In 2024, Dean Carnegie spoke at two different magic history conferences and gave two totally different lectures! First, in February of 2024, Carnegie was at the Florida Magic Collector's Conference. I had the great honor of presenting my lecture on The Great Maro, who was a very popular magician from the early part of the 20th Century. This was my third time presenting this lecture. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to present the lecture at the W.T. Best Theater, which was a building created in the honor of Maro's wife. His real name was Walter Truman Best, but he changed his stage name to Edward Maro.
Later in November 2024, Carnegie spoke at the New England Magic Collectors Association, their event is called The Yankee Gathering. This time I got to speak on one of my favorite magicians, a 19th Century magician Robert Heller. This man was a very popular magician but he was an equally famous musician. His real name was William Henry Palmer and he began life as a musical prodigy. His story is amazing, filled with plenty of drama, as well as exciting popular moments. I am gathering information on Heller to eventually write a book on him.
Other than that, the Magic Detective appeared regularly on his podcast The Magic Detective Podcast. It was an exciting year for that side of Dean Carnegie's career. NO doubt 2025 will hold more exciting moments to come!
On Stage Lecturing on Robert Heller at 2024 Yankee Gathering
Above is a photo from my current show online called, A Night of Virtual Magic. This is my Virtual Magic Show on the Zoom platform. It is actually my second show on zoom but it's the first evening show. What is special about this show you might ask? Well, I've really worked hard to create a unique product that is highly interactive, but retains a bit of the theatrical feel from my stage shows. I use a lot of green screen backdrops and also real back drops in order to change the look by a change of scenery. I incorporate three recorded segments into the show. These allow me to showcase magic that I can't do because of space limitations.
In the photo above, you can see the smiles of laughter on everyone's face during one of the routines. In case, you're wondering, the three white squares at the bottom, are people who did not have their video cameras on. I noticed we had some issues with people dropping out and coming back on. By the end of the show, all cameras were on. You can still see the video feed of the show if your camera is off. The only thing is I cannot see YOU.
The way I do the interactive portion is interesting. After you purchase a ticket, you receive an email with the code to see the show, and also a list of things you'll need for the show and some tips. One of those tips is to make sure the room you are watching the show in is well lit. This is so we can see you. In earlier shows, many folks sat in the dark and I couldn't see them. So I added this suggestion that you make sure you have lights on so you can be seen. It improves the overall look of the show. As for that list of things..it's a simple list: deck of cards, some coins, a notepad, and a novel (book). These items are for the AT HOME routines. But there are other interactive routines audience members can do via the screen. For example, I have a routine where two people choose cards from a deck. Well this is still possible without them being here in person. As long as their camera is on and their sound is on, then it works.
Another thing I do is use my green screen as a power point presentation. This allows me to tell stories and
change the images in the background as the story evolves. An example of that can be seen in the photo to the right which shows me with a picture of Houdini & the Great Lafayette in the background.
My desire was always to close the show with an illusion. Because of my current situation, I only have one illusion on hand, my Disectolator mini-illusion. And it proved to be a fun, quick, highly visual and stunning illusion to close the program with. BTW, the rest of my illusions are 600 miles away in a storeroom. I'm in the process of moving but COVID has slowed that down. So I'm using what I have on hand.
One thing about this illusion. Because we use green screen during the course of the show, I purposely made the decision to present this against a normal fabric backdrop. It would be so simple to create this same illusion via a camera trick, but that is not how this works. Instead, we can walk behind and even pass our hands through the open slots to prove what you see is what you get!
During last night's show I announced my plans for the future. Those plans are to have a new show available every couple months. So right now the Night of Virtual Magic will run till mid September. It will be followed by The Astonify Show & Virtual Seance. This show will run till the end of October. That will be followed by a Virtual Christmas Show, which will run in December. And with any luck, I'll bring out a Virtual version of The Steampunk Illusionist Show in January 2021.
How LONG the virtual shows will continue is anyone's guess. This is all due to the pandemic and my desire to give people some incredible magic and a really fun experience right from their home. It's a much needed form of escapist entertainment, in a time where this is a lot of uncertainty. And because I have no shows otherwise, it is now the way I bring in income.
