talkmagic.co.uk

So, the Magick Macarbe (a magic and horror show) has been playing in Dublin for a few weeks and finished Friday night.I haven't seen the show but apparantly it opens with the magician being hanged. Going by the Olympia Theatre on the bus yesterday I saw someone outside with a sign reading "showing a hanging is totally irresponisble"...... ehh is it? What does one expect when attending a horror show? Should it be censored?

I speak as someone who has been affected by suicide but I believe such protest is plain silly. A horrorshow is not supposed to be pleasent. Anyway, it just made me want to see the show even more and I seriously doubt it in any way damaged attendance.

I think the very idea of hanging magicians is an eminently sensible one.

mark lewis wrote:I think the very idea of hanging magicians is an eminently sensible one.

AMEN!

mark lewis wrote:I think the very idea of hanging magicians is an eminently sensible one.

particularly bad ones.

Showing the hanging of saddam hussein = irresponsible...

Showing a hanging as part of an entertainment - absolutely fine as only an idiot thinks it's real. But then anyone who thinks it real prob writes to itv and the home office when deirdre was in jail asking for her to be released lol

I don't take any notice of the sorts of people who stand outside theatres waving signs. I imagine it was the same sort of person who got all upset about Jerry Springer: The Opera. These latter-day Mary Whitehouses. I say we hang them

As I recall, it was exactly this sort of objection that made Alice Cooper a megastar.

I once read that he sent Mary Whitehouse a Christmas card every year, thanking her for giving him the kind of publicity that he'd never have been able to buy.

caffa wrote:

People are coming from Gdansk to see the film!

Id have loved to have seen this show as I love horror magic! Unfortunatly it didnt play anywhere remotely near me

I did have a friend who commited suicide by hanging. I dont get upset by scenes like that in shows, films or tv programmes because at the end of the day, it isnt real

Long ago in my youth and when we did the Macabre Illusion show, the way we got seats in the seats was to hire about six college students and possibly one or two older actors, that would picket the show because of its violence and "Satanic" content... the end result was tons of free press and very frequent show sell outs.

The public loves a good scare and my style was very Vincent Price in that my tongue was always firmly planted in cheek as I ripped a girl in half ala Richiardi (blood spewing all about) or opened with either a Cremation or the Impalement (my version being the first, if not the only one entailing blood). The truth of the matter is, we did about four really gross routines with the rest of the 90-minutes filled with rather light-hearted fair such as a quite cool Cut & Restored Rope routine I learned from Chuck Magnosa, my signature Delivery Boy act featuring the rare "Little by Little" illusion of Harbin fame and my "one of a kind" Shadow Box act set to the tune of "Vogue".

Long story short... such sensationalism tends to sell more than detours. Even the hype against something... just look at the millions of dollars of free press "Last Temptation of Christ" got because of the religious fanatics; their screaming and condemnation of the film actually encouraged people that hadn't planned on seeing it to view it just to see what the concern was... most walked away feeling that they saw the kind of Jesus they could more readily identify with. This is exactly why certain Psychics actually dare Randi & Co. to "investigate them" It is know in the biz as the Randi Retirement Program in that you get so much press and lecture invites and pocket so much in huge fees during said battle, that Randi's shenanigans proves out to be a boon for you, not the "problem" he hopes to stir.

You have to be wise about using negative PR but it isn't something that need be totally feared, so long as you can look at how to work with it or spin it to your favor.

With regard to Randi and the benefits that can accrue to psychics from confronation with him I will relate a story that I heard and would love to believe. Alas I think the story is nonsense but I shall relate it anyway.

It is somewhat third hand since it was told to me by an entertainment producer who was told the story by someone else.

That someone else claimed that he was in Randi's home when a phone call came in from Uri Geller and he overheard them plotting and scheming on how to present their supposed feud to the public. In other words the whole thing was a setup to help both careers.

Frankly I don't believe the story but this sort of thing is not unknown. David Berglas told me that Al Koran wanted to have a similar arrangement with him-a fake feud of mindreaders. David refused since at the time his career was in the ascendency and Al's career was in the doldrums. It never took place.

However this sort of thing does happen. I don't believe it did with Geller and Randi but who knows.........................

They are both a pair of scam artist showmen so anything is possible.