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Meet the New President of ‘Society of American Magicians’

Meet the New President of ‘Society of American Magicians’

CHAMBERSBURG >> After 18 years of performing magic at libraries, schools, nursing homes and civic organizations in four states, Chambersburg magician David Bowers ascended this year to the post of President of the Society of American Magicians.

The group is a 113-year-old society that includes the country’s most recognized magicians. Among those ranks are David Copperfield, comedic magicians Penn and Teller, and Siegfried and Roy, who are most notable for their work with lions and tigers.

Bowers, a 68-year-old retired salesman who performs under the name of the Magic of David Wayne, said he’s a late-blooming magician who doesn’t fit the typical illusionist’s mold.

“I’m a little different than most in that I didn’t start doing magic until I was 50 years old,” he said. “I had an interest my whole life, but with raising a family and being a Boy Scout leader, there wasn’t enough time.”

His 50th birthday — when his wife forced the issue by hiring a magician to perform at his birthday — changed all that.  Read more…

http://www.publicopiniononline.com/local/ci_28562774/local-magician-ascends-national-presidency

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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