This morning’s edition of the Lynchberg News and Advance asks the musical question, Magician or Mortician.
The paper comments on the similarity in costume between the two professions as modeled by “dignified funeral home director” and magician, Patrick Hubble.
Mr. Hubble is a member of the Society of American Magicians with a keen interest in magic in most of its forms.
Mr. Hubble has loved magic since he was just a young boy, through his years in the Navy, and while he studied mortuary science at L.A.’s Cypress College.
His hands are agile and skillful. Apparently those qualities make for a great mortician as well as a great magician. Mr. Hubble told reporters, “I had the disposition for it, to be able to handle being around death,” he explained. The amateur magician enjoyed his hobby and profession for similar reasons. “I like working with my hands and the restorative art came naturally to me. There’s a quirky, eccentric side to a lot of undertakers, too … I guess I’ve got a little of that kookiness in me as well to deal in an industry like this.”
The job of a full-time mortician is “challenging and stressful,” but “rewarding. After you’ve had to pick up deceased loved ones, when someone comes up and gives you a hug and thanks you, to know that you’re helping to give closure and are part of the healing process is a reward.”
“Patrick the Practicing Magician” works at local nursing homes to provide balance in his life. Makes sense: “I have a job that deals with death, so I gravitate toward something happy. Everybody enjoys magic and I like to give back to the community.”
Mr. Hubble receives accolades from his peers in magic shops and funeral homes. He believes compassion makes a difference in dealing with people as a magician or mortician.
Fresh off signing a new deal with ABC to produce four more specials, David Blaine announced he’ll help re-define magic to mean whatever he thinks it is.
The 32 year-old magicians will perform a high-wire act in Manhattan on Halloween for the first of the new specials. Mr. Blaine describes the stunt as “easy and fun.”
“Basically, it’s something that’s been done in the circuses, based on the old high-wire acts,” Mr. Blaine told the Associated Press on Tuesday. “It’s like family entertainment, this one. It’s my easiest one. I want it to be simplistic and reachable for everybody. I was even going to call this one ‘Easy and Fun.’”
There was no word on whether Paris Hilton, the Hilton Hotel heiress, will sue for trademark infringement over Mr. Blaine’s use of the title “easy and fun.”
After leaving his 44-day fat farm experiment over the River Thames, Mr. Blaine has fallen from the media’s radar. His re-entry into our lives will begin this Sunday on the cable network TLC as they broadcast Mr. Blaine’s past three specials.
The programs include, David Blaine’s Vertigo, when he stood on a small platform atop a 30-metre-high pillar for 35 hours in midtown Manhattan, and David Blaine: Frozen in Time, when he suspended himself inside a 6-ton block of ice for 62 hours in New York’s Times Square.
Mr. Blaine bristled at the suggestion his stunts “no longer constitute magic in the traditional sense.” He believes that is too narrow a perspective. “I think magic is whatever the individual defines it to be. I say it’s all magic.”
The December 13th fire at Hollywood’s Washington Mutual Bank spewed smoke and burning toxic PCB residue across tellers’ equipment, counters, and unfortunately throughout the bank’s most important tenants; the Society of American Magicians’ Hall of Fame and Magic Museum and the separate Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters Museum. Both attractions were housed in the bank’s basement.
“Toxic materials have contaminated exhibits and equipment that had been used by illusionists such as Harry Blackstone Sr. and Harry Houdini and collected over the last century by the magicians’ group.”
Bank officials are unable to clean the toxic waste from the scene until both museums remove their exhibits. The museums, on the other hand, can’t move their props until they are decontaminated. Unfortunately, decontamination will run about a 500,000. That’s a lot of cash and neither organization has it on hand.
“John Engman, president of the magicians’ local hall, said his society’s 8,000 members can only wish that they had a magic potion for that job. People are heartbroken about this. Members have been meeting every Wednesday night for 34 years building the stages and theaters for magic performances and museum rooms.”
“We have displays using mannequins to show the development and history of magic back to 2500 BC. We have memorabilia from World War II USO magic shows, one-of-a-kind items like 1912 nightclub tricks ? thimbles and cards. We have the minutes from the society’s founding in 1902 ? we don’t know what condition they’re in from the PCBs.”
One of the more significant losses is a collection of Houdini handcuffs collected from challenge escapes.
Washington Mutual officials blamed an underground electrical transformer owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for the contamination. PCBs or as we call them, “polychlorinated biphenyls,” were perfect for electronic transformers but for their incredibly toxic properties. The bank plans to gut and replace their areas but the museum proprietors are stuck.
