Friday, January 14, 2011

Magicol No. 177

The new issue of Magicol, the official publication of the Magic Collectors Association, has been released. The cover story is on the history of Blackstone in comics by Dan Waldron.

Houdini also makes the pages of Magicol this time out. The magazine features a nice Houdini frontispiece, as well as an article by Karl Johnson, author of The Magician and the Cardsharp, about the New York exhibition Houdini Art and Magic. Johnson provides real insight into the overall feel and effect of the exhibition, believing it will do much to quell the "anti-Houdini reverse snobbery that had evolved over the years." He also gives a refreshingly honest assessment of Matthew Barney's "The Ehrich Weiss Suite."

Mega-collector Kevin Connolly also checks in with a review of the exhibition's superb companion book.

Click here for more information on Magicol and the MCA. Know that the next Magic Collectors Weekend is set for May 19-21, 2011 in Chicago.

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6 comments:

  1. melboJanuary 14, 2011 at 9:17 AM

    Ummm ... yes, the Ehrich Weiss Suite. Bit perplexed about that one myself.

    I didn't know there had been any reverse snobbery about Houdini. Unless he means the people who think he's not such a great magician but they are missing the point anyway. Sounds like the sort of thing I'd like to read.

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  2. John CoxJanuary 14, 2011 at 9:27 AM

    Yes, that's what he means. He calls them "Vernonites" because it was Dai Vernon who would slam Houdini for his lack of sleight of hand skills.

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  3. CarnegieJanuary 14, 2011 at 9:46 AM

    Yet it was Vernon who said Houdini's Needles were great. I tend to think Vernon's big problem with Houdini was his perceived ego. But honestly, reading some of the diary entries and newspaper interviews, he doesn't always come across as having as big an ego as much as a great self promoter.

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  4. John CoxJanuary 14, 2011 at 10:00 AM

    I have a Genii where Vernon goes off on Houdini. I should make a story out of it. Vernon got a lot of milage out his "the man who fooled Houdini" billing. In this article Johnson points out that Vernon also fooled Thurston and Kellar...but somehow that's just doesn't sound as good. But, hey, respect for The Professor. I used to see him at The Castle all the time.

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  5. melboJanuary 15, 2011 at 12:33 AM

    Oh yes, do make a story out of it if you get a moment.

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  6. John CoxJanuary 15, 2011 at 9:28 AM

    Maybe. I'll have to think about it. He's pretty savage to our Harry, and I'm not sure I want to post his words on the net for all time, you know?

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