Banachek is one of the most highly-respected mentalists working today. Residing in Houston since 1982, a town that he calls “the humidity capital of the US,” Banachek gained notoriety at a young age as part of James Randi’s Project Alpha, wherein he and Mike Edwards, another young magician, fooled scientists at Washington University in St. Louis into believing that they had genuine psychic powers. From there, Banachek went on to become a highly sought-after corporate and college entertainer, winning the Campus Performer of the Year award in both 1998 and 1999, and the Campus Novelty Act of the Year in 2000 from the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities. He also began consulting for other magicians, designing many innovative effects for them. At the peak of all of this, performing well over 200 shows a year, Banachek was approached by Criss Angel, who was just beginning to put together a television show called Mindfreak and wanted to employ the mentalist’s expertise. Banachek accepted and worked on the show’s creative team for four seasons. Recently, however, the magic community was surprised to hear that Angel had let Banachek go due to some “creative differences.” Associate Editor SHAWN McMASTERdiscussed with Banachek his many thoughts on mentalism, Mindfreak, and the overall presentation of magic on television.

By Shawn McMaster

The Expert at the Card Table can hardly be called a “breezy read.” It is a technical work that is best read with cards in hand. Erdnase’s instructions are concise and his words are carefully chosen. Studying the book is akin to peeling an onion, with new details discovered upon each re-reading. Vernon thought that card magicians might, with some guidance, come to embrace the monumental work of Erdnase. So, in 1959, he started jotting down notes for an annotated version of The Expert at the Card Table. Those notes came to be called Revelation.

The first words that Vernon penned for his Preface in Revelation were: “This is the book I have always wanted to write.” And write it he did, with his dear friend Faucett Ross in just a few short weeks. Getting it published has not been so easy. The author gave it his best shot in 1984, but it took another 24 years to assemble all of the elements and complete the job.

By Mike Caveney

When actor, writer, and documentarian Blaire Baron married Dante Larsen in 1999, the seed was planted for a feature documentary with the provocative title Women in Boxes. Dante, the son of John and Irene Daniel, was actually born and raised in two magical families (after John and Irene’s amicable divorce, Irene married Bill Larsen Jr.), and at the wedding reception of Blaire and Dante, all of the groom’s godparents in magic were present — notably Carol Roy, the wife and performing partner of Marvyn “Mr. Electric” Roy. Described by Blaire as a “turbaned, bejeweled, but tiny diva,” Carol entranced Blaire with her outgoing personality and “it ain’t all glamour” show-business attitude. During other magical gatherings, Blaire discovered that many of Dante’s magical godmothers (all of whom admonished Blaire to “take care of Dante!”) shared similar points of view, not only in their impressions of relationships, but as entertainers.

Deciding at first to make a film about Carol, Blaire quickly revised the plan so that it would include all of the magical assistants to whom she was suddenly related by marriage. Then Blaire began the process of building the project in her head. Now, after a nine-year gestation period, Women In Boxes will have its first public screening this month in Las Vegas.

By Mark Nelson

“Drummond and I had had our fill of peddling Bicycles to the English upper classes. We had performed magic together since meeting as boys at Eton College. There we fiddled with our decks ’neath the ancient desks and taught each other sleight of hand behind the bike shed. Now both 21 and full of student beans, we were in search of something more authentic — perhaps a more profound response than the genial backslap of the tweedy gent and the gushy enthusiasm of the teenage blonde. We had a nascent plan: We would spend our August 2007 summer holidays in Kenya, perform magic for whomever would watch, and record our adventure. If we could persuade the folks at home to buy copies of the resultant DVD, we might raise enough money to build a school in the place we had visited, a school built by magic.”

April 1908 saw the birth of one of the oldest magic societies in the world, the Magischer Klub Wien (Magic Club of Vienna). One month earlier, teacher Ludwig Brunner placed an advertisement in one of Vienna’s newspapers to look for some amateur magicians with whom he could share his interest. One of the first answers he received came from Ottokar Fischer, the man who later kept Hofzinser’s work alive in his books Hofzinser’s Kartenkünste (Card Magic of Hofzinser, 1910) and Hofzinser’s Zauberkünste (The Magic of Hofzinser, 1943). It was Fischer who encouraged the small group of magic enthusiasts to form a club.

