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Donal Chayce Inner circle 1770 Posts |
Thanks for sharing more of your JC stories!
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Review King Eternal Order 14446 Posts |
Paul, that's a priceless story. THANK YOU!
"Of all words of tongue and pen,
the saddest are, "It might have been" ..........John Greenleaf Whittier |
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Dean Dill 1947 - 2015 248 Posts |
Hey Paul,
Did Johnny ever share the story of the time he sabotaged Uri Geller appearance. When I was at his house I did a spoon bend that I learned from the old Stars of Magic Series. It was the version using the extra spoon bowl. You could use any spoon. The bowl of the spoon would droop slowly and then I would restore it back to normal. I had used one of his spoons and when I was through he thought I had switched spoons altogether. All I did was sneak in the gaff and ditched it afterward. Anyway he was so blown away that he called his wife Alex in to see it. Then is when he told me the whole Uri Geller story, and how upset he was with Uri for not being up front with him. A few days before the show he got together with Uri and asked him if he could do anything to help him with his magic. Of course Uri said it wasn't magic it was real mind control. Johnny told him to at least be up front with him and admit that it was just tricks. Uri wouldn't do it. Johnny called the Amazing Randi and asked how he could set the conditions so that Uri was truly put the the test. They set up the show so that everything was controled and made sure Uri never touched any of the objects. Keys, spoons etc. Of course nothing worked. You can find the clip on YouTube somewhere. Johnny was so upset with him and said that he would never appear on the show again. He told me if Uri had just been up front with him that he would have played along. That was when I realized that you don't mess with Johnny. If you were honest with him he would so anything to make you shine. Lots more stories like that but this in Pauls forum and I don't want to over do my stay. It was great to hear Johnny tell stories that only magicians would appreciate. I really miss him as I know many do. Dean |
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Hart Keene Inner circle Eugene, OR 1486 Posts |
Thanks for adding Dean!
Great thread! |
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JoeHohman Special user Erie 706 Posts |
Dean, last night I followed the link provided by Brian Proctor, and when it was finished there was a prompt to see YOUR appearance on the Tonight Show. Wow -- your matrix was amazing!
(Paul, sorry if we are hijacking your thread; I'll stop now, but I REALLY liked Dean's matrix!) |
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Review King Eternal Order 14446 Posts |
Dean, I never heard the whole story about Johnny and Uri. Thanks for sharing that as it's important.
"Of all words of tongue and pen,
the saddest are, "It might have been" ..........John Greenleaf Whittier |
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davidpaul$ Inner circle Georgetown, South Carolina 3086 Posts |
See it here at about 1:55 into the segment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YJDh1xjSeU&feature=related
Guilt will betray you before technique betrays you!
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Paul Gertner V.I.P. 147 Posts |
Christopher,
Johnny's home in Malibu as you might expect was pretty impressive. But since this is my last day on the boards and everyone seemed to like the Johnny Carson stories I’ll answer your questions and add one more story to this thread. A few people have emailed asking how I got invited to his home in the first place so to put it in context I'll give you a little background before talking about the house. I always wanted to go on Carson and when I heard he was going to retire in 3 years I decided if I never tried I would always hate my for not trying. I sent NBC a video with some HBO and That's Incredible footage and decided to treat it like a sales job with follow up calls etc. They kept telling me that they would look at my tape but they got thousands each week etc. About one month after I sent it I called to follow up with the talent coordinator named Jim and he said, "Oh, yeah we saw your tape, it was really good. One of the producers is going to show it to Johnny because he makes the decision about booking magicians on the show. I got the producers name (Jeff) and I followed up with him the next day. He said yes he had my tape and he was going to give Johnny the tape to look at over the weekend. I was excited. I waited till Wednesday of the next week and called Jeff and he said Johnny came in yesterday and he was raving about your magic. He said "Your timing was pretty good because Johnny has been practicing coin tricks lately and you had a few that really fooled him." Then Jeff said: "But, I can't promise you anything else. Johnny makes all the decisions about having a magician on the show and, I did what I promised by showing him your tape, I can't really push it anymore than that. But he really liked your magic." I remember getting off that phone call being kind of depressed. I made it this far but I had no idea what to do next. I talked to my wife Kathy that evening and I said: "I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to Fed-X a personal letter to Johnny and thank him for looking at my tape and tell him I would love to be on the show." Kathy looked at me and said: "I don't think you should do that. When I said "Why Not!' She said, "Look, Johnny knows you want to be on the show. That’s obvious. The question is what does Johnny want?" I said, "What do you mean?" Kathy continued. "I think Johnny wants to be treated like a magician. Didn't you say the producer said your timing was good because Johnny was going around the office practicing some new coin magic? I think you should talk to him like a magician. I think you should send him a letter and talk to him about technical coin magic, moves stuff like that. Don't say anything about being on the show just talk to him like he is one of you." And that is exactly what I did. I Fed-Xed a letter to the producer Jeff with another unsealed letter inside addressed personally to Johnny. My letter to Jeff said, “”Jeff here is a letter to Johnny, if you think it appropriate please pass it on to him.” In Johnny’s letter I thanked him for watching my tape and then started talking about coin magic, multiple edge palms, shuttle passes and the retention vanish I used in That’s Ridiculous.” I over-nighted the letter to Jeff and followed up with him on Friday. When I called he said I still have you letter on my desk and I’m going into a meeting with Johnny right now and I’ll give it to him.” Within the hour I got a phone call and the person said, “This NBC Carson Productions, I’m calling for Mr. Paul Gertner would you please