Sunday, November 13, 2011

Linking Ring Photo Quiz from May 2011


This is the cover of the Linking Ring Magazine from earlier this year. Linking Ring is published by the I.B.M., International Brotherhood of Magicians. It is one of the many organizations that my father was a member of. He was not really a political kind of guy when it came to Magic Hierarchies. He was not a snob about magic, but he did see that there was a difference between professional and amateur organizations. He did not want to immerse himself in the bureaucracy that comes from running a professional organization. He was a working performer and did not always have the time to devote to such energies. He was heavily involved with the Hollywood Chapter of I.B.M. Ring 21, the Carl Fleyming Ring.

This was a feature in the current years May edition, placed by my good friend Gary Frank. Gary was a friend of my fathers in his later years. Gary has been of incalculable assistance in helping me sort through all of my Dad's materials and also brokering sales of much of his remaining equipment. He is as much as anyone, helping to keep my Dad's name alive in Magic circles. Let's face it, the new generation does not want to be weighed down by the history and battles of old timers. There are new mountains to climb, but long before Criss Angel, David Blaine and the other well known performers of today came to prominence, the magic world was dominated by vaudeville performers and the generation of magicians that followed them.


Gary is a magic historian, who has written books on some of the early twentieth century magicians. He is currently working on a article for MAGIC Magazine on my father. I can never repay him for the kindness he has shown us by his friendship. The work of digging through literally tons of materials that may have worth or may be junk is thankless. He arranged this little photo quizzes appearance in the Linking Ring Magazine. The write up is very nice.


We saw Penn and Teller in Vegas a few years ago and they have a clever act, I do think however that they play a little fast and loose with the way they see themselves. They are Magicians, not a couple of guys who just know some cool stuff. I remember how they went to pains to separate themselves from some guy in a greasy tuxedo, pulling rabbits out of a hat. Many of the same tricks they do have been done by those who came before them. I know one way to be seen as hip is to diss those that younger people see as old fashioned, but I don't think old fashioned is uncool. It always felt cool to me to tell my friends what it was that my dad did for a living. My Dad has been dead for nearly ten years now, and he was not all there for almost ten years before that, but I still remember him and the way he loved working an audience. Look at the picture featured in the magazine, that dude and those girls were cool. Thanks Gary for keeping this part of Magic History alive.

3 comments:

  1. Hey Richard,

    I am enjoying reading this blog, (just started to, in fact.) Just looked to me like there weren't many comments, and thought I'd let you know I was reading.

    -Benjamin

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, I'm just getting started. Are you a Magician, or did you just happen by? I haven't really been promoting the site yet, but as soon as that article gets published, I will try to get some more readers. Hope you enjoy and keep coming back.--Richard

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would call myself an amateur magician.
    I am interested in magic, and now some stage magic and its history.

    Good luck,

    -Benjamin

    ReplyDelete