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Part Five: The Yanks. Are Coming American interest in magic from other countries continued to grow. Of course, there was already a long history of foreign exchange among professionals. During the first half of this century there were many who had met with success in the U.S.; indeed, some had taken up residence: Okito (Holland), Cardini (Wales), Jean Hugard (Australia), Frakson (Spain), Gali‑Gali (Egypt), Tenkai and Okinu (Japan), Dr. Jaks (Germany), Slydini (Italy), and many more. With the obvious exception of USO tours, World War II had undercut the exchange of talent across the Atlantic, but by the rnid‑1950s there were a number of magicians once more finding overseas employment opportunities‑in both directions. Viggo Jahn came to the United States, and found six years' worth of work. Fred Kaps came over to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show. Meanwhile, balancing the equation, Americans such as Marvyn and Carol Roy, Channing Pollock and Jack Kodell were working top venues in Europe. During this time, American conventions began featuring foreign talent on a relatively frequent basis, and although the network for magic lecture tours was as yet not firmly in place, there were opportunities there, as well. Most of those being booked (for reasons both linguistic and proximal) were British: Billy McComb, Geoffrey Buckingham and Alex Elmsley were among the popular visitors from the United Kingdom. By the early I970s the American lecture market was thriving, and a veritable wave of European performers did tours, many arranged through Emil Loew. They became an expected ingredient at the larger conventions, particularly the SAM and IBM nationals and the Tannen Jubilee. It became standard for even the smaller regional conventions to have at least one European artist on the bill, and local club meetings often featured lecturers from abroad. Quite a few appeared on the Larsens' annual It's Magic! shows, and many worked and lectured for the Magic Castle. Thus, as the decade continued, Americans were able to experience firsthand some of the top talent associated with FISM™: Kaps, van Dommelen, Marconick, Flip, Ross, Copper, Phoa, Silvan, Pavel, Christian, Merlin, Torrell and Gloviczki, just to name a few. In 1974 there was also a series Of 23 half‑hour shows that ran in syndication on U.S. television. These were hosted by Bill Bixby, who was associated with magic in the American public's mind due to his starring role in the network action series The Magician that had started airing the year before. The hosting segments were taped in California, but the rest of each show was made up of footage taped at the Paris convention. While the acts were unfortunately cut up into bite‑sized pieces, the shows did introduce many foreign performers to the American viewers, thus further increasing the interest in FISM™ on the part of the magicians here.
The organizers of the
FISM™
congress in Vienna, Austria had to stop selling registrations when they
reached the 1,800 mark, as that was the seating capacity of the
Konzerthaus where most events were scheduled. Participants from 37
countries came for five days of magic beginning on July 7,1976.
There were
34 dealers. Henk Vermeyden maintained the position of Secretary. Producing the conclave was FISM™ President Peter Heinz Kersten. (The middle name had recently been added in order to differentiate himself from a magician from East Berlin, also called Peter Kersten, who had surfaced a few years earlier. In time, the latter faded from the scene, and these days the Austrian Peter Kersten is content to use just two names.) The opening ceremony had an overture by the entire brass section of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and included a performance by the Vienna Ballet. Later in the week there was a reception at the city hall, hosted by the mayor, with a buffet accompanied by three orchestras. The second gala was in the smaller Theater an der Wien, so half the registrants went to the show while the others were taken by tram to a party at a tavern on the outskirts of the city. The next night, the show and party were repeated with the audiences swapped. (Unlike most convention shows, this gala had been rehearsed for a week in advance.) The gala shows featured return visits from van Dommelen, Bongo, Silvan, Sitta Marconick and Pit. (The latter emceed the second gala working in three different languages; on the final show, Marconick emceed working in five. In fairness, Peter had been living in Los Angeles, where it's easy to let your linguistic skills get rusty.) Zelpy returned, as well, this time with a pleasingly absurd turn wherein a giant dove produced little tailcoated magicians. Also in the shows were a couple of grand masters of allied fields: Borra the Yugoslavian "King of the Pick‑pockets" (by then a long‑time citizen of Austria), and Kuda Bux, the Pakistani mystic (by this time firmly ensconced in Hollywood), now in his seventies, presenting his legendary demonstration of Eyeless Vision. Several noteworthy teams who performed this convention were also married couples off‑stage, among them The Keeners, Ed and Nancy, an American act using doves and balloons who had been working steadily in Europe since the mid‑1960s; The New Houdinis, a fast‑paced escape act from Austria; Masatoshi and Kazue Furota of Japan, whose manipulation act climaxed with the production of a mammoth silk that completely filled the stage; Duo Absolon from Czechoslovakia, whose act was a dark fairy tale with a storyline about a domineering jailer whose captive turns out to be a witch; and Shimada and Deanna, who presented their elaborate new dragon illusion to rave reviews.
