In a very interesting new program, the premiere library for the English-speaking world (appropriately located in England) asks ordinary people like you to help preserve the great original books in their vast collection.
Among the 40 or so offerings is Houdini's classic from 1921.
In this practical guide with illustrations, Houdini explains how to perform ties "of two distinct types, namely, those adapted to use in spiritualistic work, and those intended for the escape artist." A perfect adoption for fans of the most famous magician in the world.
The cost to adopt this book or one of the other classics of non-magic literature, is a mere £30.00 which prices out at about €36.00 or $47.50 in U.S. Dollars.
Your name will be on the certificate and in the records of the British Library.
Not to be outdone, our hometown Mystic Hollow Library has a similar adopt a book program. For $2.50, you can adopt the entire 2009 collection of TV Guide in hardback. Not quite a classic, but it does contain some very interesting information about what you could have seen during that crucial year in television.
In the United States, analog television signals were replaced by their digital equivalent and millions of homes were stripped of their ability to see Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy. The nation was rocked and congressional efforts to supply conversion boxes to those affected by this horrific crisis fell short. You can read about the congress and the president's efforts to delay or fix the great social upheaval here.
[Questions for Don Timoteo - Magic Expert - can be about any aspect of magic including escapes, big stage illusion shows, little tiny close-up magic, and even so-called psychic magic. Send your question to DT@insidemagic.com and we will pass them along to the Master].
AS YOU KNOW BECAUSE OF MY FAME, I have worked around the world performing for standing room audiences as well as many theaters where there were chairs for everyone — but just enough.
My expertise in magic is second to none, as you know. And yet I offer this help to you, the questioning mob of pubic magicians.
Why? Does Don Timoteo make money doing this?
A little, but not enough to put up with some of the questions I receive or the ridicule thrusted on me like a Watchtower Magazine through the slightly opened door to my inner-most soul.
The other professionals, like that reindeer with the glowing nose, do not like me to be different. “Oh, Don Timoteo, you should be like us. You should never reveal the secrets to our art to the common magician. That is like throwing the baby pig out with its pearl-wearing babysitter!”
Don Timoteo does not care. He does not hear much of it and that which he hears he does not understand.
So bring your questions to Don Timoteo. I promise on my honor that so long as you show reverence for my incredible talent, and historic place in history, you will be fine.
You will not be faced with the wrath like someone who sticks his face in a pie-throwing booth at the Wrath Festival.
I know many men would like me to tell all of my secrets of love or the conquests my secrets have earned. But I am first a gentleman and would never reveal the what has been secreted by me and my many lovers.
So, instead, I answer questions about magic. Love’s magic is a secret I will not reveal.
Senior Timoteo:
What is fanning powder and where can I buy it other than at the magic store?
They rip me off there. Everything is more expensive because they say, “you’re not really buying the props, you’re buying the secret.”
Yes, we know it is spelled incorrectly but that was how he intended it to be written. Big Tom had a thing about open pores and healthy skin. Some thought this was idle curiosity about biology, some said he was vain and looking for a way to maintain his youthful looks. Others, however, claimed he used the alleged interest as a way of touching and closely examining young women. The Cook County Civil Court and his first ex-wife, Belinda, were of this latter opinion.
Regardless of his proclivities or idles, Big Tom knew what he liked and liked what he knew. He didn't know anything he didn't like and didn't like not knowing that he didn't like something he didn't know yet.
Plus, he was an opiate addict.
But our point is nonetheless valid. When one thing happens, other things tend to happen that are like the first thing.
For example, Columbus came to America and within a short time it seemed like every European country was sending ships to our shores.
Robert Harbin invented Zig-Zag and shortly thereafter, everyone invented it as well.
In Sync appears on the scene as a pop boy band and are almost immediately followed by Back Street Boys and others.
The black plague kills a couple hundred people in the mid-1300s and soon, 65 percent of Europe was dead.
