits seen in the Real of Magic special when Blaine shoved a spike through his hand to their delight/disgust/amazement.
Michael Lauck is a columnist for iTricks and he loves TV as much as magic. His work appears on Mondays.
Part one of this article appeared last week.
In 1994, Gary Ouellet changed TV magic.
The World’s Greatest Magic combined high level magic with the variety show format. It was a new kind of magic special that lead to a boom in TV magic.
On the night before Thanksgiving 1995 NBC aired World’s Greatest Magic II. Alan Thicke replaced Robert Urich as the host, but the show essentially followed the same formula as the original. Mac King again taught tricks in segments wrapped around each commercial break and throughout the show the final effect, Penn and Teller’s bullet catch, was advertised. Magicians featured included Dirk Arthur, Joaquin and Lillia Ayala, Jason Byrne, Bret Daniels, Paul Gertner, Jeff Hobson, The Amazing Johnathan, Mark Kalin and Jinger, René Lavand, Luis de Matos, Max Maven, Jeff McBride, Tom Ogden, Rick Thomas and Melinda. Much like the original, WGM2 was a huge success. It won the night with a 21 share and won every individual half hour contest except the first (finishing second to Grace Under Fire). The magic special even beat the second installment of the much anticipated Beatles Anthology documentary.
The success of World’s Greatest Magic II again led to a live tour and an order for a third installment for Thanksgiving Eve of 1996. Some magicians would again complain about Mac King’s segments, but these complaints were again brushed aside with the defense that the segments invited those interested into the world of magic using tricks easily found in beginners’ books. What could not be argued with was the successful magic programs being created by Ouellet and his team. Melinda would receive her own special produced by the team and ABC would collaborate with the group to create the Champions of Magic specials. CBS would also try its hand with Magicians’ Favorite Magicians, which was not produced by the WGM team.
The World’s Greatest Magic III saw John Ritter sign on as host and he would stay on through the rest of the specials. By this time, at least in my family, WGM was part of Thanksgiving. This incarnation ended with The Pendragons vanishing 25 showgirls. The line up included Bob Arno, Dirk Arthur, Nathan Burton, Greg Frewin, Joseph Gabriel, Galina, Han Klok and Sittah, Jeff Hobson, Guy Hollingworth, Peter Marvey, Pendragons, Jean Pierre Vallarino, David Williamson and Steve Wyrick. It’s success would lead to World’s Greatest Magic IV in 1997.
WGM4 saw the return of Lance Burton, who escaped from the Jaws of Death in the show finale, and featured Juliana Chen, Lennart Green, Raymond Crowe, Tabary, Carl Cloutier, Johnathan David Bass, The Hamners, Tim Kole and Jenny-Lynn, Ken Mate, Bruce Block, Dexion, Sherry Lukas, Kirby VanBurch, Ayala and Lilla, Rick Thomas and Max Maven. This version saw a change in the production team with Gary Ouellet and Gregory Sills acting as producers with Gary Pudney staying on in the role of executive producer. Despite the great line up for the special, it faced a new and unexpected competition from Fox who, only two days before, had aired the first of their Breaking the Magicians’ Code, or “Masked Magician,” specials.
The World’s Greatest Magic IV did well enough for a fifth installment to air on the night before Thanksgiving 1998. It featured Harry Anderson, Mike Caveney, Michael Ammar, James Dimarre, Goldfinger and Dove, Peter Gossamer, Hans Klok and The Majestix with Brett Daniels transporting actress Kelly Packard, then of Baywatch and later of Ripley’s Believe It or Not, across Grand Canyon as a finale. The special was not well received by magicians, at least if the club reports and letters to magic magazines of the time are to be believed. It certainly appears that by WGM5 the era of the rand illusion magic special was over and I personally think that the Masked Magician was to blame.
It would be easy to blame the downfall of the World’s Greatest Magic specials on the exposures of the Breaking the Magicians’ Code shows. Personally, I do not think it was the exposure of effects as much as it was the over-exposure of magic. Believe it or not, by the time World’s Greatest Magic V aired, Fox had not only rebroadcast the original Masked Magician special, it had released and re-aired three additional specials. Even though Gary Ouellet and the WGM team were producing multiple specials, they were fairly spread out over the year. ABC may have showed a Champions of Magic special in the summer with a WGM special in late fall and one or two single act driven specials aired throughout the year. In 1998, though, three new Breaking the Magicians’ Code specials had aired in March, May and October.
