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When he was 7, Marshall went to a magic performance by Harry Houdini. He admits he fell asleep during the show, but it set him on his path: he went to many magic shows, then sold his bicycle to buy a magic course through the mail -- and a magician was born. He starred from vaudeville to Vegas to the South Pacific during World War II, where he entertained fellow troops with ventriloquist acts, using a sock puppet since he couldn't take a ventriloquist's dummy. He also appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show 14 times, but Marshall didn't just perform magic, he researched and wrote about it, culminating in a three-volume manual for magicians co-authored with his wife. "He was the primary source on so many things," says Teller of Penn & Teller. When it came to magic, he says, Marshall was "the British Library and the Library of Congress combined." Marshall has been the Dean of the Society of American Magicians since 1992 -- and will hold that title until his magic wand is broken at his grave site. He died May 10 from a heart attack. He was 85. From This is True for 8 May 2005 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Joseph Lisiewski List Price: $16.95 Amazon Price: $16.95 Editorial Review: For the practicing Magician, there is no more crucial working knowledge than the Kabbalah. This complex structure serves as the backdrop against which the magician's thoughts, ideas, ritual and ceremonial work are placed, and is the archetype which breathes life into secret occult practices. Yet, none of the numerous books on 'Qabalah' give those 'on-the-spot' attributions, correspondences and key concepts in a 'user-friendly' style. Until now. And The Kabbalistic Handbook gives you even more. It includes never-before-published techniques that enables Western Magic---including Golden Dawn Magic---to work flawlessly every time! Never again will you need to wade through voluminous chapters of many different books looking for the Kabbalistic information you need. In addition, you will have a course of instruction that will enable that knowledge to work for you as never before. The field is cleared for your main objective: the realization of your desires, manifested through properly executed ritual and ceremonial work.  By: Marvin Kaye List Price: $17.95 Amazon Price: $14.00 Editorial Review: Designed to turn the unpolished performer into an entertaining magician, this book presents fail-safe magic, essential fingerwork, sleight of hand, card tricks, and mental magic, along with the basic principals of showmanship and stage presence to help budding magicians create original riveting acts.  By: H. J. Burlingame List Price: $43.95 Amazon Price: $33.40 A Handbook to Luck (Unabridged) By: Cristina Garcia List Price: $40.00  By: Frank Desmond List Price: $36.95 Amazon Price: $28.08 |
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