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M. Tesla Regular user Coral Springs, Florida 154 Posts |
Wow! This has to be the largest online forum I've ever seen...and hello to everyone here! A funny thing happened on the way to the forum (heh)...I was looking up some info on my late friend Jose De La Torre, using google, and one of the links pointed to this forum...while I've been on a hiatus from magic and mentalism for about a decade, recently I got the itch to do some close-up...as for the funny thing (see above), I also discovered that my name had been mentioned in a post several years ago, when some forum members were looking for info on Jose, and someone posted that they thought I was the one who edited his "Magicana of Havana" and it was thought also, that I lived in Florida...right on both counts...I was also looking for info on George Snyder and his magic shop, in Cleveland, and I once again google directed me here...I guess I can thank him for about sixty years of interest in magic, mentalism, and the performing arts...soooo...
And I guess I should mention how I've been involved in all of this for so long, so, taaa daaa...Marc, at 70...well, not actually 70, at least until this coming October...and like I said, it's George Snyder's fault... I was about 12 years old when George was hired to do a children's show at the country club my father belonged to...I was immediately hooked...and better yet, he had a magic store in downtown Cleveland...since we lived on Green Rd., the end of the Shaker Rapid Transit Line, and the other end was in the middle of Cleveland's Public Square, I was allowed to hop on, and found my way to his shop...I even remember the first trick I bought...it was one of those simple queen vanishes routines where a queen is cut in half and the two halves are taped together, and a blank card was inserted between the halves...show the queen top with your hand hiding the bottom which obscures the blank card, turn it face down onto the table, and reach in your pocket for some pixie dust (George sold a ton of that), leaving the half card there, and once the pixie dust was applied, the card on the table was revealed to be blank...ahhh...I bugged everyone with that trick...and during several more trips to George's store, I accumulated other magic paraphernalia, at least what my paper route income could afford...and oh, did I ever drool over the Rising Card Box and the Hippity Hop Rabbits, but sadly they were beyond my budget...the next year I was off to a military academy and the magic was confined to the summers, although, in those summers, my brother and I performed kiddy magic shows for the neighbors, charging about $5 or $10...remember, this was the early 60's, and that was a treasure for a young teen...one summer, I was about 16, my mother took me to NYC, to see cousins...while we were there, I finagled her into taking me to Tannen's...Lou sold me a Glorpy (I may even have it buried somewhere, yet), then off to college, followed by marriage... I was living in West Paterson, NJ (now Woodland Park) when my brother was injured in a horseback riding accident and I went back to Cleveland to see him, with my wife...while I was there we stayed in my old bedroom, and I re-discovered the magic equipment in the drawers of my bureau, and thought it would be fun to play around with it so I packed it in a box to take back to NJ, and attempted to take it on the plane as a carry-on...wrong move...they insisted on inspecting it and began pulling out all sorts of stuff...cards, flowers, silks, a change bag, and who knows what else...I remember a guy standing a few spaces behind me in line yelling out, "Hey! You got a rabbit in there too?" Pretty funny...everyone got a good laugh... Back in NJ I discovered Ted Collins, and Mecca Magic, in East Orange...oh, wow...and that's when the bug bit harder...I started doing children's birthday shows assisted by my wife, and made some nice side money...and of course, there was Tannen's...Saturdays in the city, at Tannen's...they closed about 3PM, and usually those who were there, went down the street to a Caféteria, where they gave us the back room...coffee, and pastries, and getting to watch and listen to Harry Lorayne, and watch a very young David Roth... I joined IBM Ring #106, then in Irvington, I think, and Ring #113, which met somewhere near Paterson, iirc...and oh, my, the lectures and lecturers we saw...I can't even begin to name some of the well-known magicians that belonged to those rings, lest I be branded a name dropper...needless to say, though, that is where I met Jose, and we became friends...we looked like Mutt and Jeff together, a short be-whiskered magician wandering around with an extremely tall Cuban one...I spent most of the 70's in northern NJ, and what magic I did and what magic I learned... In 1978 I moved to Phoenix, AZ, and immediately joined Ring #55 (Bert Easley/Danny Dew), and SAM Assembly #248, which was renamed for Jack Sutherland, after he was murdered...I was there for that, unfortunately...I remember spending Saturday afternoons at Bert Easley's, when Jack was running it, and then SUN Magic when he opened it...instead of continuing children's birthday shows (exhausting), I decided to do walk-around close-up and became a DJ for KQXE/KIOG in Phoenix...the highlight of my time in Phoenix was performing at Phoenix Symphony Hall for about 1500 people, for a Habitat for Humanity Benefit... In 1998 I moved to south Florida (Coral Springs), where most of my family had relocated to...there, I joined IBM Ring #150 (Mark Horowitz), SAM Assembly #49 (The Fort Lauderdale Magic Society), and SAM Assembly #274 (Sam Schwartz)... I did walk-around for a few years, and then walked away from magic due to some health issues and some business issues...Bellsouth, for three years, continued to put my yellow page ads in the Escorts section, and I spent most of the three years fighting with them...too bad I wasn't in the escort business, because I got tons of middle of the night phone calls from horny guys looking for "escorts"...in the end, they sued me for non-payment and I counter-sued them for disrupting my life...I won, didn't have to pay them anything for the three years, but got no monetary damages...it was a wash... But I digress... I recently got the bug again (hmmm...is magic like a virus?) and I've been thinking of getting into doing mentalism shows on a small scale as I'm semi-confined to a wheelchair (it's a honey, motorized, and pretty darn fast) as I can't stand for long or walk very far... And by now, I guess I've bored all of you to tears, writing about my odyssey, so I'll leave with a big HELLO!
While the amount of water has remained static, the amount of Tequila and Triple Sec available for making Margaritas has expanded enormously. So you see, we have made progress after all. ~Anonymous
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Mary Mowder Inner circle Sacramento / Elk Grove, CA 3659 Posts |
Hello M Tessler,
And welcome back to Magic. I enjoy a little peek into Magic history (sorry about the tragic part). You'll find a few other old timers here and maybe some from your old haunts. If you don't run into some old friends, you're sure to make some new ones. Best of luck in getting your act up and running. -Mary Mowder |
M. Tesla Regular user Coral Springs, Florida 154 Posts |
Thanks for the welcome...any idea where I should look on here to find out if there are any brick and mortar magic shops left in the Ft. Lauderdale area? There are so many forums and sub-forums here that I haven't a clue where to post to find an answer...Broward County north or so?
While the amount of water has remained static, the amount of Tequila and Triple Sec available for making Margaritas has expanded enormously. So you see, we have made progress after all. ~Anonymous
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Dave Scribner Assistant Manager Lake Hopatcong, NJ 4849 Posts |
The best place to ask this question is the "Marquee says". Since you are relatively new here, you can use the search feature in the upper right corner of each page to type in a specific word, or phrase. That sometimes narrows down your search area.
BTW, being from NJ, I am familiar with each of the places you mentioned above. I remember Mecca Magic well as it was the place to go if you didn't want to go to NY. Ted Collins is a blast from the past. Ah, the memories. Welcome to the Magic Café.
Where the magic begins
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M. Tesla Regular user Coral Springs, Florida 154 Posts |
Ted Collins...ahhhh...I actually took lessons from him...somewhere I have a sheet of instructions from him for some kind of napkin routine, but can't quite remember what it is...don't think it was a torn and restored, something else...
While the amount of water has remained static, the amount of Tequila and Triple Sec available for making Margaritas has expanded enormously. So you see, we have made progress after all. ~Anonymous
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