My Split-Second Appearance on a 1990 Busch Gardens Commercial

By Tom Interval

Even in 1988, $50 didn’t seem like a lot of money to be in a television commercial. But who was I to complain? I was doing what I loved for a living at a super-cool theme park to which I had unlimited access. Besides, the gig was a non-speaking part, so I didn’t even have to join the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).

Busch Gardens Williamsburg (as in Williamsburg, Virginia) ended up using only about one second of  my performance in the commercial. So that’s $50 per second. Hmm. Eight hours in a typical workday, which equals 480 minutes, which equals 28,800 seconds, which, at $50 per second, equals $1,440,000 per day. I could scrape by on that.

Hey, a man can dream, can’t he?

As it turned out, not only did I not end up with millions of dollars, I didn’t even get a copy of the tape, despite my repeated requests to Busch over the years.

Fast-forward to 2017, a year that exists in the age of YouTube, the online video storehouse featuring everything from cat juggling to tutorials on quantum mechanics. Fortunately, it didn’t take a physics lesson to finally find the Busch commercial I’m in.

An anonymous guy in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who calls himself Betamax King, recorded the commercial back in 1990, two years after it was filmed. He has more than one YouTube channel jam-packed with old video and audio clips he’s collected over the years.

Here’s the 30-second commercial with my appearance in all of its one-second glory. Do you think it’s worth 50 bucks?

Happy 83rd Birthday to Harry Blackstone Jr.

By Tom Interval

1934 was an eventful year:

• 

  Harry Blackstone Jr., Pittsburgh, 1981

  The first Flash Gordon comic strip was published.

• Nepal and Bihar experienced one of the worst earthquakes ever to hit those areas.
• Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., now known as Fujifilm, was established.
• The famous “surgeon’s photograph” of the Loch Ness Monster was first published (and dismissed as a hoax some 60 years later).
• The first Three Stooges short, Woman Haters, was released.
• Bonnie and Clyde were killed by a posse of four Texas officers.
• The Dionne quintuplets—the first quintuplets to survive infancy—were born.
• Donald Duck debuted in the short film, The Wise Little Hen.
• Adolf Hitler became the Führer of Nazi Germany.

That was the era in which Harry Blackstone Jr., “America’s foremost magician,” was born, on this day 83 years ago.

I’ve written about Harry on this blog a few times before, so I don’t have a lot to say today accept, simply, happy birthday, Harry. You were one of the great entertainers of my era and truly a kind soul. Thank you for the magic you’ve added to your audiences’ lives over the years and for the inspiration you’ve sparked in the hearts of many aspiring magicians.

Here’s to your memory, Harry.

Of Worthy Note:  Also born on this day were Bill Bixby, star of the 1970s prime-time television show, The Magician; feminist Gloria Steinem; Major League baseball player Roberto Clemente; and astronomer Carl Sagan.

 

 

 

 

#harryblackstonejr #magicians #birthdays

In Memory of Houdini on the 90th Anniversary of His Death

By Tom Interval

It’s been 90 years since Harry Houdini (1874–1926) died on Halloween, yet his name lives on—a testament to the genius behind his showmanship, originality, technical abilities, and knack for attaining publicity. Unhappy anniversary, Harry.

Dynamite Houdini Punch-Out

By Tom Interval

In my relatively small magic collection, I recently dug up this 1980 Dynamite article about Harry Houdini (1874-1926). What’s scary about this piece, besides the picture of Scott Baio on the cover, is that more than 36 years have passed since its publication. (Let me immerse myself in age denial about that one for a moment.)

The article—mostly about Houdini’s crusade against fraudulent Spiritualists— is just okay. But the Houdini punch-out? Dynamite! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) I didn’t actually punch it out because I wanted to leave the magazine intact, but I was compelled to scan it and animate it for your and my entertainment pleasure.

