802: Dick Stoner - Trade Show Pioneer

At 93 years of age, Dick Stoner was a pioneer in performing magic at trade shows and a magic shop owner since the 1940’s. It is because of people like Dick that other magicians have been successful trade show performers. Certainly many of us are figuratively standing on his shoulders. But not only that, Dick has owned and operated Stoners Funstore in Fort Wayne, Indiana, since 1949. There are few brick and mortar shops that have been around that long.

While attending the 2023 Abbott’s Get Together, I had the chance to sit down with Dick Stoner to record this week’s chat. He attends this convention somewhat regularly, but doesn’t stay more than a day, so it was hard to catch him. In this episode we chat about his magic store as well as his career as a trade show magician. He also reminisces about some of those with whom he worked like Johnny Thompson, Eddie Tullock Bud Dietrich and other trade show titans.

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623: James Holmes - The Cane and Silk Road

During a recent trip to Branson, Missouri, to see a couple of the magic shows in town, I was pleasantly reunited with an old friend, James Holmes. The name is probably not familiar to, well…nearly 95% of listeners here on the podcast. But for a variety of reasons, you should know who this person is and what he has contributed and continues to contribute to our magic community. James has been around for a long time and I probably made his acquaintance in the 1980’s. He is the creator of the “One Handed Cane to Silk” among other things.

This week, James talks about how he came up with the “One Handed Cane to Silk” effect and how he developed and marketed it. He talks about his close association with the late Fantasio as well as the late team of “Tom and Sherrie”. Unfortunately, piracy is a common thing in our community where unscrupulous “manufacturers” and dealers make and sell ripoffs of others’ creations. James talks a little about this and how it affected both him and Fantasio.

617: U.K. Kid Show Magicians

Kids are kids the world over and they all love magic. But there are some subtle differences in how and where magic is presented to children in the U.S. versus how it's done in the U.K. This week we chat with family and children show entertainers from the U.K. about these differences and some of their challenges (i.e. taking the tube and/or train in London between shows) and how they brand themselves by using memorable names for their characters.

Listen this week to our chat with Martin "Mr. Biscuit" Cox, Dave "Magic Dave" Allen and Paul "Colonel Custard" Megram as we hear how it's done "across the pond."

This week’s podcast episode on YouTube.

This week, Paul Megram, Dave Allen and Martin Cox represent a small sample of the complex and multi-levels of children’s show magicians in England. Someone could easily make a podcast devoted to just the kid show industry in the U.K. by featuring a different entertainer each week, but that’s not what The Magic Word Podcast is about. So please enjoy this 35,000 foot (or 10,668 meters) overview of this lucrative industry and accept our apologies if we have left out you as a guest or topics that you think we should have discussed.