If you'd like to get tickets to The Night of Virtual Magic. Simply go to ZoomMagicShow.com and choose your date. BTW, I am also doing a show for kids on select afternoons. These are totally different from the evening programs, and are really geared to younger aged kids. So if you know of anyone interested, they can also go to ZoomMagicShow.com and be sure to choose an afternoon date. Do NOT pick an evening show for kids as they will not enjoy it. Older kids, teens, will. But not younger kids.
The Astonify Show is now playing every Saturday during the month of October at the new Secret Parlor Theatre in Chantilly, VA. Last night was a showcase of sorts, where I showcased part of The Astonify Show and my friend Rick, who owns the Secret Parlor Theatre, showcased part of his show. The results were, well, astonifying!
We started the show at 8pm and had a nice audience. The venue only seats 24 and we didn't quite have a full house. Some friends of mine that purchased tickets were no shows. I hope everything is ok with them, because I know they were excited about attending.
Astonify, is my interpretation of a 19th Century Parlor Magic Show. I do take some liberties along the way, but they are more for the appeal of 21st Century audiences. Basically, I speed up the presentations slightly. The magic is the type you'd see if you were alive in the 1800s. No modern technology is used in the show, no iPhones, smart phones or that sort of thing.
My set ran about 33 minutes. I did half of my magic portion and half of my seance portion. My take on the traditional Victorian Seance is different. But I have an edge over most people.....this theatre actually has a ghost! He has made himself known twice now, once during this show, and once during dress rehearsals the night previous. We heard footsteps coming from the back of the audience, right down the side isle to the front and then stopping.
The photo to the left you can kind of make out my Spirit Dial that is a feature of my show. I chose this specific trick because many 19th Century era magicians used it. And wow, does it ever deliver. It's basically a glass clock face with no inner workings. A dial is spun and always lands on the number that people call out. Strangely, it even lands on a number secretly chosen by a spectator, even though, NO ONE knows the number until the dial stops spinning!
There is one thing though that I must point out because it is something that I must be firm on in all future shows, this show is NOT FOR CHILDREN, so don't bring them and especially don't bring a baby. Yes, this is exactly what happened Saturday night. A clueless woman brought her 4 year old and infant baby and the baby cried and the kid wandered around. After the show numerous members of the audience complained. They said they really enjoyed the show but the experience was ruined due to the crying baby. I have to agree. No offense to people with kids, there are plenty of activities for kids, and hey, there are magic shows FOR kids, this one is just not one of them. This was designed for adults.
The next performance is October 20th at 8pm. You can find out about tickets via Astonify.com
The Astonify Show was presented August 11th at the Old Jail Museum in Warrenton VA as part of their Sleepover at the Jail Event. I presented an hour long version of the show which was kind of customized to the venue. Due to the small performing area, I created a show that utilized many audience members, in fact, all but two routines were audience participation.
I began by sharing a couple 'ghost-like' stories from my travels. And then told them about the incident that already took place at the jail. My brand new iPhone X stopped working. I was in the midst of taking photos and it just locked up. I tried to reboot it, but no matter what I did, the phone would not turn off. (when I left the building after the show, the phone worked fine)
Two audience members told me they heard a voice say, "get out" during my show. All the jail cells are haunted apparently. In fact, there was a mannequin inside of a glass cabinet at the back of the room whose head had moved directions DURING my show!!!!
This version of ASTONIFY had several card routines, a wonderful rope routine that looks impossible, a very surprising effect with a borrowed ring, a routine using Spirit Photographs, the 19th Century classic The Spirit Dial, and finally I bring out an actual Spirit Trumpet which can be examined and then we use it to contact a spirit.
As with every show I've done at a haunted location, there were issues with things. These, thankfully, were minor, but it did cause me to drop two routines from the show. As it turned out, I didn't need them, as I still went slightly over an hour according to my clock.
I will admit to being a little nervous during the Spirit Trumpet routine as I feared a voice other than Anna Eva Fay's would be speaking through the trumpet. That did not happen, but damn if the spirit didn't decipher and reveal something that no one in the room was aware of. Crazy!
The folks who attended my show, were going to partake in a paranormal tour following the show, so I can't imagine what happened during that activity! Then they all were sleeping over at the jail. I don't think I could have done it!!!!
