The Genii Forum

Richard Hatch

A complete file sold on Saturday at the Potter Auction, item 336. The Magic Magazine. Kardwell. Estimate was between $200 and $300. Sold for $390 including buyer's premium. https://auctions.potterauctions.com/_The_Magic_Magazine__Kardwell__et_al__n_V_n______V-LOT78149.aspx

Richard Hatch

A comment posted two years ago below the Paul Daniels appearance linked to above says "My late step father Lev. I miss him! He was amazing indeed." The poster is listed as @Livingtango and is a teacher of Argentine tango whose website and contact info is here:
https://www.livingtango.com/

Richard Hatch

An article on page 783 of the November1979 Genii entitled "Lev Shneider in America" gives details of his initial contact with the Magic Castle and performances, assisted by his niece Natasha. The author of the article: Phil Goldstein.

Richard Hatch

I'm guessing that he is the "Lev Shneiderman" born in Astrahan, Soviet Union on 15 August 1928 who died in Los Angeles on 23 November 1993. Per information from ancestry.com

Richard Hatch

In his final letterman appearance in 1985, Lev is assisted by his niece Natasha and she confirms that she is both a musician and an actress, having recently been in a film called "2010". This website about her mentions that she gave birth to a son, Robin Kapustin, in July 1976, just two mo...

Richard Hatch

"The Mystic Word" column in Bascom Jones' Magick for July 20, 1979 describes his act as performed for a week at the Magic Castle. His age is given there as 51, so presumably born around 1928, making him about 95 today if still living. He was assisted at the Castle by his niece, Natasha, wh...

Richard Hatch

Here's a compilation of 7 Lev Schneider ("the Kreskin of Russia") appearances on Letterman from 1983 to 1985:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T41hwCzF81E

Richard Hatch

In above, should have been "I'm surprised he did it for just $150..."

Richard Hatch

He's leveraging his 15 minutes. NBC has photos and a video demonstration of the voice faking technique. I'm did it for just $150 (the fake Biden voice recording):
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-e ... rcna139760

Richard Hatch

I think the Hugh Johnston/Del Adelphia/Erdnase meeting is worth exploring and it has been sporatically discussed in this forum thread in the past, mostly as a vote against Milton Franklin Andrews (MFA) if it happened as Johnston recalled it to Jay Marshall in the 1950s. As noted above by Bill Mullin...

Richard Hatch

Back in July 2015 Bill Mullins mentioned in this thread the use of the pseudonym Sirronje for E. J. Norris. The current issue (January 2024, #199) of Magicol has a well researched and written article by Gary Hunt on Sirronje, a female escape artists whose husband's name (Edmond J. Norris) spelled in...

Richard Hatch

VanishingInc solicited book donations for junior magicians at the last MagiFest. They may have an ongoing program that would benefit from such donations. The College of Magic in South Africa would also likely love some donations, though the cost of shipping is likely high...

Richard Hatch

This talk by Marty Demarest was posted online 9 years ago in September 2014, but only brought to my attention recently. It includes references to Erdnase and a performance of 3 Card Monte:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdHGUcw2xtc

Richard Hatch

Just watched this. I was also not aware till David Ben posted about it here that this had been released. Checking my emails from the director, Jim Davey, I found that my interview was taped in Las Vegas during Magic Live in August 2015. I enjoyed it, particularly seeing clips of David Alexander's pr...

Richard Hatch

The Winter 2024 issue of Gibeciere has an ambigram by Scott Kim on the cover. I thought that the letters GIBICI when read upside down in Hebrew translated to PANDA, which made sense to me, since they are printed in China. But I have been reliably informed that is not a correct reading. Any other sol...

Richard Hatch

John Cannon of Aladdin Books is in Fullerton and might be interested. Andy (John A.) Greget is in Arizona and often travels to LA for Castle Swap Meets and such things. Byron Walker is in San Francisco. I imagine all three will be in Long Beach for the Magic Collectors Expo, but that is not till ear...

Richard Hatch

That is a great price! If I didn't already own a copy, I'd jump on it (wouldn't sell my copy for that price!).

Richard Hatch

Joe Naud wrote:How did you contact him? I would like to join you getting my cups.

Peace, Joe

I heard from him at the address cubismmaestro AT gmail.com

Richard Hatch

My set arrived today and I have seen postings on Facebook of others receiving theirs over the past few days. The books are really magnificent and a great contribution to the literature. Kudos to the Conjuring Arts team for doing this, especially to Bill Kalush, the late Lori Pieper, and Maxwell Prit...

Richard Hatch

Just a note to say that I did receive my Kickstarter Cubism Maestro reward from Dave Forrest today.