Moses writes five books on religion and before you can say something blasphemous, an entire "bible" is assembled.
Ellusionist announces a sale with big discounts and, Bingo, MJM comes out with an equally cool offering.
Ellusionist.com knows we are vulnerable and yet taunts with offers of up to 30 percent off magic we want (need) if we buy in the next three days.
Yes, we freely admit we have a problem with Magic.
The deficiency is found not in the craft but in our soul. Our double-wide (practically, just shy of a true "double wide" as defined by the ISO) is about to burst at its aluminum strip covered seams with magic purchased and never used.
Our stage routine has not changed significantly since 1972 and our close-up presentation is identical to that which earned us the 1974 Florida State Magicians' Convention First-Place trophy. So, counting each deck of cards utilized as a separate trick and not counting the Atomic Light as magic but more as a novelty, we use a total of seven "tricks" in both shows combined. If we learned to do a false shuffle, we'd be down to five tricks total.
Our insurance inventory sheet, however, details 421 separate pieces of magic equipment and 1,901 magic books in hard or soft cover. If the Magic Trailer ever went up in a blaze, we could replace both of our shows for just over $35.00; not including a table. We could collect about six hundred times that figure for the loss of our "magic collection."
Perhaps your collection is our size our larger. Maybe you are just starting your collection of unused tricks in a spare dresser drawer or trunk. Each time you attend a convention, watch a lecture or visit a magic shop you likely add to the stockpile of regrets and forgotten promises.
We're not psychopathic or even amnesiac, but when we are given an opportunity to buy a magic trick (in our very low price range) we usually take full advantage. We then return home to inventory the new effect, perhaps open it from its wrapping, maybe even read the instructions, and, possibly, try it once or twice. We don't intentionally put it into the collection and when we purchase it we never think it will be anything but the primary effect of our new act.
If we performed the new act for which we have purchased so many effects over the years, we would be on stage for more than two weeks. This assumes we did not overly milk the sucker effects like "Fraidy Cat Rabbit," "Run Rabbit Run," "Run Wolf Run," "Run Monster Run," "Hippity Hop Rabbits," "Sucker Sliding Die Box," "Shamrock Sucker Sliding Die Box," "Classic Sucker Sliding Die Box," "Nu-View Sucker Sliding Die Box," and "The McCombical Deck."
Philadelphia Eagles long snapper, Jon Dorenbos had all the excuses necessary to fail but chose the tougher route and is a success. We learn from The Press of Atlantic City that magic has been a big part of his very difficult life.
After 20 years of marriage, his father brutally murdered his mother and was sentenced to more than a decade in prison. He was released in 2005 but has not been a part of Mr. Dorenbos’ life since their last, heated exchange in 1993.
"I haven't seen or spoken to him since 1993," Jon Dorenbos said. "The last time I saw him was when I was 13 years old. I visited him in prison in Walla Walla, Wash., and his last words to me were (profanity). Those were also my last words to him."
Mr. Dorenbos was a talented athlete and invested time and practice in several sports. In fact, it was during an all-star team series in Woodinville, Washington that he fell in love with magic. While staying with a coach and his son, one of the neighbors performed a single trick that got him hooked.
"He gave me a sponge ball to hold and he held the other one," Dorenbos said. "When I opened my hand, I was holding both of them. I still have the VHS tape from that day. The next day, we went to a magic store and I bought my first magic book, 'Modern Coin Magic,' by J.B. Bobo."
He moved to California to adoptive parents and found a new father figure in magician Ken Sands, owner of Magic Galore in Westminster, California.
Mr. Sands taught him tricks and how to entertain with magic. How to go from performing a series of tricks to presenting a magic act. "He taught me how to connect with an audience. If you just do a series of magic tricks, people will get bored. But they dig you as a person, you can make their experience go through the roof."
The British Library Board is looking for someone to adopt Harry Houdini's Magical Rope Ties & Escapes.
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