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How Evan Jones and Adrien Brody fell under the spell of Houdini..

How Evan Jones and Adrien Brody fell under the spell of Houdini..

“THERE is a place called the Magic Castle in Los Angeles — it’s a private clubhouse (for the Academy of Magical Arts) and you have to get an invitation from a member to visit.

It’s serious.

It’s a big deal in the world of magic. And the LA one is huge in the magic world.

I didn’t know that much about Houdini beforehand and so when I got the role (of Jim, Houdini’s assistant in the mini-series about the magician) I managed to get an invite to the Magic Castle and did a lot of research. It was crazy to find out what a big deal he (Houdini) is. Read more….

http://www.perthnow.com.au/entertainment/television/how-evan-jones-and-adrien-brody-fell-under-the-spell-of-houdini/story-fnhofr4t-1227416098946

New tricks keep the magic alive!

New tricks keep the magic alive!

Based at Charing Cross, London, they are the world’s oldest continually-owned magic shop on the planet and, as you can imagine, the current owner, Bill Davenport, is rather proud of that fact.

It’s almost like pulling a rabbit from a hat, how this place has gone from strength to strength since 1898, but magic never ceases to enthral each new generation.

“It’s been in my family since it opened, and I’ve been involved since the year dot,” says Bill.

“Even as a kid, I used to come into the shop and help out.

“My great-grandfather, Lewis Davenport, started it.

“He was a performer in music halls at the time and when he was 16, he started up the business.”

Just to give you an idea of how long ago that first little spark was, the great Harry Houdini was still doing his amazing tricks, and it hadn’t been long since magicians had been viewed the same way as evil witches. Read more:

http://www.sundaypost.com/that-s-life/real-life-stories/new-tricks-keep-the-magic-alive-1.876608

Thanks to Mel Klentz’s MAGICIANS LIFE for the heads up.. 

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Magicians Stage Effort to Restore Houdini’s Grave..

Magicians Stage Effort to Restore Houdini’s Grave..

Associated Press Nestled next to the late Lewins, Blums and Levys in a spooky old cemetery in New York City lies the final resting place of America’s most legendary magician, interred under a granite monument that bears his stage name in bold letters: Houdini.

It is an impressive tribute to the man who grew up as Ehrich Weiss and died on Halloween of 1926 of complications from appendicitis. Over the years, the site has been venerated, vandalized, thieved and forsaken, but a group of magicians now wants to officially end the mystery of who will care for the grave.

“Houdini was a visionary. He was an inventor, an escape artist, and he gave back to society in so many ways,” said Dorothy Dietrich, a magician who runs a Houdini museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. “It’s the least we can do to give back in some small way for all he’s given to us.”

Dietrich serves on a national Society of American Magicians committee working to raise money to restore Houdini’s gravesite and allow for the permanent care of the monument at Machpelah Cemetery in Queens. It will cost about $1,200 annually to maintain the grounds, plus thousands more for restoration.

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This library for wizards in New York City is by appointment only

This library for wizards in New York City is by appointment only

By Alina Simone for PRI’s The World..

Acquiring the esoteric knowledge necessary to become a good magician has never been easy. Some magicians only share their techniques with their protégés. Others take their secrets and tricks with them to their graves.

Then there’s Harry Houdini, who liked to scorch the magical earth behind him by publishing the mechanics of an act after he was done with it, deliberately shriveling the market for his imitators.

But one particular institution helps modern magicians get on the right path. The fifth floor of a non-descript high-rise in midtown Manhattan may not be the first place you would go in search of magic, but that’s exactly where one of the rarest repositories of magical literature in the world is housed — the Conjuring Arts Research Library.

“I wanted a place that was available for anyone with an appointment, to be able to come in and find some of the rarest material — the things that you couldn’t find, almost anywhere else in the world,” says Bill Kalush, the founder of Conjuring Arts Research Center.

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