341: Houdini-Opoly with Dick Brookz and Dorothy Dietrich

Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz own and operate the Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. They have both led extraordinary lives and worthy of talking more about their Houdini museum, the Houdini seance, and the former Magic Townhouse in New York City. They talk about all these things but the purpose of this particular podcast is to help the magic world learn more about their newest project, "Houdini-Opoly"

They have been working on this board game for over two years and with the Kickstarter campaign now being fully funded just before this podcast was released. So not it's on to meet their "stretch" goals to pay for the "enhancements". Thanks to your support, it appears that it will be in production soon this year. The Magic Word Podcast is selective in providing a platform for promoting individuals or pet projects. But this is one I support and think is of particular interest to our community. But even if you choose not to support the cause and buy a game, the rest of our chat is interesting as we talk about the old Magic Townhouse in New York City and why it closed and the museum moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania. We also discuss the Houdini seance and the museum.

Help the Kickstarter Campaign and get your "one of a kind" collectible Houdini board game. You can't escape the fun!

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The contest is over and we congratulate Pat Darienzo who won a copy of Danny Archer's eBook. — The contest is over and we congratulate **Pat Darienzo** who won a copy of Danny Archer's eBook.

097: John Shryock, Magical Captain of Land & Sea

John Shryock was joined by Ben Jackson in this special podcast.

John Shryock is a "favorite son" and good friend of Houston magicians. He and wife, Mari, regularly performed at The Magic Island for many years in its "hey day". But today when John is not with his wife and two daughters, he is either entertaining aboard cruise ships or performing at Warren & Annabelle's in Maui, Hawaii. While recently touring the continental U.S. with a somewhat abbreviated lecture schedule, John stopped through Houston for a couple nights. He and Fred Becker put on a show for Top Talent Productions on Saturday night that brought down the house. Well, they actually brought the audience to their feet not once but twice for standing ovations. A local veteran magician reported that it was the best magic show he had seen in years. On Sunday, John traveled to Lake Charles, Louisiana to lecture for Chip Romero and their magician's group. He then returned to Houston on Tuesday where he had a gala "welcome home" reception with many of the old Magic Island magicians coming out to rekindle old friendships and enjoy his lecture.

in this podcast, John talks about his work at sea and on land including Warren & Annabelle's and the now defunct Caesar's Magical Empire in Las Vegas. He also talks about character development and the importance of music in one's act. Some of this material is from his lecture so podcast listeners get a sneak peek at some of his lecture material.

As a bonus for this episode, local magician and multiple award winner,, Ben Jackson joined us. He also talked about character development and some "behind the scenes" preparation for his recent appearance as a contestant on NBC's Today Show with David Copperfield. He also gave us an overview of his T.E.D. talk he presented on "Simplicity vs. Complexity" using magic to demonstrate his points. That interesting talk is all on the video link below in this blog.

This podcast turned out to be quite enlightening and lots of fun well into the wee hours of the morning.

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Some of the "old crew" who worked together when John was a frequent visitor to The Magic Island. From left to right, Scott Hollingsworth (former Entertainment Director), Scott Wells, Phil Kampf, John Shryock, Frank Price and Jamie Salinas.

The Magic Word

A Podcast for Magicians, About Magicians, Hosted by a Full Time Professional Magician, Scott Wells

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