HOW DID HE DO THAT?

THE CARD TRICK :: BY JIM STEINMEYER

“The Card Trick” will be presented on May 26, 27 and 28 at the Peller Theatre in the Magic Castle.

It’s a one-act play that’s part conversation, part performance, part showdown, between Harry Houdini and Mina Crandon, aka Margery the Medium, the notorious Boston trickster who almost won the Scientific American Committee award as a genuine psychic. I’d call it “dramatic history.” We don’t actually know if this conversation actually took place, but we do know what happened just before it, and just after it. So I had a chance to indulge in a little speculation, calculating the personalities of Houdini and Margery and what they may have discussed when they were in a room together. 

In many ways they were formidable rivals. Houdini was renown as the incorruptible truth-teller, out to expose the fraud of the séance room. Margery was an amazingly adept and brazen psychic, who managed to hoodwink almost every visitor to her parlor, with a combination of deception and her own personal allure.

In the play, the card trick forms an analogy for how each of these personalities thought about deception. Houdini performs a card trick for Margery, and she offers a trick in exchange. During the course of the demonstrations, their differing philosophies are made clear, and their shaky truce reaches an impasse.

Originally Jim Bentley approached me about the project, as he was assembling a special program as a benefit for the Skirball Museum, currently hosting the Houdini exhibit in Los Angeles. I suggested this one-act play that I’d written several years ago. Jim thought it would be a good project for him — of course, he’s a talented Hollywood actor and has played Houdini an number of times. Jim suggested Janine Anderson for the role of Margery. Janine is well known to magicians through her performances and her work at the Magic Castle, and she’s also a talented actress with a long list of Hollywood credits.

Both actors have a great feeling for the roles. Jim has tapped into Houdini’s tightly-wound, challenging personality. And Janine captures the dissolute, fascinating Margery. A seemingly carefree trickster, there’s no question that Margery managed to conceal her genius for this sort of fraud. It’s also been fun to incorporate an extravagant bit of magic. If you get a chance to see Houdini’s “card trick,” you might be surprised! Typical of the real Houdini, it’s an extravagant optical illusion, drawing upon years of magic history to create a unique effect.

Also appearing as part of the program is Derek Hughes with a special introduction, and Jim Bentley’s recreation of several of Houdini’s effects. On the 28th, the first preview will be a special benefit for the Vernon Fund at the Magic Castle, with a discussion of the play and the historic characters.

Jim Steinmeyer

T11 INSIDER #18 :: ZACH IS BACK

MNW #311 :: FFFF 2011

Scott Wells brings Magic Newswire listeners to the 41st edition of Fechter's Finger Flicking Frolic with daily interviews and reporting from the original closeup conference. In this episode he talks with people like Jon Allen, Richard Pinner, Boris Wild, Charlie Randall, Marshall Peterson, Bruce Kalver, Don Wiberg, Geoff Williams, George Saterial, Mark Weidhaas, Obie O’Brien, FISM Winner Yumi Nakajima, Gene Anderson, Joshua Jay, Andi Gladwin, Shawn Farquhar, Steve Bargatze, Rick Merrill, David Corsaro, Steve Beam, David Stone, Christian Painter, Ice McDonald & David Prouty.

FFFF 2011:


OTHER WAYS TO LISTEN:
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WHAT IS BLAINE TRAINING FOR NOW?

Thanks to BillS for sending a link to recent Tweets from David Blaine in which he posted some pictures and info which may hint at what he preparing for next.  According to his post:  Learning curve. Soft is stronger than hard, water stronger than rocks...  In an earlier post, David mentioned training with champion high diver Dana Kunze while watching platform divers Thomas Finchum and Steele Johnson.

Kudos to our friends at iTricks for snagging this as well!

FUNERAL MAGIC

Straight from the just concluded 2011 FFFF convention, Funeral Magic!

