400: David Berglas - International Man of Mystery, Part One

David Berglas has an affect on me.

Okay, that is corny. But it is true that he has influenced and inspired more magicians and mentalists in the world than can be counted. Not only has he changed how we look at magic, David Berglas has significantly changed magic on television.

The BBC called him the “Godfather of TV Magic”. Born in 1926, Berglas escaped to Britain from Nazi Germany at age 11. He first became interested in Magic in his 20’s and studied psychotherapy at university before becoming a professional magician in 1952. His groundbreaking TV show in 1986, “The Mind of David Berglas” paved the way for all others to follow up to this very day. He is the author of several books including, "The Berglas Effects" and "The Mind & Magic of David Berglas", among others. And he is an multiple award winner of several prestigious organizations and is the Past President of The Magic Circle.

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I was part of a momentous meeting organized by Spyros Melaris in 2002 when he arranged a dinner meeting with David Berglas and his wife, Ruth, with Banachek and his wife, Heidi, and me and my wife, Kathy. It was a wonderful, memorable dinner with Banachek sharing his spoon bending to David and magic talk late into the evening. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, no photos of that evening exist except those in our minds.

It was at that first meeting that we all became good friends and I am glad that we could get together again for this podcast where David talks about his beginnings in magic, work both in front of and behind the cameras on television and film, plus lots of stories about celebrated names of magicians, most of whom are long since passed.

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Magicians' Valhalla

Although the list below is not exhaustive nor in any particular order, it does reflect the names of many well-known (and some lesser known) magicians, spouses and assistants who passed on in 2017. Some may not be as well-known to you, but they were my personal friends (hey, it is my blog!). If you are unfamiliar with any of these names, then it would behoove you to do a little online search of what these people have contributed to our craft. If you have someone you think was overlooked, then please post the name in the comments below on this blog.

Those whose names are highlighted were featured or interviewed here on The Magic Word Podcast. You can click on their name to revisit and listen to their voices again. David Oliver put together a video of some names and dates of passing of these (and others) in a YouTube video. Click Here to see that video.

Phil Messina

Daryl Easton (Martinez)

Bob Cassidy

Jim Zachary

Ed Thomas

Jessica “Shedini” Moore

George Kovari, Jr.

"Chuck" Kirchner

John Moehring

Eugene Burger

Tom Jones

Eddie Gibson

"Fast" Eddie Silverman

Kenneth Silverman

Paul Diamond

Peter Diamond

Steve Baker

Kevin King

Celeste Evans

Tim Glancey

Ian Ogilvy

Trevor Dawson

James Hamilton

Mike O’Dowd

Bill McIlhany

Michael Giles

Harold Greenbaum

Philip Morris

Ray Goulet

Lee Delano

Fantasio (Ricardo Roucau).

Deanna Shimada

Heidi Larsen

Johnny Fox

Happy New Year! I've got mine. Have you ordered yours yet? Click on the graphic above to visit Amazon.com and purchase your 2018 calendar while helping supprt The Magic Word Podcast. Or you can Click Here.to visit the Amazon.com site for more inform… — Happy New Year! I've got mine. Have you ordered yours yet? Click on the graphic above to visit Amazon.com and purchase your 2018 calendar while helping supprt The Magic Word Podcast. Or you can Click Here.to visit the Amazon.com site for more information. Thank you and Happy Holidays!

302: Day Four -2016 I.B.M. Convention

The final day of the convention was no less packed than the others starting off with the annual Order of Merlin breakfast. This is for I.B.M. members with 25 years or more of consecutive membership. This year's speaker was Richard "Rick" Heath who spoke about 40 years of artwork in Le Grand David show. The final day of the Triple Treat followed. Then after lunch, the pages of The Linking Ring magazine came alive with lectures by the columnists and editor in several break-out rooms.

Eric Jones gave the final lecture in the banquet hall and the evening show entertained the registrants and public alike with a show hosted by Steve Bargatze and included Joseph Gabriel, Thommy Ten and Amelie, and a special appearance by Johnny Thompson and Shawn Farquhar dressed as doves. The show closed with the illusions of Scott Pepper. We then retreated to the hotel where we had a farewell party/reception for everyone.

Time Stamps for this podcast:

00:02:34 - Richard "Rick" Heath was the artist who worked for Le Grand David magic show. Here he gives a talk to the Order of Merlin members at their annual breakfast meeting. He talks about the 40 years of artwork in the show: posters, props, backdrops and portraits. you can download and view the special, full color booklet that Rick gave to attendees by Clicking Here.

00:38:39 - John McLaughlin, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, talks about how he has been enjoying the convention and what he's learned and what magic he's doing in his daily life.

00:53:00 - Joshua Jay talks about his recent lecture during the convention, "Tragic Magic" plus other things that he and Andi Gladwin are working on with Vanishing, Inc. and the MagiFest.

00:55:56 - Former National President of the Texas Association of Magicians, and the Entertainment Director of the former Magic Island in Houston, Scott Hollingsworth, talks about some of his favorite parts of the convention. He also talks about the upcoming T.A.O.M. convention coming in September 2-5 in Corpus Christi, Texas,

01:06:52 - Past National President of the S.A.M. talks about his favorite parts (so far) of this convention, plus a plug for the upcoming S.A.M. convention in Indianapolis and the Magic Compass.

01:14:03 - Steve Bargatze tells about his behind-the-scenes as he prepared topical humor for the convention.

01:25:18 - First International Vise President of the I.B.M., Michael Finney, talks about the changing scene on magic conventions plus his upcoming "Dry Heat Classic" charity golf event.

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. 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. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

Thank you everyone who entered the contest to win one of two hard copies of Rick's booklet that accompanied his speech before the "Order of Merlin" members' breakfast. Watch for upcoming opportunities to win prizes from The Magic Word.

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301: Day Three - 2016 I.B.M. Convention

Another full day beginning with the second day of the Triple Treat that featured three different magicians repeating their performances and lectures on three different days: Paul Vigil, Richard Turner and Brian Gillis. I saw my friend Paul Vigil today and expected perfection and received it. He was awesome. Be sure to catch our conversations at the Magic Castle in previous podcasts here.

I then served as a judge in the close-up competition in the afternoon. The afternoon "Super Session" featured four magicians teaching four pet effects: John "Handsome Jack" Lovick, Steve Bargatze, Chris Randall and Shawn Farquhar. The evening brought the annual banquet including a special performance by Cody Fisher. The evening show was the "Champions of Magic" show that was the six finalists in the stage competition hosted by Joel Ward and with the final act by Trevor and Lorena Watters.

The late night lecture was a special treat: Joshua Jay giving his lecture on "Tragic Magic". This was a fascinating, if not macabre, lecture on those magicians, some famous and some not, who died tragic deaths.

An award-winning cups and balls routine performed by Doug Gorman and Michael Tallon of San Antonio, Texas.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:13 - Local San Antonio magician, Doug Gorman, talks about how the local magicians helped promote the IBM convention plus Doug gives some tips on working restaurants, how to get booked and problems unique in this area when competing with mariachis in restaurants.

00:17:43 - Talent Chairman, Shawn Farquhar, tells how hi got the talent booked for this convention plus he gets sidetracked into telling lots of stories including one about the time at the Body Shop in Los Angeles when he punched a security guard.

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. 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. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here