''The World's Greatest Magic'' was a series of

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

s showcasing

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

acts. The first of five shows was broadcast by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

in 1994, and continued with annual editions through 1998. These shows were most often first telecast during the Thanksgiving holidays when special programming would occur. These specials reran occasionally on

ABC Family The American cable television, cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and s ...

(then The Family Channel and Fox Family) from October 1996 to early 2002. The first episode was hosted by

Robert Urich Robert Michael Urich (December 19, 1946 – April 16, 2002) was an American film, television, and stage actor, and television producer. Over the course of his 30-year career, he starred in a record 15 television series. Urich began his ca ...

, the second by

Alan Thicke Alan Thicke (born Alan Willis Jeffrey; March 1, 1947December 13, 2016) was a Canadian actor, songwriter, and game and talk show host. He is the father of singer Robin Thicke. In 2013, Thicke was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. Thicke was be ...

, and the final three episodes by

John Ritter Johnathan Southworth Ritter (September 17, 1948 – September 11, 2003) was an American actor. Ritter was a son of the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter and the father of actors Jason and Tyler Ritter. He is known for playing Jack Tripper on the ...

. All of the specials were narrated by

Don LaFontaine Donald Leroy LaFontaine (August 26, 1940 – September 1, 2008) was an American voice actor who recorded more than 5,000 film trailers and hundreds of thousands of television advertisements, network promotions, and video game trailers over four ...

. During specials II, III, IV, and V, before each commercial break of every episode, in a segment known as the ''Mac King School of Magic'',

Mac King Mac King (born December 2, 1959) is an American magician who has performed on television specials, often as a co-host. He has his own family-friendly show, "The Mac King Comedy Magic Show", at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino in the Thunderland Sh ...

showed viewers a simple magic trick, and would break its steps down after the commercial break so that the audience could perform the same trick for family and friends. The first special featured the same teach-a-trick segments which involved some of the various magicians featured in the special, along with a special guest celebrity. Below is a list of the closing illusions for each of the five shows, and the magicians who performed them: *World's Greatest Magic I:

Franz Harary Franz Harary (born July 18, 1962) is an American magician and inventor who has appeared on television shows such as the first episode of NBC's ''The World's Greatest Magic'', on which Harary made the Space Shuttle appear to vanish. While studyi ...

- Space Shuttle vanish *World's Greatest Magic II:

Penn and Teller Penn may refer to: Places England * Penn, Buckinghamshire * Penn, West Midlands United States * Penn, North Dakota * Penn, Oregon * Pennsylvania ** Penn, Pennsylvania * Penn Lake Park, Pennsylvania * Penn Township (disambiguation), several muni ...

- Magic bullet catch *World's Greatest Magic III:

The Pendragons Jonathan and Charlotte Pendragon were a husband-and-wife team of American illusionists who called their work "physical grand illusion". They are widely known due to numerous national and international television appearances. Performing partnersh ...

- Disappearance of 25 Vegas showgirls *World's Greatest Magic IV:

Lance Burton William Lance Burton (born March 10, 1960) is an American stage magician. He performed more than 15,000 shows in Las Vegas for over 5,000,000 people until retiring after 31 years in 2010. Professional history Burton first became interested in mag ...

- Jaws of Death escape (Lance was handcuffed and shackled inside a canvas mailbag, put in the back of a car, and dropped into a car crusher.) *World's Greatest Magic V: Brett Daniels - Teleportation of actress

Kelly Packard Kelly Chemane Packard (born January 29, 1975) is an American actress and television personality. She is best known for her roles as Tiffani Smith on ''California Dreams'' and April Giminski on ''Baywatch'', as well as co-hosting ''Ripley's Beli ...

across the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

Featured magicians

The Amazing Johnathan John Edward Szeles (September 9, 1958 – February 22, 2022), better known by the stage name The Amazing Johnathan, was an American comedian and magician. His act was mostly composed of hijinks, interaction with one specific audience member, an ...

Anand Joshi Anand may refer to: People * Anand (name), a surname and given name (including a list of people with the name) * Anand (actor), Indian actor * Anand (Maoist), Indian communist * Anand (writer) (born 1936), Indian Malayalam writer Places * Anand, ...

* Ayala & Lilia * Bill Malone *

Bob Arno Bob Arno (born 1940) is a Swedish-American entertainer, known primarily as a comedy pickpocket, and more recently criminologist specializing in global street crime. He grew up in Stockholm, Sweden, and became a US citizen in 1992. Career Arno' ...

* Brett Daniels *

David Williamson David Keith Williamson Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 24 February 1942) is an Australians, Australian dramatist and playwright. He has also written screenplays and teleplays. Early life David Williamson was born in Melbourne, Vi ...

