The Genii Forum

Richard Hatch

Obie's Obit:
https://www.northcountrynow.com/obituaries/ronald-j-obie-obrien-89-formerly-canton

Richard Hatch

Hello everybody, I have been doing a lot of research on the cups and balls and I was wondering if anybody had information on people who were famous for performing the cups and balls, preferably as early in history as possible? I already know of Bosco and Conus as described by Robert Houdin, but sur...

Richard Hatch

I had heard a few years ago that he was in discussion with the University of Texas Library, on the recommendation of his friend David Mamet (who sold his mss. collection to them).

Richard Hatch

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234165296294

Richard Hatch

PressureFan wrote:Are there any more of his Sullivan performances online?

Here he is doing Left on Sullivan 10 years later, in 1968:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxvowzSuNrc

Richard Hatch

Just a quick follow up report on Eric DeCamps' show at the Sparta Avenue Stage. I borrowed my brother-in-law's car and made it from Syosset, NY to Sparta, NJ in about two hours, due to traffic conditions (it only took 90 minutes to get back afterwards). I was able to get dinner before the show at Ca...

Richard Hatch

Just bought a "senior" ticket (ah, the perks of old age!). Very excited to see this show, Eric. Now I just need to figure out how to get there from Utah this weekend! (Actually, I'll already be on Long Island if anyone wants a companion to carpool to this and split gas...)

Richard Hatch

Thanks, Bill, clearly he was not completely retired, and if Price's claim of continuous Berlin performances is true, he must have been in Berlin sometime between May 1936 and May 1937, which isn't quite the 16 months claimed (if he was there at all during that period).

Richard Hatch

I'm having trouble verifying something David Price wrote about Okito in his MAGIC: A Pictorial History of Conjurers in the Theater . On page 522 he wrote: "In 1936 and 1937 Theo [i.e., Okito] played sixteen consecutive months in Berlin, dividing the time among three theaters, the Wintergarten, ...

Richard Hatch

Hi Richard, what time is your discussion repeated? I looked in at 8am and 9am EST - ??? Thanks, JonT Jonathan, alas, the repeat was at 3 a.m. this morning EST. The schedule times were the times in Rome (CEST). I don't believe any other replays are planned or YouTube postings. I have been asked to r...

Richard Hatch

The hardcover edition of Dr. Herwig's book is now available in America (still in German, though). Previously, only the kindle version was available. I think magic collectors will want it, even if they don't read German. https://www.amazon.com/gro%C3%9Fe-Kalanag-Zauberer-Vergangenheit-verschwinden/dp...

Richard Hatch

At the best resolution and highest magnification of that photo that I can find, it might be this "NSDAP Supporters" pin (there are several variants, but all that I have found have the same basic design): https://hannasmilitaria.com/nsdap-supporters-pin/ Actually, with the high resolution ...

Richard Hatch

At the best resolution and highest magnification of that photo that I can find, it might be this "NSDAP Supporters" pin (there are several variants, but all that I have found have the same basic design):
https://hannasmilitaria.com/nsdap-supporters-pin/

Richard Hatch

I guess that in the photo of Hitler with Kalanag, Kalanag wears the N.S.D.A.P.-Ehrenzeichen (NSDAP Badge of Honor) on his reverse. You have better eyes than I do, Dr. Solka! That would be most interesting if it could be verified. I assume you mean the photo of Hitler and Schreiber with Hitler's dog...

Richard Hatch

The United Magicians for the World schedule has been posted online (subject to change without notice) and the good news is that many of the presentations will be replayed 12 hours after the livestream including my conversation with Dr. Herwig on the topic of "Was Kalanag a Nazi and does it mat...

Richard Hatch

Yeah, those photos of Schreiber/Kalanag performing at the slave labor camp Kohnstein (where the V2 rockets were assembled) are pretty sobering. In a footnote about it in his book, Dr. Herwig notes that he was unable to confirm another author (Rolf Aurich)'s contention that the audience did not inclu...

Richard Hatch

I'm not sure, Richard. It is mentioned in the "Magie" in 1944 (special issue "Arbeitstagung in Bad Aussee", p. 6) that the War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords was awarded to Schreiber by the Fuehrer at his headquarter (late in 1943 or early in 1944) after Schreiber's trip with...

Richard Hatch

I think: Due to the German prohibition of betraying trick secrets, it should be generally accepted outside Germany that Kalanag was an active fighter of the most secret resistance. His resistance fights have been so top secret that nobody and even the Fuehrer himself couldn't know about them, altho...

