Category Archives: Magic and the Magic Castle

Posts about magic, other magicians, the Magic Castle and magic on the web.

Pop Haydn in the Palace of Mystery


Photo by Christiaan Miro-Lopez

Pop Haydn backstage of the Palace of Mystery

I will be performing and acting as emcee this week at the Magic Castle in the Palace of Mystery, beginning tonight!

We are back to a full week schedule at the Magic Castle, and the Hat and Hare will reopen on Monday the 6th for Burns Night.

With me in the Palace will be the wonderful puppeteer Scott Land and a two-man company from Scotland, who call themselves The Fifth Dimension.

In close-up this week, we have the incredible Paul Vigil–worth a visit just to see him.

This wonderful photo, taken backstage of the Palace of Mystery, is by Christiaan Lopez-Miro. More wonderful magician photos by Christiaan can be found here: http://www.christiaanlopez-miro.com/

Look under Smoke and Mirrors in Images.

 

Posted on | Image

The Spirit’s Magic Teachers:


Whit "Pop" Haydn, Richard Turner, Johnny "Ace" Palmer

Last night at the Magic Castle, the magic teachers of DC comic’s The Spirit got together.

In the December issue of The Spirit, 2008, the Spirit shows some card tricks and explains that magic is his hobby and that he had three magic teachers, Whit Haydn, Richard Turner and Johnny Ace Palmer. Also in the same magazine, our friend and fellow Magic Castle member, the lovely Misty Lee appears in the story as a character.

All of us are old friends, but none knew what had brought us together like this.  It turns out that Mark Evanier, a writer for the comics, was a Castle member, and we were his favorite magicians. He had attended lectures and classes by all of us, and considered us teachers, so he just wrote us into the story with the Spirit.

It is  a wonderful honor.

My life seems to continue to become more and more fictionalized…

Posted on | Image

Richard Turner at the Magic Castle this week:


Richard Turner

My friend, Richard Turner is working this week at the Magic Castle. He is the foremost card expert in the world today, even though he is legally blind. His discipline and perfection is stunning. These photos show him in 1986 when he received his first black belt, and then in 2012 when he is 58 years old. There is only four ounces difference in his weight.

As a measure of the type of skill Richard displays in his work, let me quote Jon Raucherbaumer, an internationally recognized expert who is writing a biography of Richard Turner:

“The action of perfectly alternating playing cards, 26 and 26, is not easily named if the goal is accuracy. Even the noun “shuffle” seems inexact because it suggests clumsy randomness and asymmetrical mixing. Sure, the relative positions of the cards change, but the changes are cyclically predictable and in this regard, perfect…

“…But there are two types of this kind of Interlace: The Faro Shuffle and what can be called a Volitional Faro Shuffle. The physics of the Volitional Faro Shuffle in terms of what happens with and to the cards is identical, but the means of making this happen is different. The Faro Shuffle is semi-automatic because the two 26-card sections are butted together in precise ways and the cards will then automatically alternate. The Volitional Faro Shuffle depends on the operator’s volition. He must will his thumbs to precisely and alternately release cards until all 52 of them are interlaced. This is not automatic. It is a matter of pure dexterity and unerring timing.

“Richard’s high-lift, soft interlace table Faro Shuffles are done in less than one second. Formerly a fantasy in MacDouggal’s mind, Richard can execute a Volitional Faro Shuffle in 8.1 seconds.  

“If you think this is easy, try making love while standing up in a hammock and juggling seven ice-cream cones.”

Richard Turner, my good friend Johnny Ace Palmer and I were all named in the comic book the Spirit as magic teachers to the Spirit. It was very cool to be included in such incredible company:

Richard Turner is performing in the Close-Up Gallery at the Magic Castle in Hollywood until Sunday.  It is worth your time to make an effort to see this incredible and unique talent.

Posted on | Image

Magic Castle Back!


