219: Lee Earle - Clear Vision

Lee Earle has been a leader and pioneer in the field of mentalism for decades. He recently came through Houston on his "Farewell" Lecture Tour where he imparted some of his years of experience in a concise two and a half hour lecture filled with advice and solid, commercial mentalism effects. Unfortunately, Lee has not created nor marketed many new effects over the past several years. Moreover, he has not been seen on the convention or lecture scene either. As a result, he is best known, remembered and respected by those "long of tooth". If fact, he said that perhaps 80% of those attending his 20+ lectures across the U.S. had gray heir. Too bad for this generation who missed out.

Lee has had a remarkable career having started out as a magician then transforming into a mentalist, which is the typical way people get into mentalism. He laments that actors and drama majors don't go immediately into mentalism and skip magic altogether thus not "tainting" them with "bad habits" that are hard to break in the performance of mentalism.

For those who are unfamiliar with Lee Earle's background, he was the secretary and membership chairman of the Psychic Entertainers' Association (P.E.A.) for a number of years. He authored the newsletter "Syzygy", produced and marketed several mentalism tricks along with Larry Becker under their company, "Mentalism Unlimited". He was the medium who developed and produced "Manifestations" in Phoenix, Arizona. And early in his magic career, he started the circuit for performing in large, upscale RV Parks across the southern part of the U.S.

The podcast begins with opening a can of Diet RC Cola then we get down to business. Lee talks about his experience of performing magic at Recreational Vehicle (RV) Parks across the south in the 1970's. He then talks about his transition from magic to mentalism and the stumbles along the way that made him more determined. Lee then tells us about "Manifestations", the seance he conducted from 1986 through 1989, some stories from the performances and its demise.

Lee concludes this podcast talking about his friend and business partner, Larry Becker, and their business "Mentalism Unlimited" which is no longer in business. The items remaining are being sold by Lee during his "Farewell" Lecture Tour which is helping him clean out his inventory following his move from Phoenix, Arizona to Atlanta, Georgia.

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Enjoy supplemental material from Lee Earle as he talks about the basic premises upon which mentalism is based. Plus he gives some great advice on use of sound (i.e. microphones, speakers, etc.)

218: Steve Spill - I Lie For Money

I'm reluctant to produce a podcast solely for the intent purposes of promoting something that someone wants to pitch; however, there are exceptions. And this is one of them.

Steve Spill has had a magical life...and it's not over yet! One could say that Steve "grew up" in the Magic Castle because his father, Sandy Spillman, was a long-time host and also conducted the seances there for many years. Through his early teenage years he had unprecedented access to hang out with many of the greats such as Dai Vernon, Charlie Miller, Francis Carlyle, Kuda Bux and many, many others. Steve also worked at the Jolly Jester with Bob Sheets in the early days of "bar magic" in Aspen, Colorado. Later, the two of them opened the "Brook Farm Inn of Magic" in Delaware. And for about the past 20 years, he has owned and operated "Magicopolis" in Santa Monica, California.

You can follow Magicopolis on Twitter @Magicopolis and find them on Facebook at http://facebook.com/MAGICOPOLIS (note the all caps for their name plus be sure to look for the "monkey" profile picture so you know you have the correct "Magicopolis")

Steve and I first met over 30 years ago when he came through to perform at Houston's Magic Island and I was one of the House Magicians. Although it was not quite like "two ships passing in the night", we had fallen out of touch with one another since then as we both followed our separate paths. When Steve contacted me with the idea of pitching his new book, I knew that we needed to catch up to talk about all the "water that has run under our bridges."

Steve begins at the end by talking about Magicopolis which he built and owns and where he and his wife, Bozene, appear weekly. He then talks about his many experiences at the Magic Castle and relates stories about the eight mentors at the Castle who shaped his future. He also talks about Bob Sheets and the Jolly Jester in Aspen as well as the Brook Farm Inn of Magic. There a lot of stories from his new book plus some that are not there bu only appear here in this podcast.

You can read many of these stories plus dozens more in Steve's new book, "I Lie for Money" coming out soon and only available through Amazon. You can Click Here for more details and to order your copy.

Download this podcast in an MP3 file by Clicking Here and then right click to save the file. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed by Clicking Here. Remember, you can download it through iTunes. See the preview page by Clicking Here. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through TuneIn.com by Clicking Here.

Exclusive Interview with Professional Magician & Magic Theater Owner Steve Spill

Order your copy of Steve's book (and support The Magic Word) by clicking on the link below to Amazon.

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217: The Good Old Days

This podcast may not be for everyone. If you are interested in magic history and like to hear stories about days and magicians gone by, then you will enjoy this podcast. It also notes the passing of some of the greats, particularly to Texas magicians and to me personally. I attended the funeral of long-time magician Doug Kornegay who was a Past President of the Texas Association of Magicians (T.A.O.M.) and Dean of S.A.M. Assembly #19. Many magicians turned out for his service.

And while there I spoke with Madeline and Eugene Willard, a couple children of the late "Willard the Wizard", who told me some stories of their famous father.. A few days following the service we learned of the passing of another T.A.O.M. President, Claude Crowe, who was the driving force behind the Texas Collectors group and a frequent attendee and presenter at the Los Angeles Conference on Magic History. Clause hosted our annual Texas Collectors meeting during the Austin Magic Auction which always takes place the night before the auction. Despite the inclement icy weather, Claude made the 80 mile drive to be with us that night.

And while searching through the internet, I happened upon a short recording I did with Aldo and Rachel Colombini. That recording is separate from the podcast as it resides on a server with AudioBoom.com but the link is provided below in this blog.

So I guess what I'm saying is to treasure the memories of friends and times gone by. But remember that we are creating new memories now because "these are the good old days".

The story of the Willard magic family, who presented one of the largest magic shows in the world in their own tent throughout the southern U.S. from 1880-1970.

00:01:12 - During the Texas Magic Collectors Meeting hosted by Claude Crowe the night before the Austin Magic Auction, Kent Cummins talks about the origins of the World Famous Magic Auction. This may have limited interest to a regional group, but it is nice to hear some of the names and dates Kent talks about in this talk. If your club is thinking about hosting a magic auction, Kent tells how Austin began which could be applied to your own local group. You will hear the voice of Claude Crowe introducing Kent at the beginning of his talk. We learned that Claude passed away 12 days later after this meeting.

00:32:31 - Noted collector of Houdini memorabilia, Arthur Moses, talks about some of his recent acquisitions among his 5,200 artifacts. He also talks briefly about Harry Houdini's brother, Hardeen. Arthur gave a brief presentation of some of his items that he talks about in this chat.

00:43:22 - During a memorial service for Doug Kornegay (Dean of the Houston, Texas S.A.M. Assembly #19), I spoke with Madeline and Gene Willard, two of the children of Willard the Wizard. They delighted me with many stories of their father's tent show. Near the end of our chat, we were joined by Walter "Zaney" Blaney who had some stories of his own.

listen to ‘Scott's Spotcast - April 26, 2011: Aldo & Rachel Colombini talk about their U.S. Farewell Lecture Tour with Scott Wells’ on audioBoom

I recently ran across a five minute chat I had with Aldo and Rachel Colombini in 2011. I had arranged what they prophetically called their "Farewell Lecture Tour". I think you will enjoy hearing our old friend one more time.