891: Marvin Berglas - International Son of Mystery

We finish talking with a trio of officers from The Magic Circle (TMC) this week as we sit for a chat with the current President of TMC, Marvin Berglas. Not defined by being the son of the legendary “International Man of Mystery,” David Berglas, Marvin decided early to go his own way. Nealy four decades ago Marvin founded “Marvin’s Magic” which created magic kits that swept the globe The results are that he received the Gold Medal as winner of Toy of the Year in the electronic games category of the Independent Toy Awards and was awarded the coveted Outstanding Contribution Award in the British Toy and Hobby Industry in 2015/16. And as far as magic goes, he received the Outstanding Contribution to Magic award from the British Magical Society in 2014/15. And n 2016 Marvin was awarded The Maskelyne Award from The Magic Circle for services to magic. During 2017, 2018 and 2019 Marvin was the Vice-President of The Magic Circle and in 2023 was elected President of The Magic Circle.

This week Marvin tells us about his magic kit empire and how the business grew to international proportions. And although he came from a home where magic was talked about all the time, he tells us that he did not care to pursue a career like his father until later in life as Marvin’s Magic developed. He then got involved with The Magic Circle (TMC) and became one of the very few father/son Presidents of TMC. Find out in this episode who the others were.

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817: Blackpool Magic Convention 2024 - Day One Report

Friday 16th February 2024

9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Dealers’ Hall Open

10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Paul Romhany Lecture (Spanish Hall) and Richard Griffin Lecture (Arena)

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. International Close-up Show (Foyer Hall)

11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. John “Chunkie” Russell Lecture (Derham Lounge)

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Ann DeGuzman Lecture (Arena) and Ben Hart Lecture (Spanish Hall)

1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Cameron Francis Lecture (Foyer Hall)

1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Mat O’Neill Parlour Show (Derham Lounge)

2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Christian Grace Lecture (Arena) and Tom Wright Lecture (Spanish Hall)

3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Marvin Berglas Lecture (Foyer Hall) and Dave Allen Lecture (Derham Lounge)

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Adrian Quillien Lecture (Spanish Hall)

6:15 p.m. - 7:45 p.m. Gala Show (Opera House)

6:15 p.m. - 7:15 p.m. Mike Caveney and Friends Show (Circle Hall)

6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Shoot Ogawa Show (Arena)

8:45 p.m. - 10:15 p.m. Gala Show (Opera House)

8:45 p.m. - 9:45 p.m. Mike Caveney and Friends Show (Circle Hall)

9:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Shoot Ogawa Show (Arena)

11:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. Harrison Greenbaum Show (Arena and limited to audiences of 18+)

11:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. Whose Lie Is It Anyway? (Old Victoria Bar)

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:18 - we are off from the Dallas Ft. Worth airport to ride our magic carpet “across the pond” to merry old England for the Blackpool Magic Convention 2024. Join us for the trip!!

00:03:32 - Our first stop before Blackpool is a visit to The Magic Circle (TMC) where John Bannon was the featured lecturer on Monday, 12 February. Our first chat is with Ian Rowland, a mentalist and motivational speaker to the corporate market. He is also a master of “kirigami” which is the art of cutting cards and folding. It is beautiful artwork.

00:12:21 - Faye Presto is working on a new close-up cover for the table at TMC. She also tells us about the proper way to put a bottle through the table.

00:20:27 - Marvyn Berglas, President of TMC, tells us what he’s doing as the new President and plans for improvements in the building.

00:28:06 - From Sweden, Johan Stahal, is a FISM competitor winner of Sweden’s Got Talent, and is attending this BMC for his eighth time.

00:30:05 - Pat Fallon, from Ireland, and Scott catch up as long time friends and Pat tells us a little about touring and magic clubs in Ireland.

00:35:35 - David Regal, from the U.S., is an artiste at BMC who doubles with his lecture and close-up performance. He was walking around with R. Paul Wilson, from Scotland, who is a regular attendee at BMC.

00:39:47 - Brendan Rodriquez, from the U.K., has a video blog (vlog) and is shooting video in, at and around the BMC for broadcast.

00:44:00 - Empressario and big event producer, Paul Stone, is from Liverpool and talks a bit about his “Beatles Tour” around town that he privately gave to Mac King, Mike Caveney, Tina Lennart, and a few others before the BMC began.

00:49:17 - Tracy Bradshaw, a worker at the BMC registration booth, tells us what the VIP registrants get that is different from regular registrations.

00:53:15 - David Plant is a member of the Blackpool Magic Club who sponsors BMC. He gives us a “convention by the numbers” and a quick overview/history of BMC.

01:00:33 - Anders Boulanger, from Winnipeg, Canada, is taking a quick break between working trade shows to come here for his first BMC and tells us how overwhelming it is.

01:06:41 - Keith McCabe, from Ireland, has been coming to the BMC for over 20 years and talks about some of the few magic clubs and magicians and types of magic performed in the Republic of Ireland. We are joined by Harrison Greenbaum, who is another of the performers/lecturers at the BMC.

01:11:04 - Mumdo Marsouki, a podcast listener from Saudi Arabia, tells us about the kind of magic performed in his country.

01:15:28 - Sune Narud, from Norway and a podcast listener, tells us why he and his friends attend the BMC each year.

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767: Randy Wakeman - I've Been Around for a Long, Long Years

Randy Wakeman has been around for many decades and was often seen lecturing and performing at magic conventions. Nonetheless, I have always seen him as an “underground” magician who appeals to the true sleight-of-hand experts. He is one of those guys who has “been there, done that, has the t-shirt” as he was one of the regular performers about the Chicago Bar Magic Scene before the turn of the last century. He has written several books on magic (card magic mostly) and is still relevant in our community as a performer, teacher and author.

While at the recent Senior Tour close-up convention in St. Louis, The Magic Word spoke with Randy as part of the convention report content. He was preparing for a workshop, so we didn’t get a chance to go in-depth as I had wanted. But we agreed to get together at the 4F convention in Buffalo a couple months later. True to his word, we sat down to complete our chat which results in this episode. The content of our chat in both places was a little disjunctive, so the editing required us to put the second conversation first then plug in the chat in St. Louis and finish with our talk while in Buffalo. This sounds more confusing that it actually is, but I know you will understand and enjoy our chat.

Download this podcast in an MP3 file by Clicking Here and then right click to save the file. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed by Clicking Here. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here or through iHeart Radio by Clicking Here..If you have a Spotify account, then you can also hear us through that app, too. You can also listen through your Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here