Magic in Montreal Gets a Big Boost

There was a time, a few moons ago, that there were Magic Conventions in Montreal, once or twice a year. At Magie Montreal there was a lot of magic of course, but more than that was the comraderie and we haven’t  had that in a long time. Our last Convention was in 1998. CAM (The Canadian  Association of  Magicians) had one one the South Shore a few years ago. There is also a Festival in Quebec  City.  But in Montreal it’s been quiet. We miss it. It’s just too much work and too expensive. But at the Comedy Nest at the Old Forum, a few months ago, David Acer took a  chance and decided to make one Sunday night a magic night. It turned out there was standing room only. It was such fun. And the after show was great too. The magicans hung in there and chatted away. It was like old times.

If you missed it you get a second chance. SUNDAY JUNE 1st, at 8:00pm The Comedy Nest is having another magic night.  It should be a blast. Jonathan Burns, Richard Sanders, Romaine, and Angelo the Amazing Food Magician will be performing. We’ll be there! Will you? The Comedy Nest is not a big place so put your reservation in now if you intend to go. Otherwise you may be disappointed.

The Great Unknown – Magician, Clown, Comic & Gentleman

Two posts ago I wrote about Magic Dealers at  Magie Montreal 1988-89 and I received such a touching comment from one of our Convention Goers that I thought I would share it with you. It was from no one else but The Great Unknown. He was certainly known to anyone who attended Magie Montreal. This is what he said and it is a great compliment to us. Thank you Daniel for bringing so much laughter to Magie Montreal.

Boy ob oy did I have fun at the Magie Montreal conventions (as a matter of fact I never attended any other convention)! 99% of the magic equipment I ever owned came from Perfect Magic. The Magie Mtl conventions gave me a real incentive to perfect my art of being ridiculous. When Magie Montreal conventions became something of the past so did my short lived career. Just now I come to realize that I never told Phil & or Evy that THEY were responsible for my ten-year amateur (or, at best, semi-pro) career. To start with I got interested in magic by attending magic shows on Saturdays at the magic shop. Then I heard of the magic conventions and I got carried away. A million thanks to Phil & Evy for starting my fire and then nurishing it. Knowing you was a real treat. I only have sweet memories of this too far away past. Great job Phil & Evy. My very best regards to you.

Daniel with George Schindler

Daniel with his one of a kind prop,

Daniel with Blair Marshall encouraging the act.

The Great Unkonwn

Magic Dealers at Magie Montreal 1988-89

Sometimes to get inspiration for a topic I look at old photos. I randomly picked up the year 1989, but I had lost those programs. Denise Tesher was kind enough to find me a copy but there was no cover, so I wasn’t sure of the year. Which was which? I went through the 2  years and thought what a gold mine we had then. These were  not guys that sat in their basement and invented a trick and put it on the internet. These guys were performers and entertainers. We knew them personally. Unfortunately, many have since died, some much to early, but at least we have memories and somehow they must in some way have influenced out lives. There was Hank Moorehouse for Abbott’s Magic, Al Cohen for Al’s Magic Shop, Bob Little  for Guaranteed Magic, Hank Lee for Hank Lee’s Magic Factory, Al Goshman for Magic By Gosh, Paul Diamond for Paul Diamond Magic, Pavel for Pavel’s Top Magic, and Marilyn for Hans Zahn Videonics…and of course there was also Perfect Magic…so take a look.

Al Cohen – Washington DC

Paul Diamond – Ft. Lauderdale Florida

Al Goshman – Los Angeles, California

Pavel – Geneva Switzerland

Henry “Hank” Moorehouse – White Pigeon, Michigan

Fantasio – Coral Gables, Florida

Bob “The Wiz” Little – Hatboro, Pennsylvania

Marilyn Zahn, Videonics – St. Johns, Newfoundland

Hank Lee – Boston, Massachusetts

When Two Clowns Get Together! David Acer & Simon Lovell!

As I was going through the photos for the Ted Outerbridge blog, I found them in the Magie Montreal 1997 file. As I went through them I had to laugh at a couple of the photos. If you were there I’m sure you will remember what fun we had with these two guys. I thought you might enjoy the memories as I did.

Need we say more?

David MC’ing in the suit his Grandma gave him

Simon sending Betty Machny into gales of laughter

David and his garbage can and balls routine

Reaching For A Star and Catching It! That’s Magic!