hold for Johnny Carson.” A few moments later Johnny was on the line. The first thing he said was “Paul, I just wanted to tell you I looked at your tape and you do some beautiful magic. I’ve been playing around with the multiple edge palm and retention vanish but I can’t do them like that. That’s good stuff, good stuff.” Now I don’t think Johnny really knew that much about terms like multiple edge palms, and retention vanishes, but it did not matter. My letter talked to him like an equal, I talked to him magician to magician and Kathy was right, that’s what he wanted. The conversation was short but ended with him saying “We have to get you out here on the show.” I told him I would be in LA in two weeks for a trade show and he said, “Let me give you my number. Give me a call when you get in LA and maybe we can get together. Two weeks later on a Sunday morning I landed at LAX and I went to Budget to pick up my economy sized rental car and then I called the number from a pay phone. Johnny answered and when I told him I was in LA he said, “What are you doing today?” I told him this was a report day and I did not have to meet my client till that evening. He said, “Do you want to come out to the house?” And he proceeded to give me directions to his place in Malibu. I went back to the Budget and excitedly told the guy behind the counter that I was driving his car up to meet Johnny Carson. The guy said “ Your going to meet Johnny Carson? The man’s going to Johnny Carson’s House! Wait a minute what kind of card do you have? “ He looked at my rental agreement and said, “Man, you can’t go to Johnny Carson’s house in that car. You need a Cadillac. And he upgraded me at no charge to a brand new grey Cadillac.” I drove to Malibu and when I got near the gates a voice confirmed who I was and the gates opened and I drove into to a circular drive way, beautiful landscaping everywhere, it was like a conservatory or park. I parked and got out of the car and as I leaned in the back seat to get my magic case I hear a familiar voice saying. “Hi, Paul did you find it ok?” And there was Johnny standing behind me in white tennis short and a t-shirt. That moment was pretty freaky. The house was pretty over the top, glass walls with a view of the ocean and big overstuffed furniture. We sat in the living room and talked about magic. I think he might have gotten me a drink or there might have been one staff person who did but I was kind of in shock and can’t honestly remember. I can remember one of my first impressions was the intensity of his eyes, they seemed to stare right though you. I remember thinking I would not want to cross this man. But he was very friendly, looked a little thinner than he did on TV, and a bit older without the makeup. I sensed he was aware of how strange it was for me to be there and he really made me feel at ease. After a short while I felt comfortable enough to get him talking about his early days and I asked him about his favorite performers (he mentioned Jack Benny) and how much magic he did as a kid. He was quite proud of his magic roots, and even stating, “During high school I was getting pretty good, and even started doing some shows.” But then as he explained the comedy thing starting taking off and the money was pretty good and the next then he knew he had his own TV show. Listening to him sort of reminded me of a guy reminiscing about his glory days playing minor league baseball but then he ended up following his dad, and grandfather into the steel mills to work, the job was there, the money was good and 40 years go by, but the passion for his first love is still there. After a while I asked if he would like to see some magic and he said sure. We moved to another area of the house with a table and I did some of the routines like the Cups & Balls, Unshuffled and That’s Ridiculous. He played around with some coins and I taught him my handling of A Familiar Ring since he had a shell coin and we played with that quite a while. I was there about 3 hours and then I said I’d better be going because I had to meet the client that evening in LA. A funny thing happened as I was leaving Johnny asked if I wanted to use the bathroom before I drove to LA. I did not really have to but then I thought…. “How many people can say they were in Johnny Carson’s bathroom?” So I said yes. He pointed toward the bathroom and I walked in that direction through an open door and into a rather large room that I assumed would lead to the bathroom. There were fresh flowers and painting on the wall and then I got to a dead end but there was no door to the bathroom. For a second I was stumped until I looked to the left and there was the toilet. I was already in the bathroom!!! The embarrassing part was I felt like an idiot when I had to walk all the way back through the large bathroom to go back and close the door. As I was leaving Johnny said I’ll have my people give you a call and we’ll get you on the show. Two weeks later they flew me back to LA, this time a grey stretch limo picked me up at the airport and the next day I did the Tonight Show for my first of three appearances. Paul |
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Paul Gertner V.I.P. 147 Posts |
Dean,
Johnny did mention Geller one time and yes he talked about calling Randi and making sure that Geller could not get to the props in advance. But that's amazing that he told you about pressuring Geller to admit it was all magic. And it's even more interesting to hear that he would have gone along with the act, IF Geller had come clean. That's a great story which fills in many details. Thanks for adding it here. Paul |
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Brian Proctor Inner circle Somewhere 2323 Posts |
Paul and Dean, thank you both for your contributions to magic and the memories you both created on The Tonight Show. Dean, thank you for the insider info about Gellar refusing to work with Johnny. If he had not messed with Johnny, who knows how different his career would be today. Very intriguing...
Paul, I look forward to hearing more stories when you come to Portland for the lecture. Thank you for everything! By the way, how many magicians can say they were in Johnny's bathroom?!?! Very funny story Paul! Brian Proctor |
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Review King Eternal Order 14446 Posts |
Paul, I had goodebumps reading your story. Thank you for taking so much time to share such details.
WOW!
"Of all words of tongue and pen,
the saddest are, "It might have been" ..........John Greenleaf Whittier |
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FuDD Regular user Tucson, Az. 150 Posts |
Like Chris just stated, goosbumps and tears in the corners of my eyes,Does it sound funny? is it because I'm so new to magic, but this stuff is priceless,id rather have read this than gone to ....o I don't know Hawaii,Disney land.
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