Got an email from Fab today advertising a DVD called FAB-ULOUS LEGENDS OF MAGIC!, starring Blackstone, Okito, Thurston, Cardini, Jack Gwynne, etc.. A sample on their website was pretty grainy. What do you think?

http://fabmagic.com/faleofmafrsh.html

That clip appears to be filmed by pointing a cellphone at a screen and pressing record.

I believe this footage they have converted from FILM that was not stored properly for over 60 years is wonderful. They could just not offer it and this would be very sad as you would not be able to see the famous magicians who we all build our magic of today on.

It is too bad that no one in technology in the 1950's did not tell us all that we should preserve our film to be converted to digital video in the 21st century. If you have not been born back then, you would not know that is how the beginnings of film technology began. Gray scale and very grainy. I think this is very good, as most home movie camera's had to be only filmed outside. Later, much later, they came out with huge flood lights to attach to the home handheld movie cameras.

I would not use this as an entertainment video, but as a learning video of how the great masters performed on live theater stages. It is to bad that some of the film lost the features of the performers faces.

Anyway, to late now to complain about poor storage techniques. I am personally happy for the effort and the offering. I will be getting a copy myself.

I see even back then they thought some little kid was more important to film, instead of the performance. Also, all the performers and people in this video are all probably dead by now.

So as the famous line goes, "I see dead people." is very true with this DVD.

I think the price is perfect for the product! $15.00

This is a fascinating account of magicians of a bygone era for sure..yes, the youtube video is grainy - and not as clear as I wanted - the video is better but again take in account the age of the film. Magicians you will see:
Harry Blackstone Sr.'s only peformance at an Abbott gettogether
Jack Gwynne,Mar Wilson, T. Nelson Downs, Bill Baird (a young one!), Okito,Fu Manchu, Dell O Dell, McConald Birch,Neil Foster,Duke Stern, Karrell Fox, Howard Thurston and so many,many more.

Some of it is in black and white and some in color. We have been contacted by the museum in Marshalltown, Iowa - we seem to have the only footage of Downs and they want to use the clips for their display! So you can see how rare this film footage is....we have sold nearly 300 copies in three weeks...it's fun to relive those days

About 1980, I converted many of S.A.M.'s films to VHS! (How ancient!) We have to deal with the technology available. It is an act of preservation. Of course, current production has benefits but it is also not the real thing either!

Today having your personal GPS is a choice. I can remember the 60's when even a very good compass was great. Remember the quote? "I'm the navigator and I have a right to know where we are."

The real stuff is rare today. What happened to what Marco Polo saw on his trip? I'm sure he had color vision but we are blind. He didn't even have a Polaroid! Technology is great stuff but it is not very retroactive. My daughter as a child grew up in the back seat of Cadillac Fleetwood Broughams. I remember her remark about how primitive the back seats of other cars seemed to her. She honestly wondered why people had those cars. Your clock starts when you let it. It has nothing to do with what came before unless you make the effort to learn about it.

I'm grateful to those who do try to preserve opportunities for us to see how we got here.

Thank you for making this “old stuff” available to us.

I wonder how many younger magicians have any idea what was the origin of flash powder. And then really confuse them with the report about what Marco Polo learned about it in China 450 years before America existed. Yep! Even MTV is new.

(Three guesses how silk and dove magic got to Venice before 1432. The black and white 1958 American movie with silk and dove magic came much later. Of course, neither the silk nor the mutant Java doves aka Streptopelia alba are native to the western world.)