Warren Hamilton: Father of JoAnne the Duck
By Tim Arango

One morning when I was thirteen I woke up with a plan. It was 1944, and after several years of thinking about it I finally got up the courage. I hopped on my bike and rode the short distance from my house to Warren Hamilton’s workshop and home. At last I was going to meet the great Warren the Wizard.

However, when I got to his place, I chickened out and couldn’t make my self stop and go in. After the third time around the block – each time sneaking side glances into the open shop – a small, smiling man came running out and said, “Hey kid, quit riding around the block and come in and visit.” And my world hasn’t been the same since. (Read more)

Up-and-Coming Star a Hit at the Nashville I.B.M. Convention

Sixteen-year-old Kyle Eschen appeared last week at the I.B.M. Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. His comic portrayal of a socially challenged, somewhat insecure individual, performing the classics of magic was a hit with Thursday night's audience at the Acuff Theater.

The Los Angeles-area magician performs regularly at the Magic Castle in Hollywood in the Close-up Gallery, and Kyle is the youngest performer ever to be featured at the Magic Castle’s Palace of Mystery. He has also appeared at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood. (Read more.)

Howard Thurston
1869 – 1936
By Samuel Patrick Smith

One of the hidden pleasures of attending an I.B.M. Convention is finding treasures in the dealers’ room and later fondly recalling the year and location of their purchase.

At the 1987 I.B.M. Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, I made the modest purchase of three handwritten letters by Howard Thurston. They were personal letters to his wife and daughter and made no mention of magic. This was not the Wonder-Show-of-the-Universe Thurston, but a devoted husband and doting father, writing playful letters home, revealing a warm and personal side of American’s greatest magician.  (Read More.)

Who Was the First Act at
the World's First Magic Convention?
By David Charvet

Over the past eighty years, hundreds of magicians have appeared on the shows at the annual I.B.M. Conventions. If you really want to stump your friends some time at a Ring meeting, ask them: “Who was the first act on the first show at the first I.B.M Convention in 1926?”

Give up?

His name was Jean Foley. (Read more.)

Cirque Du Soleil

A Review

By Vanni Pulé

Having read mostly negative reviews of Criss Angel’s show Believe, I decided to go see it for myself when I was in Las Vegas recently, and make up my own mind. What a pleasant surprise it proved to be! Both my wife, Mary Anne, who is not very tolerant in her criticism, and I were totally entranced with the whole show. We had no regrets at all, except for the seating arrangements promised and not delivered by the online booking agent.
(Read more)

Extensive Online Database Benefits Researchers and Others

By Dr. William E. Spooner

 The Conjuring Arts Research Center was established in 2003 as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of magic and its allied arts. The Center, located at 11 West 30th Street in Manhattan, is the brainchild and creation of William Kalush who has amassed over 12,000 volumes of books and journals and rare documents. The rare book room contains an impressive collection of books dating back to the 15th century, including a number of variations of Reginald Scot’s Discovery of Witchcraft...