619: Eric Colleary PhD - In Front of the Bookcase

This week we travel to Austin, Texas where one of the world’s largest collection of Houdini ephemera resides. Dr. Eric Colleary is our guest who is the Cline Curator of Theatre & Performing Arts at the Harry Ransom Center, an international humanities research library, archive, and museum. He holds a Ph.D. in Theatre Historiography from the University of Minnesota and an all-around great guy. The title “In Front of the Bookcase” for this week’s episode comes from the massive bookcase (and its contents) once owned by Houdini that now is owned by the University.

This week’s podcast episode on YouTube.

In this conversation, Dr. Colleary tells us about how this Houdini collection came to Austin, Texas and what is in the massive collection. There are some interesting stories in this week’s episode told about Houdini and Eric also debunked a few myths around parts of this collection.

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 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

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.

611 - Jack Brutus Penny and Shaun Rivera - In The Cards

Why are magicians fascinated by playing cards? This week week have two separate conversations with two diverse people (one a creator and the other a collector) from two sides of the planet. Jack Brutus Penny is from England but lives in Japan where he is a teacher by day and a writer and playing card designer by night. Back in the U.S., Shaun Rivera is a magician in America’s heartland (Kansas City) who has a passion for collecting playing cards. This week the creator collides with the collector in an episode where we explore how cards are developed all the way to the retail buyer/collector.

For more information on Jack Penny’s Kickstarter campaign, please visit: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jackbrutuspenny/sensu

This week’s podcast episode on YouTube.

Jack Brutus Penny starts off our episode this week talking about the development, design and thought that goes into creating a new playing card. He talks about the card stock, printing, design, and marketing of his playing card creations that gives us some real insight into what goes into bringing these beautiful cards to collectors. Next we hear from Shaun Rivera who has amassed a collection of over 5,000 decks of playing cards. Find out this week how he started and why he continues his “obsession.”