Richard Hatch

The United Magicians for the World schedule has been posted online (subject to change without notice) and the good news is that many of the presentations will be replayed 12 hours after the livestream including my conversation with Dr. Herwig on the topic of "Was Kalanag a Nazi and does it matt...

Richard Hatch

Malte Herwig, author of the excellent but controversial new biography of Helmut Schreiber (Kalanag) featured on the cover and excerpted in the June issue, will be speaking on this topic at the upcoming United Magicians for the World free streaming event. His presentation is currently scheduled for 4...

Richard Hatch

Berglas is also featured in Malte Herwig's controversial new book on Kalanag (excerpted for the Genii Cover story). His uncle Alexander Berglas was a member of the German Magic Circle before Jews were excluded from membership in 1936 and David Berglas was hired by Schreiber in late 1960 for a German...

Richard Hatch

Barnes & Noble is advertising that only its edition of the forthcoming book, David Copperfield's History of Magic , will include an extra chapter about Orson Welles: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/david-copperfields-history-of-magic-david-copperfield/1013620821?ean=9781982190743 No doubt Coppe...

Richard Hatch

Tonight's episode of NCIS: Los Angeles featured a character identified as "CIA Officer Steven Erdnase". The episode's writer and director (who also had a guest staring role) is "Frank Military". Anyone know if he's a magic fan?

Richard Hatch

This new documentary on German television has some great early footage of the pair from their cruise ship days, as well as lots of other interesting stuff. I was able to watch it here in the USA at this link:
https://tinyurl.com/ypu2mr6y

Richard Hatch

The European History of Magic Conference is still slated to take place in London September 9-12:
https://emhc2021.com/

Richard Hatch

Magic Collectors Expo in Las Vegas is still on for August 19-21, even though Magic Live (which was to be just after it) has been postponed. I understand it is sold out with a waiting list.

Richard Hatch

This doesn't help with contemporary magician/policemen, but, historically, super collector Chet Karkut of Connecticut and gambling collector (and Scarne associate) Audley Walsh of New Jersey come to mind as law enforcement professionals who were also active magicians. My guess is that they were both...

Richard Hatch

I've just read a funny chapter in Malte Herwig's book where David Berglas remembers how he taped about a dozen TV shows with Schreiber-Kalanag as producer in Germany in 1960. Apparently it was an early panel show that had psychics and other freaks perform their feats for a mixed panel of judges (in...

Richard Hatch

As a counterpoint to the Kalanag story, there is currently a proposal to rename a street in Berlin after a Jewish scholar of magic, Guenther Dammann, who was a victim of the Holocaust, as were his two brothers. This proposal has received support from David Copperfield and the President of the Berlin...

Richard Hatch

https://www.morgenpost.de/bezirke/charlottenburg-wilmersdorf/article231815203/Wissmannstrasse-Copperfield-schlaegt-neuen-Namen-vor.html

Richard Hatch

More thoughts on Erdnase from my interview last December with Alex Romanoff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i32nZ9lyTBY

Richard Hatch

Happy to report I did get my March issue on March 1st or 2nd, pretty much on schedule, here in northern Utah. Looking forward to "the rest of the story" in the April issue.

Richard Hatch

There is a zoom meeting tomorrow at 6 p.m. Berlin time (noon East Coast Time) about changing the name of Wissmannstrasse in Berlin. The Magic Circle of Berlin will be proposing that it be changed to Günther-Damann-Strasse. Dammann wrote three books while living with his family on this street, includ...

Richard Hatch

Correction: This movie is on Amazon, not Netflix. I don’t recall hearing the name James Podell.

Richard Hatch

In the new Netflix movie, "One Night in Miami", about a meeting in 1964 of NFL star Jim Brown, singer Sam Cooke, preacher Malcom X and the future Muhammad Ali (then still Cassius Clay), in the first few minutes a night club owner/booker at the Copacabana Nightclub in New York tells Sam Coo...

Richard Hatch

Here's a teaser video in English by German journalist, Malte Herwig, author of a new biography of Kalanag (Helmut Schreiber) to be published in Germany if a few weeks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBxrxjwm78E Amazon in the US does advertise the kindle version will be available March 22 and includ...

Richard Hatch

A young lady in Israel raised over half a million dollars with an indiegogo campaign to create a deck where the Queens were equal to the Kings and 2 Jacks were replaced by 2 Princesses. Now she's well past her goal on a second version, with more ethnicities represented: https://www.indiegogo.com/pro...

Richard Hatch

Wow! Thanks for posting that!

Richard Hatch

Ondrej, thanks for sharing this. Looking forward to the future installments!

Richard Hatch

My anniversary is December 31st, so it only works exactly once a year for me!

Search found 2015 matches