489: Obie's 4F Convention 2019 Update - Day Four

Day Four - Saturday

10:00 Dealers’ Room opens (closed during lectures, shows, and dinner)

10:00-10:45 2018 Registration & 4F Shop open

11:00 David Stone Lecture

12:15 Lunch break (ticket required)

1:30 6th Show: Mini World Show (MC: Dan Garrett)

3:30 7th Show: Fechter’s Fabulous Frolics (MC: Shawn Farquhar)

5:30 Smorgasbord (ticket required)

6:45 Dealers’ Room & 4F Shop open

7:45 Tribute to our Guest of Honor: Mike Powers

8:00 8th Show: 4F Closing Gala (MCs: Obie O’Brien & Joan Caesar)

10:00 Hospitality Suite (Crystal Room) opens

12:00 Dealers’ Room closes

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:00- Marc DeSouza and Christian Painter recap yesterday’s shows

00:42:24 - Paul Gertner just completed performing and briefly chats about his new trick he’s working on for an upcoming appearance

00:44:33 - Rich Morotta talks about problems with new Politically Correctness holding back some comedians

00:49:33 - Chris Payne was a Young Magician of the Year at The Magic Circle in the 1970’s and now he’s retired from medical practice, he has time to spend on magic

00:57:06 - Dan Garrett and Alexandra Duvivier talk about the convention from two perspectives: one from someone who has attended many of these events and one from her first experience this year.

01:12:37 - Guest of Honor Mike Powers tells about the phone call he received telling him that he was going to be the Guest of Honor.

01:18:15 - Tom Craven is the only other person other than Obie O’Brien who has attended every one of the 49 FFFF conventions. He tells us a little history of the event.

00:25:10 - Marc DeSouza gives us a wrap of the day and who did what.

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420: 2018 Obie's F.F.F.F. Day Three

Friday, April 27
8:00 Bob Little Open Golf Tournament (see Bruce Trigg to register, extra cost)
10:00 Dealers’ Room opens (closed during lectures, shows, and dinner)
10:00-11:00 4F Shop open
10:45 Pat Page Memorial Workshop: Non-Memorized Stacked Decks (MC: Mike Powers)
12:00 Lunch break: on your own – Free Beer, Coffee and Soda starts
1:30 4F TED Talks (MCs: Christian/Katalina)
3:00 4th Show: Friday’s Frolics (MC: Steve Beam)
5:30 Smorgasbord (ticket required)
6:45 Dealers’ Room
7:00-7:45 4F Shop open
8:00 5th Show: South Korean Gala (MC: Charming Choi)
11:00 Hospitality Suite (Crystal Room) opens
12:00 Dealers’ Room closes

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:18 - Christian Painter, Marc DeSouza and Mike Miller give us a recap of yesterday's activities plus Christian talks about his theater in Indianapolis plus what will be on the bill this afternoon as he emcees the TED Talk hour.

00:13:33 - Gary Ward talks about working backstage behind the scenes of Obie's 4F convention.

00:20:39 - William Watt has moved from Paris to the beautiful island of Mauritius and concerns of performing in humid weather.

00:35:19 - Francis Menotti is a magic consultant on the new ABC Network Television show "Deception" and he tells what he does for the series.

00:43:45 - Juliana Chen tells us about her work as a judge on a Chinese TV show plus problems with Chinese magicians.

00:59:49 - Guest of Honor, Pit Hartling, (from Germany) talks about being honored this year, plus some chat about memorizing stacks.

400: David Berglas - International Man of Mystery, Part One

David Berglas has an affect on me.

Okay, that is corny. But it is true that he has influenced and inspired more magicians and mentalists in the world than can be counted. Not only has he changed how we look at magic, David Berglas has significantly changed magic on television.

The BBC called him the “Godfather of TV Magic”. Born in 1926, Berglas escaped to Britain from Nazi Germany at age 11. He first became interested in Magic in his 20’s and studied psychotherapy at university before becoming a professional magician in 1952. His groundbreaking TV show in 1986, “The Mind of David Berglas” paved the way for all others to follow up to this very day. He is the author of several books including, "The Berglas Effects" and "The Mind & Magic of David Berglas", among others. And he is an multiple award winner of several prestigious organizations and is the Past President of The Magic Circle.

Subscribe To My Channel and Get More "How Magic Changed TV" Videos. If you can not find some of our episodes, please switch to another country. Some videos blocked by the country. The most are the US.

I was part of a momentous meeting organized by Spyros Melaris in 2002 when he arranged a dinner meeting with David Berglas and his wife, Ruth, with Banachek and his wife, Heidi, and me and my wife, Kathy. It was a wonderful, memorable dinner with Banachek sharing his spoon bending to David and magic talk late into the evening. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, no photos of that evening exist except those in our minds.

It was at that first meeting that we all became good friends and I am glad that we could get together again for this podcast where David talks about his beginnings in magic, work both in front of and behind the cameras on television and film, plus lots of stories about celebrated names of magicians, most of whom are long since passed.

Magicians' Valhalla

Although the list below is not exhaustive nor in any particular order, it does reflect the names of many well-known (and some lesser known) magicians, spouses and assistants who passed on in 2017. Some may not be as well-known to you, but they were my personal friends (hey, it is my blog!). 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.

Those whose names are highlighted were featured or interviewed here on The Magic Word Podcast. You can click on their name to revisit and listen to their voices again. David Oliver put together a video of some names and dates of passing of these (and others) in a YouTube video. Click Here to see that video.

Phil Messina

Daryl Easton (Martinez)

Bob Cassidy

Jim Zachary

Ed Thomas

Jessica “Shedini” Moore

George Kovari, Jr.

"Chuck" Kirchner

John Moehring

Eugene Burger

Tom Jones

Eddie Gibson