The Genii Forum

Gary Hunt

Diego, That is great news. The only issue is that the only way to get it is though a University library. Not sure how many would subscribe to these pubs. Time will tell. You can get them though the Old Fulton NY Post Card site (http://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html). Though it is almost impossibl...

Gary Hunt

Magic Footnotes has been updated with articles on an unknown magic craftsman, another handcuff queen and reviews of two on-line newspaper databases. Will be adding a couple of new bits and pieces of magic history each month. Here is the link: http://www.magicfootnotes.com Hope you enjoy and good hun...

Gary Hunt

Tom, Good question. The problem with selecting just two illusions is that the Victorian Era lasted 64 years and in that time magic underwent a huge evolution. Anyway, for help with the answer I turned to my favorite Victorian Era magic writer, and yours too I suspect, Professor Hoffmann. In Modern M...

Gary Hunt

Jeff,
In the Annals of Conjuring Clarke wrote that their first appearance in London was in 1864. They may have been touring the providences before that.

Gary Hunt

If you want to dig deeper into magicians who played American in the 1700's you need to look outside of the magic literature. My favorite place is in Odell's Annuals of the New York Stage. This massive work (I think 14 or more volumes) discusses every performer, big or small, who played NY city till ...

Gary Hunt

Joe,
You are welcome to link back to the articles.

Gary Hunt

Check out the redesigned Magic Footnotes. The site has been simplified and refocused. I plan on regularly posting bits of information I have run across while looking for something else. Much will be taken from historical newspapers and publications. I will also be posting information and tips on con...

Gary Hunt

Bill, The earliest I have been able to find a female magician, two actually, performing in America is 1839. The Albany Evening Journal of September 2, 1839 had an advertisement for Miss A. R. Mills, The Magicienne, performing at the Albany Museum. She had a great writer, here is part of the wording:...

Gary Hunt

I agree with everyone on the highlights of the conference. Though my favorite had to be visiting Brookledge and watching Marvyn Roy perform some of the effects he demonstrated back in the early 1940's when he worked for Thayers. He was having way to much fun and it was wonderful to watch. Can't wait...

Gary Hunt

Have always found that at any conference networking and catching up with old/new friends is what I enjoyed most. So having the conference located within walking distance of restaurants, bars, coffee shops, etc is important. Also, free time and spaces within the hotel is another key element. This is ...

Gary Hunt

What a great event for a magic history/collecting conference. (Hint..Hint) I have number of items I would like to get expert advice on. Sounds like a fun time was had by all.

Gary Hunt

I sure do hope that the on-line catalog is fixed before the auction. A number of pictures are missing. Not sure anyone would bid on lot 50 (Dean) sight unseen. Have a feeling this may not end well. Though it is going to be fun to watch. I seem to have scheduled some out of office "meetings"...

Gary Hunt

That was a fun auction. Got the one item I bid on, so I am happy. Any thoughts on the prices realized? Thought for the most part the book prices were far, with a few bargains to be had. Seems that the prices of the standard magic biographies and histories (Evans and the like) have stayed about the s...

Gary Hunt

If you want to see how the use of "Houdini" has changed over the years check out Google's new application: Ngram Viewer. Here is the link: <a class="postlink" href="http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/">http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/</a> . Ngram is a database of all of the word...

Gary Hunt

Just put up a new website focused on magic history and research. Named it Magic Footnotes because I wanted to have a place to put the little bits of information that are usually relegated to brief footnotes, if even there. I also wanted to start a place to put up information on internet resources re...

Gary Hunt

It is sad to see David & Anita Meyer leaving the management of the MCA, but I totally understand. I have been amazed that they have been able to keep it up so long. They have brought Magicol to a new level and the amount of work to put on Collectors' Weekend is amazing. They will be missed. At a...

Gary Hunt

This reminds me of the Garry Hayes auction that took place a few years ago. A local auction house that handles estates and the like. Hope they do a better job. Wonder what the story is?

Gary Hunt

Gary Hunt

Oops!! Here is the link: http://www.pictureaustralia.org/index.html
Enjoy.

Gary Hunt
Editor Emeritus
Magical Past-Times: the On-Line Journal of Magic History www.illusionata.com/mpt/
garyhunt@mindspring.com

Gary Hunt

Here is another interesting on-line source of magic images. Picture Australia is a site that searches the on-line image collections of Australian libraries and museums. This includes the Alma Conjuring Collection at the State Library of Victoria. Searching the term "magic" will bring up al...

Gary Hunt

Richard, Several years ago I got an e-mail from Thorn's great-great-grandson. He stated: "My parents are Jewish, and their family as well as their family records were destroyed in the Holocaust years in Poland. I was born in occupied Germany (British sector) after the War, in a displaced person...

Gary Hunt

Just go a copy of The Complete Rich Cabinet of Magical Curiosities by Eddie Dawes. This is a searchable electronic version on DVD (or CD) of the complete series from the Magic Circular, which started in 1972. It has been updated and all of the illustrations rescanned (and many are now in color!). Wi...

