Blog Home

BLACK MAGICIANS IN AMERICA
Some Black entertainers who made important contributions to the history of magic in America!

LEVITATING BLOCK
Let me show you this vintage piece from my collection...

I have discovered many magical treasures in my travels, but probably none as exciting as finding these items that belonged to the great Harry Houdini....

WATCH AS PHOTOS OF HOUDINI COME ALIVE!
This is eerie...

A new AI technology software program has allowed us to colorize some of the photos in our collection.
Certainly gives us a different impression of how Houdini looked in life....

HEAR HOUDINI IN HIS OWN VOICE!
Authentic recording of Houdini introducing his Water Torture Cell Escape...

WATCH VINTAGE NEWSREEL FOOTAGE OF HOUDINI PERFORMING ESCAPES!

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SAWING IN HALF ILLUSION
A hundred years ago, P.T. Selbit introduced this legendary illusion. Magic was changed forever...

MOVING CHALKBOARD NOVELTY CARDS
A message appears with the sweep of the genii's hand!
Let me show you these two from my collection...

ELLEN ARMSTRONG
America's first African American female magician.
Never heard of her? Well, now you have...

CHINESE FLAME CLOCK
Invented by Ed Massey and then manufactured by Milson-Worth in the early 1950's, the Flame Clock is a fairly rare piece of vintage magic.
Let me show you this Chinese Flame Clock from my collection...

RICHARD POTTER
Richard Potter was the Emperor of Conjurers.
He was the the first American-born professional magician.
More people saw his show in the early 1800s than any other performer.
He was the first black American celebrity.
And his story is truly amazing...

MYSTERY CLOCKS
Have you ever seen a Mystery Clock?
These are clocks whose hands move seemingly without any clockworks moving them.
How do they work?
Let me show you two Mystery Clocks from my collection...

MAGIC SHOP STORIES
Sideshow Steve and I reminisce about visiting the famous New York City magic shops back in the 1970s...

VINTAGE MAGIC BOOKS
A peek into two of the antique magic books in my library...

VINTAGE MAGIC PROPS
A look back at some favorite magic props...

VINTAGE MAGIC CATALOGS
Before the Internet, there were the catalogs!
Here are my recollections of ordering from the giants of the mail order magic world...

JOHNSON SMITH CATALOGS
The Wish Books of my youth!
Here are my recollections of ordering from Johnson Smith...

MAGIC 8 BALL
Though we know it as a fun novelty toy, the Magic 8 Ball got its start as an authentic spiritualist tool.
It is a fascinating story...

MAGIC FRUIT CRATE LABELS
I get a lot of questions about how I decorate my back library, where I have been filming the demo videos.
A quick, easy to find and inexpensive choice is to use fruit crate labels.
Here are some colorful examples from my collection...

PHRENOLOGY
Phrenology is a quirky pseudoscientific idea that personality traits can be "read" by feeling the shape of the bumps on the head.
A replica of that head is in my collection...

ANTIQUE HANDCUFFS
After last week's post about the handcuffs used by Tony Curtis in the 1953 Houdini movie, I got several emails asking to see more antique handcuffs from my collection.
Here are a few of the hundreds of cuffs I have collected over the years...

HOUDINI MOVIE HANDCUFFS
If you think you can handcuff a magician, you are wrong!

ORIENTAL MAGIC
Why do some of the old classic tricks have a Chinese or Hindu theme?

What better way to show how big a giant is than to demonstrate how big his finger is in comparison to yours!
Let me show you some vintage giant's rings from my collection...