The magic museum estimates it will cost approximately $220,000 to decontaminate, and then an additional $330,000 to move them. “Things without hard surfaces ? the theater’s upholstered seating and the various display areas’ curtains ? would have to be thrown away. So would the hand-built stages and display rooms. The magic museum operates on a budget of about $3,500 a year.”
One way or other goods have to go. The bank officials told the LA Times, “the museums would have to pack up and go because the bank was eager to regain use of the building.? Leaving the property in place is not an option ? a building is not decontaminated unless all exposed areas and contents are cleaned.’”
Inside Magic friend, great magician, and producer of one of the better newsletters for working professionals announced he is pulling up stakes and moving to St. Louis.
Why?
Hold your horses, please. We have to build up the story by telling you what we will lead you to believe his leaving behind in his current hometown of Orlando. Then we have to use some rhetorical device to make it apparent he is not leaving magic, his career has not taken a turn for the worse, he has not been driven out of Orlando, and he is actually furthering his career with the geographic move.
Mr. Misner has done very well in and out of Orlando. He came to our attention with his TV appearances, his “Standing Ovation Guarantee,” and newsletters. See, Inside Magic “Sprint Turns to Christian the Magician for Tools,” October 27, 2005) We nominated his website as one of the best we’ve seen. He has worked (that alone puts him above us) at Disney, Universal Studios, House of Blues, and Hard Rock Live!
His book of business, though, has taken him out of O-Town to entertain at tradeshows, conventions, dinners, and possibly brunches. (We’re not sure about the ‘brunches’ thing but we went out on a limb and threw it in anyway).
So, he’s got all this going on and he decides to move to St. Louis. Sure, that makes sense because unlike Orlando’s constantly sunny days, St. Louis has “seasons.” In fact, like Detroit, the Gateway to the West is expected to have up to two days of summer this year.
Mr. Misner felt he hit is saturation point in Orlando. “I reached my audience saturation point,” Christian admits. “I’d go to events where everyone knew me and had already seen my show. In my line of work, you can’t afford to get over-exposed.”
We wish Mr. Misner well in his new home. The Hardy family roots snake through St. Louis and river towns south along the Mississippi and the area has a special place in our heart. While Mr. Misner has shows booked already in St. Louis, he also intends to keep clients in Orlando.
As Grandfather Hardy once said, “Home is not an address, or a structure. Home is where the warden puts you and family is with whom you are put.” We think he meant this metaphorically but not sure.
The Korean JoonAng Daily reports this morning the label of genius is too often applied solely to those with skills in mathematics or music. There are, say the scientists who should know, geniuses amongst us in possession of varying skills but with that sufficient special something to categorize them as “geniuses.”
Consider the athlete with skills on par with Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, say the scientists. How about those who love to paint, or write juvenile ramblings on a web page dedicated to, say, magic? (Okay, we added the one about painting).
Magicians can be geniuses too, you know. In fact, the paper offers the example of 13-year-old Hong Jin-seok. Like many boys and girls, he became interested in magic and hoped to one day perform in public. His mother hoped it was a fleeting interest and soon he would return to his school work and other pursuits.
“Later on, she cried as she watched her son, a primary school student; perform passionately in front of thousands of people. She felt her instincts were telling her that it was his destiny, although he was only a child.”
Starting at about the third grade, Master Jin-seok studied, practiced, ate slept, magic. You could see why his mother was worried. Kids need diversity in life — if he studied magic all of the time, what would become of him? How would he meet people in the real world? Where would he derive income sufficient to feed his family? Would any woman worthy of marrying into the family be interested in someone who lived only for magic?
Again, we are recalling conversations from our own family. It is entirely likely Master Jin-seok and his mother did not have this very discussion and if they did, it was probably in Korean.
Last summer, Master Jin-seok competed against the big guys at the beautiful Lotte World Magic Festival in Korea. Inside Magic’s good-friend and supporter Sergey Korbalev had a successful and lengthy engagement at this very theme park.
In the parlance of Professional Pancake Breakfast Workers, Master Jin-seok was “bubbled-up and ready for flippin.”
He received a special award for his innovative work. Unlike many young (and older) magicians, Master Jin-seok makes his own props and eschews store-bought items.
“I often stayed up until two or three [in the morning], not to practice but to make props.” says Master Jin-seok.
Despite his mother’s worries, Master Jin-seok is proud to report he is actually a very good student. He was elected class president and has performed well in classes.
The article ends with a touching scene:
“[Master] Jin-seok said to his mother, ‘Please support me,’ and ‘There is nothing but this in my life,’ so she finally acceded to his wishes and became a full-time sponsor. Asked about his aspirations, he did not say, “I want to become a magician like David Copperfield,” but instead he… Continue reading Korean Paper: Genius in Children Evident in Magic
Recent Comments