Magicana accepting nominations for the 2018 Allan Slaight awards

Still no sign of a category for "Best Blog Focused on Canadian Magicians Run by a Member of IBM Ring 17."
 

From Magicana:

Nominations are currently being accepted for work completed in 2018. The deadline for nominations is March 29, 2019. Nominations received after the deadline will be kept on file and considered for the following year.

Thank you for considering nominating someone for the Allan Slaight Awards, recognizing outstanding achievements in the pursuit of the impossible. The nomination process consists of four steps:

1. Your information
2. Information about your nominee
3. Supporting documentation
4. Reviewing your information and submitting

In addition to basic information about you and your nominee, you will also have the opportunity to provide:

1. A biography (up to 750 words)
2. A description of the work and why you are nominating this person (up to 300 words)

Read more and submit your nominations!

Submissions for the Allan Slaight Awards are open! Nominate someone for extraordinary contributions in the pursuit of the impossible before March 29, 2019. https://t.co/OpHuCf80aN pic.twitter.com/yArMxp1slq

— Magicana (@sharingwonder) January 24, 2019

McIlhany Film Archive acquired by Magicana

From the October 11th article "McIlhany Archive Moving to The Screening Room" by Julie Eng at Magicana:

Imagine it… Houdini, Alexander, Buckley, Buckingham, Blackstone, Dunninger, Kreskin, Charlie Miller in rare, stunning performances… and right on your computer screen.

Magicana is delighted to announce the acquisition of the McIlhany Film Archive of historical magic film and videos.

In September, it was confirmed that we were the successful bidder for the collection through a sealed-bid auction conducted by The Magic Auctioneer David Goodman in cooperation with Owen Magic Supreme.

And what a collection it is!       


Read more.

Julie Eng talks Johnny Thompson

From the September 24th post "Johnny and Me" by Julie Eng at Magicana:

She squeals and The Great Tomsoni’s face says it all. He’s found the wad of bubble gum his beautiful assistant, “& Co.”, has just stashed—her improvised solution after being scolded—inside his top hat. My sister and I look at each other with total delight. We proceed to mimic The Great Tomsoni, move for move, stretching the sticky ball between his fingers. We collapse into hysterics in our backstage hiding spot when he reveals that this is hardly the first time he’s had to deal with his assistant’s antics. With an exasperated sigh and eyes rolling to the rafters, The Great Tomsoni peels back his tuxedo lapel and displays the other dozen pink, gooey masses already squashed on to his jacket. This visual punch line never fails to crack us up.

It’s the late Seventies. I am about six years old, and my little sister, Sandra, and I are tucked away in our “secret spot” backstage at a variety show in British Columbia. Our father, Tony Eng, had been hired to perform his act, Mysteries of the Orient, with our mother, Ann, on a program with several other acts. On the bill was a big headliner from LA, Johnny and Pam Thompson, a.k.a. The Great Tomsoni & Co.

Read more.

Winners of the 2018 Allan Slaight Awards

Congratulations to all!


Read more about each winner at Magicana:

• Canadian Rising Star Award: Nicholas Wallace
• International Rising Star Award: Noah Levine
• Sharing Secrets Award: College of Magic
• Sharing Wonder Award: Michael Carbonaro
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Edwin A Dawes

Review of Michael Close's "The Paradigm Shift" Volumes One and Two

From the March 15th post "The Paradigm Shift Volumes One and Two" by Jamy Ian Swiss at Magicana:

Michael Close has in his lifetime in show business, worked extensively as both a professional magician and a professional musician (he plays piano). At one time a professional restaurant worker in his native Indiana, Michael was mentored by legendary sleight-of-hand maestro (and jazz radio program host) Harry Riser, whose own two closest mentors were no less than Charlie Miller and Dai Vernon. The late Mr. Riser has also long been named as mentor to Johnny Thompson; despite their closeness in age, it was Riser who helped guide Thompson toward the kind of magic that would eventually lead to his becoming the legendary master he is considered today.  In other words, Mr. Close is part of a lengthy and honored continuum of great magicians, a line he has done great justice to by continuing to contribute in creative and generous manner for future generations. He has not missed the true lessons of his mentors.

