346: Stan Allen is Not Mr. Nobody

Discuss the latest news and rumors in the magic world.
User avatar
Scott Wells
Posts: 474
Joined: June 3rd, 2009, 3:48 pm
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Contact:

346: Stan Allen is Not Mr. Nobody

Postby Scott Wells » March 2nd, 2017, 4:54 pm

Even though MAGIC Magazine is now part of our collective history, Stan Allen continues to be vital to our community. In particular, now that there is no MAGIC Magazine, Stan can turn his undivided attention to the organization of what will be annual MAGIC Live conventions. In this first contribution of what will be known as the Las Vegas Chronicles (2017 edition), Stan Allen's office was the first stop in our chain of a dozen appointments with local magicians.

In this podcast, Stan talks about the evolution of MAGIC Magazine and his prognostication of and advice for digital magic magazines. Near the end of our chat, Stan acknowledges that he no longer has the magazine around which to format the convention. So what will be in store for this year and coming years for MAGIC Live? Tune in and listen to this week's podcast to find out and where you will also be able to view a special video recorded in Stan's office as he opens his display case and shows us some memorabilia from past MAGIC Live events.

You can view the video, see some photos, read the blog, listen to the podcast online and download the MP3 file at: https://www.themagicwordpodcast.com/sco ... -mr-nobody
Visit The Magic Word at http://themagicwordpodcast.com/

User avatar
Richard Kaufman
Posts: 27054
Joined: July 18th, 2001, 12:00 pm
Favorite Magician: Theodore DeLand
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Re: 346: Stan Allen is Not Mr. Nobody

Postby Richard Kaufman » March 2nd, 2017, 10:31 pm

That's a really dumb title. Why would he be "Mr. Nobody"? Do have any idea how insulting that is?
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

User avatar
Scott Wells
Posts: 474
Joined: June 3rd, 2009, 3:48 pm
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Contact:

Re: 346: Stan Allen is Not Mr. Nobody

Postby Scott Wells » March 2nd, 2017, 11:31 pm

Listen to the last minute of our chat. Also, watch for an upcoming cover picture of the Magic Circular.
Visit The Magic Word at http://themagicwordpodcast.com/

User avatar
CraigMitchell
Posts: 1790
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Magic
Contact:

Re: 346: Stan Allen is Not Mr. Nobody

Postby CraigMitchell » March 3rd, 2017, 8:42 am

:D

magicrobharv
Posts: 101
Joined: April 25th, 2010, 5:34 pm

Re: 346: Stan Allen is Not Mr. Nobody

Postby magicrobharv » March 7th, 2017, 7:31 pm

Great podcast. I really enjoyed Stan's explanation of Magic Magazine's digital format strategy. Stan Allen, RK, Randy Pitchford, Kozmo and anyone else who publishes magic periodicals – my respect for what they do knows no bounds. It’s easy to take what they do for granted.

performer
Posts: 3508
Joined: August 7th, 2015, 10:35 pm

Re: 346: Stan Allen is Not Mr. Nobody

Postby performer » March 7th, 2017, 9:05 pm

I still think that Abra was an incredible achievement. A WEEKLY magazine! And it started before the Second World War and lasted for decades without missing a single issue. Sure, there wasn't much in it and you could read the whole thing in about ten minutes but I always used to quite like it. I used to advertise in it and I got far better results from it than any of the major magazines like Genii, Linking Ring etc;

Ken Brooke once said you would be lucky if you even got one sale from an Abra advert. I used take in an incredible amount of money by doing so. I did make the ads a little offbeat though.

Richard Hatch
Posts: 2095
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Providence, Utah
Contact:

Re: 346: Stan Allen is Not Mr. Nobody

Postby Richard Hatch » March 8th, 2017, 1:33 am

performer wrote:I still think that Abra was an incredible achievement. A WEEKLY magazine! And it started before the Second World War and lasted for decades without missing a single issue.


Actually, it started about half a year after the end of WW2, with the first issue dated 2 February 1946. But it was an incredible run, more than 6 decades, 3,296 issues!

Here's the wikipedia entry on it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodliffe's_Abracadabra

performer
Posts: 3508
Joined: August 7th, 2015, 10:35 pm

Re: 346: Stan Allen is Not Mr. Nobody

Postby performer » March 8th, 2017, 4:52 am

I really liked Abra despite the lack of content. All the magic dealers used to grumble that they never made any money out of it but felt obliged to stock it!
I met Goodliffe in his office once. I completely forget the reason. I do know he became a millionaire from selling religious artifacts and I have been told he was given a papal knighthood for services to the Catholic church which apparently is a very rare honour. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a papal knighthood in the first place.
I remember he used to disapprove strongly of gospel magic and indeed railed against it in his columns. I heard that when sales of the magazine would slow down he would push them up again by making some controversial comment to stir things up once more and increase sales! It seems after he died future editors didn't make use of that technique. I think if Goodliffe was still alive Abra would still be going.


Return to “Buzz”