595: George Schindler - What Da Dean Does

The Dean of the Society of American Magicians, George Schindler, has lived through many generations of magicians both celebrated and relatively unknown and he remembers them all. This week George shares many of his stories. George will be celebrating his 92nd birthday on March 31st this year and his memory of events is as clear as if they happened yesterday. He is an author, actor, performer, creator, lecturer, magic dealer, ventriloquist, comedy writer, and so much more. He regularly contributes to the M.U.M. magazine (the journal for the S.A.M.) with a monthly column and he maintains his relevancy by keeping current with the times and technology. He is a true treasure in our magic community and we owe him so much for what he has given us.

http://www.magicsam.com George Schindler is the Lifetime Dean of the Society of American Magicians, Past National President and Honorary Lifetime Member.

George Schindler is a magician, ventriloquist, author and the Dean of the Society of American Magicians.

George has known and worked with many top celebrity actors, directors and magicians. In this week’s episode, George shares stories about Woody Allen, Dai Vernon, Slydini, Ed Mishell, David Copperfield, Frank Garcia, Abe Hurowitz, Shari Lewis and many, many more. This is a delightful trip down memory lane from one of our community’s true treasures.

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569: Joe Stevens - Magic Dealer Trailblazer

Joe Stevens opened Stevens Magic Emporium in 1973 and over the decades has been a trailblazer introducing new ideas and concepts now ingrained into our magic landscape. His Greater Magic Video Library set the standard for professionally presenting magic instruction on video. He also created the GeMiNi Network in the 1990’s which was the forerunner of every magic forum we see and use today. He also instituted the Wichita Conclave that moved to Las Vegas where it became the Desert Magic Seminar with big dollar prizes and trophies from Siegfried & Roy. These are but a few of the innovations developed by Stevens Magic Emporium and they still thrive as a brick-and-mortar magic shop plus a successful online presence guided by the next generation of the Stevens family, Mark Stevens.

There was so much to talk about this week but Joe only had a limited amount of time to chat. So unfortunately we never got around to talking about the GeMiNi online magic forum that used to be a “dial-up” service in the early days of the internet. Some of that content is still available on their website, including some of my offerings. We also talked briefly about Nick Ruggerio, former co-owner of Collectors’ Workshop. Since we recorded this episode, unfortunately Nick has passed so I never got a chance to have him on the podcast.

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.

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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.