CIA / Espionage / Secret service article help

[IrishMagicNews]

Hi everyone,

I am hoping someone here can help me in my search. I recently took out a iGenii digital subscription and am trying to find a series of articles I read in the hard copy mag some years back. Does the following ring a bell?

The articles (maybe only numbering 2 or 3 in total) were written anonymously and purtained to be from a secret service / CIA op or at least someone who was involved in the espionage field. They dealt with clandestine methods used by such persons which may be of use to magicians.

I remember little of the writings save my reaction to them. I just thought they were fascinating. If memory serves me right, it was stated by Richard that they just landed on his desk out of no where.

Any help as to the name of the articles or indeed the Vol and and issue numbers would be greatly appreciated. I have searched iGenii but not having a name of author or article it is hard to site through everything.

Thanks

Brendan

[Eoin O'hare]

Maybe this would be of interest...
Link
and this...
Link

[Marco Pusterla]

I think you're talking about the "Magician at Large" series, by an otherwise unidentified "K.L." starting in June 2002 (vol. 65, p. 77), then in the September issue (p. 71) and the last one (I believe) in the May 2003 issue (p. 80).

Hope this helps!

[Marty Demarest]

Brendan, you might also be interested in the DVD set "The Expert at the Card Table" produced by Houdini Picture Corporation, featuring Allan Ackerman. The producer, Geno Munari, did a wonderful job of including interviews with Erdnase hunters, including Bart Whaley, who extensively discusses how his work in military intelligence has informed and assisted his work as a magic historian. It's perhaps a bit tangential, but fascinating nonetheless.

[Dustin Stinett]

In an incredible coincidence, that DVD set is for sale at a good price here:

http://www.geniimagazine.com/forums/ubb ... Post251013

[IrishMagicNews]

Marco,

That is what i was talking about. Thank you.

Eoin, thanks also for pointing me towards the books. Placing an order for them as we speak.

Brendan

[Marty Demarest]

Also:
"The War Magician" by David Fisher

From the back jacket copy:
"Jasper Maskelyne was drinking a glass of razor blades on a London stage when the war began. Recruited to head up the top-secret 'Magic Gang,' he helped write one of the most amazing chapters in the history of warfare.
"Masters of wizardry and illusion, they hid the Suez Canal. They moved Alexandria Harbor. They turned tanks into trucks, created entire armies out of shadows, launched a phantom fleet of submarines and even a ghost battleship. In one of their more magnificent triumphs, they sent Rommel's crack Afrika Corps into confused retreat...
"And that was only the begninning of the most incredible true story of World War II"

"To me World War II involved something very strange and rather alarming--the focusing of my whole imagination and knowledge on how best to mobilize the world of magic against Hitler..." -Jasper Maskelyne

It's a pretty good read.

M.

[Richard Kaufman]

It's also a pile of hooey. I really need to publish Richard Stokes's entire piece about Maskylne that debunks almost everything about his WWII exploits.

[Marty Demarest]

Just don't tell me he didn't poison a man through his shoes. Some illusions are too good to shatter.

[Richard Kaufman]

He didn't poison a man through his shoes.
Sorry.

[Gregory Edmonds]

Please do publish the piece, Richard.

[magicrobharv]

Yes Richard, I second that motion :) please publish the piece. Can you give a quick Reader's Digest version of some of the most common misconceptions about Maskylne's war/magic involvement? Thanks.

Robert

[Richard Kaufman]

If I recall, all of Maskyline's claims save part of one are false.

[Jonathan Townsend]

It's also a pile of hooey. I really need to publish Richard Stokes's entire piece about Maskylne that debunks almost everything about his WWII exploits.

Yes please. Can this be done in the frame of how the myths were propigated as well? IMHO it serves our community to have some socially congruent myths and also devices in place to dispell them when they no longer serve.

Look at Connan Doyle's insistance that Houdini had "help". IMHO some folks are better off with their stories of magician/spy/super hero/card cheat and their contrived exploits. Not bad as a normative force, popular mythology. In plaintext: know thy place. Cross the line and it's all fantasy.

Cue the blaring guitars and the lyric:
Why ask why?
For by the by and by
All mysteries are just more
Needles in the camel's eye

[mrgoat]

If I recall, all of Maskyline's claims save part of one are false.

Publish then edit the wiki to show the truth. I've always wanted to edit a wiki for a good reason as opposed to just naughty shenanigans! There is a section mentioning Stokes, but it needs a citation!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_Maskelyne

[Ted]

Maybe this would be of interest...
Link

That is a very interesting book.

I had a routine based on poisoning a la spy movie fun for ages, then I read that book and (following a brainstorming session with Paul Brook) completely changed the method to basically reflect what a spy would really do (if they followed the methods in the manual).

The end result was much cleaner. Paul performed it recently, completely impromtu, at a cinema with friends. It worked perfectly, as we expected. Buy the book and apply the techniques. The truth will set you free :)