The Astonify Show will be one of the features of an upcoming Sleepover At The Old Jail, in Warrenton VA, on August 11th. This event is a fundraiser for the Jail, and my portion, The Astonify Show is only part of the overall festivities. There is also a paranormal tour, and of course the actual sleepover at the jail!
My show, ASTONIFY, is a perfect fit to get things started off. If you're at all familiar with the show, we end with a light seance. Given the fact that this jail is already known to have paranormal activity, this should be really interesting!
Here is another update on my new show called ASTONIFY. Today, the rack cards arrived. These are the first pieces of printed marketing to help promote the show. I was very happy with the way these turned out.
If you go over to the website Astonify.com, you'll notice a number of changes. I have resisted adding more pages to the site, but I do have a menu that takes you to the various sections on the first page. There is no video, yet. But keep watching.
The new show, Astonify, is really moving ahead well. I have been testing out various routines on test audiences and have been thrilled with the responses. This is a very different sort of thing for me. I have created 'themed' programs in the past, but for this show I really delved much deeper into the process. The results are astonishing, or should I say astonifying.
The show is made up of three parts, but right now, the only part you see in the promotions is the ghostly part. The first routine that opens the Spirit portion of the show is my take on a Woody Aragon routine. I don't want to say any more than that, except, I believe my version is the best rendition of his fabulous effect. The Spirit portion is supposed to close with the Cabinet of Spirits, which is what we are calling the Spirit Cabinet. Our version has similarities to past routines, but we think the things we've added to our version will make it stand out greatly.
Right now, I think I'm most excited about the Conjuring portion of the show. This is the longest part of the show and opens with an interactive routine and then an audience volunteer sequence. It isn't until the third effect in the show that a prop is even seen. Speaking of props, I expect there to be a lot of props in this show. It is afterall, a Victorian based show, and the magic from that time period was very prop heavy. A routine I really would like to include in the show is the Kellar Coffee Trick. I've loved this since the first time I read about it many years ago. Now, I own the props for the Coffee Trick....well actually I own most. I still have one piece yet to track down, or build. But I would like to include it in the show because it's another way to involve the audience. And here is a treat, below is a video of the Coffee Trick. This is NOT Victorianized, however. It's just me having some fun on National Coffee Day. The show routine will be slightly different, but you get the general idea.
The one portion of the show I'm not discussing is the Clairvoyant section. OK, I will discuss it a little. With the popularity of Mentalism at an all time high right now, I wanted a way to present the material in a manner that no one was currently using. Now, I say no one, but there may be someone out there following this same path. If so, I have not heard. Our take is not completely original. I read about it years ago and the performers who used this unique approach, lived years before the book was written. So to today's audiences will it look brand new. It is a perfect fit for Astonify, and I'm anxious to get it rolling.
For my friends who are wondering the status of The Steampunk Illusionist show, well that program is also moving along nicely. In a way, Astonify is the precursor to Steampunk Illusionist. Both are Victorian programs. And some of the Astonify material has been in, and will continue to be in, the Steampunk Illusionist. Both shows are presented as if it was still the 19th Century, but there are occasional references to modern times as well. I've got new material going into The Steampunk Illusionist this year, including something I'm calling The Re-animator. Keep watching for more news and updates. Oh, and if you want to get on the list for Astonify tickets, click the link and sign up!
I have been working diligently on a new show. The show that I speak of is called The Astonify Show, or simply, ASTONIFY. It is a theatrical recreation of a Victorian Parlor Magic Show and Victorian Seance. You might think, "this is perfect for Halloween." And that would be true, but this was was designed to play ALL YEAR LONG.
Originally, this show was meant to be a small venue show, like a parlor show. But I discovered along the way, that this show could play small and it could also play LARGE! In other words, I had a theatre show on my hands, and it didn't matter the size of the audience due to the nature of the material. But for starters we are planning on a more intimate size, so around 50 or so.
The show is divided into three parts. Part 1 Conjuring. Part 2 Clairvoyance. Part 3 Spirit Phenomenon. The show will include a short intermission as well.
This is a two person show, so I'll be doing the bulk of the Conjuring, while my performing partner will be featured during much of the Clairvoyant section and she will be the 'medium' in the Spirit section when we present The Cabinet of Spirits.
