TRICKS & TWEETS

We’re back!

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:16:50 -0400

As Luminato, Toronto’s festival of creativity and the arts, has just announced, we will be part of the Festival’s Masters of Magic series June 10-18th.

As the Artistic Director of Magicana, I program the magic for the Festival. Magicana will be presenting three distinct programs in June: Natural Magick, Vodavil and Eric Mead: Toast of the Town. Magicana will also be presenting its community outreach program, My Magic Hands, at Holland-Bloorview Kid’s Rehabilitation Hospital, and at Queen Victoria Public School.

Movie Magic

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:40:03 -0400

A little magic goes a long way, particularly when you partner with someone who exemplifies creativity. In this case, the partners are Magicana, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Bell Lightbox, and the magic is the March Break Magic and Movie Camp.

While meeting with representatives from the centre late last year, I suggested that they partner with Magicana to provide a Magic and Movie March Break for kids. Magic and the Movies go back a long way. In fact, the movie business owes a great deal to magicians. Not only did magicians and their magic lantern shows help begat the technology that make motion pictures, but magicians were also pioneer producers and exhibitors of film.

George Méliès, for example, was a magician who purchased the theatre of Robert-Houdin in Paris, located a stone’s throw from the studio of the Lumière Brothers. Méliès soon afterward documented his stage spectacles on film, breaking through barriers of live theatre, creating cinematic special effects, to transport his audiences to exotic locations – including the moon!

Magicians were also amongst the first exhibitors of motion pictures, making them a feature of their traveling stage show. David Devant, the great British conjuror, brought motion pictures to the English Provinces and Carl Hertz, an American by birth, introduced traveling motion picture exhibitions down under – that’s Australia.

I knew that, with its program My Magic Hands, Magicana had a great deal of experience introducing children to the artistic process, empowering them to make decisions, communicate their ideas, and perform. Combine that know-how with the expertise and facilities of the Bell Lightbox Centre, and you create a golden opportunity.

The result was truly magic. The children learned the fundamentals of several magic tricks, how to develop a character, script dialogue and action, practice, rehearse and then, perform. They also learned, courtesy of TIFF, how to storyboard their ideas, pitch a script, shoot the action, edit the material and screen the results for the audience. Not bad for a week’s work!

The program sold-out quickly and the kids had a ball. It’s a programming initiative that I predict will become a perennial. If you have or know of kids that would be interested in participating in this type of program, contact TIFF and let them know that you are interested.

Piff Paff Poof

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:40:45 -0500

Who says tricks are for kids? Well, just about everybody.

There are few places, however, where kids can see, let alone participate in, a great magic show. That is, until now.

If you are anywhere near Toronto during the March Break (March 14-19) or each remaining weekend of this month, bring your family, or children, or friends of your family to see Piff, Paff, Poof! - an extravaganza of magic for the young at heart.

Magicana, where I serve as Artistic Director, in association with the Lower Ossington Theatre, is presenting this wonderful outing of magic for children ages 5 – 12.

The name “Piff Paff Poof!”, by the way, was inspired by both the magic words said by magicians of long ago as well as the name of a magic convention that was held in Fort Erie, Ontario in the 1930s.

The show features the magic of Julie Eng, a special guest performer, and her magic bunny – Poof! Actually, Poof claims in his biography that he comes from a long line of bunnies, each of which adopted a magician at an early age. Poof’s magician is, of course, Julie.

Whichever came first – the Poof or the Eng – is irrelevant as together they make some wonderful magic. David Rayfield has designed a delightful set and, although the show is staged for children, there is something in it for everyone. Julie has even been known to levitate a mom or two!

Don’t take my word for it. Listen to the critics. Much to my surprise – and to their credit – Eye Weekly appeared on the scene unannounced to conduct exit surveys from those who matter most – the children who emerge from the theatre after witnessing a performance. Children have no filters. They tell it like it is; they loved it.

And, you will too!

The Flight of Time

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 12:23:59 -0500

That was the name of one of Houdini’s famous pieces. When it comes to magic, Houdini is a perennial favourite in the mind of the public. The Jewish Museum has a wonderful exhibition on the life of this master of mystery. Houdini: Art and Magic demonstrates the extent of his reach not only in his own era but also even today. The exhibition showcases rare Houdini ephemera, props and posters as well as artwork and installations by modern artists that were inspired by Houdini. The exhibition closes at the end of March but will then “hit the road” as Karl Johnson writes, “like an old vaudeville company, first to Los Angeles from April to September, then San Francisco from September 2011 to January 2012, and then to Madison Wisconsin, from February to May, 2012.”

I have been conducting my own tour that included performances, keynotes or workshops in Boston, Baltimore, Miami, Montreal, Indianapolis, Chicago and London. I can’t imagine how someone like Houdini would have traveled in this age of heightened security. There is no escaping it. Still, each stop offers something that makes the hassle of traveling all worthwhile. Here are three personal highlights from my recent travels.

