Inside Magic

Marilyn Abbott, the daughter of Percy Abbott, speaks about on
the true history of Abbott’s Magic Shop and its relationship with Harry
Blackstone, Sr. as well as the controversy surrounding the ejection of
her business partner from the Abbott’s Get-Together two weeks ago on
the Inside Magic Forum.

Check it out.

Continue reading Marilyn Abbott Speaks Out Against Abbotts

Todd Robbins is bringing back the wonder and fun of carnival side-shows in his new show at the Soho Playhouse in New York. You are greeted to the show with five tickets that can be used to play carnival games, buy cotton candy or popcorn.

Robbins approach is to bring life to what was once a lively art. He has festooned the theater with banners from Ten-In-One shows. One
review described his demonstrations of sword swallowing and other
talents as being ?too gross or intense for some audience members not
comfortable with watching a human put himself into deadly situations
for attention.?

The
show includes glass eating, levitation, self-electrocution, fire
eating, the Human Blockhead, Twistina the Rubber Lady, The Headless
Woman, Madame Electra, The Flying Ebola Brothers, and the Gorilla Girl.

The audience is given souvenirs of a whistle and balloon on their way out. It sounds like a lot of fun.

Check out his website for information about the show but also great links to carnival show sites.

Continue reading Todd Robbins Brings Back the Carnival

As some of you may be aware, Mystic Hollow, Michigan is right smack dab in the middle of the blackout zone that circled Lake Erie, stretched across the Southern Canadian border and into New York. Even though most of the news stories were about how people in New York survived without power, there was virtually no coverage of Mystic Hollow or any of the Michigan/Ohio areas.

For instance, there was not one single word written about how the Amish communities just south of where I am writing this tome dealt with the problem of no electrical power. Perhaps because there was nothing to say and more than likely because the Amish are too principled to say, ?Told You So!?

But I wanted to tell you a little bit about how magicians, using their intuition and guile were able to save many from a darkened tower in downtown Shipshewana.

We were there for the fifteenth annual Magicians Meet Amish People fest. It was much like the Abbott?s Get-Together or the IBM Convention but there weren?t any big names and our audience actually seemed bothered that we were taking time out of their day to perform our effects.

I was there with Tonya…
Continue reading Recovery From The Blackout – One Magician’s Story