Inside Magic

Melanie, Where Are You?

Eighteen months ago today, I asked my good friends in the magic world — through the various bulletin boards — what was going on with Melanie Kerr and her website.

Inside Magic is a massive organization with fives of dollars worth of equipment and some of the most talented non-programming types working upwards of two to three hours a week to produce what you read here on a daily basis — except when we had that horrible incident a few weeks back and we were essentially dead in the water.

But every month I read Magic Magazine and every month I see full page or quarter page four-color advertisements for Melaine Kerr and her website. But when I try to learn more, something really bad happens.

Read On . . .

I don’t know Melanie Kerr. I’ve never met her and I hope that she is doing well. I have read the Magic Magazine for quite a while and was always impressed by the professional quality of her advertisements. They were big, clean and in four-colors. That has got to cost some bucks.

To give you an example: when I tried to take out a dealers’ only ad in a major magic publication (not Magic Magazine) for my “Levitate Any Spectator,” I was amazed by the cost. For just one month, it would cost me more than $1,200. That figure included the set-up, camera-ready something or other, and the final ad placement. That was for a half page. Sure, there would be a discount if I put the same ad in for the next seven or eight years, but that only shaved a few bucks off the $1,200.

I couldn’t afford it and so I went to a bank to borrow money to pay for the ad. The banker said I had a lousy business plan because no bank would support a magic trick and certainly not one that was already done by David Blaine. I tried to explain that my trick was different — I made the spectators (up to three or 500 lbs) levitate up to 18 inches off the ground.

The distinction was lost on the “Junior Vice President in Charge of Saying No.” He suggested I invent a way to tear the head off a chicken and make it come back to life. I didn’t bother to tell him that Blaine had done this one as well. I stole one of their pens — nearly jerking my arm out of joint when the chain snapped me back to the teller cage — and left.

Melinda is Still Number One in My Book

So anyway, I sit and brood and read magic magazines of all types and keep seeing Melanie Kerr and her beautiful ads and her mkmagic.com. I finally went to the site and found it to be a nice site. There are some nice interviews and a crystal casket for sale along with some starter tricks. At the top of the page, there is an image of the lovely Melaine lying on a beach or some place where it is so hot that you can barely wear anything. She invites you to join her magic club to get free pictures and newsletters and…
Continue reading Beyond Curious — Where Is Melanie Kerr?

Fantasy Poster of Dorothy Dietrich

Dorothy Dietrich and The Houdini Museumis featured in a new promotional guide called “Fun with the Family in Pennsylvania.” The guide is designed for families seeking fun in Pennsylvania ? and so it is appropriately named.

The guide gives all you need to know for hundreds of day trips in the Keystone state. The guide describesthe Houdini Museum in Scranton, as a “must-see for budding magicians,” that “brings back the Vaudeville era, when traveling performers such as Houdini frequently visited the Scranton area.”

Ms. Dietrich and John Bravo serve on the board of directors for the museum and are two of the magicians that perform for the crowds that visit the site each day.

Mr. Bravo has performed for Brooke Shields, David Copperfield and others gaining him the title of Magician to the Stars. He was the owner and publisher of Hocus Pocus Magic Magazine as well as the owner of the famous New York City?s Magic Towne House.

Ms. Dietrich has performed some of the more impressive effects in our Art and earned the title ?The Female Houdini? for her suspended straight jacket escapes and fearless presentation of the Bullet Catching Trick. The latter effect was responsible for the death of 12 magicians and is one of the few tricks Houdini would not perform.

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Continue reading Houdini Museum Featured As Outstanding Family Attraction