It’s an illustration of Houdini in his pre-1920s scandalous canary-yellow swim trunks escaping a heavy set of chains, just as he did in real life. Well, not “just” as he did, and his trunks weren’t really yellow, but you get the idea. Pretty cool: All you do is punch out the lot, weave the artwork into the jail-cell bars, use the tabs to move the artwork up and down, and voilà! Houdini sheds the shackles!

But don’t take my word for it:

 

Here’s what the original punch-out looks like:

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, Houdini once again escapes, this time as recently as 1980, long before this magician was born. *wink*

# # #

The Four Burglars: In Memory of Paul Daniels

By Tom Interval

Paul Daniels (1938-2016), the famous U.K. magician, performed and taught his own version of The Four Burglars, a classic plot in card magic dating back to 1591.

For years I’ve taught a version to some of my magic students and only recently saw that some of Paul’s handling was similar to my own. He added a psychological subtlety and four-jack display I hadn’t seen before.

I thought it would be fun to perform Paul’s version in honor and in memory of one of the greatest magicians of all time: The Four Burglars, In Memory of Paul Daniels (see embedded video below).

On his YouTube channel, Paul posted four videos showing three different versions of The Four Burglars. I didn’t know Paul personally, but I think I can safely assume the trick was one of his favorites to teach.

So why would a world-renowned magician post videos of simple card tricks, such as The Four Burglars? He was trying to emphasize what’s really important in magic: the performance. The Four Burglars is a card trick with a story, and people like stories.

As Paul has said many times, magic is so much more fun to watch when it’s funny or at least interesting. I constantly drive home this point to each of my magic students. The Four Burglars isn’t particularly funny (albeit it could be depending on the presentation), but it has a story line that makes it interesting. Tricks with stories draw in the audience and keep its attention.

Here are Paul’s videos of the trick. You can watch my two-minute presentation of his “Version 3” in the embedded video below.

• The Four Burglars, Version 1 (Nov. 10, 2012)
• The Four Burglars, Version 2 (Nov. 10, 2012)
• The Four Burglars, Version 3 (Nov. 10, 2012)
• The Four Burglars (Sep. 15, 2015)

R.I.P., Paul, and best wishes to Debbie and the rest of your family and friends.

 

To see more cool magic-related videos, please visit the Interval Magic YouTube Channel.

Copyright 2016 Tom Interval

Magic Video Tutorials

By Tom Interval

I’m working on some semi-informal video tutorials by request. This one is 9 minutes and covers how to fan a deck of cards using a basic, very old method called the thumb fan:

Nielsen Poster Auction Tomorrow Morning

By Tom Interval

The Nielsen Collection Part I catalog cover

Talk about a labor of love.

For the last quarter of a century, celebrated magician Norm Nielsen and his wife, Lupe, have amassed one of the most significant magic-poster collections in the world.

And not reproductions you can buy at a magic shop but original lithographs and other prints representing what magicians call the “golden age” of magic, from around the late 1800s to the 1930s.

With the advent of his own golden age and a genuine desire to have others own a piece of magic history, Norm decided to sell the collection, half of which will be auctioned off by Potter & Potter tomorrow morning at 10:00. The second half of The Nielsen Collection will be auctioned early next year.

The Nielsen collection exhibition room at Potter & Potter (Photo: Simone Marron)

Tomorrow’s offerings—324 listings—feature the posters of some of the world’s most renowned magicians, including Harry Houdini, Harry Kellar, Howard Thurston, Harry Blackstone, Leon Herrmann, and many others. The auction also will include posters of contemporary performers, such as Doug Henning, David Copperfield, James Randi, and Ricky Jay.

“Norm and I retain a loving attachment to the collection,” wrote Lupe in the introduction of the auction catalog, “so much so that in letting it go we feel we are selling pieces of our lives and souls.”

If you’re interested in bidding on any of the posters, you can do so in person (in Chicago), on the phone, or online. You might be required to fill out an absentee bidding form; for details, visit the Buying page of the Potter & Potter website.

Related Links:

• Potter & Potter
• The Nielsen Collection Part I (PDF catalog)
• Nielsen Magic
• Nielsen Magic Facebook page