There were five lectures,
a slide presentation of historical posters by Jay Marshall, and ten
"Teach‑In" workshops led by such as Frank Garcia from the United States
and Rovi of Wales. As an extra charge event there was also a private
lecture by Dai Vernon, with attendance limited to 100 people. (This
followed in the path of a late, night Vernon seminar that had been
organized by Herb Zarrow during the 1974 SAM convention in Boston, the
huge success of which eventually led to the Professor's "farewell tour" of
lectures across North America.) The contest featured 97 hopefuls, covering the now standard wide range in quality. In a two‑part 13‑page write‑up in the August and September issues of GENII, Bill Larsen provided capsule descriptions of the stage contestants ‑ all 68 of them! (He'd maintain this effort in future reports, despite continuing expansion of the already bloated quantity of competitors. Two contestants whose acts didn't make very strong impressions on Bill were Gaëtan Bloom of France, and Jos Bema of Holland. (Both opinions were significantly revised within the next few years) Then again, Bill wasnt voting. Here are the acts that impressed the judges:
GRAND PRIX:
MANIPULATION:
GENERAL MAGIC:
INVENTION:
COMEDY:
GRAND ILLUSION:
MICROMAGIC:
CARDS:
FEMALE:
SPECIAL:
The attendance of Kim Tak
Song and his four assistants was paid for by the government of North
Korea. Their swift‑paced productions were well received; however, lacking
affiliation with a FISM™ member club, they were i Aniko won her award with a burned‑and‑restored chain of paper dolls. Roy Gardner's comedy act involved a spoiled rich magician, all the work actually done by his beleaguered butler. The unnamed assistant was Hans (later Wittus) Witt. Trevor Lewis won in Card magic, although back in Britain he'd more likely be seen doing kid shows. An other winner with a penchant for balloons was Fabian‑not the Abra editor, but a congenial Italian magician who was destined to become a Californian. He'd later trade his theatrical monikerfor his real name, Aldo Colombini
Christian of Austria, now billed as Magic Christian, once more took first prize in Manipulation. He had a new ending, where six‑foot‑high towers of jumbo cards sprung up on either side of him. Get Copper also had a new finish, but ran into technical difficulties when his climactic production item, a candelabra, came out unlit.
This was the year that
Pierre Brahma finally won his solo Grand Prix. His manipulations were done
with a joyful é1an, as he tossed increasing numbers of large coins into
the air, then caught them with a sweep of his hand. jeweled crowns
appeared and floated, and an ornate box filled with treasure disappeared.