Magic Castle Main Dining Room

 

I went to the Magic Castle Sunday night with Magill and John Collins of Weird Review. Everything is looking great, and everything but the Hat and Hare and Museum was open. That will open on February 6, Burns Night.

The recovery from the Halloween fire at the Magic Castle is moving along well. As you can see by this photo, the place looks even more beautiful than before.

This photo is by my friend and house photographer, Najee Muwwakkil Williams of Hocus Pocus Focus.

Lots more still to be done, but everything looks great. Things are more open and welcoming, and much brighter.

Great job by the staff and by the BoD and BoT!

Special thanks to Neil Patrick Harris, Erika Larsen, West McDonough, Jim Bentley, and also to the maintenance staff.

I look forward to working in the Palace of Mystery Jan 30th–Feb 5th.

Posted on | Image

Pop Haydn at Santa Clarita


This video is from the 2011 Cowboy Festival. I have performed at this festival since 2005. Magill and I love it and always have a great time.

I will be appearing once again at the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival held this coming year on April 19 – 22, 2012 at Melody Ranch Movie Studio.

I will be performing just on Saturday and Sunday at the Medicine Show Stage, along with Professor Dave Bourne and the incredible John Reynolds. I will be doing some magic and pitching the Amazing Miracle Oil.

It is a wonderful festival, with lots to see and do. It is great for the kids, with farriers, leathersmiths, rope spinners, campfire cooks, and other demonstrations of the skills of the range, as well as cowboy poetry readings, and lots and lots of cowboy music. There is great food to eat, and the ambience is wonderful–it is the set of the HBO show Deadwood. It is a wonderful place to come dressed up in Old West duds and take photos. Steampunk is welcome.

Pop at Melody Ranch

Pop Haydn at Melody Ranch

Karin McKechnie, Pop Haydn, Jan Harness at Melody Ranch

Karin McKechnie, Pop Haydn, Jan Harness at Melody Ranch

For more information about the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, go here: http://www.cowboyfestival.org/

Posted on | Image

Billy McComb — Palace of Mystery 2005


This is the incredible Billy McComb the year before he died, performing his classic comedy and magic in the Palace of Mystery in the Magic Castle in Hollywood. This is a lesson in performance technique from a true master. He makes it seem off the cuff and effortless. He was the best.

Here is a clip from the movie “Presto” of Billy doing the bird cage vanish uncovered and without camera tricks:

 

Posted on | Image

Revamped Pop Haydn’s YouTube Channel

Dec 19

Posted by


Check out my revamped YouTube Channel:

Pop Haydn’s YouTube Channel

 

Posted in Magic and the Magic Castle, Medicine Shows and Pitchmen, Old Time Music, Pop Haydn's Post-Modern Medicine Show, Uncategorized

1 Comment

Tags: , , ,

“Machine of Death” Variety Show:


Photo by Nancy Magill

Pop Haydn's Teleportation Device at the FAKE Gallery

Pop Haydn entertains at the Machine of Death Variety Show last night at the FAKE Gallery

Nancy Magill and I had a wonderful time last night at the FAKE Gallery on Melrose. It was a great event to celebrate the success of the Machine of Death (MoD).

There were lots of refreshments, magic, music by Lucciana Costa, games and actual operating steampunk contraptions, all in a wonderful environment, a trove of strange and interesting art and sculpture–what a fun time!

Video of the entire event here:

http://machineofdeath.net/mod-magic-variety-show

Machine of Death is an anthology of short stories edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo, and David Malki !, inspired by this episode of Ryan’s Dinosaur Comics. From January 15, 2007, through April 30, 2007, Ryan, Matt, and David invited everybody in the world to submit short stories for the book, without fee or prejudice. Hundreds of writers from five continents took them up on the offer.

Ryan, Matt and David chose their favorites from the nearly 700 submissions, and invested personal funds to pay each contributor. The manuscript was shopped for several years to agents and publishers who liked it, but were unable to sell a book full of material by largely-unknown writers.

