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| Long Tack Sam |
“Hello, Mr. Podge, I presume?”
“Why, yes, sir. I am Mr. Podge. How did you know?”
“I, sir, am Mr. Hodge.”
“Ah, then it was meant to be that we should meet. But why here? Why on Inside Magic?”
“The theme, my dear Mr. Podge. There is no theme for Today’s News without us.”
“Indeed. Just White Tigers, balloon animals looking like Disney Characters, Darren Romeo and the famous magician Long Tack Sam. You are quite correct, it is appropriate that we are here.”
“Indeed.”
College of Magic in South Africa Offers Distance Learning and Diplomas
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| College of Magic |
David Gore, Director of the …
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| Long Tack Sam |
“Hello, Mr. Podge, I presume?”
“Why, yes, sir. I am Mr. Podge. How did you know?”
“I, sir, am Mr. Hodge.”
“Ah, then it was meant to be that we should meet. But why here? Why on Inside Magic?”
“The theme, my dear Mr. Podge. There is no theme for Today’s News without us.”
“Indeed. Just White Tigers, balloon animals looking like Disney Characters, Darren Romeo and the famous magician Long Tack Sam. You are quite correct, it is appropriate that we are here.”
“Indeed.”
College of Magic in South Africa Offers Distance Learning and Diplomas
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| College of Magic |
David Gore, Director of the College of Magic, an organization supported by Siegfried and Roy sent us news that the College is up and running and provides training to thousands of aspiring magicians across the globe and is unique in that it is the only teaching organization of its kind in the world. Students get to explore the mysterious world of illusion in a unique six year Diploma Course which covers everything from the grand magic of the stage to the dexterity of a simple coin vanish.
The students range in age from eight to 88 they come from all walks of life ? scholars, doctors, teachers and professionals ? and from nearly all around the world, too. Those students who can?t join the College of Magic?s regular classes at their Magical Arts Centre in Cape Town, South Africa become part of a unique virtual Internet classroom of other magic students which combines online training with real-world practice.
Check out the College’s website here.
Daniel Herron, The Balloon Guy, Blows Them Away
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| Daniel Herron |
There is a very nice piece in The Gleaner (The Evansville Courier and Post) this morning about Daniel Herron, “Henderson, Kentucky’s Balloon Guy.” Mr. Herron is not your average magician/balloon artist. For instance, I can do a great dog or giraffe but they look the same. The giraffe doesn’t even have a longer neck; unless it is done unintentionally.
Mr. Herron is an award-winning Balloon Artist and gifted performer and had a chance to demonstrate both of those talents as he and his partner Tom Vorjohan made the “the world’s largest world made out of balloons” for the Athens, Tenn., Rotary Club’s 15th International Festival. The balloon sculpture had a Rotary emblem and even rotated. The two artists figured it would take a few maybe seven hours to put together but, “Seventeen hours later,” Herron said, “we ended up with the world. We were making it up as we went along.”
Make sure you check out the incredible and award winning sculpture of Stitch from Lilo and Stitch.
Read the incredible article about this incredible feat here.
Messrs. Herron and Vorjohan have several products and videos on the market, check them out at the T Myers website here.
Check out his award winning balloon creation, Experiment 626 a/k/a Stitch here.
Darren Romeo Star of Disney Magic Show
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| Darren Romeo |
Quite a while ago we gave a glowing review of Darren Romeo’s afternoon show performed in The Siegfried and Roy Theater at the Mirage Hotel. We thought he was great.
A lot has changed since that show started, closed and Mr. Romeo moved on to other projects and now we read in today’s IC Uxbridge, that Mr. Romeo is the star of the Disney Magic Cruise Ship and the reviews were fantastic.
In today’s IC Uxbridge and other papers, Mr. Romeo’s show is summarized as:
Star performance on our voyage was the act from the Siegfried and Roy stable, Darren Romeo The Voice of Magic. This singing illusionist promised we would leave the show talking about what we had just seen, and he was right.
Read the full article here.
Check out Mr. Romeo’s website here.
Long Tack Sam Remembered in Innovative Film
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| Long Tack Sam |
The Globe and Mail this morning has a interesting piece about a movie documenting Long Tack Sam. The film is featured in a Canadian Film Festival but ironically has no film footage of the famous vaudevillian magician and juggler.
Marie Fleming is the great-granddaughter of Long Tack Sam and used a new form of animation to document the life of the vaudevillian. Ms. Fleming uses her skills at animation to bring old pictures or scraps of paper turn into a collage documenting his life.
“For instance, an illustration of the magician in a textbook comes to life and performs an entire magic trick. Or a photograph of Long Tack Sam moves and suddenly his facial expression changes. Thereby, Fleming injects a certain magic of her own.
‘This is a collage film almost, with a pretty strong narrative. And I guess, if anything, I think the film tries to structurally mimic what I thought his act would be like, because he did a variety act and he was always changing things. Like when the animation comes on again, you know something’s going to happen.'”
Long Tack Sam came to the U.S. from his native China where he was born in the late 1800’s, traveled the country and the globe performing and teaching magic. One of his most famous students was Orson Welles.
Read the Globe and Mail article here.
To learn more about the movie and the career of Long Tack Sam, check this link.
Read an interview with Ms. Fleming here.
Houston Aquarium Seeks Exemption for White Tigers
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I am not sure this is magic news or even if it fits within the general genre of news related to magicians but I thought it was an interesting debate between two sides.
The Downtown Aquarium wants to acquire two white tigers for its collection of animals. So far, so good. Don’t ask me why they would want tigers at an aquarium; that’s not the point of the story. Houston has a prohibition on the keeping of exotic animals within the city’s boundaries.
The Aquarium owner, Tilman Feritta, would bring the tigers to the city “from a breeding facility in faraway, exotic Texas.”
The debate caused a stir and caused questions to be asked like “What are White Tigers?” “Where is this White Tiger farm in Texas?” “Why would an aquarium need White Tigers?”
The animal rights spokespeople suggest, probably correctly, that if there are more facilities demanding White Tigers means White Tigers will be in demand and that could lead to abuse through breeding practices. “The disservice (Fertitta) is doing is the message he sends out,” said Richard Farinato, director of the captive wildlife protection program of the Humane Society of the United States. “It’s going to mean more white tigers cranked out (by breeders) so somebody else can do the same thing. Or put one in their back yard.”
The real White Tigers are not a species but a naturally occurring (although very rarely) color variation of the Bengal Tiger. I didn’t know this next part but it is apparently the case, that “the sire of almost all those now on display was Mohan, a Bengal tiger born white. In 1951, he was captured by an Indian maharajah who bred him with a normal-color tiger. Later Mohan was bred again with one of his own daughters, producing white offspring.”
I also did not know that according to the Houston Chronicle, Siegfried and Roy have about one quarter of the world’s White Tigers.
The hang-up in Houston lies in the definition of the word “Aquarium.” “In order to get accreditation, they will have to meet our definition of a zoo or aquarium facility, which requires basically that to be the main business.”
Critics have suggested the Downtown Aquarium is actually a restaurant with an aquarium attached and that the acquisition of the White Tigers would only be to increase the traffic for the restaurant.
We’ll keep you up to date.
Read the full article here.
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