Fielding West Fielding Reginald West (November 1892 – 6 October 1935) was a British Labour Party politician. Early life West was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. Following elementary education at the age of 12, he initially worked in a coal mine before becom ...

Galina Galina, Halyna, or Halina (russian: Галина; from Greek ''γαλήνη'' "Serenity") is an East Slavic feminine given name, also popular in Bulgaria and Slovenia during the period of Soviet influence. Galina is the standard transliteration fr ...

Greg Frewin Greg Frewin is a Canadian illusionist and "World Champion of Magic". His awards include First Place at the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM); The Gold Medal of Excellence, also from the IBM; First Place at the Society of American Magici ...

* The Hamners *

Hans Klok Johannes Franciscus Catharinus "Hans" Klok (born 22 February 1969) is a Dutch magician, illusionist and actor. Biography Hans Klok was born in Purmerend, Netherlands. On his tenth birthday, he received a magic set as a present and began perfo ...

& Sittah * Jean-Pierre Vallarino * Jeff Hobson *

Jeff McBride Jeff McBride (born September 11, 1959), also known as "Magnus", is an American magician and magic instructor. He is known for his sleight of hand skills and specializes in the manipulation of playing cards, coins, and other small objects. His s ...

* Joseph Gabriel *

Juan Tamariz Juan Tamariz-Martel Negrón (born 18 October 1942, Madrid) known professionally as Juan Tamariz or just Tamariz, is a Spanish magician. American stage magician Ricky Jay once said he considered Tamariz a magician people will remember. Tamariz ...

Juliana Chen Juliana Chen is a Chinese magician, who was born in the Hunan province of China. She has appeared on the cover of The Linking Ring, published by the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Early life Chen was born Chen Zhi Ling in the Hunan pro ...

Magician Ganesh Magician or The Magician may refer to: Performers * A practitioner of magic (supernatural) * A practitioner of magic (illusion) * Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context Entertainment Books * ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...

* Mark Kalin and Jinger(Kalin) *

Max Maven Max Maven (born Philip T. Goldstein; December 21, 1950 – November 1, 2022) was an American magician and mentalist whose performances were considered erudite and intelligent. He is ranked as one of the most influential mentalists of all time, an ...

Melinda Saxe Melinda is a feminine given name. Etymology The modern name ''Melinda'' is a combination of "Mel" with the suffix "-inda". "Mel" can be derived from names such as Melanie meaning "dark, black" in Greek, or from Melissa (μέλισσα) meaning ...

(a.k.a. "Melinda, First Lady of Magic") *

Nathan Burton Nathan Isaac Burton (born April 29, 1980) is an American football coach and the current Defensive Coordinator at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia. He previously was the secondary coach for the New Orleans Breakers of the United Sta ...

Peter Marvey Peter Marvey is a Magic (illusion), magician and illusionist best known for his combination of sleight of hand and large-scale stage illusions. Biography In his early childhood, Peter Marvey was fascinated with any form of flight, flying, whether ...

Princess Tenko (born ; June 29, 1959), best known under the stage name of Princess Tenko and formerly , is a Japanese pop singer turned magician specialising in grand illusions. Biography She was born Mariko Itakura in Arai, Niigata on June 29, 1959. At a yo ...

Raymond Crowe Raymond Crowe is an Australian entertainer. Originally from Adelaide, Crowe brands himself as "Australia's only Unusualist". His act includes mime, ventriloquism, stage magic, and shadow play using only his hands and arms. His shadow play video ...

* Rene Lavand * Sheri Lucas *

Steve Wyrick Steve Wyrick (born May 12, 1970) is an American magician from Garland, Texas. Wyrick is best known for performing as a headliner in Las Vegas, Nevada for more than 15 years, having starred at Planet Hollywood Resort/Casino, Aladdin Casino, Sahara ...

* Francis Tabary *

Tom Mullica Thomas Blaine Mullica (August 19, 1948 – February 18, 2016) was an American comedy Magic (illusion), magician, Impressionist (entertainment), impressionist and actor who performed on television specials and appeared on ''Late Night with David Le ...

Topas The OT-62 TOPAS is a series of amphibious tracked armoured personnel carriers developed jointly by Polish People's Republic and Czechoslovakia ( ČSSR). OT-62 stands for ''Obrněný Transportér vzor 62'' – "armoured personnel carrier model 62" ...

*Ken Mate

Music

The producer of this series,

Gary Ouellet Gary Ouellet (January 9, 1945 – June 8, 2002) was a French-Canadian television producer and magician who lived and worked in the United States. He may be best known as the driving force behind a number of network television specials that helped ...

