|
The Secret Cabaret
''The Secret Cabaret'' was a magic-based television programme that ran for two series, of six episodes each, on Channel 4 in the UK during the early 1990s. Fronted by British magician Simon Drake it was praised for giving a new and shocking twist to the presentation of illusions.In the end titles for the second series of the show Drake received a credit for "Conceived and Original Material". In addition to various magicians the show featured sideshow acts and presentations by experts on fraud and confidence tricks, all interspersed with vintage archive footage of freak shows and daredevil stunts. It was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award and achieved an average audience of 2.53million. Description and production details Each programme revolved around a theatre-based show presented by Simon Drake and featuring illusions performed by him in various guises. The styling of the show was dark and mysterious with some elements that reflected goth subculture. One of the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Drake
Simon Drake (born Simon Alexander; 1 March 1957) is an English magician based in London. He is best known for the television series ''The Secret Cabaret'' made for Britain's Channel 4. Early life Born in London, Drake is the son of a GP. Drake worked as a record plugger at Decca Records when he met Arthur Brown. Brown would become a mentor to Drake as he trained as a magician. Performing career He first came to wider attention in Kate Bush's UK live tour in 1979 for which he co-devised visuals and played seven characters. He has a wide and diverse performing history, performing at Tenjō Sajiki in Japan, to the Royal Variety Show at the London Palladium before Queen Elizabeth II. He advised Nicolas Roeg for the film Castaway, coaching Oliver Reed in sleight of hand, and was magic advisor to Harvey Keitel on FairyTale: A True Story. He has performed and consulted with many performers including Elton John, Phil Collins, Madness, David Gilmour, Meat Loaf, Steve Miller, Dar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Randi
James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Rodrigues 2010p. 271/ref> He was the co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), and founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). Randi began his career as a magician under the stage name The Amazing Randi and later chose to devote most of his time to investigating paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims, which he collectively called "woo-woo". Randi retired from practicing magic at age 60, and from his foundation at 87. Although often referred to as a "debunker", Randi said he disliked the term's connotations and preferred to describe himself as an "investigator". He wrote about paranormal phenomena, skepticism, and the history of magic. He was a frequent guest on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', famously expo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Highgate Vampire
The Highgate Vampire was a media sensation surrounding reports of supposed supernatural activity at Highgate Cemetery in London, England, United Kingdom, in the 1970s. The most thorough account of the story is given by folklorist Bill Ellis in the journal ''Folklore'', published in 1993. Initial publicity On 31 October 1968, a group of young people interested in the occult visited Tottenham Park Cemetery, at a time when it was being regularly vandalised by intruders. According to a report in the ''London Evening News'' of 2 November 1968: Though the identities and motivations of those responsible were never ascertained, general consensus at the time linked the desecration to events surrounding the Highgate Vampire case. Then, in a letter to the ''Hampstead and Highgate Express'' on 6 February 1970, David Farrant wrote that when passing Highgate Cemetery on 24 December 1969 he had glimpsed "a grey figure", which he considered to be supernatural, and asked if others had seen an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Alan
Alan Alan (born Alan Rabinowitz, 30 November 1926 – 4 July 2014) was a British escapologist and magician. He originated tricks that have subsequently become familiar features of the repertoire of other performers and he was honoured by The Magic Circle. Alan achieved fame through a series of stunts staged for the media. He made headline news in 1949 when a "buried alive" stunt, performed for Pathe News, nearly went wrong. He is credited with devising the burning-rope straitjacket escape, in which he is suspended upside-down from a crane with a length of thick rope doused with petrol; once ignited there is a short time to escape before the rope burns through. He appeared in a number of television magic shows, including ''The Magic of David Copperfield''. He also "taught" the inmates of Wormwood Scrubs prison how to escape from handcuffs in his performance with a number of other magicians. In more recent years he was seen on the Channel 4 TV show ''The Secret Cabaret'' with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jay Marshall (magician)
Jay Marshall (James Ward Marshall) (August 29, 1919 – May 10, 2005) was an American magician and ventriloquist. Early life and career According to the Chicago Tribune, his interest in magic started when he was six. As a youngster, he saw performances by Thurston and Houdini. In later years, he admitted to dozing off in the midst of Houdini's show. After only a year at college, he went on to be a professional entertainer instead, initially working out of Boston. He later moved to New York City where he met Naomi Baker, daughter of Al Baker, then Dean of American Magicians. Naomi married Marshall and they had two sons, James and Alexander ("Sandy"). During World War II, Marshall was "island hopping" in the Pacific to entertain military personnel in USO shows. He became tired of taking his elaborate ventriloquist's dummy called Henry with him, so he decided to use a white glove and some bunny ears to turn his left hand into his dummy, "Lefty". Marshall often described the transit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jenny Randles