Gary Hunt

Here are two that I would suggest: 1. Fanch Guillemin, An Illustrated History of White Magic before Robert-Houdini, 2002. Here are links to two articles in Magical Past-Times taken from the book http://www.illusionata.com/mpt/view.php?id=137&type=articles http://www.illusionata.com/mpt/view.php?...

Gary Hunt

Lisa, The Bamberg book is a wonderful book and a must read. IMHO it is the best magic autobiography every written. Sorry about that Robert-Houdin. Working on my summer magic reading and thanks to H&R I just started Barry Wileys The Indescribable Phenomenon. I hate to say it but Jamy Ian Swiss re...

Gary Hunt

Clay,
Here is one that is on my want list. Found it in Brian McCullagh's "Under the Southern Cross".

Deane Le Cornu, Just a Minute, A Brief History of Garden Ring 148 Inc. 1955-2000

Gary Hunt

Gary Hunt

Clay, Now I have more stuff to add to my want list :( Here are two more titles: Rick Pugh, Nelson Schmitt, Maurice Lowe Wizards Of Wichita - A Society Of Magicians 50th Anniversary - Souvenir Record 1946-1996 Ring 47, 1996 George Tutter A History Of The Youngstown Magic Club - An Account of the Orig...

Gary Hunt

Have dropped both the museum and publisher an e-mail. Will let you know what I find out.

Gary Hunt

Gary Hunt

Has anyone seen Extraordinary Exhibitions: Broadsides from the Ricky Jay Collection at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco? This sounds like an amazing exhibit. Any information on the catalog that accompanies the exhibit? There is mention of it on their site, but no ordering informa...

Gary Hunt

What is interesting is that half of the respondents are not members of IBM and three-quarters are not members of SAM. That is assuming you would read the magazine that comes with the membership. The question is why do so many magicians not belong to the IBM or SAM? Does it say anything about the qua...

Gary Hunt

Kevin, Thanks.I needed a laugh. Someone bid on it. Amazing. A collection of photos of near actual Houdini memorabilia would be a great topic for an article or presentation at a collector conference. Just a thought. Gary Hunt Editor Emeritus Magical Past-Times: the On-Line Journal of Magic History ww...

Gary Hunt

I set up a separate database for my magazines and designed a simple data entry screen. Worked very well. Of course as I added data I kept thinking up new fields to add. Next will tackle other printed materials (again I may use a separated database/input screen or just integrate it into the book data...

Gary Hunt

Dont forget my personnel favorite: Magical Bibliographies: A Guide.

Gary Hunt

Gary Hunt

Kevin, The program has a search function. It also has a report generating function, so you can just print out the data fields you want. I have not really gotten much into this feature yet. Just did some basic title author reports. It takes a little while to get use to, but the data entry screen can ...

Gary Hunt

Kevin, Just took the plunge and am in the middle of putting my collection into a database. Before I had written records and had tried a database, which was wiped out after a hard drive crash several years ago. I looked at a number of book collecting programs and finally settled on BookCat. It is a v...

Gary Hunt

Kevin, Did you notice that they put the 460 lots on Ebay Live Auction? So it looks like this will be even more interesting. Check it out at: http://search.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/search/LiveAuctionSearch?ahid=3274&ccn=Collectibles+%26+Memorabilia&isl=0&lc=1&sactlgid=6353&soitems...

Gary Hunt

Geno, Any idea when the hard copy catalog will be available and how to order a copy? When will the on-line catalog be finished? It has been at 460 ideas for a couple of weeks now. This should be an interesting event. Gary Hunt Contributing Editor Magical Past-Times: the On-Line Journal of Magic Hist...

Gary Hunt

Clay your point on magic collecting as an investment is right one. One of the problems with magic collecting as an investment is the limited number of buyers. One just has too look at the poster market too see what can happen. It seems that an ever-increasing number of collections are coming onto th...

Gary Hunt

Let me start out by saying that Magical Past-Times: the On-Line Journal of Magic History is alive and well at: www.illusionata.com/mpt/ . I turned over the editing and hosting duties to Todd Karr becase he has the resources to take MPT to the next level. So keep an eye open for some great new materi...

Gary Hunt

A question for the hard core. What would you consider the rarest (ie hardest to find but not unique) magic biographies, autobiographies or histories? They should contain more that just a mention of some performer and be something that you enjoyed reading or would like to read (compared to just ownin...

Gary Hunt

It is the SAM Magic Hall of Fame and Magic Museum. Contact John Engman, PO Box 80577, San Marino, CA 91118 for information about visiting.

Gary Hunt

Gary Hunt

A new issue of Magical Past-Times: The On-Line Journal of Magic History is now online. Six new articles: Letter from John Henry Anderson To His Son by Houdini; More Snippets from An Illustrated History of White Magic before Robert-Houdin by Fanch Guillemin; March Hare By Ben Robinson; A Revelation b...

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