When will the show debut? Right now, my target is Spring 2018, but I don't have an exact date. I'll probably set up some trial runs of the show with test audiences. Once it's ready, watch out!!!! It's going to be a hot show, that much I am sure of!
You can find out more about the show by going to Astonify.com and please, sign-up to get on the list for ticket notification and upcoming performance info!
Over the weekend, I lost a dear friend and my mentor in all things escape related. My friend was Steve Baker, known professionally as Mr. Escape. He was a unique individual. He was one of only a couple of people who really kept the art of escape alive and in the eye of the public during his lifetime.
The first time encountered Mr. Escape was watching him on a TV show many years ago. I saw him do a recreation of Houdini's Water Torture Cell. I was not impressed. My thoughts at the time were, "Who does this guy think he is doing Houdini's tricks?" And then I would see him again, and again on TV over the years. I guess my attitude softened over time. Eventually, I got to meet Steve and get to know him. We hit it off right from the start and unlike many others, our friendship lasted for 17 years. Let me just add, that when I watched the footage of his Water Torture Cell years later, I was more than impressed. It was breathtaking. And a little known fact, Steve never presented the Water Torture Cell on TV the same way twice. He always added a unique moment to the escape.
In his life, he had only three students that I am aware of. The first was Tony Clark, the second was me, and the third was Andrew Basso. Steve was very guarded about his secrets and didn't share them with many folks. Even when he would have things built, he would often change the method so even the builder was unaware of how a device worked.
Our meeting came about over a very small escape he did called The Tug of War Rope Tie. I saw a video of Steve doing this thing and wondered how it worked. The truth was there was no trick to it. No fake knots, no fake tying, all 100% legit. And I could do it. Steve was impressed, actually now that I recall, he was more than impressed. We spoke of the effect for many hours and he sent me numerous videos of his performances of the escape. I loved performing it and did so for many years. In fact, I've recently put it back in my show. See the video below for a very impromptu presentation.
Steve and I had plans to do a TV Special together. There were negotiations going on with Steve and Dick Clark productions. Everything was looking like it would happen and then Dick Clark had a stroke. All projects got shelved and so did our special. We worked out many cool original escapes to feature on the special, but with the cancellation, they were never performed. Who knows, perhaps I will dig out those notes and do one before I get to the point where even I can no longer do escapes, lol!
Steve died Saturday September 16th, 2017 at 11:11pm. His final escape was leaving this world. May You Rest In Peace Old Friend.
My other mentor, was very different from Steve. His name was Cesareo Pelaez and he was the creator and performer of a show called Le Grand David and His Own Spectacular Magic Company. Cesareo and I had an odd connection. We got along quite well, and were very similar in many ways. But unlike a mentor who might spent countless hours teaching you, Cesareo and I only had a few meetings together, a couple phone calls and numerous email exchanges. But because I understood his way of things, he would still influence me without being here. I would often ask myself, "What would Cesareo do in a case like this?" and the answer would soon come.
Cesareo was a college professor of Psychology by profession, but his heart and soul were both stuck in the world of theatre and magic. He was influenced by magical artists like FuManchu, Chang, Richiardi Sr and Jr and many others. His style of performance was very different from what is seen today. I think it could be best described as Broadway meets Vaudeville. It was grand and full of spectacle. And as a performer he was exceedingly charasmatic and charming. I learned so much from Cesareo and still do. Because I am friends with many of the cast members from Le Grand David, they often share stories of Cesareo and these stories always resonate with me.
For the second year in a row, the folks at Atlas Obscura in DC asked me to be part of their HOUDINI In DC event. This year was a little different from last year. In my performance last year (2016) I performed outside in McPhearson Park, and then gave the walking tour to the Old Keith's Vaudeville Theater on 15th and G St.
This year, we were indoors. Like last year, they also brought in my friend Ken Trombly to share some of his incredible collection of Houdini posters and photos. He then gave a 35 minute talk on the life of Houdini which was great! Then there was a short break and it was my turn.
