Classic magic by D.C.

[Guest]

A true classic show, I can still recall when I saw the show on TV in the 80s.

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid= ... 16393823&q

[Guest]

Just watched his 3rd special on Google video. Wow, what an artist! There's a reason he's at the top of our field!

Thanks for the link.

Ben S

[Guest]

I can't believe that the entire special is available!

[Richard Kaufman]

I'm mystified about the copyright issues here. That TV special is certainly not public domain. I wonder why David is allowing it to remain on Google.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
I'm mystified about the copyright issues here. That TV special is certainly not public domain. I wonder why David is allowing it to remain on Google.

Two possible reasons

a) The production compant don't know it's there
b) The production company think it is good marketing

Comedy Central have just forced youtube to remove all the content they had up. youtube complied, obviously.

I think it's an error as it's amazing viral marketing.

[Guest]

A number of entire shows are available there.

I just watched the "girlfriend" scene from #3.

Wow.........absolutely great, right down to the squirting rose at the end. Great theater, great continuity, and great magic.

This early show is a reminder of his early career. While he has had a number of incredible illusions in the later shows, those early ones were more endearing somehow.

I was lucky to have seen DC in a small club in Honolulu a year before his first TV show. I recall that his dancing was already spot-on....he was already very polished. Even the uber-cool, hard-to-please surfer crowd thought he was good!

Hope they leave these shows up for a few days. It takes a lot of time to watch each one (well, about 48 minutes ;) )

[Guest]

word to the wise.

[DS Edit: Link repair only]

[Guest]

A long time ago, someone told me that DC had started down a path to greatness making corporate commitments and having very professional sound work and choreography done for his shows. Those years of honing his craft show in his refined presentations.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
I'm mystified about the copyright issues here. That TV special is certainly not public domain. I wonder why David is allowing it to remain on Google.

A full-length popular movie (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) was on Google Video for almost a month before it was taken down. It appears that Google and Youtube are lax when it comes to video removal, only taking them down when someone complains or threatens to sue.

[Guest]

A few weeks ago, I confess that I spent a couple of evenings watching all the available DC specials on Google Canada.

It made me nostalgic for good theatrical magic on television. The "reality tv" street magic approach has its charms, of course, but I miss the theatre setting and the opportunity to see a showman work an audience.

JMT

[Guest]

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
I'm mystified about the copyright issues here. That TV special is certainly not public domain. I wonder why David is allowing it to remain on Google.

Perhaps he understands that low quality video is a great advertisement for a high quality product folks could purchase.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
I'm mystified about the copyright issues here. That TV special is certainly not public domain. I wonder why David is allowing it to remain on Google.

He doesn't own those early specials, the Cates Brothers where the producers. Sometime around the China special, David decided to start producing the specials himself - part of it out of creative control and the other for financial reasons. Every now and then the Cates Brothers would re-run a special, which David didn't like because he didn't make money on the second airing.

[Guest]

There are many later specials available online, too. The ones I watched were:

"The Magic of ABC" (1977)
"The Magic of David Copperfield":
1 (1978 Orson Welles)
2 (1979 Bill Bixby, Jewelry)
3 (1980 Jack Klugman, Ferrari)
4 (1981 Jason Robards, Lear Jet)
5 (1983 Statue of Liberty)
6 (1984 Grand Canyon)
8 (1986 Great Wall of China)
11 (1989 Explosive Encounter)
12 (1990 Niagara Falls)
15 (1993 Fires of Passion)
16 (1995 Unexplained Forces)

I thought it was interesting to watch the shows change. Dropping the star host to do much of his own narration, for example. The Statue of Liberty special had several guest stars, but he didn't have a host open the show as he had before.