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I am renowned for my innate modesty so cannot possibly admit or deny your speculation.

However I will give you a clue. I note that you come from Glasgow. So does he.

Jerry Sadowitz?

No. I am afraid not. I am a psychic reverend and cannot approve of profanity in magic. I met him once though. I also read a very sad article about him in a Scottish Newspaper. Very moving.

mark lewis wrote:Actually my favourite magician when I was a kid was David Nixon. I don't suppose anyone under the age of thirty even knows who I am talking about.

In the interests of completeness, have a look at http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic5994.p ... avid+nixon - David is one of my heroes as well and I'm just on the other side of 30 .

I really loved David Nixon. When he did a trick properly it was like a beatiful piece of music.

That kind gentle manner contrasts so well with all the aggressive, nasty, in your face approaches we see nowadays.

I have now become sad and sentimental thinking about David Nixon.

I actually met him once for about 10 seconds. It was at the Magic Circle in London. He was sneaking out of a no doubt boring lecture on kids entertainment and I was just going in. He came out of the door as I was just entering it. There was a little room just at the entrance. He and I were the only person in the room. I was alone with the magician I idolised.

He looked embarrassed to see that I had caught him sneaking out of the lecture. He smiled awkwardly and said to me " I don't do kid shows!" and skedaddled quickly.

I have never revealed this until now.No doubt the anecdote will go down in magical history.

Copperfield
McBride
Malone

Mark Like you i also thought David Nixon was very very good. I cut my teeth on his work. and recently was a warm-up act for one of his advisors (Mr Bongo), ok I was one before him, but it sounds good..
That said there have been some very good ones since. And it's getting harder to choose now. I don’t like Derren browns TV shows but his live shows are out of this world. But so different from Mr. Nixon. Its so hard to compare.

I know Ali Bongo well and he is mentioned in my wondrous book on the svengali deck no doubt to his great shame and embarassment. As for Derren Brown I made him famous in the first place but he will have no idea why. The truth is that I was trying to make someone else famous so I suggested the idea of a mentalist to the owner of the TV company whom I had known for years. He looked up at the sky and said "I wouldn't mind finding a young mentalist and making him into a star"

The young mentalist I had in mind is a lazy b***** and didn't follow through despite my urging him to do so. He is far better than Derren Brown will ever be but talent is no substitute for a bit of effort.

So Michael (the production company owner) asked the aforementioned Jerry Sadowitz if he knew of a mentalist. He recommended Derren Brown who is as boring as hell on TV although I have yet to see his live show which I am sure is better since it cannot be any worse than the dark and dreary TV shows I find unbearable to watch.

Paul Daniels was far better working live than he ever was on TV but I must say that I was horrified to see some dreadful video of him working in Edinburgh recently. I remember him when he was utterly fantastic as a live performer and I pray that the Edinburgh thing was just an aberration.

It is wasn't and that is how thing are now on a regular basis I regret to say that Paul had better find gainful employment doing something else. Great magicians shouldn't go past their sell by date.

Age and resting on one's laurels are a terrible thing.

It is beginning to happen to me so I know the feeling. One must quit while one is still ahead.

Rest assured Mark, Derren is, IMHO, far better and much more enjoyable when performing live than he is on TV and, having seen Paul Daniels in cabaret not too long ago, I can confirm he's still extremely entertaining. The big difference is, of course, audience feedback and a certain amount of apparent spontaneity – you just can’t beat live entertainment!

criss angel

Thank God about the Paul Daniels thing. The mentalist I referred to above is Canadian and had never seen Paul in his prime. He had seen old TV shows which were sold to Canada. He wasn't impressed. I told him that he should not be judged on the TV shows but solely on his live shows where he is superbly entertaining.

This chap still wasn't convinced but then he came across a biography of Daniels and was fascinated by it. He then because of my enthusiasm for the live show went out and purchased a DVD of Paul Daniels doing the Malini show and told me it was dreadful. I haven't seen this particular DVD.

