Can you imagine a gathering of magicians that does not include card tricks, coin tricks or close-up tricks?

Yes, it’s true…the above did not happen for three complete days as the crowd that approached 250 attendees enjoyed themselves by learning about the past of our great art! Collectors abound from all over the world. England, Italy, France, Germany, Japan were well represented was well as many, many historians and collectors in America were in attendance.

Lectures each day…

Richard Kaufman—talked about Theodore DeLand. DeLand created over 100 brilliant card effects and created one of the first “marked decks” that is still sold today!

Trevor Dawson—gave us history on the “Great Carmo” who was the successor to “The Great Lafayette”.

Diego Domingo—who is always ready to cooperate with lectures. He gave us his research on the life and miracle ministry of Ronald Coyne.

Peter Reveen—a well-known hypnotist and illusionist entertained us with stories form his performing career. Peter is indeed a famous “impossibilist” who has done it all.

Jules Fischer—is well known for his theatrical lighting experience, talked about lighting and how important it is for a professional magic art. He designed lighting for many Broadway stage shows, including Pippin, Will Rogers’ Follies, The Producers and many more.

Peter Lamont—is an historian and psychologist at the University of Edinburgh and has written three books on our art: Magic In Theory, The Famous Indian Rope Trick and The First Psychic.

Roxy—the Italian historian gave us the history of “Lightning Human Calculations”. He explained the mnemonic systems and calculating techniques used in memory and mathematic performances.

Michael McGiveney—talked about his father, Owen McGiveney, who was a movie star and advisor for magicians, including Doug Henning, Harry Blackstone, Jr. and many others. He also recreated the famous McGiveney act that opened in 1907 titled, Oliver Twist.

My personal highlights (outside of seeing so many old friends.)

John Gaughan’s performance of the “Greatest Rising Card” effect in the history of magic: Doctor Hooker’s Rising Cards from the year 1918. Can you imagine a creation of that year still playing well today and fooling each and every one of the professional magicians and collectors in the audience today! John performed this effect which was an approximately 45-minute act, just as Dr. Hooker did back then and everyone left the show puzzled! You just have to see it to believe it! Thanks Johnny for a memorable treat

Jim Steinmeyer—boy did he fool everyone with this history of that famous illusion from vaudeville. Amac’s amazing “Find The Lady”. This illusion was created and performed in the 1920s and 30s and was a sensation. Jim demonstrated the process of reconstructing an illusion and the reasons why this particular effect has remained so elusive. Cecil Lyle also made it famous in those days. Jim fooled all of us when he performed it and you just can’t believe how ingenious this illusion was even today! Thanks Jim for bringing this back for us.

Mike Caveney’s presentation of the “Million Dollar Mystery” was so highly entertaining. Another “oldie” but “goodie” and a fabulous illusion. Such great productions out of such a small box that stood on thin legs! In the end, he produced his lovely wife, Ms. Tina Lenert from this tiny little box! (Believe it!)

The exhibit room with oh so many lovely artifacts from many years ago. Posters, apparatus, automatons, letters, cards, photos and everything that shows us how valuable the rare antiques of magic are!

Those were my highlights and I’m sure that everyone had their favorites as well. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and the memories will last a long time. Wish you could have been there to see it for real…get on the invitation list as it’s an invitation only event and worth the wait to get invited!

Joe Stevens

PART II:

Here it is! Have you received your copy of what many say is one of the best catalogs in Magic?

The Winter 2007 Catalog is here! It was a tremendous amount of work, without question, one of the most challenging, time intensive, stressful (as any magazine editor tells you in regard to deadlines) and costly projects we put together.

This is catalog No. 75, that is quite amazing when we think about how we stared with just two general mailings and one annual list in 1975 (see Time Capsule). This catalog contains 57 exclusive items, true to the mission that Joe Stevens started over 35 years ago. In addition to the 57 exclusive items, this catalog also features 20 additional items that are offered only to a select few authorized dealers. That’s a total of 77 items that are completely exclusive or semi-exclusive. For a catalog that has 48 pages total that is a good way to exemplify how we remain committed to our mission of being different and how happy we are with our in-house staff.

It is also interesting to note—that 21 items were dropped from being included in this catalog and on our website because in our opinion they did not measure up to quality and expectations.

We were so happy to have Connie Little working with us again this time. Connie Little is a professional magical performer working with one of the Midwest most knowledgeable and respected magical performers: Max Armstrong.

We want you to know that Connie and Max take 80% of the items featured in these catalogs home with them and personally go over each item meticulously. Then with the information that is provided they adapt it with their experience to form ad copy that is efficient. They add important details that the manufactures don’t include in their original copy like dimensions, the best time to perform a particular effect, additional information to help you make a more secure purchase. All of us here at Stevens Magic are grateful and I’m sure many of our clients too for the work they put into “tweaking” and writing the ad copy and making the selections.

Every single SME catalog is sequential, almost scientific recipes designed to maintain our excellent customer satisfaction ratio.

NOTE: This May 2007, the USPS substantially raised its mailing costs in general. However, the largest increase up to 70% in some categories was targeted at mail order catalogs. Because of these changes, coupled with the continual increase in printing costs we had to really study our catalog subscriptions and unfortunately take steps to clean up our “active” mailing database. This is a difficult issue to explain but after discussing it, we felt it is better to provide a notice than not say anything. Therefore, if you enjoy receiving the four regular catalogs and the VIP mailing (for Gold Members), we want you to know that all you need to do to keep your subscription of at least the four catalogs a year is to support the catalogs. While it’s not necessary to purchase each time a catalog comes out (though nothing could make us happier), we do need to advise you of the more stringent qualifications for subscription. Of course, our website is available 24/7 too, but many of our clients enjoy and even prefer the hard copy catalogs.

