Magician Burton S. Sperber passed away last Friday at the age of 82 of complications from surgery at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California.
He was not only an accomplished performer and lover of all things Magic, he was also the founder and chairman of the nation’s largest landscape services company, ValleyCrest Landscape Cos.
The Magic Castle and Inner Magic Circle member turned $700.00 into a company that today boasts more than 150 locations around the world, with 9,000 employees and nearly $835 million in annual revenue. The transformation was performed not by magic but his tireless work and keen business sense. He purchased the nursery business from the widow of the owner. He was just 19 years-old.
ValleyCrest Landscape worked some of the most prestigious projects in the landscape milieu including the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida, Newport Beach’s Fashion Island and Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. He preferred the title “Head Gardner” to CEO or “Boss.”
“Work is something you don’t want to do,” Mr. Sperber told the Los Angeles Times this year. “I love doing what I do, and there’s nothing else in this life that I’d rather do.”
Landscaping was not his sole passion. His love for performing, watching, learning, teaching, inventing, sharing and chronicling Magic was evident always.
Mr. Sperber owned one of the largest magic book collections – with texts from the early 16th century. His passion for our craft covered the spectrum from collector and preserver of classic magic books to inventing his own effects. Nick Lewin posted a great story about meeting Mr. Sperber aboard a cruise ship and learning card effects from this remarkable man. You can read Mr. Lewin’s post here.
“Believe it or not, I am actually better known in the world of magic than I am in the landscape world,” he said in a 2008 interview with C-Suite Quarterly business magazine. We can vouch for the truth of this statement. Continue reading Magician Burt Sperber Passes
The Las Vegas Sun reports that Inside Magic favorite and all around good guy and great magician Mac King took part in the prestigious Palladium Magic Show in London, England.
The show celebrated a century of Magic at the prestigious theater (“theatre” in metric).
Mac King told the paper of record for the town that keeps no records and admits nothing, “I was mighty excited to be a part of the one-night event 100 Years of Magic at The Palladium. Playing the London Palladium is every performer’s dream. It was a great show and a wonderful audience.”
You (or someone you have who does such things for you) can see the poster and program for what must have been an incredible event here.
All of the vehicles will have appeared in the Mindfreak television series. Criss Angel’s brother has bundled one of his vehicles with the lot.
“Each of these vehicles is a star in its own right,” JD said. “The key is that each vehicle has appeared on Mindfreak multiple media specials and TV shows, car shows and displays at the casinos.”
Criss Angel and his two brothers, JD and Costa own nearly 100 cars and motorcycles. According to the article, the Vegas illusionist is offering his speciality ‘Mindfreak’ Hummer H2 replete with “Houdini-inspired custom features.” We don’t know what that means. Perhaps the door locks need a key or a pick to open – even if you are inside at the time.
We thought about the concept of a mini-tank being inspired by Houdini and suddenly something stirred or just fell over in our addled brain’s memory ganglia. We recalled a press release from way back in 2006 – 2007 announcing the birth of the new show car.
“This completely custom Hummer H2 project was conceived in the dark spirit of Criss Angel’s A&E series “Mindfreak. The closer you get to this show vehicle, the more magical things you’ll find.” adds Alden Stiefel, “Original artifacts from Houdini’s era were discretely added into the Mindfreak Hummer’s design features. Hollywood’s famous Magic Castle, and New York City’s Martinka Magic Shop, once owned by Harry Houdini, supplied many of these magic props. Maxxsonics & RealWheels plan to share this magic vehicle with others, by making this captivating Hummer H2 available at events country-wide over the next 18-24 months. Continue reading Criss Angel to Auction Custom Magic Autos
According to press accounts, this is Inside Magic Favorite Dean Gunnarson’s first tour of Australia and judging from the favorable press, it will certainly not be his last.
But then again, as an escape artist with a penchant for pushing the envelope with no concern for paper cuts, Mr. Gunnarson comes harrowingly close to making every performance his last.
Inside Magic readers will no doubt recall Mr. Gunnarson’s near-death experience in China last year. He was able to free himself of the shackles and came very close to clearing the hurtling roller-coaster and landing safely on a stunt cushion.
Somewhere we heard that Force is equal to Mass times Acceleration.
We don’t know if that is true or if it is just the kooky theories cooked up by the crazy kids in their college classes.
But assuming there is a positive correlation between mass, acceleration and force, a steel framed roller coaster traveling at 62 miles per hour would likely bring a significantly larger force to bear on a human leg than would the human leg impose on said roller coaster.
Rick Carruth’sThe Magic Roadshow is must reading for anyone interested in magic. Collectors, performers, groupies, hangers-on and recent converts will all find satisfaction in the virtual pages of this well-edited magic journal.
You will understand our panic, therefore, when we did not receive the latest issue when we expected.
The latest edition arrived on Tuesday and we were embarrassed to read that Mr. Carruth had a very good reason for the delayed distribution.
He suffered a heart attack and while The Magic Roadshow is important, it is less important than personal health and safety. We are prepared to give Mr. Carruth a pass on this interruption in our ridiculously anal-retentive routine.
Mr. Carruth writes:
I spent all of last week in the hospital. Seems I had a heart attack and some totally clogged arteries. Bummer. I’ll get over it and back on track. My public service message of the month is this… If you have a little heartburn, and even if Tums helps, go to the hospital if there are any other occurrences outside the ordinary. My heartburn lasted about 30 minutes, but I had a rapid heart rate for two more days. Doc says he wished I had come earlier… (I told him I was convinced it was the Baha salad, pico de gallo, spicy jalapeno dressing, and cup of chili I had before going to bed the night before…)
The latest edition is chocked-full of great effects and links to download some of the classics of magic. You will find a great math magic trick that will surely please even those snobs or cowards who normally fear math magic, amazing self-working effects, and links to videos teaching important sleight of hand moves. Continue reading Magic Roadshow Back on Track
Magician Burton S. Sperber passed away last Friday at the age of 82 of complications from surgery at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California.
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