Faced with this rejection, the editors self-published the book and, on October 20, 2010, announced that October 26 — six days later — would be MOD-Day, in which they encouraged everybody to buy the book from Amazon at once in an attempt to become, for one day at least, Amazon’s #1 best-selling book.

On October 26, exactly that happened. The book shot up the charts and hit #1 in all categories, staying there for approximately 30 hours.

On October 28, the editors got wind that Glenn Beck, on his radio program, called out MOD as being part of a “liberal culture of death” — for beating his own book (which had apparently been released the same day) to #1 on Amazon. We continue to find this hilarious.

On November 2, 2010, the manuscript was placed online, in PDF form, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 license. That means you can (and should!) read, copy, and distribute all the stories for free.

There is also an ongoing audiobook version, which is being released as a free podcast.

For more info, go here:

http://machineofdeath.net/about/

About the FAKE Gallery:

http://www.timeout.com/los-angeles/comedy/venue/1%3A6253/fake-gallery

 

Pop Haydn

www.pophaydn.com

Posted on | Image

Kenny Raskin’s wonderful “My Old Friend”


This is from Kenny Raskin, who created this presentation:

“I created my piece (a version, filmed for Danish television, can be viewed on youtube) in 1981. Like any normal performer, I began putting it out there when I was gigging, but also at clown and mime festivals throughout the United States. So the great thing is, if it’s a good piece, people notice you. You get some good press and you build your reputation in the business. You might even get hired by Cirque du Soleil, which is what happened to me.

“The bad thing is, people begin to copy you, and when you are new in your profession, sometimes your authorship gets called into question. That is hurtful… It’s been a long time, and most people that came up in the clown world with me know the true story. I may not have been the first person to do a routine like this, but I didn’t see someone do one and then go out and create my own… My focus these days is more on teaching the craft, so my livelihood is not at issue here. But for those who I know saw my work and used it to create their own version — Tina Lenert, Sasha, Gayle LaJoye, Peter Shub, Jason McPherson — you are welcome…”

Posted on | Image

School for Scoundrels at Magic Castle Sunday!


Bob Sheets at School for Scoundrels

Despite the recent Halloween fire, the Magic Castle is planning to be open by this weekend, and our School for Scoundrels class will begin on Sunday night, November 6th, as planned.

There is still room for you to join this exciting class, but you must register by Friday.

It is open to both members and non-members of the Magic Castle, and no prior experience, skills or knowledge is required.

This course teaches the basic sleight of hand, psychology, history and importance to magic of the three basic street swindles: Three-Card Monte, the Shell Game, and the various games of Fast and Loose.

We believe that the street hustler makes a better role-model for the modern close-up magician than the card cheat which has been the model since the turn of the century.

We believe that street hustlers have much to teach that is of huge benefit to magicians, especially those who work corporate walk around, trade-shows, or private parties where they need to gather a crowd, hold their attention, control their thinking, and get them to do what they want them to do.

School for Scoundrels at the Magic Castle in Hollywood will begin on Sunday, November 6, and continue on Nov 13, 20, 27, and also on Mondays, November 7, 14, 21, 28. School for Scoundrels is a course taught at the Magic Castle every November since 1996.

Pop Haydn and Chef Anton (two-time national trick-shot champion at pool), teach the class together, with guests such as Bob Sheets and Doc Eason.

The course attracts lawyers and law-enforcement personnel, as well as magicians, students of gambling and history, and many who just find the subject fascinating–you don’t need to be a member of the Magic Castle to sign up for this course, and no previous knowledge or skills are required.

The course is $160 for the eight hours–two hours a night, once a week, for four weeks.

You can switch nights from Monday to Sunday or vice-versa–each week the same lesson is taught on both Sun and Mon at 7:00 pm.

Contact Magic University, and talk to Mark or Nani Wilson at (800) 367-8749 to sign up for the course.

$160 for all four nights.

Posted on | Image

← Older Posts
Newer Posts →