Magician and ventriloquist John Dostal was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in 2015 and passed away after a fall in 2019. His granddaughter Allie Loneman wrote a short script based on Dostal’s diagnosis which has been turned into the short film Rosie’s Necklace, which you can stream for free here. You can read more about Dostal, Loneman and the film in the Carroll Times Herald.
GQ has decided to take a look at the portrayal of magic in the movies and enlisted the help of magician and author David Copperfield. They did not get to every movie to feature magic (Terror Train sadly did not make the cut) but they have plenty of scenes you’ll recognize.
From the big screen version of Doug Henning’s The Magic Show.
Chris Ramsay* actually appears in the new movie Spiral with Chris Rock and gives you some behind the scenes and a little street magic with Chris Rock in this video.
*IMDB lists his role as “Crack Punk”
Looper is reporting the 2016 superhero/magician movie Sleight is seeing new (and unexpected) popularity on Netflix. So if you need something to watch this weekend…
I figure it would be wrong, even on a website devoted to magic, to spend time talking about Richard Himber and not share his music. He made at least four musical film shorts, the original music videos, in the 1930s. This Paramount short Himber Harmonies, released to theaters in 1938, features a fictional columnist following Richard through his day.
Collider’s Frankie Cena covers the upcoming production of The War Magician starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
Have a great, and safe, weekend everyone. I think everything will finally be back to normal around here next week1