National Magic Week, of course, ties in with Halloween and the death of Harry Houdini. The Girl Who Handcuffed Houdini is a new production which explores the final days of the world’s most famous magician and the Matador Network takes a look at the immersive show, now playing in New York.
Quick aside (this is Michael’s opinion, not necessarily that of iTricks, its staff or subsidiaries): I hear a pretty good amount of trash talk about Jibrizy in the magic community and I don’t get it. I haven’t met the guy but I wish him the best. I am not saying he is the most talented, creative or skilled magician out there but he does have a good amount of charisma, he has really tapped into social media and his success just adds to the popularity of magic, so what is the problem? Honestly, I think that the biggest and oldest issue tearing apart magic isn’t exposure but jealousy. And Jibrizy, if you find yourself out in Kansas City drop me a line and the barbecue is on me.
The Wrap looks at Derren Brown’s new special Sacrifice and analyzes why he chose the person he did to be the subject of his “experiment.”
Speaking of Mr. Brown, according to The Irish Examiner, the internationally known mentalist and magician does not get asked to read minds very often anymore… that is just one of the things that came out in their recent interview with the magician.
Here is a spooky bit Spidey performed on this year’s season finale of Masters Of Illusion; it is time for us to start sliding towards Halloween after all and I think we will celebrate mentalism today.
Uri Geller is scheduled to be the guest for the first two hours of Coast To Coast AM with George Noory (1 AM Eastern, 10 PM Pacific). You’ll have to figure out who your local affiliate is, but it is carried by something like 600+ American radios stations and the Road Dog Trucking Sirius XM station.
Finally,The Virginia Gazette has all the details on the Williamsburg Magic Club’s family-friendly Halloween performance at the James City County Library on Oct. 24. If you are in the area, go support a local club and local performers by checking out the show!
The David Berglas Scrapbooks posted a new episode on their YouTube page yesterday highlighting a sensational 1959 demonstration of magical teleportation. Watch the entire video; there is some real history in this!
Ennyman’s Territory looks at the Houdiana auction at Potter and Potter, which will be held a week from tomorrow on October 20. Potter and Potter has also announced they will be holding an auction of the Johnny Fox sideshow collection in November. Download PDF catalogs and get more details on the Potter and Potter website.
Finally, we have a pretty good idea there will be some magic in the new series America’s Got Talent: The Champions, at least according to Shin Lim. He told Metro he hadn’t seen Simon Cowell since winning America’s Got Talent, but had a feeling we would due to AGT: The Champions.
Who else would you like to see on the new Got Talent franchise?
Mercedes-Benz Benchmark Cars, the largest Mercedes-Benz dealer in India, posted this video with highlights of a recent performance by Jonathan David Bass in Ahmedabad, Gujarat which the dealership sponsored.
Finally, Recently Heard has a terrible article on the top seven (not sure of their criteria) Hollywood movies about magic and illusion. It starts off well enough with The Prestige and The Illusionist before veering sharply into fantasy magic with Spirited Away, the Harry Potter series (aren’t there like eight of those alone?), Doctor Strange, before returning to magic and illusion with Now You See Me (but only the first one) and Houdini (the Tony Curtis biopic, even though they post the trailer for the History Channel movie from a couple years ago). It is kind of good for a laugh.
We’re leading off today with Denny Corby’s visit to Gulfport, Mississippi’s WLOX last week.
Ashton Blackwell is shooting a TV pilot called Where Magic Happens around Lynchburg, VA next month with Red Sky Studios. A press release about the project describes it as setting out to help someone “who has been influential in the lives of those around them, with acts of selflessness, kindness and generosity of time or talents, and are in the midst of difficult life circumstances themselves.”