, released a booklet entitled 'Music for Magicians', in which the music selection and editing process for this show was explained. Few of the performers could use their regular performance music, because

synchronization rights A music synchronization license, or "sync" for short, is a music license granted by the holder of the copyright of a particular composition, allowing the licensee to synchronize ("sync") music with some kind of visual media output (film, televisi ...

are usually too costly (or sometimes unavailable) for commercial tracks. Two exceptions were Topas from WGM I, who used 'Hello Again' by the Cars, and Jeff McBride, who had music specially written for him by Jordan Rudess. Hence, for the first two specials, the performers taped the show using their normal music, and a new audio track had to be created for broadcast, consisting of custom music created for each performer (which resembled their existing music), and a re-creation of the audience applause. In some cases, it was known that the ambient sounds/applause would be important to a particular performer, and those acts were performed without music, so that custom music could be cleanly inserted in post-production. Prior to making WGM III, Ouellet had to use

production music Production music (also known as stock music or library music) is recorded music that can be licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media. Often, the music is produced and owned by production music libraries. Background ...

as a last-minute scoring option on another magic production, and subsequently he decided to make WGM III entirely using production music, for which he searched through 15,000 'cuts'.Music for Magicians, Gary Ouellet Each performer's music track was specially created from at least one (often several) library track, with stingers, hits and various accentuating effects fro
Gary Ouellet's Designer Textures for Magicians
Hence, WGM 3-5 were taped live with the pre-prepared music tracks. The following tracks have been identified as being used within the noted performers' sets: ;World's Greatest Magic III: * 'Damned' from Kosinus (Brett Daniels - Appearing Car) * 'Shock Troops' and 'Car Wash' from Kosinus (Hans Klok) * 'Pure Silk' from JW Media Music and 'Angel Wave' from Kosinus (Galina) * 'Tabasco Road' & 'Angel Eyes' from Koka, and 'Funky Lady' from Opus 1 (Peter Marvey) * 'Mystic Party' from Kosinus, and 'Requiem, Op. 89, B. 165:III. Dies irae' by Dvorak (Joseph Gabriel) * 'Techno Pursuit' from Opus 1 (Brett Daniels - Sawing in half) * 'Loco' and 'Words on the Beat' from Koka (Nathan Burton) * 'Starlight' and 'Hi Hop' from Koka (Greg Frewin) * 'New Opus' from Koka (Jean Pierre Vallarino) * 'Kabaret' from Koka (Mac King) * 'Katanga' from Kosinus and 'Pressure Point' from JW Media Music (Dirk Arthur) * 'It's Hollywood', 'Industrial' and 'Final Result' from Opus 1 (The Pendragons - Vanishing Showgirls) ;World's Greatest Magic IV: * 'Real City' from FirstCom (Opening titles and transition segments) * 'Gothic City', 'Enemy Hits' and 'Double Threat' from FirstCom (Ayala - opening illusion) * 'Gun Play' and 'The Getaway' from Hollywood Music (Jonathan David Bass) * 'Facing Saigon' and 'Bamboo Sea' from FirstCom and 'Stormrider' from Chappell (Juliana Chen) * 'Top League' from Chappell (Tim Cole & Jenny Lynn) * 'Closer To My Love' from Chappell (Rick Thomas) * 'X Generation' from FirstCom (Sherry Lukas) * 'Cyclone' and 'Bravado' from FirstCom (The Hamners) * 'Small Town' from FirstCom (Carl Cloutier) ;World's Greatest Magic V: (except where noted, the following tracks are from DeWolfe and its subsidiary labels) * 'Sunrise' from Atmosphere (WGM 1-4 Recap) * 'Driving Force' and 'Classical Excellence' ('Coming Up' segment) * 'Round We Go' (Magic Unlimited) * 'Heatstroke', 'Jumping Joker', 'Athleticism (Remix)' and 'Franky's' (The Majestix) * 'National Emergency' and 'Breathless' (Brett Daniels - The Grand Canyon) * 'Commitment', 'Brave New World', 'Aborigine Firedance 2' and 'Pagan Ritual' (Phelston Jones) * 'Theatre Overture', 'Benny For Your Thoughts' and 'Starlight Concerto' (Dimmare) * '5 Pack Driver', 'Monster', 'First Time' and 'Encounter' (John Gabriel) * 'She Can't Love Me Like Me' (Goldfinger & Dove) * 'Night Flight', 'Death Penalty', and 'Hostage (a)' (from KPM Music) (Jim Passe)

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Worlds Greatest Magic, The 1990s American television series NBC original programming American television magic shows

Featured magicians

Music

See also

References

External links