GRAIL LORE :: A PRIMER :: BY JONATHAN PENDRAGON

JONATHAN PENDRAGON'S GRAIL QUEST :: PART 2

While Grail lore is undoubtedly a Christian tradition, the development of the legend does not stem from the Bible. Elements of Grail lore originally came from both Christian and Celtic sources, and later from the works of the 12th Century authors Chretien de Troyes and Robert de Boron. Undoubtedly the most significant framing device for Grail lore is the Arthurian legends, which include stories of the Fisher King, whose physical health is synonymous with the health of the land: the king and the land are one. The quest for the Grail, then, has always been a metaphor for a search for healing: if you heal the king you heal the land and, by implication, yourself. In short, a quest for redemption.

My introduction to Grail lore came early, largely due to my interest in King Arthur (no big surprise that someone who chose Pendragon as a nom de theatre might be interested in the Once and Future King). Grail lore is a very complex subject; you could spend a lifetime studying it without encompassing it all. It has been the inspiration for major works in art, music, theater, literature, and film, including Richard Wagners Parsifal, T.S. Eliots The Waste Land, Terry Gilliams The Fisher King, and, of course, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (fetchez la vache!).

The most elusive aspect of Grail lore may be the image of the Grail itself, which has appeared in many forms, including a silver chalice, a plate, a cauldron, a plain wooden cup, and as an abstract idea (as in the work of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell). My personal belief does not confine the Grail to a physical object, but rather sees it as an ideal. Thus the quest becomes the realization of the ideal and, as with all rewards of value, requires hard work and dedication. But know this: the value is not in the prize, but rather in the journey.

I have avoided talking about the incident that led to my fall from grace. The reasons are many and personal. But if you think you know the real story from idle gossip and reading the tabloids, trust me, you dont. This I will say: a series of events (some accidental, some of my own doing and some at the hands of others) brought me to the lowest point of my life. My soul was as desolate as anything imagined by Eliot. I wanted to die. I believed a cup of wine and a handful of pills were my Grail. When I awoke in the hospital, three days later, I was appalled; the fact that I had escaped death once again seemed not a triumph so much as a cruel joke.

In time, my usual cynicism and pedantic rationality were overwhelmed by consideration of the coincidences that lead to my constant survival. How often does one get to cheat death? I was forced to accept the idea that there might be something left for me to do in this life. ! Next time... The Quest Begins!

JonathanPendragon

SILENT TRANSITION BY DIMITRI ARLERI

Thanks to our friend and field reporter "The Cuso" for sending this my way! Enjoy!

PENN POINT :: 25K :: THE GREATEST INDIE FILM EVER

You've read here before about Magic Newswire co-host Chase Goforth and his recent foray into movie production, Now, here was Penn thinks in the latest Penn Point, It's awesome!

DERREN BROWN :: MIRACLES FOR SALE

Derren Brown's next television special will air at 9 PM on Monday April 25th at 9PM on UK's Channel 4. "Miracles for Sale,"  takes on faith healers exploiting their followers.  According to the Guardian:

Brown grew up Christian and saw faith healers as "worrisome" but not to be taken too seriously – a view he didn't change until he abandoned his faith. "Coming out of Christianity altogether and having a slightly clearer sense in my own mind of what I believed and what I didn't believe … it was much clearer to me: no, no, this is just a scam," he says.

In Derren's own Blog he says:

The project was hugely difficult because a big business like faith healing is almost impenetrable. We tried to speak to those who had worked alongside the current big-name healers, as we knew of a few who had been allowed in the inner circles of trust and knowing the depths of the corruption had eventually turned against it. But these are people who live in fear. They were told for years by their charismatic, ruthless leaders that they lived under a curse and that to leave the clan would result in God ending their lives. Disturbingly, that may not always be too far from the truth: we heard of a couple of witnesses who had been brought to testify against a healer and had died mysteriously of heart attacks the night before the trial. Something dark may be afoot.

In an interview with UnRealityTV, Derren explains why he went to America to film this particular special:

Because it’s the heart of it. The charlatanism is much clearer out there because it’s a huge business and also that it’s the heart of it. It’s just more difficult, it’s more of a challenge, they are worthy targets out there. And here, I don’t know….the big names out there they put themselves about and you can find out what’s going on. Here, I have no idea. It’s probably all quite well meant here, I would imagine, and perhaps it becomes a slightly different thing. I just think you need to get at the heart of it to make the show meaningful.

 NOTE: Thanks to Jonathan Townsend for forwarding some of these links to me in preparation for this entry.