Jenny Randles is a British author and former director of investigations with the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA), serving in that role from 1982 through to 1994. Career Randles specializes in writing books on UFOs and paranormal phenomena. To date 50 of these have been published, ranging from her first ''UFOs: A British Viewpoint'' (1979) to ''Breaking the Time Barrier: The race to build the first time machine'' (2005). Subjects covered include crop circles, ESP, life after death, time anomalies and spontaneous human combustion. She has also written skeptical investigations solving cases - including, co-authored with Dr David Clarke and Andy Roberts, ''The UFOs That Never Were'' (London House, 2000). Randles has written articles for many publications including ''New Scientist'', and has sold more than 1.5 million copies of her published books. It was stated in 1997 that her books had been published in 24 countries.From the dustjacket blurb of Jenny Randles' book '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Gaughan
John Gaughan (born 1940) is an American manufacturer of magic acts and equipment for magicians based in Los Angeles, California. His style of work is classic, not based heavily on machinery and technology. Great illusionists have noted his work, such as David Blaine, who has several times called him "a magical genius". He has built for people such as Alan Wakeling, Mark Wilson, Criss Angel, David Copperfield, David Blaine, Simon Drake, Doug Henning and The Doors, and is responsible for the construction of dozens of major acts. He also has constructed a replica of the 18th century chess-playing machine, The Turk, which often tours chess conferences. Gaughan created David Copperfield's flying illusion, which is notable for its graceful motion and unencumbered appearance. Gaughan held a patent on a method for creating the illusion of flight. Gaughan also created a "one-of-a-kind" prop for Mark Wilson Productions for a National Fire Prevention Week Event. Using a standard golf car ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Andruzzi
Tony Andruzzi (born May 22, 1925 in Cheyenne, Wyoming – died December 22, 1991 in Chicago, Illinois) was the name adopted by professional magician Tom S. Palmer from the age of 45 to the end of his life. Changing Names Born to Fay and Tom McGuire, the child was first christened as Timothy McGuire on July 22, 1925. But after Tom McGuire left Fay to raise the boy alone, Fay allowed Charles and Gertie Palmer to adopt the boy. He was rechristened Tom Stewart Palmer on March 29, 1926. His biological mother maintained a friendly relationship with the Palmer family, though did not divulge the nature of her relationship to Tom until his teens. As a performer through the late 1960s, he retained the name of Tom Palmer while specializing in comedy magic. When he moved to Chicago, Illinois and changed styles to pursue bizarre magic, he adopted the name Tony Andruzzi, both in performance and in daily life. During his involvement with the Society for Creative Anachronism in the late 1960s t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sideshow Attraction Featured In The Secret Cabaret
In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. Types There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions: *The Ten-in-One offers a program of ten sequential acts under one tent for a single admission price. The ten-in-one might be partly a freak show exhibiting "human oddities" (including "born freaks" such as midgets, giants or persons with other deformities, or "made freaks" like tattooed people, fat people or "human skeletons"- extremely thin men often "married" to the fat lady, like Isaac W. Sprague). However, for variety's sake, the acts in a ten-in-one would also include "working acts" who would perform magic tricks or daredevil stunts. In addition, the freak show performers might also perform acts or stunts, and would often sell souvenirs like "giant's rings" or "pitch cards" with their photos and life stories. The ten-in-one would often end in a "blowoff" or "ding," an extra act ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catch Me If You Can
''Catch Me If You Can'' is a 2002 American biographical crime comedy-drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks with Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams and James Brolin in supporting roles. The screenplay by Jeff Nathanson is based on the "autobiography" of Frank Abagnale, who claims that before his 19th birthday, he successfully performed cons worth millions of dollars by posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot, a Georgia doctor, and a Louisiana parish prosecutor. The truth of his story is questionable. A movie version of Abagnale's book of the same name was contemplated soon after it was published in 1980 but began in earnest in 1997 when Spielberg's DreamWorks bought the film rights. David Fincher, Gore Verbinski, Lasse Hallström, Miloš Forman, and Cameron Crowe were all considered to direct the film before Spielberg decided to direct it himself. Filming took place from February to Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Abagnale
Frank William Abagnale Jr. (; born April 27, 1948) is an American author and convicted felon. Abagnale targeted individuals and small businesses yet gained notoriety in the late 1970s by claiming a diverse range of victimless workplace frauds, many of which have since been placed in doubt. In 1980, Abagnale co-wrote his autobiography, ''Catch Me If You Can'', which built a narrative around these claimed victimless frauds. The book inspired the film of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg in 2002, in which Abagnale was portrayed by actor Leonardo DiCaprio. He has also written four other books. Abagnale runs Abagnale and Associates, a consulting firm. Abagnale claims to have worked as an assistant state attorney general in the U.S. state of Louisiana, a hospital physician in Georgia, and impersonated a Pan American World Airways pilot who logged over two million air miles by deadheading. The veracity of most of Abagnale's claims has been questioned and ongoing inquiry co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
