891: Marvin Berglas - International Son of Mystery

We finish talking with a trio of officers from The Magic Circle (TMC) this week as we sit for a chat with the current President of TMC, Marvin Berglas. Not defined by being the son of the legendary “International Man of Mystery,” David Berglas, Marvin decided early to go his own way. Nealy four decades ago Marvin founded “Marvin’s Magic” which created magic kits that swept the globe The results are that he received the Gold Medal as winner of Toy of the Year in the electronic games category of the Independent Toy Awards and was awarded the coveted Outstanding Contribution Award in the British Toy and Hobby Industry in 2015/16. And as far as magic goes, he received the Outstanding Contribution to Magic award from the British Magical Society in 2014/15. And n 2016 Marvin was awarded The Maskelyne Award from The Magic Circle for services to magic. During 2017, 2018 and 2019 Marvin was the Vice-President of The Magic Circle and in 2023 was elected President of The Magic Circle.

This week Marvin tells us about his magic kit empire and how the business grew to international proportions. And although he came from a home where magic was talked about all the time, he tells us that he did not care to pursue a career like his father until later in life as Marvin’s Magic developed. He then got involved with The Magic Circle (TMC) and became one of the very few father/son Presidents of TMC. Find out in this episode who the others were.

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817: Blackpool Magic Convention 2024 - Day One Report

Friday 16th February 2024

9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Dealers’ Hall Open

10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Paul Romhany Lecture (Spanish Hall) and Richard Griffin Lecture (Arena)

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. International Close-up Show (Foyer Hall)

11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. John “Chunkie” Russell Lecture (Derham Lounge)

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Ann DeGuzman Lecture (Arena) and Ben Hart Lecture (Spanish Hall)

1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Cameron Francis Lecture (Foyer Hall)

1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Mat O’Neill Parlour Show (Derham Lounge)

2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Christian Grace Lecture (Arena) and Tom Wright Lecture (Spanish Hall)

3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Marvin Berglas Lecture (Foyer Hall) and Dave Allen Lecture (Derham Lounge)

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Adrian Quillien Lecture (Spanish Hall)

6:15 p.m. - 7:45 p.m. Gala Show (Opera House)

6:15 p.m. - 7:15 p.m. Mike Caveney and Friends Show (Circle Hall)

6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Shoot Ogawa Show (Arena)

8:45 p.m. - 10:15 p.m. Gala Show (Opera House)

8:45 p.m. - 9:45 p.m. Mike Caveney and Friends Show (Circle Hall)

9:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Shoot Ogawa Show (Arena)

11:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. Harrison Greenbaum Show (Arena and limited to audiences of 18+)

11:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. Whose Lie Is It Anyway? (Old Victoria Bar)

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:18 - we are off from the Dallas Ft. Worth airport to ride our magic carpet “across the pond” to merry old England for the Blackpool Magic Convention 2024. Join us for the trip!!

00:03:32 - Our first stop before Blackpool is a visit to The Magic Circle (TMC) where John Bannon was the featured lecturer on Monday, 12 February. Our first chat is with Ian Rowland, a mentalist and motivational speaker to the corporate market. He is also a master of “kirigami” which is the art of cutting cards and folding. It is beautiful artwork.

00:12:21 - Faye Presto is working on a new close-up cover for the table at TMC. She also tells us about the proper way to put a bottle through the table.

00:20:27 - Marvyn Berglas, President of TMC, tells us what he’s doing as the new President and plans for improvements in the building.

00:28:06 - From Sweden, Johan Stahal, is a FISM competitor winner of Sweden’s Got Talent, and is attending this BMC for his eighth time.

00:30:05 - Pat Fallon, from Ireland, and Scott catch up as long time friends and Pat tells us a little about touring and magic clubs in Ireland.

00:35:35 - David Regal, from the U.S., is an artiste at BMC who doubles with his lecture and close-up performance. He was walking around with R. Paul Wilson, from Scotland, who is a regular attendee at BMC.

00:39:47 - Brendan Rodriquez, from the U.K., has a video blog (vlog) and is shooting video in, at and around the BMC for broadcast.

00:44:00 - Empressario and big event producer, Paul Stone, is from Liverpool and talks a bit about his “Beatles Tour” around town that he privately gave to Mac King, Mike Caveney, Tina Lennart, and a few others before the BMC began.

00:49:17 - Tracy Bradshaw, a worker at the BMC registration booth, tells us what the VIP registrants get that is different from regular registrations.

00:53:15 - David Plant is a member of the Blackpool Magic Club who sponsors BMC. He gives us a “convention by the numbers” and a quick overview/history of BMC.

01:00:33 - Anders Boulanger, from Winnipeg, Canada, is taking a quick break between working trade shows to come here for his first BMC and tells us how overwhelming it is.

01:06:41 - Keith McCabe, from Ireland, has been coming to the BMC for over 20 years and talks about some of the few magic clubs and magicians and types of magic performed in the Republic of Ireland. We are joined by Harrison Greenbaum, who is another of the performers/lecturers at the BMC.

01:11:04 - Mumdo Marsouki, a podcast listener from Saudi Arabia, tells us about the kind of magic performed in his country.

01:15:28 - Sune Narud, from Norway and a podcast listener, tells us why he and his friends attend the BMC each year.

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#204: 2014 Year of Magic in Review

It's that time of the year when we try to "put the band back together" and chat with members of the hosts from the MagicNewswire.com podcast, "This Week in Magic". Trying to get a time to arrange everyone's schedule is like "herding cats". So, due to work and health conflicts, this year we have David "Silly Billy" Kaye and Cameron Ramsay join Scott Wells to discuss what went on in the magic world this past year.

To supplement our chat about Magic on TV, here is a little up-to-the-minute information that I read on IndieWire.com after our chat:

"Magic is in the air, or at least on the airwaves. "Masters of Illusion" did well enough for CW last year to make an order for 13 more episodes materialize – and that's after being canceled by MyNetworkTV in 2009. It joins the network's other magic show, the British ITV production "Penn & Teller: Fool Us," as well as magic programs gaining traction on basic cable. TruTV's "The Carbonaro Effect" will be back for a second season, while "Wizard Wars" returns to Syfy in January for six additional episodes. Even shows that don't have magic as a focus are shuffling it into the deck: "American Masters" is kicking off a new season January 23 with an episode about master magician Ricky Jay, and Nat Geo's "Brain Games," regularly tosses a sleight-of-hand artist into the mix."

Of course this is from a personal perspective of the guest on this podcast and does not include a lot of things you perhaps found to be more relevant. But we hope you enjoy our chat.

Instead of bouncing all over the globe, we try to stay on topic with an agenda that includes: magic on television; live touring magic shows; magic conventions; notable passings, and; predictions for 2015.

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. (please note: this RSS Feed subscription system may not work with Android systems). Remember, you can download it through iTunes. See the preview page by Clicking Here.

Magicians' Valhalla

Although the list below is not exhaustive, it does reflect the names of many well-known (and some lesser known) magicians, spouses and assistants who passed on in 2014. 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.

Aldo Colombini

Scott Lewis

Dave Madden

Montecore (S&R’s tiger)

Jeff Busby

Judge Arnold Drennen

Robert “Bob” Knigge

Robert L. “Bob” Bluemle

Stella P. Coward (wife of Noel Coward)

John T. Fedko

Robert “Bob” W. Klamm

Alan Alan