Fakini Tournament Multiplying Balls (2-inch)—These fine, professional quality magic props are crafted of washable, solid silicone. They have the “special cling” that makes the routines so much easier to perform. There is nothing like it on the magic market! And they bounce, too. Set includes three balls and one shell. Specify color: White, Magenta or Yellow. Cost is $140.00.

We are excited to have been chosen by Alexander Roemer, as his exclusive distributor. For those performers that understand the power of story telling and that the true magic is not just props but also the delivery you will delight in these items. Pictured below is one of several items from this wonderful line. You can view all of them by typing “Roemer” in our search engine and more are coming in the future, too!

Feather Of Horus

This is a clever interactive game between two spectators with the performer assuming the role of overseer. The performer explains the rules of the game and introduces the statues from Egyptian mythology. A lady reads Instructions from a parchment while the man freely moves the feather the directed number of spaces. Statues are removed in sequence until the feather rests in the last remaining statue. It is the only one hiding a parchment scroll which contains the message of the gods! Based on a mathematical principle which is not evident to the spectators. Every move appears to be a free choice. They will be totally amazed! Complete with handmade and beautifully painted box and statues, large black feather, parchment scrolls and highly detailed instructions. The box measures 10.5 x 7 x 5.5-inches. Each beautifully detailed statue stands approximately 3-inches tall. You’ll be proud to display and perform this exquisite piece of micro magic. Cost is $275.00.

Stevens Magic is especially proud to have released four new exclusive effects, which are part of Stevens Magic new manufacturing wing. These items are handmade by Louis Gaynor and are of the finest quality, as you should expect from Stevens magic. Our first release in this series continued to do well and is called “The Back Stage Illusion” This is a great effect that is truly unique and make up to the standards you would expect from Stevens Magic.

Back Stage Illusion

Great effect from the mind of Jack Yeager. Instructions And Diagrams Illustrated By Jay Marshall (with permission of Magic, Inc.) A Tremendous Audience Pleaser! Stage Magic At Its Best! Highly Entertaining! A “classic oldie” brought back! Performed by professionals for years! Improved for today’s audiences! Imagine… “Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve been such a grand audience tonight that I want to show you how a trick is done! Please do not reveal the secret to anyone when you leave the theatre!” And then the magician performers the illusion with his back to the audience like they are back stage, so they can see what is happening. They see him place a bunny or a dove or a guinea pig or “Rocky the Raccoon” into the chamber and they see the trap door that lets them see the animal go into a secret compartment. Then the magi breaks apart the illusion, piece by piece and the animal or object has vanished. But they know where it goes… Right?! Now, the magi turns around and faces the audience and repeats the effect as in a regular performance, where they are now the spectators! WAIT A MINUTE! When the second performance is completed… it is NOT what they thought! Vaboom…they’ve been duped! A FOOLER, PLENTY OF LAUGHS. The magi has duped them again with a spectacular, colossal finish. A high quality magic prop made by our professional “craftsman” Craig Cole exclusively for Stevens Magic. The finest materials and nothing spared in making this a prop that will hold up for hundreds of performances. You will be pleased to own and perform this “mini-illusion” that packs almost flat and easy to transport. Be the first in your area to own and perform this “golden classic” improved to today’s standards. Special Thanks to Bob & Gail Braier (Braier’s Magic – www.bobmagic.com), for their breakthrough improvements and excellent refinements on this item. THIS ITEM DOES NOT INCLUDE SHIPPING! Cost of item is $595.00

In our latest catalog we introduce the exclusive beautiful Wonder Nest Of Boxes (Joe Berg). Available Again! Joe Berg’s Professional Wonder Nest Of Boxes The best in the ‘40s & ‘50s…and still the best today! Most Nest of Boxes routines require the help of an assistant and a special table! This version does NOT! It’s all in the boxes! Joe’s method is quick, simple and easy to do! The performer vanishes a watch, ring, coin or any small object! A solid wood box is unlocked and a slightly smaller box is removed. Inside is another locked box, and yet another. When the final box is opened—there indeed is the vanished object! IMPOSSIBLE! But true! All handled by the performer only. Loading is easy and straight forward leaving all the focus on the presentation! Chest stays in full view at all times! Small enough for parlor—large enough for stage! Cost is $650.00

Color-A-Rama

An original effect created by “Chop-Chop” (Al Wheatley). Three colored balls, sit on a numbered stand. A spectator mentally chooses one ball and, while the performer’s back is turned, silently changes the places of the other two balls. Now the performer asks the spectator to exchange any two balls, and to call out their numbers. This is repeated any number of times. When finished, the performer turns around and immediately discloses the color of the ball mentally selected by the spectator! IMPOSSIBLE, yet true! No sleights! No confederates! No gimmicks! No electronics! No magnets! An old principle dressed up in a most colorful way. An effect that you will so enjoy performing! 2-inch red, yellow and black balls on 8.5 x 2.5 x 1-inch wood stand. Limited quantities. Made exclusive for us by Louis Gaynor. Cost is $97.50

And finally, yet another perfect Holiday gift, exclusively made for Stevens Magic like all the previous pieces by Louis Gaynor we offer.

Magician’s Emergency Wand

A hardwood professional magician’s wand (handcrafted by Mikame) is displayed in a polished wood shadow box frame with a glass front and a brass place that says, “IN CASE OF SHOW BREAK GLASS.” A fun and funny gift for any magic enthusiast. The perfect accessory for your magic den or a creative magic club award. Custom made by master craftsman, Louis Gaynor, this attractive magic novelty measures 21 x 7 x 2-inches. Guaranteed to get laughs and hopefully some shows! Cost is $75.00.