Law and Magic Blog

The Science of Magic On the CBC @canadasmagic @MagicTony

A blog to check out: Canada's Magic, which is about....Canadian magic. This post is particularly interesting to me. It discusses an upcoming CBC broadcast of The Science of Magic, which will feature, among others, my friend magician Tony Barnhart, professor at Carthage College.

New Series on Houdini, Conan Doyle Friendship Debuts On Fox Tonight

The new series Houdini and Doyle premieres tonight on Fox (9 EDT, 8 Central). The Hollywood Reporter's Tim Goodman weighs in with an early review here.  

 

For more on the real-life friendship (and subsequent break-up) of Harry and Sir Arthur, here's a seleted bibliography.

 

Massimo Polidoro, Final Seance: The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and Conan Doyle (Prometheus Books, 2001).

 

Christopher Sandford, Masters of Mystery: The Strange Friendship of Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini (Duckworth, 2011).

 

 

Bill Bixby's "The Magician" Coming To DVD

Looks as if the 1973 tv series "The Magician," which starred Bill Bixby as conjuror/crime solver Anthony Blake will be coming to DVD, courtesy of Visual Entertainment, Inc (VEI). TV Shows on DVD has a little more information here.

Don't confuse Anthony Blake with Elliott Blake (Anthony Andrews), the murderous magician in "Columbo Goes To the Guillotine." Or either Bixby's series or Andrews' tv movie with Hal Linden's series "Blacke's Magic" , (1986), in which Linden played magician/crime solver Alexander Blacke. But you wouldn't have, anyway.

Law and Magic On "The McCarthys"

The lawyer/magician has made it onto scripted television. On the January 8, 2015 episode of the CBS series The McCarthys, titled "Marjorie and Eileen," Marjorie's brother-in-law    a partner at a BigLaw firm, announces that he retired from his firm in order to pursue his real love--magic! Unfortunately, we don't get to see any magic, so we're left wondering if he's actually likely to be any good at his new occupation.

Coolini!

Magician Smoothini on America's Got Talent, courtesy of the San Francisco Globe. More here from the America's Got Talent website.

A Remake of "The Illusionist"?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the CW Network is moving ahead with a remake/adaptation of "The Illusionist," the big screen version of Steven Milhauser's tale of a magician who sweeps his love off her feet with his conjuring abilities (as it were). The 2006 film starred Edward Norton and Jessica Biel and was part of a (sort of) slew of magician-themed movies during that period: remember Woody Allen's Scoop (2006) with Scarlett Johannsson and Hugh Jackman, and The Prestige (also 2006) and also with Mr. Jackman and Christian Bale.

Says THR, "The CW's version is set in turn-of-the-century New York and follows a renowned illusionist who returns home from a decade in prison to find his wife married to the ruthless crime boss who framed him." I assume the "wife" is really the ex-wife at this point. At any rate, the magician uses his deceptive skills to take revenge on the evil crime boss. Shades of Now You See Me (2013), sort of. By the way, according to IMDB, a sequel to Now You See Me is in pre-production; Jesse Eisenberg and Daniel Radcliffe (did you see that coming?) are listed as part of the cast. Ah, new tricks at the box office!

Houdini Comes To the Small Screen

The Hollywood Reporter's Allison Keene reviews The History Channel's miniseries Houdini, starring Adrien Brody, here. Houdini premieres Labor Day (September 1st) at 9, 8 Central time. 

A&E's New Magic Show

A review of the new show, Don't Trust Andrew Mayne, on A&E, from the New York Times.

Houdini Hits the Small Screen

The History Channel has (greenlighted? greenlit?) given the go-ahead to a four hour biopic about Harry Houdini and his wife Bess, starring Adrian Brody and Kristin Connolly. More here from the Hollywood Reporter.