Bill Larsen wrote, "From the moment he stepped on There were now 43 member FISM™ organizations. The 1979 congress saw a turnout Of 1,300 magicians. It began on June 27 in Brussels, Belgium, with Claude Klingsor as President. Henk Vermeyden stepped down as Secretary, and was named Honorary President, while Maurice Pierre came in as the new permanent Secretary. There were 33 dealers touting their wares. Most events took place in the Cirque Royal, a round venue with its main hall reconfigured into an 1,800 seat auditorium. Folklore dancing got the opening ceremony underway, The customary parade of gift‑bearing representatives from member organizations eventually segued into a show With a cast of eight prior Grand Prix champions: Niberco, Jahn, Buckingham, van Dommelen, Cox, Thierry (Di Sato), Ross and Brahma. Richard Ross had added his French wife, Veronique, to his act. Geoffrey Buckingham, now 77 years old, received a standing ovation. There were 14 lectures, workshops and historical presentations, conducted by Howard Schwarzman and Dr. Robert Albo of the U.S., Jacques Voignier of France, Guy Lammertyn of Belgium, and others. Peter Kersten (the other one) lectured on kidshow magic. At a City Hall reception the delegates were welcomed by the mayor. There was a street magic festival, in 18th century costuming. Another outdoor event was held at night, a show starring The Morettis reprising their material from three years before, plus a dangerous new demonstration using a crossbow. Other returnees included Flip, Fantasio, Majax, and Bongo (who on one show emceed bilingually, and on another did his beloved "Shriek of Araby" act to a standing ovation). Among the new faces‑at least new to FISM™‑were Italy's protean belletrist Arturo Brachetti, and America's Marvyn & Carol Roy, Bob Brown & Brenda, Mike Caveney, and Tina Lenert (doing her pre‑Mopman mime act). On Friday a fleet of 32 buses took the registrants on a tour of the city that led to a banquet at the Trade Market some 20 miles away. It was not a success. The food was less than expected, and the long layout of the room made the cabaret show on a low platform difficult to see. To make things worse, when the audience emerged from the building, the buses were nowhere to be found, and people had to make their own way back.
There were 110 contestants, and Bill Larsen covered all 83 stage entries in his 13,page report in the August GENII. Here are the results:
GRAND
PRIX:
MANIPULATION:
GENERAL
MAGIC:
INVENTION:
CLOSE‑UP INVENTION:
COMEDY:
GRAND ILLUSION:
MICROMAGIC:
CARDS:
MENTALISM:
FEMALE:
JUNIOR:
Klingsor gave a special prize to Sonny Fontana of Venezuela (now living in Las Vegas), for his eloquent shadowgraph act. John Cornelius, who already had a strong rep in the U.S., won first prize in Micromagic with a number of original effects punctuated with bursts of light produced by a device he promptly marketed as The FISM™ Flash. Coming in second, in that field was Tommy Wonder (formerly Jos Berna), who since the last FISM™ convention had done two very successful American lecture tours. His Cups & Balls routine, then as now, was a masterpiece. General category was won by Vito Lupo, a 19 year old from upstate New York who had worked his first national convention just one year before. His act, a Pierrot characterization with bubble manipulation, a Snowstorm and a lot of mime, came as a great surprise to the Europeans, who had not expected something so lyrical from an American source. Moretti's prize in Mentalism was for a nerve‑racking Russian Roulette routine. The SWISS Fantasios whose bird act came second in General Magic were not related to the canemaker from Florida. The winner in the Female category was Fee Eleisa (married to former FISM™ producer Werner Hornung), whose abbreviated costume clearly affirmed her qualifications for that category. The greatest excitement in this year's competition was caused by Christian Fechner. A prominent film producer, his act introduced not one but several jaw‑dropping illusions, including the vanish of a working television set on a clear plastic table, and a self levitation. He ran off with the Invention and Illusion awards. The other prize for stage Invention went to Mykog for an offbeat Animal Magnetism effect, in which a child was caused to mysteriously cling to the performer's outstretched hand. Magic Christian got a close‑up Invention prize for a routine using chain links that transposed and, yes, linked. Going into the contest, the front‑runner for the Grand Prix was Ger Copper, the Vermeyden protégé who'd met with technical problems in Vienna. This time he was fully in gear, having spent the preceding year as a guest performer in the Richiardi show during its long run at the Village Gate in New York. His act went from manipulating cards to balls dice to candles, and culminated in the production of several candelabras all of them lit. He won his Grand Prix. There was, however, an unknown act that took everyone by surprise. Shukurov & Kabiguima were the first Russians to enter a FISM™ contest. They produced tiny lit bulbs at their finger, tips, which they magically tossed to each other. They also worked with parakeets, and finished by produced a flock of fan, tail doves. It was appealing and different, and created a tie for the top award.