Read more.

From Michael Close's Facebook page:

Magicana accepting nominations for the 2017 Allan Slaight awards

I'm still hoping they are going to create a category for "Best Blog Focused on Canadian Magicians Run by a Member of IBM Ring 17."

From Magicana:

Magicana is pleased to announce on behalf of the Slaight Family Foundation the creation of the Allan Slaight Awards to recognize outstanding achievement in the pursuit of the impossible.

Initiated by the Slaight Family Foundation to honour Canadian media mogul and philanthropist Allan Slaight, and his lifelong passion for and contribution to magic, Magicana will distribute, on behalf of the Slaight Family Foundation $250,000 over five years - $50,000 per year - to recognize excellence in magic.

Read more and nominate.

Dai Vernon: The Spirit of Magic

From Magicana:

While the film was very well received, it was only available briefly for purchase as a VHS cassette, which was subsequently pirated. The film pops up regularly online, always low-quality copies of copies shared without any credit to those who made the project possible.

Now is our chance to fix that. We have provided Historica Canada with a clean copy, transferred from the broadcast master. It is now available to view on-line for free as part of their Canadian Biography series. A copy can also be viewed through the Screening Room.

Read more.

From Magicana's Facebook post:

Magicana features Martin Nash, “The Charming Cheat”

From Magicana:

One of the wondrous resources here at Magicana is the video archive, which includes hundreds of videos from the 1970s Canadian television series, The Magic Palace. Recently in browsing the archives for the umpteenth time, I discovered that there are no less than sixteen videos of the late Martin Nash, one of the finest performing cardicians I’ve ever known, and I had the pleasure and privilege of knowing him well. (Still more clips appear there courtesy of Meir Yedid.)

Read more and watch videos.

Winners of the 2017 Allan Slaight Awards

From Magicana:

Congratulations to this year's recipients:

MAX MAVEN
Lifetime Achievement ($15,000)

DEREK DELGAUDIO
Sharing Wonder ($15,000)

JOHN LOVICK
Sharing Secrets ($10,000)

EDWARD HILSUM
International Rising Star ($5,000)

ERIC LECLERC
Canadian Rising Star ($5,000)

Read more.

44th Magic Collectors Weekend Guests of Honour

From Magicana:

With the 44th Magic Collectors Weekend only two months away, we are pleased announce our Guests of Honor for the Weekend—William (Bill) Kalush and Michael (Micky) Hades.

It may be trite to say, but it is true. With accomplishments so rich, and spanning so many decades, our Guests of Honor need little introduction. Both, in many ways, have changed the course of magic history, particularly for magic collectors and historians.

Read more.

Allan Slaight Award Nominations are open for work completed in 2016

From Magicana's Facebook page:

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Magicana invites you to enter the Lyons Den

From Magicana:

Mr. Swiss will now be providing online content on a regular basis for Magicana which can be found here www.magicana.com/lyonsden. His first review will be released this Friday, October 21, featuring the new book The Performance Pieces & Divertissements of the Famous Handsome Jack etc. by Handsome Jack and annotated by John Lovick.

Funding for this project is provided by an endowment to Magicana by the late Pat Lyons. Pat was an accomplished commercial artist, pulled into the world of magic by her husband, P. Howard Lyons. Together they created Ibidem, combining Pat’s individually silkscreened covers and interior illustrations with Howard’s curatorial eye for creative approaches to magic. The Lyons Den, named in honour of Pat and Howard, is just the first of a variety of initiatives being developed by Magicana thanks to the generosity and vision of Pat Lyons.

Read more.