We’ve known Ted Outerbridge since he was a kid. He had a dream and didn’t let go. He worked hard. He struggled but never gave up. It paid off. Last week in the Gazette, there was an article about him. We were thrilled to see it.  In 1997, before he was famous, he won the Tom Auburn Award at Magic Montreal, the Annual Magic Convention produced by Perfect Magic and Wim Vermeys for 19 years. It was a sign of things to come. I spoke to him and asked him to write about himself and to include what got him to decide to make a career of this and also what tip he could give to up and coming magicians. I’ll publish it when I get it. In the meantime…Ted and Marion…Keep on truckin’!

I have included  photos of Wim Vermeys and Phil Matlin and the Trophy Winners of Magic Montreal 1997 and we have David Acer, sticking his head through the curtains in the back. He was never one to be left out! David was the M.C. of the stage show that year, hilarious as usual!

Jean Pierre Du Sault

Lillo Traina

Patrick Kuffs

1997 Trophy Winners

Where Magicians Meet!

We became friends with Denise and Stan Tesher through magic many years ago. They used to live in Montreal but moved to a little town in Ontario, not far from Ottawa. Phil, besides being a magic dealer, is a piano player, and does shows a few times a year in Ottawa. Whenever we do we arrange to have dinner with the Teshers. We had not seen them in a while so we decided to meet, even though Phil didn’t have a show in Ottawa. We met in Vaudreuil, in a little shopping center at a restaurant called Madison’s.

Phil and I got there first. We sat down and soon saw Denise and Stan. Denise came right over but Stan looked like he was reading something in a showcase. I figured he was looking at the menu, but they do hand them out at the tables so what was he looking at? He told me to go over to the showcase and look. I went over and saw two white dinner plates on stands with writing in thick black marker on them. One was signed “Best Wishes, Jacques Demers, 1993 Stanley Cup” which is the vied for trophy for all Canadian hockey fans; the other plate was signed “ Gary Kurtz, 2010.” Go figure!

Gary Kurtz at the Close Up Table

Gary Kurtz Up Close

From the left – Romaine, Stan Tesher

From the left – Stan Tesher, John Cornelius

A Tip of the Hat To The Contestants – Magic of Course!

Last week I wrote about Gene Anderson. In 1989, a mere 22 years ago, he performed at Magie Montreal, our yearly Magic Convention back then. As I was going through material for the blog I came across photos of the contestants for the close up contest show and stage contest show of that year They were great. Over the years it happened many times that the Contest Show outshone the professional show.

Our M.C. for the Stage Show was  The Great UnKnown ( Daniel Raymond) and the contestants were Andre Boisvert, Salvatore Gervasi, Sylvain Charron, Tom Rutherford.

Our Sunday Close -Up Contestants were Raymond Dionne, Jocelyn Gauthier and Chris Pilsworth., who won the coveted Tom Auburn award.

And the winners are:

André Boisvert

The Winners from the left – Wim Vermeys, Salvatore Gervaise, Chris Pilsworth (with the Tom Auburn award), Sylvain Charron, Raymond Dionne, and Phil Matlin

Salvatore Gervaise

Sylvain Charron at the mike.

The Great Unknown and Johan Duker

Jocelyn Gauthier

Tom Rutherford

Shawn Farquar

I first met Shawn many years ago. It can’t be that long ago because he isn’t that old, but it was probably in the 1990’s. We got to know him well as we had a Magic Shop in Vancouver then, across from MetroTown and Shawn lives in Vancouver. In 1993 Farquar and Felicity  (his lovely wife) performed at Magic Montreal. That was the same year Dave Williamson, Mac King and  Dick Zimmerman and other greats were there. I forget a lot of things these days, but I remember that convention well. It was a riot!

Shawn, as long as I’ve known him, was passionate about his magic and it paid off. He has transformed from a good magician to a top notch pro. He’s looks like he feels at home on T.V with the biggest stars, Penn and Teller, Ellen Degeneris, and the like.  He has won the most prestigious awards and has travelled world wide. All this takes time. But he gives of his time. He has taken the reins from Joan Caesar as President of CAM, The Canadian Associations of Magicians and is doing a great job. Since he has taken over Northern Peeks, which is a monthly magazine of CAM, it  has a new sleek look with terrific articles in it. And then of course there is a convention to run. This alone is a tremendous undertaking. I know, we did it for 19 years.