Events were again taped
for TV, this time for an American cable special hosted by actor Tony
Randall. In one segment we got to eavesdrop backstage as Richard Ross gave
an encouraging pep talk to his compatriot Ger Copper. The tip‑off that
perhaps this was staged for the camera was that the conversation between
these two Dutch friends was taking place in English. Lausanne was again the host city in 1982, for a sold‑out crowd of 1900, the largest congress yet. The dealer room had expanded, too, with 64 booths. Sharing the presidency were Claude‑Valery Rochat and Willy Peter, with Jean Garance as Chairman. The days when an entire FISM™ assembly could be put up in a single hotel were long gone; registrants were spread out around the city. The organizers arranged for the magicians to have special passes that allowed free use of public transportation for the duration of the five‑day convention that started on the sixth of July. The opening ceremony began with a full marching band, then a fleet of dancers per forming in several styles. It was by no means as simple as that. Indeed, some of the best reactions had been realized by performers from other parts of the world. Then again, the American presence was rather obvious: Most events took place at the Palais de Beaulieu, a nice venue with one flaw: It was an unusually hot summer, and the air‑conditioning system was not up to the demands created when such a large crowd of people stays in one place from early morning to late at night. The booked talent included the refined American manipulator Norm Nielsen, Sakoh of Japan with his deft handling of cards and fire, the clever balloon animals of Jean Merlin, and the extraordinary Salvano from Poland, conjuring with cocktails. Austria's Paul Potassy put over commercial routines with multilingual patter, Rudiger Deutsch of Germany as "Bellachini XIII" unveiled a charming procession of 19th century apparatus, and The Great Wong of Singapore, 74 years of age, did his Linking Ring routine. Returning performers included Brahma, Christian, Ross, Pit, and Bongo. Among the lecturers were Amen, cans Harry Lorayne, John Cornelius and Dick Zimmerman, along with Juan Tamariz, Richard Ross and more. There were exhibits of automata, play, ing cards, and conjuring magazines. Supplemental events included the de rigueur boat trip and a candlelight dinner, each run twice to accommodate the large turnout. There was also a farewell ball. The was the first FISM™ taped by the Japanese NHK network, which generated several specials that aired in Japan over the course of the next year. The competition had about 150 entrants, and might have had even more (as with the registrations, a limit was placed on the contest slots, as well as on dealer space). The overall impression was stated in the headline of Donald Bevan's report in the July 24 Abra: AMERICANS STORM FISM™ CONGRESS GRAND PRIX
MANIPULATION:
GENERAL MAGIC:
INVENTION:
GRAND ILLUSION:
MENTALISM:
MICROMAGIC:
CARDS:
COMEDY:
FEMALE:
JUNIOR:
SPECIAL:
Someone on the jury realized that Toyozane Sanada did not belong to a FISM™ member organization, and was thus technically ineligible for an award. However, his ebullient act of jumbo card manipulation had been a crowd favourite, so he was given a special prize. This was a very popular decision. First for Cards was Daryl, for an extended Ambitious Card routine with some sharp turns. Coming in second was José Carroll, another young member of the Escuela. Third place went to Elisabeth Ravot, an engaging Parisian with subtle material. The Spanish influence was also evident in Close‑Up. With first prize was shared by Italy's Aurelio Paviato, a ardent young proponent of Madrid School. Tied for first in that category was Michael Ammar, whose Topit work got great reactions. Philippe Socrate won General Magic for a romantic Zombie with a rose that transformed into a lady's head. Jay Scott Berry came in a close second, for his original effects with silks, birds and smoke, done in a striking costume on a fog‑filled stage. Topper Martyn was back on the Comedy list, placing second followed by England's Terry Herbert With an act of clever mistakes. In the top spot was Austria's Otto Wessely (now residing in France). Working with his wife Chista, he'd put aside his well‑known frenzied cane act to debut a new set of crazy gags that led to a long booking in Las Vegas. There was more comedy to be found in the Illusion act of Wayne Allen & Sandy, a Zig‑Zag with a "Tarzan" presentation. Norway's Davido won first in Manipulation doing very visual magic