937: Jim Cunningham - The Spirit of Eugene

Jim Cunningham is the voice behind the Eli Marks Mystery Series, penned by John Gaspard. For many seasons, he was affiliated with both the Minneapolis Twins (baseball) and the Minneapolis Wild (hockey) teams. But his real passion is for all things spooky. Many years ago, he called on the Master, Eugene Burger, to help him develop a seance which he still does to this day.

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In this episode Jim talks about what it’s like to be a sports announcer personality and how he gets jobs as a book reader for Audible.com books. He shares a very interesting story about how he met and got to work closely with Eugene Burger. Jim also tells about his affinity for all things that go bump in the night. This is a perfect episode for this Month of Boo.

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The winner for Week #2 was Michael Skowronski. Congratulations, Michael. A Houdini Legacy Deck of cards will be awarded to a different winner each week in October. These beautiful cards were designed by the Past National President and artist, John Midgley. If you are interested in learning more about these cards and the cause, then please visit their website at https://houdinicards.com

936: Tony Hassini - Merlin Maker

Tony Hassini is well into his 80’s and has earned a time to look back at his illustrious career and all that he has done for entertainment. In the 1970’s he developed “The Magic of Burger King” which was a nationwide campaign coupling their advertising with real life characters. But before that, in 1968, Tony formed the International Magicians Society (IMS) which developed into the world’s largest magic organization that today presents the Merlin Award to deserving magicians around the world at special, high class award ceremonies.

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This conversation was recorded using Zoom prior to the annual Merlin Awards banquet that typically takes place in Las Vegas on the night following MAGIC Live! We first talk about Tony’s involvement with creating and developing the Marvelous Magical Burger King ad campaign in the 1970’s. During that time, he met Ray Croc, founder of McDonald’s, who gave him some good advice. But before the campaign was adopted, Tony created the IMS which, according to the Guinness World Book of Records, is the largest magic organization in the world.

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 Pandora and SiriusXM (formerly Stitcher) by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here or through iHeart Radio by Clicking Here. If you have a Spotify account, then you can also hear us through that app, too. You can also listen through your Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here.

The winner for Week #1 was Nicolas Nardi. Congratulations, Nicolas. A Houdini Legacy Deck of cards will be awarded to a different winner each week in October. These beautiful cards were designed by the Past National President and artist, John Midgley. If you are interested in learning more about these cards and the cause, then please visit their website at https://houdinicards.com

Join us in New York this Halloween for this seminal event. I plan to be in attendance and will host one of the panel discussions. For more information, please https://newyorkmagicconference.com/

935: Wayne Alan - The Most Famous Magician You've Never Heard Of

Wayne Alan’s Washington D.C. experience ranges from working at the magic shop that sold magic tricks to President George H. W. Bush to magic performances in front of audiences in homeless shelters, parties at the homes of prominent Washington politicians, and several national TV appearances. He has consulted for David Copperfield and Criss Angel. He was one of the pioneers in the trade show magic field working alongside Eddie Tullock, Mike Rogers, and Dick Ryan, among others. In 1982 he was presented with a Gold Medal at F.I.S.M. in the category of Grand Illusion.

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There is so much to cover in Wayne Alan’s life that we could have talked for much longer. But this conversation gives you a good overview, along with some great stories, about this professional magician who, in his early 70’s, is far from hanging up his top hat and wand.

This is the last week for this contest. If you missed out on entering the contest or you did enter but didn’t win but would like to have a copy, you can order one by sending him an email at wow@stevefriedbergmagic.com

Throughout the month of October, we will run a contest to give away a deck of Houdini Playing Cards designed by Past National President, John Midgley. This deck was designed to help raise money for the Houdini Memorial Restoration Fund intended to help repair the Houdini gravesite. Although this contest is open to all, postage will only be paid for winners residing within the U.S. Foreign postage will apply to winners outside the U.S.

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 Pandora and SiriusXM (formerly Stitcher) by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here or through iHeart Radio by Clicking Here. If you have a Spotify account, then you can also hear us through that app, too. You can also listen through your Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here.