I was always glued to the TV set each Saturday when The Magic Land of Allakazam aired. It was a ground breaking series featuring American magician Mark Wilson. It ran from 1960 to 1964 and is credited with establishing the credibility of magic as a television entertainment. The 60's and 70's was absolutely a great time for magic. There was always a magician on TV, wonderful magicians like Lewis Ganson and others. Some other highlights for me; the coin roll that David Hemmings did in the movie Blow-Up (very cool and I think the first time I had ever seen that done), also the slight of hand card work in one of the Rifleman TV show episodes. I remember my first couple of tricks I purchased by mail; Clipper (the cut and restored newspaper strip), and how to pull a rope through someone's neck (I remember I was a little disappointed on this one, as it was instructions only :) perhaps I thought I was getting some magic rope that was able to dematerialize as I pulled it through. I remember how the Clipper trick smelled, it was a wonderful smell and I still smell things today that remind of that very trick. I purchased most of my magic from The House of 1000 Mysteries, Vick Lawston and and his famous pal "Pumpernickel." It was a very cool catalog and is still quite collectible today. In the 60's the mail would run twice where I lived, morning and afternoon. It was very exciting waiting for the magic by mail, running to the mailbox twice each day to see if the mysteries had arrived. Pure bliss when it arrived and the package was in my hands!
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AuthorI am a musician by trade, but magic has always been a love of mine. Archives
August 2014
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