using self‑made props, with a cockatoo production that caused a stir. Pavel, the creative Czech who had re‑located to Switzerland in 1969, got the Invention prize for a sliding knot routine that had the crowd buffaloed. For the first time, the Grand Prix went to an American, 21,year,old Lance Burton. News of the award served to further increase awareness of FISM™ on the part of magicians in this country, and helped raise the overall status of contests in the United States. Contests at most domestic conventions had been early morning throw‑aways: fun for those who chose to participate, but not accorded very much meaning or respect. As Patrick Page wrote in the August, 1978 GENII: "In England the competitions or contests are usually a big deal, they are an important part of the convention, but here in the United States it appears they are simply tolerated.... The result is that the only people who turn out to view the event are either friends or relatives of those taking part. Give the contestants a break and put them on at a reasonable time ... " In 1980 the IBM did just that, with a Gold Medal stage contest at their annual convention. After day, time preliminary rounds, the final six competitors repeated their acts on an evening show in front of the full assembly, at which time the winner was picked. (This approach had been standard at the early FISM™ conventions, when the contest finalists were included as part of the Gala Privé.) The first Gold Medal winner was Lance Burton, whose compelling presence and trendsetting dovework were an instant hit. In short order he moved to Hollywood, appeared in the It's Magic! show, and guested on television's Tonight Show. Months of regular performing at the Body Shop, an L.A. strip club, allowed him to tighten and improve. By the time he'd decided to enter the FISM™ contest, he'd already begun an engagement in Las Vegas. As we all know, Lance has since gone on to even greater things, and is firmly situated in the top ranks of magic. It may therefore come as a surprise to learn that his Grand Prix win did not meet with universal approval. There were several reasons for this. The advance word of mouth had been extreme, so there was a certain amount of backlash to that hype. Also, en route to the convention the Magic Castle tour group had an informal Fourth of July party, where one member gave out little American flags. At the awards presentation in Lausanne, many of the group brought their flags and waved them whenever an American won. This did not sit well with the magicians from other countries, who saw it as an unpleasant display of unbridled jingoism. (Reportedly, the exceptions to this were the Germans and the Japanese, who thought the flags were a fine idea.) Stylistically, Lance's work‑done to classical music while wearing traditional tails‑was perceived by some as unprogressive. (The cover of the September issue of the French magazine Mad Magic featured a witty, albeit unkind, cartoon by James Hodges, depicting a horse‑riding knight holding a lance, positioned at a crossroads With two signs pointing in opposite directions, one labelled modern, the other retro) Furthermore, there was the fact that in those days Burton's performing man, net was much more aggressive than it is now. This was perceived as arrogance by many Europeans, who felt that it was an inappropriate demeanour for a Grand Prix winner, in comparison to the milder deportment of most previous champions. This feeling was intensified by the fact that the revered archetype of that amicable approach, Fred Kaps, had passed away just two years before. Clearly, there were plenty of Europeans who were enthusiastic about the dynamic young American doveworker. A special memorial award in honour of Kaps was presented at the convention, and it went to Lance Burton.
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neligible
for an award. Hence, the jury gave them a special prize.
The Morettis were
unquestionably the sensation of the convention. They did their great paper
tree suspension in a gala show, but it was the contest entry that had
everyone talking: Hans climbed inside a plain cardboard box of modest
proportions which was then densely skewered with 15 swords plunged through
by volunteers from the audience. He not only emerged from the box
unscathed‑he had changed into a clown costume with full face make‑up, and
was holding balloons, a bird and a monkey!
stage the audience loved him. Timing, originality and personality....
Dazzling!"
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