I was going to do a recreation of more Houdini magic. But what happened was I did sort of a mix of lecture/talk and performance.What happened was this, when Ken gave his talk, there were all these spots where I just wanted to jump in and fill in some areas he missed. But truth was, Ken didn't miss anything, he was just having to fit a lot of information in a short period of time. I tried to fill in all gaps that Ken left in his talk. Make no mistake, Ken's talk was GREAT. My talk acted as an enhancement of the information he gave. For example, Ken had brought his King of Cards poster and my talk actually began with a Card Trick that I discovered from Houdini's own notes. At the time I hadn't fully researched Houdini's Card Act and I wish I had. Because, later in the year I did and I wrote about it on my Magic History blog. The article can be found here: http://www.themagicdetective.com/2017/05/an-expose-on-king-of-card-act-of-harry.html
After my first card trick I went right into some of his classic escapes and brought out several pair of cuffs to display. Then I chose one and had an audience member examine it and then put it on me. I then proceeded to escape right in front of the crowd. They really got a kick out of the escape. I forget, that people don't see that sort of thing everyday. Me, I'm used to it.
Houdini and Harry Cooke
I wanted to give people a feeling for Houdini beyond just the regular
stories, so I threw in the story of Harry Cooke, and how they were
associated. I always thought their connection was because they were both
escape artists. But I now believe that their connection was, #1
because of Cooke's Anti-spiritualist crusade years before Houdini was
born, and #2, Cooke's connection to Abe Lincoln, who was Houdini's
boyhood idol.
I shared the story about Cooke being summoned to Washington to
demonstrate his ability to free himself from ropes. And here, I took the
opportunity to present a rope escape. I chose to use a technique found
in Houdini's book, Magical Rope Ties & Escapes. The
technique allows for an almost instantaneous escape from the bonds. In
truth, Cooke had been tied up with 100 ft of rope and still escapes in
seconds. I had 100 ft of rope on hand, but was saving it for later but
ran out of time.
The closing routine was a Spirit Slate routine with a story. A true
story? Sort of. Aspects of the story are true, but I do take liberties,
it is a show after-all. The story is an emotional one, and I use it to
help people understand the deep connection that people have when they
see mediums....and also WHY Houdini was so angered by the whole thing
because he knew the mediums were fake and playing off the emotions of
the grieving.
After this, I answered a host of questions from the very attentive audience. I really love speaking on magic history, so it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for me. Plus, I love to do routines that Houdini had done. It's all history and it's great fun.
2017 has proven to by quite the year and I've done a most terrible job of keeping you up to date. Actually, that's only partially true. I've not done a good job on this blog, but if you look at Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, I'm ALL OVER THERE! And I'll soon be on other platforms as well.
I started a project earlier this year called Weekly Wizardry. It was on Facebook and the plan was to do a weekly magic video every week in 2017. It was going along splendidly when, out of the blue, I came down with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in March. At that point I fell behind and didn't resume the videos until June. In order to get caught up I was doing daily videos for a while, and I'm happy to report that I am all caught up and current.
The video above is episode 37, the latest, and in the video I demonstrate a routine that I've performed for many many years in my live shows. It's a great routine, though I must admit, if you see my LIVE show, you'll see a different presentation....same effect, but the presentation is very different.
I'll be posting quite a bit over the next few days so I hope you enjoy the content and the news and please, feel free to make a comment. AND anyone looking for LIVE magic for an event, contact me through my website at CarnegieMagic.com
To give you a little background, the first week of Jan 2017, I started a new project called Weekly Wizardry on Facebook. The idea is to post new magic trick videos every week all year long. Some weeks will have more than one, so when it's all over there will be about 58-62 unique magic videos.
All of the videos are short, 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes. That might change as time goes on however. The latest video (above) featured a 100 year old magic item. Knowing of course that the magic from 100 years ago was presented in a slower and more deliberate fashion, I had to try and come up with a way to make it fit modern standards but still have the old time feel. I believe I accomplished the goal well.
But an amazing thing happened. After we worked out the handling of this new/old trick, we began to see it as not a stand alone effect, but rather part of a much longer and more in depth magic routine. This is VERY exciting to me and the work has already started on a sort of magic/manipulation act that begins with the item you see above and morphs and blends into other effects, culminating in a lot of interesting surprises along the way.
One issue we have is that some of our material is very Victorian and other stuff is clearly Steampunk. Finding a happy medium between the two is the tough part, but we are working on it. I expect to have a general outline of the act very soon!!!
