I can’t remember the last time so many friends died in so little time: Jerry Mentzer, Jim Patton, Tom Mullica, Irene Larsen, J.C. Doty, Tihany, and the great Paul Daniels is not long for this world with an inoperable brain tumor. I just heard that Pat Lyons (artist and wife of the late P. Howard Lyons), died from lung cancer.

This issue is one of remembrance. If there was a person more beloved in the world of magic than Irene Larsen I can’t imagine who it is. In a feature-length story, Irene Larsen is remembered by Dustin Stinett, Max Maven, Jim Steinmeyer, and her daughter Erika and granddaughter Liberty.

Tom Mullica’s death was apparently the result of ineptitude on the part of a doctor during what should have been a routine hernia operation. He told me he was 68 when we talked at the Genii Convention last October even though his death is being reported as age 67. His close-up performance at the Genii convention last October was so good that you’d never know he hadn’t done a set of magic like that in many years. Hilarity and a standing ovation. He was all smiles. Our article on Tom has been written by his friend, and ours, Jon Racherbaumer. We also have many great videos of Tom performing in our digital edition.

We also have obituaries on my old friend J.C. Doty, builder of Mullica’s Tom-Foolery Bar, and whose wife Mary made the most heavenly cornbread on the planet, by Joe. M Turner, and Tihany, the 99-year old master showman from Lupe Nielsen and Joaquin Ayala.

And yet our publication continues, as it must. The world turns and we hang on. Our columnists this month include Jim Steinmeyer’s brand new take on a platform version of “The Money Maker; Helder Guimaraes pulls some “Invisible Strings” to demonstrate visual versus the non-visual card magic (with two videos); “The Tray of Proteus” sounds so much more exotic than the metal coin tray it actually is, but John Gaughan reveals its hidden attributes in his “Chamber of Secrets”; “Eugene’s Notebook” deals with the soft side of the performance of magic (with video); Max Maven divines thought-of names in “Lost Horizons” (and has his audio column "Speaking of Max" in addition; Jonathan Pendragon reveals his entirely safe way of performing “Stigmata”—what has come to be known as “Smash and Stab”—in “Panmagium”: We have two routines this month in “Magicana,” from Lewis Jones and Jonathan Friedman (with video); with “Lodestones” Tom Stone reveals an entirely new way of secretly depositing final loads while standing, away from a table, and without pockets—I’m quite taken with it and the video will fry you; Daniel Ulin brings us the latest goings on in the Academy of Magic Arts in “Knights at The Magic Castle” (and don’t forget that if you’re not a member of the AMA, but are a Genii subscriber, you are entitled to visit the grand home of magic each year). We end our 112 pages with reviews of the latest tricks by David Regal, videos by I.B.M. President Joe M. Turner, and books from David Britland.

Spring is halfway here already; I’ll see you next month when the flowers will be busting out all over.

Join us! www.geniimagazine.com

With the loss of some icons in magic this issue is both sad and wonderful. It must have been difficult to put together but it turned out so well. All the issues are worth reading but this one is really special.

Thank you Mr. Kaufman and all the contributors.

Respectfully,

Phil

Thank you. It was hell to put out.