Richard Hatch

Alex Romanoff interviews Richard Evans about E. C. Andrews:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cebGY61Hc

Richard Hatch

Of possible interest: A copy of Howard Thurston's Card Tricks (London, 1901), inscribed by the author to Harry S. Thompson in Chicago on May 11, 1902 (just two months after the publication of TEATCT) just sold at a Potter Auction (Item 151) for a hammer price of $1,300. Per Peter Zenner, this copy m...

Richard Hatch

Another semi related tid bit of gossip along the same lines is that I have always been a bit taken aback by is that the author of the classic "Amateur Magicians Handbook" June Mussey AKA Henry Hay was also the translator of Mein Kampf into English! Mussey was one of several translators of...

Richard Hatch

Typo, sorry: "Siegfried Borries"

Richard Hatch

Thanks for that reference in the Speer book. Neither Schreiber nor Kalanag are listed in the index of the English language edition ( Inside the Third Reich , 1970), but there it is on page 318: "We started at dawn in my new plane, a four-motored Focke-Wulf Condor. It had unusually long range be...

Richard Hatch

There might also be a mention of Schreiber in Speer's third book, Infiltration , about Himmler and the SS, but I doubt it (again, if someone has it and can check, let us know!). Schreiber, as president of the German Magic Circle, did succeed in having the public exposure of magic secrets made a fede...

Richard Hatch

He was mentioned in Albert Speer's book on the Third Reich... I posted that video because I assumed people would be interested in the subject. Reading stuff is one thing but viewing a good documentary has a visual element you don't get from a book. I don't find any mention of Helmut Schreiber in Al...

Richard Hatch

In your research, were you able to ascertain as to whether or not Dr. Volkmann was a member of the Nazi party? If so, do we know the extent of his involvement? As Dustin notes, it is a fair question and one that I was interested in myself. I was, naturally, hoping to learn that Dr. Volkmann had res...

Richard Hatch

Back when I was researching Hofzinser in the early 1980s for my translation of Ottokar Fischer's second book about him ( J. N. Hofzinser Zauberkuenste , published by Modern Litho in 1985 as The Magic of J. N. Hofzinser ), Leonard Beck, who was then in charge of the McManus-Young and Houdini Collecti...

Richard Hatch

Kuda Bux was managed for a time by Margo Feiden, early in her career. She is now best know for her long association with Al Hirschfeld. She died in 2022. Her NY Times obituary did not mention her association with Bux, but it is part of her Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margo_Feiden

Richard Hatch

Wittus Witt has invited me to speak informally about my research on Günther Dammann, a young Jewish German scholar of magic, at his Zaubermuseum Bellachini in Hamburg this Wednesday while I am there doing research for a formal presentation on that topic at the upcoming Magifest in Columbus, Ohio in ...

Richard Hatch

I found this line in the description amusing: "The fact that the book is dedicated to theologian C. S. Lewis's wife makes things even more interesting." The book is dedicated to poet Joy Davidman who was married to Gresham at the time of publication. She only married C. S. Lewis ten years ...

Richard Hatch

A couple more video performances (in Spanish) that I don't think have been mentioned in this thread: Juan Tamariz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B4L8pZCyTU Pepe Carroll: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOEz_0wr09A Marko from Panama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGHMqp32g_A Tamariz and Carroll ...

Richard Hatch

Interesting vdeio on the topic of Erdnase by Michael Perovich:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8TpY-tOlWQ

Richard Hatch

Oleg Stepanov earned great merits for researching the history of magic art in Russia. He saw the need to know history to create something new in Russia. His critical thinking did not only win him friends. RIP my friend! Dr. Solka, Thank you for letting us know about him. Do you have any information...

Richard Hatch

Sad news for the wider Erdnase and magic history community. According to an email from Dr. Solka, Oleg Anatolyevich Stepanov, the translator of Erdnase into Russian and the foremost Russian historian of magic, passed away in St. Petersburg, Russia on December 4, 2022 at age 62. I exchanged a few ema...

Richard Hatch

NY Times review of Steve Cuiffo‘s “A Simulacrum”:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/28/theater/originality-steve-cuiffo-derek-delgaudio.html

Richard Hatch

Edward M. Vernelo (Savage), Sphinx and Vernelo & Company proprietor in 1902, was married to Onez ("M. Inez") Galehouse and had six siblings (Laura, Herbert, Cora, William, Ervin, and Myrtle). If anyone other than Smith engaged directly with Erdnase, it was Savage - who distributed tru...

Richard Hatch

Here's a better link to purchase this (only 9 copies of the hard copy version left!): https://yeoldemagicmag.com/ Whoops, I was looking at the volume 9, number 2 issue, as the current issue (volume 9, number 3) didn't yet have a purchase link. There are 30 issues left of the Erdnase cover story iss...

Richard Hatch

Here's a better link to purchase this (only 9 copies of the hard copy version left!):
https://yeoldemagicmag.com/

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