Shawn’s goal to increase the membership by at least 100 people during his 3 year term as president. Are you a member? If not, join! This is the organization that put Canada on the map as far as magic is concerned. Prior to the existence of CAM if a Canadian wanted to enter F.I.S.M. he or she had to do so under another country as there was no international magic organization  in Canada to sponsor that person. We have Joan Caesar to thank for that. She got it going. Shawn is carrying the torch. Let’s get that flame a little bigger and join up now.

Hank Moorehouse

Hank Moorehouse died in Bejing July 2, 2011 and his passing had saddened us and many others greatly. Our hearts go out to Jackie and his family. His career is wonderfully documented in  the MUM link, so I won’t go into that as it has already been done but I can tell you about our relationship with him. He was with us when Perfect Magic opened its doors 35 years ago. Phil called him for something and mentioned he was opening a store. Hank wished  him luck and asked if he wanted him to come down to do a lecture to kick it off. No charge, just to give us a boost. That was the kind of guy he was!

Hank introduced us to his lovely bride Jackie in Toronto at a Passport To Magic Convention. I say bride because they were on their honeymoon. They had a booth  there and Jackie laughed about it. “What new bride would go to a magic convention on her honeymoon!”

From the left, Jackie & Hank Moorehouse, Dave Cresey, Phil Matlin

Phil says that without Hank there probably would not have been “Magie Montreal”, the  magic  convention that took place in Montreal for 19 years, thanks to Phil and his partner in that endeavour, Wim Vermeys. When Phil needed advice regarding acts, who was good, who was reliable, etc,  Hank always gave it to him straight.

Many years ago Phil and I were on our way to a Convention in the States not far from where Hank  and Jackie lived. We phoned them and said we would like to meet them for dinner in Kalamazoo and they said no, if you’re so close you’re coming to our home. They insisted we spend the night there, which we did after we all went to a lovely restaurant in Three Rivers for dinner.

Many of you probably met Hank at Magie Montreal.

Hank at the close-up table

Hank entertaining

He had been there a few times, when his busy schedule permitted. I have posted some of the photos of him and you’ll notice how much fun his volunteers are having with him on stage. He knew how to make people feel at ease, young or old. Enjoy the memories!

Hank

Phil Matlin, Hank Moorehoue and Wim Vermeys

Hank's world famous escape act.

A Superb Tip from David Acer. Comedian, Magician, TV Star, Author….

David Acer sort of feels like a third son to us. All our kids (4) worked at Perfect Magic Shop when they were growing up and so did David when he was 14 years old. That would be in the 80’s.

Last week,  some 30 years later, and many times since, he came to pick up a few things. We reminisced about Al Goshman. David remarked upon the fact that this chubby older man was not the person one would look at walking down the street and say, ” There goes a magician.” And yet he was amazed that when Albert performed, he was transformed and his fingers danced in a way one wouldn’t believe unless you saw him.

And why am I telling you this? Because while David was here I asked if he could write something for our readers as to what got him into magic as a career and what word of advice would he give to aspiring magicians. Last week Michael Ammar wrote something and I thought my readers would be happy to hear what other people who were successful in magic had to say.  He immediately agreed. That sent me on a hunt for photographs of David. By sheer coincidence the first photo I came aross of David was one of Albert sitting behind his booth at a Magie Montreal 1988 Convention.

In any case here is what David had to say:  While you’re at it, Check out David’s best selling book “GOTCHA! 18 Amazing Ways to Freak Out Your Friends” http://www.davidacer.com/david-acer-magic-catalogue-Gotcha.html .

Q: What was the first trick that made you think this is what you want to do?

A: Well, I’m still not sure this is what I want to do, but assuming  it isn’t just a decades-long phase I’m going through, I’d say the trick  that pulled me in was the old broken-and-restored toothpick in a  handkerchief. I remember fooling my mother and step-father with that – I  mean really fooling them – when I was nine or ten, and that started me  on the path to deeper mysteries.

Q: What advice would you give aspiring magicians?

A: Never iron flash paper. Also, try to be yourself when you’re doing  tricks. That usually means presenting them in a way that makes you care about them. Talk about your job, your family, your life, good, bad or weird. If you care, other people will care. But if you have to invent a reason to care, maybe it isn’t the right trick for you.

Thanks, David, for the tips. I hope the readers enjoy it as much as I did!

Enjoy the photos

David MC’ing at Magie Montreal with Ted Outerbridge and assisant

David

David producing his shorts

Ball and Vase???

David and Albert Goshman

Front cover of Genii Magazine

David’s award winning book “Gotcha”

Mystery Hunters TV show, now in syndication