My family would get creative at Halloween time, which for better or worse seemed to often involve me and my brother Morty the Magnificent appearing as Hula girls, beauty queens and more. Here Morty and I pose with our sister Marilyn, around 1973. That's me on the left. I don't know why we couldn't have been vampires or superheroes, but whatever!

If you're looking to add a dimension of mystery and fun to your Halloween event give me a call (have no fear, the hula skirt is long gone).

Doug Henning was a major influence to most of the magicians of my generation. I have a little bit of an obsession about collecting items relating to his 1974 Broadway show The Magic Show. It was a good day at the flea market this weekend.

Henning by the way, blew the dust off the traditional image of a magician. He did away with the black tux and tails and bounced onto the stage in a range of multi-colored outfits that connected with the fashion of the time. It wasn't so much the particular style of clothes he wore - which can seem dated today - but that he was able to show that magic didn't need to be stuck in a particular clichéd framework. He was exuberant and irrepressible in his style and there was an indefinable extra quality having to do with skill and his own personality that made his magic stand out over others.

Much of the magic that I perform was handed down to me from my father Marvin the Magnificent and his father Mervyn who learned his trade from those who came before him. Yet conjurors are always in search of additional sources of knowledge, and so as a youngster I spent a lot of time in front of the magic section at my local library. The books I took home helped me learn many new tricks and find out more about the history of magic and magicians. I've found that I am not alone in this, and many of my compeers in conjuring are equally familiar with the 793.8 classification in the nonfiction section of their libraries, which is where most books on magic are found.

This involvement with libraries at an early age sparked a lifelong love of these institutions and is why I perform in them so frequently today. One of the many great benefits of public libraries is that they offer their services for free. I love knowing that anyone can attend my shows and hope that over time I've been able to inspire others to learn more about magic from the books at their local branch.

When looking back at Houdini and the other great magicians of his era we have to piece together the nature of their personalities from written exchanges and reminiscences of others. I have become fascinated by this exchange between Houdini and The Great Raymond (Maurice Raymond), in letters which are part of the collections of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (in the Billy Rose Theater Collection). It turns out the Raymond began performing a milk can escape and it irked Houdini who had created the trick and heralded it as a main feature of his act. Here Houdini writes Raymond telling him to refrain from performing the effect and Raymond sends back a snarky reply (which prompts a response from Houdini). [See the images of the letters, below.]

These letters caused me to read more about Maurice Raymond and I came across a long article in the August 1928 issue of the magic magazine The Sphinx in which David Bamberg outlines a remarkable tale of mistreatment by Raymond for whom Bamberg was working as an assistant and technician. Bamberg travelled from Europe to South America after he was recruited by Raymond. After much hard work organizing and building Raymond's act, Bamberg was basically abused - at least financially - after Raymond refused to pay his salary. Beyond that Raymond presented Bamberg with a bill for travel and accomodations, even though Bamberg only travelled to South America because he was promised a job by Raymond. I'm sure Raymond too had complexities to his personality, but it is remarkable that such a detailed and frank depiction of his transgressions emerged in the leading magic magazine of the day. Who knows what transpired that wasn't covered in the news? If you find this intriguing, take a look at the Sphinx article which can be found via Ask Alexander and other digital sources [the article has much more intriguing information, although I'm sorry to say it also includes an offensive racial term used by Bamberg in the course of his description of the situation].

In any event, enjoy these three letters which provide revealing perspectives on the competitive nature of magic in the early part of the 20th century and the personalities of two prominent conjurors.

Magic is such a particular and specific endeavor that eventually most of us participating in it are at some point drawn into the rich community surrounding the genre. Here in New York there are numerous clubs, groups and casual hangout sessions, and the close friendships that develop over years and decades are as prized as the magic that is shared.

On July 6 we lost our friend Rene Clement who was one of the most vivid and dedicated personalities on the scene. Rene was a strong presence at just about every magic get-together in town over the course of decades. He frequently served as the Master of Ceremonies at shows presented by Ring 26 of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and Parent Assembly #1 of the Society of American Magicians; he was a dedicated regular at the long-running Saturday afternoon get-togethers that were held at Governor Cafeteria, Reuben's Deli, and Cafe Rustico; and he also participated each week in the "Magic Table" sessions, both when the weekly lunchtime gatherings occurred in person and then later when they moved online. 

"I first met Rene Clement in 1974 at age 16," said Richard Kaufman, editor of Genii magazine. "He was a warm, friendly, and smart guy who knew a lot about magic and quickly welcomed me to a table at the Governor Cafeteria that included Gene Maze, Ben Lichtenstein, Buddy Ankner, Sol Stone, and many others. He was a good magician, always funny, and was ahead of his time in videotaping the performances of other magicians." In fact, to that point, Rene created a YouTube channel preserving and showcasing video recordings of magic performances, which can be seen at: ​https://www.youtube.com/@RC4MAG/videos

Rene was an active and very involved member of the local chapters of both the IBM and SAM. He served as President of IBM Ring 26 and was the Controller and a longtime board member of PA#1. Rene was honored by Parent Assembly as its Magician of the Year in 2017 and by IBM Ring 26 as its Magician of the Year in 1996.

​Rene's original card tricks were published in Harry Lorayne's Best of Friends, Volume III and his television appearances include segments on the Today Show, Fox & Friends, "G Thing" on WPIX, and the Kong Show. Professionally Rene had a long career in banking, both for JP Morgan Chase and the Royal Bank of Canada.

"Rene was not only a dear friend, but he was a source of support and creativity," said Frank Reyes, former President of both IBM Ring 26 and Parent Assembly. "He would see an opportunity for an improvement in a routine I was working on and immediately share that vision. We would brainstorm together to help each other‘s performances. He had a great memory for everything magic. Show him an old photo of a member of Ring 26 or PA1 and he could tell you their name and their spouse's name. Describe an effect and he could tell you the name and creator or author. If he had the book or effect he could retrieve it in an instant.  It was amazing. Although he had other interests, like sports card collecting; watching wrestling; and movies; magic and comedy were his biggest priorities. 

Among the many video clips Rene preserved on his YouTube channel is the following one in which he and a group of magic compeers appeared on NBC's Today show. It highlights the community and camaraderie among friends in New York's magic scene. Rene was deeply woven into the fabric of this community. It's hard to imagine that we won't see him hanging around the table relating news, showing tricks and making wisecracks in his distinctive New York City brogue. He will be very much missed.