We all know great stories in magic; whether it's about Dai vernon, Slydini, Malini, Thurston, Kellar, Robert Houdin or whoever. Which story is your favorite? Where did you learn it? I'm gathering a collection of stories for a show I have coming up and thought this forum would be a great resource. Thanks!

The double life and death of Chung Ling Soo.
You could create a full evening show around Robinson.

There is a great book about this him - Amazon carries it.

You are right.
The Glorious Deception by Jim Steinmeyer
It’s a very interesting read.

I find the tangled tale of the rivalry between Dai Vernon and Eddie McGuire exciting.
It has to do with their search for "The real work" on gambling sleights, Vernon's "Mexican Gambler" and Walter Scott, "The Phantom".
To get the whole picture you need to read two books, "The Magician and the Cardsharp" by Karl Johnson, and "Phantoms of the Card Table" by David Britland and Gazzo.

The story about how Robert-Houdin tricked a tribe that was rebelling into giving up on revolt comes to mind.

With all the stories about Houdini and all his famous escapes, two facts that have nothing to do with his craft always stand out for me. The first is that he was the first man to fly an airplane over the skies of Australia. The other was his tendency towards sea-sickness. Of course, on a magical note, his attacks against mediums and other frauds.

Here's a couple by Paul Chosse.

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewf......68&5

I don't know if it is true but I once read a story about the escape that Houdini could not complete.
It seems that a Reporter jimmied the lock on a pay toilet with Houdini inside and the Great Houdini had to either crawl out from under the stall or had to have someone else open the door for him. Houdini was so angry that the few people who knew who the culprit was, just dummied up and never let Houdini in on the prank.
I don't remember where I read this but it sounds unlikely to me. If anyone here could clarify this story, I would love to hear the straight scoop on this one.
-Iven

Now that is a great story . . . too good to be true

Read Marion's Book "Trouping with Dante"
there's some wonderful stories in there.

You should do a list of all the fake chinese magicians
who were really jewish...that's the funny.

Dunningers secrets has some great stories of Joe almost stumbling across devious ways to read minds.Grand central station was an excellent story.

Jason

Uncle Harry had a ton of stories (most of them made up entirely by Uncle Harry) but I think the best was the time he made the audience disappear. He liked telling that one. Of course I never understood why he was so proud of it, I've seen hundreds of magicians make an audience disappear.

The late, great Ken Brooke once told me that a guy came into his London magic studio, and told him that he makes his own 'flash paper' and, would he like to see some. Ken said he would, so the guy took some out and lit it. Ken said: "I went for a cup of tea, and when I came back it was still burning! I said, that's no good, go home and try to improve it! We haven't seen him since... I think he's gone-up with the bloody stuff!"

I think part of the story about how Robert-Houdin quelled the Marabout rebellion was fabricated, specifically the hollow wax bullet filled with blood. I tried many different ways of doing this, and was completely unsuccessful. If he did it, there is more to it than he said in his book.

The problem lies in several places. One is in finding a kind of wax that you can make into a hollow ball. Another is filling it with any liquid. And last, but not least, getting the ball to go down the barrel without breaking it.

But it's a good story.

Irossall

Think !
Houdini died in 1925.I don't believe they even had pay tolilet's back than.

Don

1926.

The incident occurred in Kansas City. There is a plaque or something at the site.


Frances:

Think of how many Native Americans were played by Italians in the early movies!

Here's a piece of trivia for you, Frances. What do Charlie Chan and Al Jolson's father have in common?

I know this!! Hint: The werewolf that bit Henry Hull in Tibet.

Okay. Frances didn't bite.

Both roles were played by a Swede named Warner or Werner Oland.

I didn't know I had a hook!


Speaking of Charlie, they are finally making
a film. about 10 years ago, Russell Wong was
to play #2 son, but the film never did get
launched. Maybe he still will. Never know.
I can see him as #2 song.

:)