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Month: February 2014

SME announces Annemann & Robert Houdin Awards..

SME announces Annemann & Robert Houdin Awards..

Just received word that our friend, Paul Romhany, has been awarded the very first SME award. Congratulations are certainly in order!

Press Release: Stevens Magic Emporium announces two awards.  After selling the rights to the Desert Magic Seminar, and realizing that the industry was changing Joe Stevens looked for a way for SME to stay active and relevant in the world of magic.  In this new digital age, starting a new seminar was not feasible so Joe envisioned something that while not new — was true to his heart — creating an award that would recognize individuals in the industry that have made a positive impact in both Magic and Mentalism.  

The Award for Mentalism is titled: The Annemann Award. The Award for Magic is titled: The Robert Houdin Award.  We named the awards after two individuals of who’s legacies are of the highest order. 

The initial inductees for 2013-2014 Annemann Award are:

Docc Hilford, Jon Stetson, Ted Karmilovich, Neal Scryer, Richard Webster and Jerome Finley.

The initial inductee for the 2014 Robert Houdin Award is Paul Romhany (The Hardest Working Man In Magic). 

Joe has always believed that recognition from one’s peers is one of the highest honors imaginable, and when you look at any one of these recipients there is a lot of support and substantiation for their recognition. These are the visionaries who continue to shape, mold and drive the art we love.  We hope that they will be pleased with this award and that it might serve as an incentive for them to continue to create and be inspirational. 

 The next awards are scheduled for 2015. The initial recipients are a larger pool being this idea has been in the works for a few years and only recently came to fruition.  Future awards will also be more interactive allowing peer’s to have a vote from a list of possible candidates. “We are very excited about having an interactive award where by magicians from all over the world can cast a vote.”   Mark Stevens – Stevens Magic Emporium

Production Begins on truTV New Series “The Carbonaro Effect,” Starring Comic Magician Michael Carbonaro..

Production Begins on truTV New Series “The Carbonaro Effect,” Starring Comic Magician Michael Carbonaro..

[via press release from truTV]

Production Begins on truTV New Series “The Carbonaro Effect,” Starring Comic Magician Michael Carbonaro

Series Slated to Premiere in Summer 2014

Production has begun on truTV’s brand new series The Carbonaro Effect, starring comic magician Michael Carbonaro. The series, formerly titled Undercover Magic, follows Carbonaro as he uses his skills to trick, amaze and amuse an unsuspecting public. The Carbonaro Effect is being produced for truTV by Fields Entertainment and 11 Television, with Simon Fields and Kevin Healey serving as executive producers. truTV has ordered 12 episodes of the series, which is slated to premiere in summer 2014.

Michael Carbonaro is a magician by trade, but he’s a prankster at heart. In each episode of The Carbonaro Effect, he will perform baffling tricks on people in everyday situations, all caught on hidden camera. Posing as an ordinary bartender or a seemingly unremarkable salesman, Michael astonishes marks by turning a tuft of hair into a puppy or pouring 12 pints of beer from an ordinary bottle. Whether the marks are alone or with their friends, everyone is left stunned and delighted, even though they have no idea what just hit them.

Actor, magician, comedian and improv artist Michael Carbonaro is a familiar face to television viewers thanks to his appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He has also played roles on Happily Divorced, The Newsroom, 30 Rock, Wizards of Waverly Place, CSI: Miami and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Michael hosts and performs shows of comedy, magic and other weird acts at various clubs around New York and Los Angeles, including Joe’s Pub, Caroline’s On Broadway, The Box and Hollywood’s Magic Castle. Michael is an OutFest Best Actor Award winner, as well as a two-time nominee for the Academy of Magical Arts “Magician of the Year” Award.

About truTV

truTV, one of cable’s fastest growing brands, offers a wildly entertaining look at the real world through outrageous characters, unpredictable situations and irreverent storytelling. Currently seen in 92 million U.S. households, truTV features such popular original series as Hardcore Pawn, Impractical Jokers, Guinness World Records® Unleashed, Lizard Lick Towing, Killer Karaoke, Upload with Shaquille O’Neal, Storage Hunters, Full Throttle Saloon, South Beach Tow, World’s Dumbest… and Operation Repo. Coming soon to truTV is the new series The Carbonaro Effect. In addition to its original programming lineup, truTV is a partner in airing the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news; entertainment; animation and young adult; and sports media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.

Read more at http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2014/02/24/production-begins-on-trutv-new-series-the-carbonaro-effect-starring-comic-magician-michael-carbonaro-413210/20140224trutv01/#cJlrqBr1owSyG0Tp.99

Magic company auction marks end of era…

Magic company auction marks end of era…

Interesting article by Paul Leighton for the Salem News.

BEVERLY — For 35 years, Le Grand David and His Own Spectacular Magic Company sold an entertaining mix of illusion and spectacle on Sundays at the Cabot Street Cinema Theatre.

Yesterday, the company sold just about everything else.

In a five-hour auction at the former vaudeville theater in downtown Beverly, the magic company auctioned off 269 items from the show, which closed in 2012.

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