Pop Haydn pitches the Amazing Miracle Oil in the Palace of Mystery at the Magic Castle.
Category Archives: Alaskan Gold Rush
Posts about the history of the Alaskan Gold Rush, and the 19th Century con men that dominated it.
Magnetized Water — Pop Haydn in the 21st Century!
Coming to Santa Monica! Pop Haydn in the 21st Century! An historical theatrical event! March 7th and April 4th at Magicopolis
Tickets available here: Pop Haydn in the 21st Century!
Pop Haydn appearing with Professor Dave Bourne and the Medicine Show Band, and featuring the dazzling fire magic of Sophie Evans, the sassy, sexy music of our Louisiana Songbird Bonnie Gordon, and Tesla Girl who will channel the force of gravity itself.
Comedy, magic, music and variety! Teleportation demonstrated!
Certifiable Genius Pop Haydn demonstrates teleportation, and proves gravity harnessed by the power of the mind! He explains the health and science behind Radio-Magnetism, Electric Oil and Magnetized Water!
Excitement designed and created especially for the 21st Century!
Steampunks, Dandies, New Victorians, Old West Reenactors, and other 19th Century expatriates are welcome. No weapons please.
Learn the Shell Game, Three Card Monte and Fast and Loose!
Pop Haydn
“The School for Scoundrels” will be held in November with two classes–one on Sunday Nights beginning Nov 4th, and one on Monday Nights beginning November 5th. The classes are from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm for four consecutive Sunday or Monday nights. Fee is $160. Classes are held at the Magic Castle in the classroom by the Library.
The four classes are taught by Pop Haydn and Chef Anton, and are open to members and non-members. No prior experience or knowledge is required.
We cover the basic street swindles Fast and Loose, Three-Card Monte and the Shell Game, explaining the history, psychology, stratagems, moves, and application to magic of these ancient “games.”
We not only explain how to demonstrate these swindles in exhibition, but to actually play and win against all comers just as it would be done on the street. We believe that we have a lot to learn as magicians from the techniques and thinking of the street con artist. We need to call and hold a crowd, control their thinking and manipulate them into behaving the way we want them to, in just the same way as the street hustler setting up a monte game.
This course is educational and fun.
To sign up, call Nancy Magill at (323) 344-8793, or e-mail at magill@pophaydn.com. She will set you up.
Pop Haydn is a past vice-president of the Academy of Magical Arts, and a six-time performing “Magician of the Year” award-winner. He is the author of several books and DVDs on street short cons, and along with his business partner, Chef Anton, has been teaching this course at the Magic Castle for the past sixteen years.
Chef Anton is the two-time “National Trick Shot Champion at Pool,” and has twice been nominated for “Bar Magician of the Year” at the Magic Castle. Chef is the author of the Pool Hustler’s Handbook and several DVDs on magic and billiards. He and Pop Haydn have created a number of new ruses and moves for these ancient games which they have explained for the first time in this course and the videos and books that have come out of the School for Scoundrels.
9th Annual Soapy Smith Night Photos
The 9th Annual Soapy Smith Night at the Magic Castle, held on July 8, 2012, was a great success! We had 420 attendees, and raised $2,520 for the Vernon Fund!
Thanks, everyone!
For nine years, the Magic Castle has celebrated the famous gunfight on the wharf at Skagway, Alaska on July 8, 1898, when the great Soapy Smith, the King of the Frontier Conmen, and the finest exponent of the Shell Game thet ever lived, was gunned down and his gang of 100 con men who had ruled the entry to the Gold Rush from its inception were arrested or scattered.
At the Magic Castle, we have a wonderful party each year to celebrate the memory of this clever bad man. We turn the place into a Gold Rush era saloon, with antique gambling tables for Chuck a Luck, Faro, Black Jack, and Roulette, along with all sorts of other games like the Shell Game, Three-Card Monte and Fast and Loose. There are prizes for the best dealer and most successful player. We have a costume contest as well. Everyone dresses up in 1890’s attire, and there are prizes for the most authentic, funniest, and sexiest costumes. We have a toast to Soapy’s ghost, and live Old Time music provided by Professor Dave Bourne and the Medicine Show Band. Chef Anton, the two-time national trick shot champion at pool, presents his incredible demonstration of billiards wizardry. We have a live auction, presided over by professional auctioneer and wonderful magician/vaudevillian, Rob Zabrecky.
It is one of the most fun nights of the year at the Magic Castle.
Pop Haydn tells the story of Gold Rush Madame, Diamond Lil
Pop Haydn tells the story of legendary Gold Rush madame Diamond Lil. Diamond Lil would make $1000 a night for sleeping with a man, and had a large diamond in her front tooth. She made a fortune in Alaska.