And from April 11 to April 13, 2008, that club celebrated its 100th year with events for magicians and laymen alike.

By Wittus Witt

This month’s news covers both television and live magic, including all five nights of David Letterman’s Magician Week, an up-to-the-minute report on the first four Celebracadabra episodes, and Neil Patrick Harris’ generous audience giveaway on Ellen. Plus, the latest on David Blaine’s record-breaking appearance on Oprah, Cyril and Ricky Jay’s roles in the movie Redbelt, Criss Angel’s upcoming Cirque show, and much more.

Seventeen products are covered this month by Peter Duffie, Jason England, Brad Henderson, and John Lovick.

• Bob White Presents the Egg Bag DVD by Bob White
• Coinvexed by David Penn
• Scripting Magic by Pete McCabe
• Shalosh by Nimrod Harel
• Magic Bingo by Mark Wilson
• You Asked for It DVD
• Chain Reaction DVD by Andrew Mayne
• Twisted DVD by Andrew Mayne
• Social Distortion by Andrew Mayne
• Alpha Cards by Jesse Feinberg
• Szechuan Sampler by Fred Rosenbaum
• Chinese Choice by John Archer
• Chez Louisa by Steve Cantwell
• Cornered by Kevin Parker & Chris Webber
• Inner Change by Steve Shufton
• Le Grand David: The Early Years in Photographs
• The Amazing Mystical Vanishing Bandana by Robert Hass

Dave Forrest has made a huge splash on the Internet with his crazy, innovative close-up effects, yet he has remained an elusive figure to the magic community. In the first exclusive exploration into his repertoire, Dave tips six all-new effects. You’ll learn magic with beer bottles, coins, a lighter, and cards.

One of the venues we don’t hear too much about is camp shows. This month, David Kaye to remedies that somewhat. One of the things you can do at a camp show that is fun, challenging for older kids, funny for the young kids, and plays into the spirit of 500 kids being led by four dozen teenagers is: a danger trick! The column includes not only David Levitan’s great Sword Thru Neck routine, but also his hilarious and riot-inducing Introduction to Any Danger Trick routine. It can be used it as a prelude to any danger trick you do.

For his penultimate column, Anthony, inspired by the classic Paul Curry Open Predictionchallenge. has devised a very interesting prediction effect based upon Alex Elmsley’s Open Intruder. The performer carefully spreads a deck of cards so that only the indices are revealed. He explains that he has marked the face of one of the cards. The deck is turned face down and a spectator is asked to deal the cards one at a time into a face-up pile. The performer requests that at any time the spectator is to deal one card onto the pile face down so that the value of the card remains unseen. The performer spreads the deck to reveal all the face-up cards are unmarked. The face-down card is turned over to reveal it has a huge X across its face.

In previous months, Bob has explored three different ways that magicians can help us face and see the dark; three shadows that magical performers can cast — the physical, the supernatural, and the moral. This month, we look into the darker depths of the mind.

Dear Show Doctor: “I’m pissed off. Many of the tricks and DVDs I buy are total crap. I read the ads, and the tricks sound great. I look at the video demos online, and they look great. But when I order them and they get to my house, I try to do them and they suck. I don’t think it’s just me. I mean, I can do card tricks and stuff. It’s just real disappointing when this keeps happening. How can a young magician like me avoid these kinds of problems?”

Consider the basic principle from Theater 101: Everything on stage has a meaning. This is true of a play or musical, isn’t it? The lighting, costumes, color design, the arrangement of props, even the open spaces — all of them give meaning to the tableau. They help create a distinctive atmosphere, feeling, and experience. If the curtain opens and there is a big rip in one of the backdrops or a pile of tools left on the stage — well, that means something, too!