Anyway in defensive mood I told him that he really needed to see Paul doing his regular act consisting of the Electric Chairs, the Chop Cup etc;

Accordingly he went out and purchased this Edinburgh thing. I felt confident he would then come back raving about how wonderful it was. Instead he offered no comment to me and said he would play it for me. It was utterly dreadful and I couldn't believe how the great man had deteriorated. My mentalist friend smirked in great triumph and I lamely said that perhaps that had been a bad night.

However all is not lost. My friend has actually become a Paul Daniels fan because he also purchased his marketing tapes and listens to them for hours on end. He is highly entertained by them and takes my word that Paul was once quite wonderful although he has seen absolutely no evidence of it whatever.

The Edinburgh thing was dreadful and my friend tells me that the Malini thing is even worse.

I think the moral of the tale is to be careful what you put out on DVD. I am glad that Daniels still has the touch according to Mandrake. I suppose Paul got a little too sloppy and careless in Edinburgh because of over confidence and thought he could wing it and make things up as he went along since he was the great Paul Daniels.

Somebody should tell him that he is not a bird and winging it can do harm to his reputation.

Intriguing! I have the Malini DVD and it's certainly not what most folks would expect when they think of Paul although I have to say I enjoyed it as a departure from the magic he did on BBC TV. I understand that the Malini show has been done live very successfully so perhaps the venue and performance on the DVD was not the best one to use. Paul’s cabaret act includes the chop cup which is still a fantastic routine and he usually does electric chairs – not exactly ‘magic’ but wonderfully entertaining. With Paul’s personality it’s easy for folks to take a dislike to him but I reckon he’s still the guv’nor of UK magic, er, present company excepted of course!

mark lewis wrote:I know Ali Bongo well and he is mentioned in my wondrous book on the svengali deck.

Small world. I will be meeting up with him over the next few weeks so i will say "Hi" for you.
I have seen the Malini show and it wasn’t that good, in fact the DVD sums the show up. but then Paul was presenting the tricks as Malini would have not as himself.

I think it may be wise not to mention my name to Ali Bongo. He may break out into a cold sweat. He must be terribly old now and mention of my name could induce a seizure.

I am not taking Paul's personality particularly into account when making judgements of his work. He is what he is and what he has been for a very long time.

I was amused once that TV Times once ran a survey on who was the 10 most liked TV personalities and who was the most disliked. Paul was on both lists.

I once sold his line of magic tricks and I would get a good deal of comment from the public on him. I found that kids loved him, women absolutely hated him and men were a bit of a mixture in opinions.

However in the days when he was doing live shows at the top of his form he was certainly a force to be reckoned with. That Edinburgh thing was quite a shock to me. He looked like he was making up the whole thing as he went along and I couldn't believe that he was dressed so badly on stage. The old Paul Daniels that I had seen perform so many times would not have come on stage like that. Even the Chop Cup seemed to have lost its edge. The show was saved by the Baby Gag and always brilliant Electric Chairs.

I live in Canada now and sometimes hear comments on Paul Daniels from British tourists. I was astonished to hear from a 12 year old British holidaymaker that he had never heard of Paul Daniels. Interestingly enough virtually every British tourist I talk to has never heard of Derren Brown. But then he is on a less popular channel.

I said to one lady "Is Paul Daniels still famous over there?" She snorted "who?" in a great expression of disgust. She then admitted that she had indeed heard of him and she was quite vehement in her dislike. She said "he is a horrible little man and nobody in England likes him"

Well she didn't anyway. But then she is a woman. I well remember when I sold his tricks how women really couldn't take to him at all. A matter of taste and the way he presents things I suppose.

In all my contacts with him I have found him to be very down to earth and pleasant. I once had dinner with him and was embarrased when he paid the bill as if he was expected to do so. I felt like a hanger on and didn't like the feeling.

But to return to the topic at hand I must say that all my favourite magicians are dead. I can't think offhand of anyone alive that I can get particularly excited about. Some of course are very good but I just can't get EXCITED about anybody any more.

Jaded I suppose.

When and where did you live in the UK Mark and was you a member of many British Magic clubs. It’s just that we may have met at some point. I’ve moved all around the UK so have been a member of a lot of clubs over the years, so like i said we may have met at some point.

Also which part of Canada are you in? next April I will be over in Vancouver and traveling East. at the end of that I have planned a 9 day break in Toronto but that will be early may.