Max Maven's "With Jasper In Magicland"

[Guest]

An outstanding portrait, well written and poignant.
However, I have one correction. The last paragraph on page 74 states "1956 also saw the CBS series "It's Magic", to date the only weekly magic show to run on prime time U.S. television."
"It's Magic" actually premiered during the summer of 1955, not '56. I have seen the erroneous date of 1956 in several other articles as well. I remember distinctly because I was living in Winston-Salem, NC at the time and would go next door and watch the show with my friend and his family. I even remember Jay Marshall's appearance on one of the shows - he was dressed like a jungle explorer, complete with pith helmet, and he did the linking rings.

[Max Maven]

Thanks for the correction. When the surviving kinescopes surfaced in the 1980s (i.e., pre-Internet), no one seemed to know the date for the series -- includin those participants who were still alive at that time. The exception was Tommy Tucker, who told me it was 1956.

[Pete Biro]

Max's and Racherbaumer's articles are PRICELESS... the best things published in years. :genii:

[Matthew Field]

I heartily agree with Pete. Max's article must be the definistive Jay Marshall piece, and Jon's writing was, as usual, excellent.

I was proud to be able to publish a long piece by John Fisher, who was Jay's very good friend, in the July Magic Circular along with lots of never before seen photos, many by David Drummond.

Matt Field

[Guest]

Originally posted by Billy Haake:
"It's Magic" actually premiered during the summer of 1955, not '56.

I've seen numerous listings for the show starting in the summer of 1955. Unfortunately, they didn't list the various guests, so it would be hard to put a date on any particular episode.