895: Lady Sarah and Keith Fields - and the Winner is...

Keith Fields and his wife, The Lady Sarah, are award-winning performers, each in their own right. They co-chair the Contest Committee for the I.B. M. and also host their own weekly productions of “The Magic Soiree” that features not only their magic, but that of local magicians as well.

As we enter the season of magic conventions, it is not too late to consider preparing an act for competition. This week Keith Fields and Lady Sarah offer great ideas, tips, advice, and perspectives on getting your act together for a contest. Keith also shares ideas from his own award-winning act on the reasons that you should consider competing. Keith and Sarah also perform their own weekly show, “The Magic Soiree” near Detroit, Michigan, and share ideas on how you can find venues to present your act on a regular basis in your own town.

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597: Ken Scott - Kids! Conventions! Corporate!

Atlanta-based magician, Ken Scott Wisenbaker, dropped his legal last name to a shortened stage name of “Ken Scott.” Find out this week why he changed it and who recommended it. Ken is a multiple year winning Magician of the Year for the Atlanta club. He will be the incoming International President of the I.B.M. at this year’s annual convention slated for July 7-10 in Pittsburgh, PA. He is also the organizer of the annual Atlanta Harvest of Magic convention. But Ken is perhaps best know (certainly around Atlanta) as one of the premiere kid show performers entertaining at birthday parties, libraries and schools. But he also performs for corporate functions as well.

Ken Scottmagic. Baseball hall of famer Ozzie Smith joins me as well.

Ken Scott predicts what card you will pick!

This week, Ken talks about magic conventions and we discuss a little about the current state of these events and their possible future. Of course, Ken tells about his work with performing for children and a little about his corporate work, too.

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

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.

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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