220: My Week at the Magic Castle 2015 - Part One

We're off to be the wizard. We head west this week to the hills of Hollywood a bit early before my week begins because I want to catch the Castle swap meet on Saturday. To kick off this multi-part podcast of my week at the Castle, there is no better way to indoctrinate you than to immerse you in the lore and with stories from the Castle's rich heritage.

In this Part One podcast, we sit down in "Vernon's Corner" to hear stories from Howard Hamburg and Newell Unfried. They tell story after story of legends some of whom are long gone but whose spirit lives on in the Magic Castle. They include stories of Dai Vernon, Eddie Fields, Earl Nelson, Ed Marlo, John Cornelius and many, many others. We also get to chat with Bill Goodwin, the Librarian of The Magic Castle. What a way to kick off this series!

00:07:22 - Howard Hamburg and Newell Unfried seem to top each other by telling one story after another about many of the legendary magicians who have frequented the Magic Castle over its rich years of history. Newell has some great stories about those who have visited the old Hollywood Magic shop and Howard talks about some of the characters from the Castle like Senator Crandall and Dai Vernon. Our discussion is topped by a final story involving Martin Nash and the Professor. Nothing can top this one.

00:50:34 - Close-Up Magician of the Year (and current nominee again for 2014), Bill Goodwin talks about the Castle library and the thousands of videos available among the many tombs of books. He also talks about bequethment of collections and how you can provide for donatoins to the library after you are gone.

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218: Steve Spill - I Lie For Money

I'm reluctant to produce a podcast solely for the intent purposes of promoting something that someone wants to pitch; however, there are exceptions. And this is one of them.

Steve Spill has had a magical life...and it's not over yet! One could say that Steve "grew up" in the Magic Castle because his father, Sandy Spillman, was a long-time host and also conducted the seances there for many years. Through his early teenage years he had unprecedented access to hang out with many of the greats such as Dai Vernon, Charlie Miller, Francis Carlyle, Kuda Bux and many, many others. Steve also worked at the Jolly Jester with Bob Sheets in the early days of "bar magic" in Aspen, Colorado. Later, the two of them opened the "Brook Farm Inn of Magic" in Delaware. And for about the past 20 years, he has owned and operated "Magicopolis" in Santa Monica, California.

You can follow Magicopolis on Twitter @Magicopolis and find them on Facebook at http://facebook.com/MAGICOPOLIS (note the all caps for their name plus be sure to look for the "monkey" profile picture so you know you have the correct "Magicopolis")

Steve and I first met over 30 years ago when he came through to perform at Houston's Magic Island and I was one of the House Magicians. Although it was not quite like "two ships passing in the night", we had fallen out of touch with one another since then as we both followed our separate paths. When Steve contacted me with the idea of pitching his new book, I knew that we needed to catch up to talk about all the "water that has run under our bridges."

Steve begins at the end by talking about Magicopolis which he built and owns and where he and his wife, Bozene, appear weekly. He then talks about his many experiences at the Magic Castle and relates stories about the eight mentors at the Castle who shaped his future. He also talks about Bob Sheets and the Jolly Jester in Aspen as well as the Brook Farm Inn of Magic. There a lot of stories from his new book plus some that are not there bu only appear here in this podcast.

You can read many of these stories plus dozens more in Steve's new book, "I Lie for Money" coming out soon and only available through Amazon. You can Click Here for more details and to order your copy.

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Exclusive Interview with Professional Magician & Magic Theater Owner Steve Spill

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144: Marshall Brodien - The Magician's Magician

During one of my visits to Chicago, Illinois to visit my friend, Don Wiberg, he drove us out to Geneva, Illinois to visit a legend in magic, Marshall Brodien. One cannot say that Marshall is best known for this or that because he was a master of so many things and known to so many for different reasons at different times in his life.

To our sons, he was Wizzo the Wizard on TV, The Bozo Show. To some he was a carnival talker on the midway in Riverview Park. To others he was known for his trade show work when he blazed the trail for many of us so many years ago. Still others know him for his magic sets. He created over 230 different sets. Some people knew Marshall from his nightclub act as a hypnotist. The Chicago underworld (or "mob") knew him as a clever magician who was their "go-to" guy when they wanted entertainment for a private party. I first heard of Marshall when he sold his TV Magic Cards on my television set.

During our visit to Marshall's home, I used my Kodak camera to not only capture shots of some of his amazing collection of magic in his basement, but also to record a few segments of Marshall himself. Unfortunately, I did not understand my new camera enough to know not to turn it sideways while capturing a video. So one of the taped segments is sideways. At least now I know. But it is his "bally" that I wanted to capture which I think you will enjoy as well as Marshall's clarity and presence of mind.

I mention that because unfortunately, Alzheimer's is getting hold of his mind. It is unfortunate to see someone, anyone have to suffer this disease. Chicago's television station WGN, where Marshall appeared as Wizzo the Wizard on the Bozo Show for so many years, recently did a story with his wife, Mary Doyle, about dealing with his condition. You can see the video interview at: http://wgntv.com/2015/08/29/author-mary-doyle-wife-of-wizzo-the-wizard-on-living-with-husbands-alzheimers/

While I was a guest in his home, I recorded a bit of history with Marshall. Please enjoy these few video tidbits from the recollection of his early years as a carnival talker.

Marshall Brodien aka Wizzo the Wizard, once worked at Riverview Park in Chicago as a Carnival Talker. Here you can hear him giving his pitch to encourage passers-by to come in to see the shows.

Part 2: A brief bally from Marshall Brodien as a Carnival Barker to attract people to the side show to see the fat man.

Here's a commercial for TV Magic Cards, a product created by magician Marshall Brodien (Bozo's Wizzo) who starts off showing one of his tricks, and then describing what the cards are about. This commercial was memorably parodied by Son of Svengoolie as "Real Life Magic".

Marshall Brodien has a whole "museum" of his life in his basement. It is huge and complete with a bathroom, sitting room and hide-a-bed couch. These are important because there is no way to appreciate all he has down there in just a short visit. It takes time to see his collection and hear his stories. I took several photos as he led us down memory lane of his life. I captured many of these in the photos below.

Although I did not record an interview with Marshall in 2008 when I visited his home, I did recently chat with his long-time friend, Mark Holstein. Mark has known and worked with Marshall for many decades and remains close even today although they are separated only by distance from Houston to Chicago.

Mark talks about Marshall's magical life including his days at Riverview Park as a carnival talker through his war years in the USO as a stage hypnotist, to a nightclub entertainer, trade show performer, bar magician, to the invention and marketing of his TV Magic Cards and magic kits through his appearances on the Bozo the Clown show as Wizzo the Wizard. Along the way, Mark relates a lot of fun and funny stories about Marshall.

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.

Wizzo the Wizard's magic phrase was "Doody Doody". This toilet seat lid says it all...literally!

I can only recommend that you find a copy of John Moehring's excellent biography, "The Magical Life of Marshall Brodien" or you might find it Here on Amazon. The book may be hard to find and the link here may not take you to where you can buy one now, but if you do a little searching on the Internet, I think you might still find a copy. As I read the book, I could hear Marshall's voice telling those stories word for word as we traveled through time during this magical visit to his home in 2008.

Thank you, Marshall, for all you have done for magic and magicians all around the world and thank you, Mark Holstein, for sharing your memories of your good friend.

Magic & Martinis Thursday

It's not exactly Louis XIII cognac, but "Cheers" anyway to a magical life!

Click on the graphic above to read an obituary, “Now Appearing in Heaven” written by his bride, Mary.