From the Monday Night Tease “Gold Rush Follies” at 3 Clubs, Hollywood. May, 2012.
Dave Bourne and the Medicine Show Band at Soapy Smith Night
Dave Bourne and the Medicine Show Band with their Jim-Dandy Old Time Music will be appearing at Soapy Smith Night at the Magic Castle on Sunday, July 8, 2012.
They will be performing in the Inner Circle from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm.
Photos of Soapy Smith Night at the Magic Castle
Soapy Smith Night at the Magic Castle in Hollywood this year will be on Sunday, July 8th, beginning at 6:00 pm.
It is a costume party celebrating the gunfight at the wharf in Skagway, Alaska on July 8, 1898 during the height of the Gold Rush in which Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith was killed.
Soapy Smith was the con man and gangster that ran the town of Skagway with his gang of 100 trained con men and hustlers. He had the fix in with the law and the government of Alaska, and stripped almost everyone going into or out of Skagway with some kind of scheme or other. He had previously controlled Denver and then Creede, Colorado during the Silver Rush of the 1880’s.
After his death, members of his gang later scattered around the country, and included famous playwright and aphorist Wilson Mizner, Alexander Pantages who founded the Pantages theater chain, and Alexander “The Man Who Knows” Conlin who made over twenty million dollars as a fake psychic in vaudeville.
We have live Old Time Music by Dave Bourne and the Medicine Show band, a trickshot demonstration by 2 time world champion Chef Anton, a toast by great-grandson Jeff Smith and family, and gambling at old time gambling games like Faro and Chuck a Luck on antique equipment provided by Phil Gessert of Tombstone, Arizona. Nick Lewin will demonstrate his amazing linking finger ring routine, and John Reynolds will demonstrate bi-labial fricatation.
There will also be three-card monte, shell game, lotteries and other swindles designed to take your Soapy Money all around the Castle.
People dress up in Gay Nineties, Old West, Gold Rush and Steampunk attire for the event. There are prizes for most authentic, sexiest, and funniest costumes.
Proceeds of the event go to the Vernon Fund.
Silver Shells go to winner on Soapy Night at the Magic Castle!
On Soapy Smith Night at the Magic Castle, coming up on July 8th, the dealer who wins the most Soapy Money wins a set of School for Scoundrels Colorado Silver Shells.
These are made of solid sterling silver by Jurgen Maerz of the Platinum Guild, and the set weighs almost four ounces.
Dealers can work at one of our Faro or dice tables, or set up their own game. They must pay $20 to register as a dealer, and in return they each get $1000 dollars in Soapy money to start their game. They can purchase more money during the evening, but at the regular price–$5 US for 100 Soapy dollars.
The dealer with the most Soapy money by 9:30 pm wins the Silver Shells.
One year it was won by a shell game man, the next by a guy selling tickets to a non-existant lottery.
These beautiful shells are designed by Pop Haydn, and are our “top of the line” shells for the shell game at www.ScoundrelsStore.com. They sell for $450 a set.
These were inspired by the story of Nutshell Jim who won so much money from the silver miners of Creede, Colorado during the 1880’s that he had his favorite shell game shells cast in silver.
The sheen of the silver shells gliding across the table inflamed the avarice of the miners and cowboys who lost everything they had trying to “follow the little pea.”
The player who wins the most Soapy money will also win a great prize.
Players get 100 Soapy Dollars for five dollars US, and can buy more at the same price.
If you are not a member of the Magic Castle, and would like to come, you should private message me, and I will set you up if I can.
There is twenty-five dollar door charge for non-members, and a five dollar charge for members and the guests who are with them. The five dollars gives you $100 in Soapy Money to play with, and goes completely to the Vernon Fund.
People dress up in Gold Rush finery, Old West and Steampunk styles.
The normal Magic Castle dress codes do not apply to costumes, though if you are not in an obvious 19th Century costume, the standard dress code will apply.
Check any guns at the door.
Diamond Lil’s Gold Rush Follies May 7th!
Mar 11
This gallery contains 37 photos.
I will be back at Monday Night Tease on May 7th, emceeing Diamond Lil’s “Gold Rush Follies” at the 3 Clubs in Hollywood. There will be magic, science, comedy, music, dancing and beautiful, near-naked ladies! Let us bring the 1890’s debauchery of the Alaskan Gold Rush to you, right here in the 21st Century! The Monday Night Tease […]
Nancy Magill
Pop Haydn
Pop's Soapbox 