Montreal: 44th Magic Collectors Weekend

From Magicana:

Magicana is delighted to bring the MCW to Montreal in May 2017. We will be staging this conference to coincide with the opening of the major magic exhibition, drawn from the Allan Slaight Collection of magic posters and Houdiniana, at the McCord Museum.

In fact, a large part of the conference will take place at the McCord Museum (which is located in the heart of downtown Montreal) where delegates will enjoy private tours of the exhibition and behind-the-scenes tours by curators and staff of the museum. The museum has an exquisite exhibition in the works, and MCW delegates will be the first to experience it!

The balance of the conference will be held at our convention hotel, the Delta Montreal which is, literally, around the corner from the McCord. And, as we have had in the past, there will be a broad range of speakers.

But space is limited! This event is restricted by the meeting capacity at the McCord, so we only have 125 places available. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Read more and register.

2016 Allan Slaight Award Recipients

Congratulations to this year's winners!

From Magicana:

Lifetime Achievement Award ($15,000) - TON ONOSAKA
Sharing Wonder Award ($15,000) - DARCY OAKE
Sharing Secrets Award ($10,000) - RICHARD KAUFMAN
International Rising Star ($5,000) - JORGE BLASS
Canadian Rising Star ($5,000) - LUC LANGEVIN

Read more.

Revisit "The Magic Palace"

From Magicana:

The Magic Palace was a Canadian television series, produced and hosted by Dale Harney, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which was an inspiration for a generation of magicians. In an age before YouTube and the Internet, the show gave viewers a broad sampling of magic acts from North America and Europe in an unprecedented scale. 

Almost lost to history, it is now one of the most important collections of magic performances. Magicana is delighted to share this material and, perhaps, inspire another generation of magicians all over again. 

Read more and enter exhibit.

Watch the teaser:

 

Magicana teases next online exhibition

From the Magicana Facebook page:

We've got a secret!
Here is the first look at a new online exhibition we will be releasing in a few weeks. Who remembers watching this?

Toronto: Jason England lecture and workshop

Magicana's website also states that Jason will be in Ottawa on June 22nd.

From Magicana:

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Magicana is pleased to present a lecture and workshop with renowned sleight-of-hand expert Jason England. He is considered one of the world’s foremost experts on sleight-of-hand and advantage play with cards. He has over 25 years of experience both performing magic and consulting on casino game protection.

The three-hour lecture will cover tricks and routines with cards mixing magic and gambling material. The four-hour workshop is for a limited group for individual attention. Limited to 15 participants, Jason will focus on the mechanics of individual sleights like second deals, bottom deals and false shuffles. If there is a particular technique you are interested in, you can let us know.

Read more and buy tickets.

Broken wand: Pat Lyons (aka Pat Patterson)

From Magicana's Facebook page dated March 15:
A note to subscribers: the content of this post is embedded from another website and is not available to preview. To view the content of the post, please visit http://CanadasMagic.blogspot.com. Some of the embedded code may be visible in this notification.

PAT LYONS (PATTERSON)Magicana is sad to report the passing of famed magic illustrator Pat Lyons (aka Pat Patterson)...
Posted by Magicana Sharing Wonder on Tuesday, 15 March 2016

David Ben raised over $220,000 for #nohairselfie !

Congratulations David!

From Magicana:

David Ben’s #NoHairSelfie campaign concluded yesterday, February 4, 2016 with a public shaving at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. With some last-minute donations arriving by mail, the total has now passed $214,000 raised for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.

As promised earlier, donors who requested our Unusual Collectible your hair will be in the mail very soon. We’ve also learned that the cards will be signed by Pat Lyons, the artists who designed them.

For those wishing to verify the authenticity of the hair, you can watch it being severed below. The shaver is Gary Slaight, son of Allan Slaight.

Read more and watch video.

Magicana presents: The oldest trick in the book

Visit Magicana's site where they're hosting "The oldest trick in the book," an in depth look at the cups and balls.