Ricky Jay Trapped in an Elevator! With Girls!
Watch as Ricky Jay faces his greatest challenge ever! In this video, he is forced into the harrowing position of having to fend off two vapid women while trapped in an elevator. Do a trick Mr. Jay!
Conjuring Arts on NPR!
Our director, Bill Kalush, was recently interviewed by NPR’s Scott Simon with regard to the Conjuring Arts Research Center and the relevance of magic today. It is a good opportunity to learn more about the library’s collection and where we are going with many of our projects. Enjoy!
Download the podcast here, or listen to it now via the player below.
Ricky Jay on Funny or Die
Ricky Jay is featured in David Mamet’s “Lost Masterpieces of Pornography”, a video on the Funny or Die website. It features June Crenshaw (Kristen Bell) “known as the ‘sex kitten’ of the Supreme Court”. This video may not be safe for work. Cheers!
Our Tenth Gibecière!
Gibecière Vol. 5, No. 2
The Summer 2010 Issue of Gibecière is en route to the presses!
For our spectacular tenth issue, we hear from a familiar voice, welcome a celebrated new contributor, and unearth a centuries-old manuscript that turns the entire timeline of magic history on its ear.
First, Barry Wiley chronicles the remarkable Nellie Bly, considered the first female journalist, and her shrewd exposure of fraudulent supernatural performers in early 20th Century America.
Next we hear from the prolific Joshua Jay, who gives us a morbidly fascinating catalog of magicians who have met with tragic ends in the pursuit of their art. Chung Ling Soo’s death is well-chronicled, but these magicians’ stories are equally (and just as eerily) compelling.
Finally, Conjuring Arts has uncovered a 17th Century Italian manuscript whose contents both shed light on and call into question the timeline of many well-known conjuring tricks. Lori Pieper once again provides the English translation, and Stephen Minch and William Kalush give context and commentary.
Impossible Motion
An optical treat! Watch the above video to experience the joy of defying gravity without actually having to do so. Perhaps this would make an interesting large scale playground illusion?
Ed Marlo in France!
Recently, here at Conjuring Arts, we have been working on transcribing a large file of letters from Ed Marlo to Mel Brown. They span from 1954 to 1991 and are quite fascinating, containing gossip, reviews of books and videos, tricks and sleights, tips and finesses, etc. While the work on these is not finished, we thought we would whet the appetite by offering a small gallery of photos of Ed Marlo that we have in the archives. We believe that these were taken during his trip to Paris for Pierre Mayer’s convention. There is also video footage of Marlo that was taken during the trip which is available through Stevens Magic Emporium (Ed Marlo – A Private Lesson number 1 and number 2), if you want to see him in action during this period of his life.
Visit the Gallery
For those that do not know much about Marlo and would like to know more you should definitely check out the new collections being put out by Magic Inc. in Chicago; these are a trilogy of books, two of which have been published so far, Revolutionary Card Technique and Cardially Yours. There are also some video resources, most notably, Prime Time Marlo and It’s all in the Cards. Also I have assembled some interesting articles and tricks, with the help of Ask Alexander, which may be of value to the enthusiast:
One of Marlo’s first publishing efforts was to enter into Tops magazine’s “It’s a Pip” contest. He entered three ideas into the contest, which is not surprising considering the vast creativity he would demonstrate for the rest of his career. Note that he was still using his given name Edward Malkowski with a nickname, “Marko”, which his friends had given him.
It’s a Pip Contest Announcement; Tops Vol. 02 No. 11, November 1937
Entries:
- “Pip Sucker Gag” by Edward (Marko) Malkowski; Tops Vol. 02 No. 12, December 1937
- “Pip Card to Wallet” by Edward (Marko) Malkowski; Tops Vol. 03 No. 03, March 1938
- “Before Your Eyes” by Edward (Marko) Malkowski; Tops Vol. 03 No. 05, May 1938
The following ads represent Marlo’s first attempts to market his material to magician’s. Both of them feature Marlo’s “Double Vanish and Recovery” which is an effect wherein two cards vanish from the deck, then one reappears face up in the middle, and then the face up card is used to locate the other card. Additionally the effect included “Theory of Change, Disappearance and Reappearance” which was an essay featuring the idea that any standard color change could be used to create the effect of a change, a vanish, or a production. The “Casanova Card Trick” utilized the mechanics 
behind the vanish in “Double Vanish and Recovery” to produce the four Queens. Finally we see “Poor Man’s Trick” in which the performer made a penny travel through his head into a glass and then the penny was placed in the right sleeve only to travel out the left sleeve and into the glass. “Double Vanish and Recovery” and “Casanova Card Trick” are available in Marlo’s book Deck Deception, and the “Poor Man’s Trick” is explained in Bull’s-Eye Coin Tricks. I did not find “Theory of Change, Disappearance and Reappearance” reprinted anywhere, but Sid Lorraine had a copy of it in his files which are available at Conjuring Arts.
Finally, here are some biographical pieces about Marlo.
- “Eddie Marlo as I Know Him” by Frances Ireland; The Linking Ring Vol. 25, No. 11 January 1946.
- “Cardician Marlo” by Frances Ireland; The Linking Ring Vol. 37, No. 4 June 1957.
- “The Amazing Mr. Marlo” by Bill Simon; MUM October 1978.
- “Some Notes on Edward Marlo” by Jon Racherbaumer; MUM October 1978.
- MAGIC Magazine Obituary; MAGIC Magazine Vol. 1, No. 4 1991.
- Linking Ring Obituary; The Linking Ring Vol. 72, No. 01 January 1992.
- MUM Obituary; MUM Vol. 81, No. 09 February 1992.