While performing in Boston I had the pleasure of meeting George Goebel. George Goebel was one of the last of the grand magicians in the spirit of Harry Kellar, Howard Thurston, Dante and Harry Blackstone. He is also the proprietor of the oldest and most famous costume shop in America, A.T. Jones & Sons, founded in 1868 in Baltimore. A few days after my initial encounter with Mr. Goebel, I found myself in Baltimore, delivering a keynote address on creativity and problem-solving to the Association of American Manufacturers. Afterward, I made a beeline for the costume shop to soak in the atmosphere and to revisit Mr. Goebel. It is always a pleasure to meet someone with such artistic sensibilities, and who has contributed so much, and who can best be described as a real gentleman.

While in Boston, I also had the chance to meet Dr. Robert Albo. In addition to being one of the most respected practitioners of sports medicine – he was the doctor for numerous professional sports teams including the Golden State Warriors and the Oakland Raiders – he was also a magic collector and historian. He wrote dozens of books, each one tracing the history of apparatus in his collection and the magicians who made it. Each book was a lavish work of art and sought-after collectible in its own right. It was his work on Theo Bamberg, a fifth generation Dutch magician who performed under the name Okito that enabled me to reconstruct “The Floating Ball”, a theatrical illusion that I featured in The Conjuror.

Dr. Albo was also an elite athlete, garnering numerous awards in multiple sports. He turned down the opportunity to play professional sport, however, to pursue a medical career. I told Dr. Albo how much I admired his work and career, and how I used him as an example for my own son, Harrison, to follow. Harrison has ‘hung them up” - that is to say, his skates and his Junior A hockey career - to pursue his university education in a sports-related field. Dr. Albo and I exchanged numerous letters following our initial encounter – letters that I will treasure forever. Dr. Albo passed away on February 21, 2011, age 78.

A third highlight was participating in “It’s Always Something…” a fundraising variety show hosted by Russell Peters on behalf of Gilda’s Club of Greater Toronto, the organization that provides social and emotional support for men, women, teens and children with cancer. For this particular performance we restaged our “Sawing In Half” from The Conjuror, and with our original cast. It was an honour to appear on the same program with such artists as Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood, Robin Duke, Jayne Eastwood, and the cast from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; and for such a worthy cause.

When you wish upon a star

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 10:25:20 -0400

Doug Henning changed my life. It was while watching his first network television special, broadcast live-live, meaning in real time and not on a tape delay, that I said to myself: “I want to become a magician.” The year was 1975 and I was fourteen years old.

Now, some thirty-five years later, I have had the chance to repay Doug the favour. Doug Henning will receive his “star” this weekend on the Canadian Walk of Fame and I have been working behind the scenes for the past several months on the tribute to Doug that will be broadcast to the nation.

Although Doug, sadly, passed away on February 7, 2000 from cancer at age 52, he not only left behind a large body of work – eight NBC television specials, three extended runs on Broadway, a legacy of magic on the Las Vegas strip, and numerous national tours and television appearances – but also he transformed the way that magic was performed by magicians and viewed by the public. You can learn more about Doug’s contributions here.

Fortunately, in creating the tribute to Doug, many friends lent a hand. First up was the late Sid Lorraine. Sid passed away in 1989. I acquired, however, Sid’s extensive collection of magic from his widow, Rene Johnson, a few years ago. Sid was very close to Doug, and had been one of his early mentors. Fortunately, Sid had videotape records of most of Doug’s television specials and appearances.
Left to right: Sid Lorraine,
Doug Henning and Bruce Posgate
Jerry Goldstein - Doug’s longtime manager - gave me permission to digitize the collection so that I could review all of the television appearances and make some suggestions as to which clips epitomized Doug and his magic. Once we narrowed down the selections, Jerry kindly provided the pertinent excerpts from the master tapes for inclusion in the broadcast.

Richard Kaufman and Stan Allen, of Genii and MAGIC magazines respectively, provided dozens of digital images of Doug and his performances for both the media kit, and the broadcast tribute.

Charles Reynolds and Jim Steinmeyer, both men behind-the-curtain who advised Doug on what to perform and how, offered me their counsel and insight. For that I am grateful.

Keeping this all on track were the people at Magicana (Julie Eng and James Alan), Insight Productions (Aili Suurallik and Joseph Recupero), the Canadian Walk of Fame (Peter Soumalias), as well as Peter Samelson in New York, and Allan and Gary Slaight in Toronto.

Special thanks must also go to Chris Kenner, Homer Liwag and, in particular, David Copperfield, for donating their time and talent in honouring Doug. While Doug blazed the trail for modern magic, David Copperfield has certainly taken it to heights magicians never imagined.

Most of all, we have to thank the many people who voted for Doug to receive his star on the Canadian Walk of Fame. As the organization only recognizes one posthumous recipient per year, it makes Doug’s star that much more special for all who admired and were inspired by him.

Doug’s star will be unveiled on Saturday, October 16th. The broadcast of the ceremonies and celebration will take place on October 20th on Global TV.