By the time the World’s Greatest Magic V aired in November, it faced two problems. First of all, it had to avoid any of the effects that had been shown in the Masked Magician shows. Even worse, it had to try to overcome the disenchantment that the Masked Magician was causing (whether that be caused by exposures or over-exposure). David Blaine’s first special had come out in 1997 and he seemed to be offering something very new and different to the magic shown in World’s Greatest Magic and Masked Magician specials. Perhaps this new brand of special featuring a close, in your face style of “street magic” was the final nail in the WGM coffin.
The night before Thanksgiving, at least for magic fans, would never be the same.
When it came to the ratings, David Blaine proved his magic is indeed real. db posted a 7.16 million audience in the first half hour of his special last night and then saw an uptick in viewers for the 10 p.m. hour jumping to 7.83 million.
But the big number for Blaine was “the number,” the amount of viewers 18-49 watching the show for which advertisers covet. There he pulled a 2.3 rating in the 9 p.m. hour and 2.6 through all of 10 p.m. In comparison, The Voice had the highest demo rating of the night with a 3.1 and only the most popular show of the night NCIS on CBS drew higher than Blaine’s 2.6 with a 3.
But what does it mean? Here are five quick reactions:
Blaine doesn’t need stunts Easily the most glaring differentiator between this special his other recent outings was the absence of a headline grabbing endurance stunt that would give the special oodles of free publicity while heightening David’s shamanistic profile. Real or Magic had no such event to conclude dramatically live.
In comparison, Blaine’s last special Dive of Death pulled a near identical overall audience number in 2008. Allowing for the decline in network television viewership, this alone is an accomplishment. What makes it more impressive is what lead into both programs. Death lost half of the 15.6 million Dancing with the Stars audience. RoM built on a weak lead in from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (6.8 mil / 2.3 demo) at 8 p.m. and The Goldbergs (5.14 mil / 1.6 demo) at 9 p.m.
This is not to say that Blaine did without free ink this go around. By jam packing the hour-and-a-half special with buzz worthy guests plucked from the of-the-moment zeitgeist (Kanye, Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul & Brian Cranston, Katy Perry, Ricky Gervais) Blaine generated plenty of clicks though the celebrity press machine looking for any story that can include a bold face headline. It’s also easier to visit late night chat shows (as Blaine did with Jimmy Kimmel) when you’re not hanging upside down in NYC.
To illustrate the league Blaine played in, last night Jay Leno touted a very rare interview with former President George W. Bush on the Tonight Show. His (largely folksy non-political) answers made national news. But only a few minutes before, he was reacting to Blaine on ABC.
That kind of booking is as real as it gets.
The death of the magic special is greatly exaggerated I’m not sure anyone has come out and said the magic special is dying, but Blaine is certainly the last of the Mohicans. There is no other singular entity (save for David Copperfield) known exclusively for this delivery method. And should Real or Magic have underperformed, the prevailing thought would no doubt, in part, blamed the format. So, if it would have been notable to say it one way, it’s notable that it did not come to pass.
Blaine and network television go well together The 15 year history between Blaine and ABC has yielded the most watched magic specials of it’s era. But where Dive of Death felt like the match may have run it’s course (Blaine told a 2010 Magic-Con crowd he was done after his next special) today feels like the late 90s all over again. Blaine’s a bankable star that draws ratings and in a world where ABC’s much ballyhooed Marvel series is garnering critical jeers and an eroding audience, ABC knows how valuable BOTH of those elements are.
Before last night, who knows what the future of ABC and Blaine looked like. Today, it would be a surprise if there wasn’t an announcement of another special.
Advertising matters Blaine advertising roll-out including heavy placement on Saturday college football along with fellow Disney-owned outlets like ESPN did a good job of alerting the young male demo of the event.
Trust the team With no stunt revelation (and attendant “what happened earlier” video packages) to eat up air time Blaine’s crew on this special had to step up and from the reviews: they did. The crew included the likes of top consultants Enrico de la Vega, Danny Garcia, Blake Vogt and Alex Rangel. It was a daunting task, but they pulled it off.
