One of my all-time favorites is Think-a-Drink. The proper title of this routine is Any Drink Called For, and has also been known as The Bar Act. I’ve been performing this routine in my shows for the past fifteen years, but it has existed in various forms for over a century. The trick is so old, it’s new again.
 

The father of modern conjuring, JEAN EUGENE ROBERT-HOUDIN performed its precursor, The Inexhaustible Bottle at his intimate theater shows in 19th century Paris.

In this early version of the trick, the magician poured a large volume of liquors from a single bottle – much greater than the bottle’s capacity.

I found the following historic details regarding The Inexhaustible Bottle on a lovely blog called Victorian Magic:

(quoted from Scribner’s Monthly, December 1880)

The Inexhaustible Bottle, which produces different liquors, and apparently in endless quantity, was first made popular in this country by Professor Anderson (JOHN HENRY ANDERSON, “The Great Wizard of the North”), and since his day has been exhibited by very many magicians. Of late years, it has been sold in the toy shops, and the public have learned that its effect is due in part to a well-known principle in physics, and in part to the wine glasses used, which are made so as to contain, at most, not more than a thimbleful.

The trick having become common and generally understood, conjurers began to look about for a means whereby something similar in effect might be produced, but by altogether dissimilar means. The result is a bottle-trick in which lager-beer is furnished in sufficient quantity to satisfy the thirst of a large audience. It is a very effective trick, and to it one well-known performer almost entirely owes his success.

It is only suitable for public exhibition, however, as the beer is pumped up from beneath the stage, and passes through rubber tubing, concealed in the dress of the performer, to the bottle held in the hand. The connection with the stage is made by means of a hollow boot-heel, and during the progress of the trick, the performer is unable to move.

This methodology is reminiscent of the traditional Japanese performance of mizugei (translated: “water art”), in which streams of water are sprayed into the air from specific parts of the stage, as well as from the tip of a sword, and even from an assistant’s head.

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The British magician ROBERT HELLER was so enamored by Robert-Houdin that he changed his name from William Henry Palmer to Robert Heller, since they both begin with the initials “R.H.,” and performed many of Robert-Houdin’s routines in his act. In the following poster (circa 1860s), Heller is depicted performing The Inexhaustible Bottle in the upper right corner.

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Here are some images of famous magicians who performed Any Drink Called For, and I’ll follow these images with more historic stories of the characters involved.

DAVID DEVANT, the great English illusionist and first president of The Magic Circle (in London) performed with a teakettle instead of a bottle. The teakettle was apparently used (in place of a bottle) at the suggestion of Devant’s wife. Here is a publicity poster (circa 1890s) advertising his performances at Maskelyne & Cooke’s Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly.

 

The following studio photograph depicts British magician OWEN CLARK, who performed at St. George’s Hall in London (and later toured America), and is included here with thanks to David Hibberd of the Magic Circle, London. I’m not certain which of these two similar images came first, but I suspect that it was Devant, who had a much higher profile than Clark.

I don’t know much about the following two poster images, which depict the Any Drink Called For act in a similar fashion to each other – with split streams of multi-colored liquids.

I modeled my own promotional photo on the “split stream” concept in these two posters. (Photo by Clay Patrick McBride)

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CHARLES HOFFMAN (1895-1965), known professionally as “THINK-A-DRINK” HOFFMAN, performed Any Drink Called For in American vaudeville houses and circuit theaters as a popular variety act.

Hoffman was sometimes promoted as “The Highest Paid Bartender in the World.” His main props included a small bar and several cocktail shakers, from which he poured any drink you could imagine – up to 80 in total during a single performance. There is a nice write-up of Hoffman in the highly detailed book Vaudeville, Old & New, An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America, Vol. 1.

Since his act was based on the theme of “prohibition,” a law at that time, audiences loved the fact that they were receiving alcoholic beverages, for free no less! He poured straight or mixed drinks, such as high balls, cocktails, liquors, zombies, coffee and ice cream sodas from metal cocktail shakers which were shown to be empty and from beakers filled with water. These were drinks that were merely thought of by his audience members.

Charles “Think-a-Drink” Hoffman

Charles “Think-a-Drink” Hoffman, on You Asked For It television show

In the December 1951 issue of The Sphinx, a trade magazine for magicians, an article by Jay Palmer entitled “From Keg to Kettle” described the progression of Hoffman’s career:

“Hoffmann’s reason for adding the peculiar prefix “Think A Drink” to his name is the following. When he first introduced his bar act, he used to ask the spectators to call for any drinks they wanted. This, as always occurs in performances of similar nature, caused an uproar in the theatre, scores of thirsty individual’s shouting their “orders”. Hoffman did not like the pandemonium created, and Dr. Tarbell (HARLAN TARBELL) suggested that instead of getting drinks called for, he should ask the spectators to think of any cocktail they fancied. As the idea appealed to him, he immediately adopted it, and added the “Think A Drink” to his surname.”

Bill Palmer (no relation to the author of the Sphinx article) claims that it was BURLING HULL, not Harlan Tarbell, who suggested the name “Think-a-Drink” to Hoffman. Hull’s name will resurface later in the story, as you will see below.

According to historian Milbourne Christopher, a rival Swiss magician named DE ROZE poured martinis, manhattans, beer, milk and soda from pitchers of crystal-clear water. And in fact, several other contemporaries of Hoffman (including VAL VOLTAINE, MYSTIC CRAIG, DELL O’DELL, DANNY DEW, and the Australian LES LEVANTE) performed similar acts, some which spurred high-profile legal battles.

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In the July 3, 1943 issue of Billboard magazine, the following article appeared:

DRINK-ACT PROGRAM GETS 4-WAY HOOK-UP

Hoffman, Volta, Maurice and Joan Brandon

NEW YORK, July 3 – The attempt of “Think-a-Drink” Hoffman to prevent alleged imitators from working has developed into a hour-cornered fight among magicians for the right to do the call-out-a-drink routine.

Latest development is the Great Volta retaining an attorney, David Godwin, to protect him against further onslaughts from Hoffman. Volta claims he lost two weeks’ work in Florida because Hoffman’s attorney had warned employers that only Hoffman had the legal right to do the drink act. (Hoffman won an injunction against Maurice Glazer in the Florida courts recently. Glazer also does a drink turn.)

Volta (BURLING VOLTA HULL) has dug up a June 1921 issue of a magicians’ magazine containing an ad of Boole Bros. Magic Shop, owned 60 percent by Volta, and which listed for sale a magic bar act. The ad describes the drink routine in detail and offers for sale the necessary equipment. Volta also claims that DeRosa revived the act in 1932 in Europe and brought it here after Prohibition.

Meanwhile, Maurice’s attorney, Simon Feinstein, says he is preparing suit against Hoffman, and Joan Brandon has entered the fight by having her attorney warn Hoffman that he will be sued if he causes Miss Brandon to lose work.

If you wish to read the legal case and its ruling, I’ve tracked it down on the web. Click here for the Dade County, Florida circuit court ruling, dated November 26, 1943.

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Any Drink Called For has been performed more recently on television by British celebrity magician Paul Daniels, and by Las Vegas magician Lance Burton.

The trick has enjoyed a rich history, and I am doing my best to honor the past masters of magic by including it in my Chamber Magic^® shows at the Waldorf-Astoria. To date, I’ve performed this trick over one thousand times. I don’t think that I, or my audiences, will ever tire of participating in this “magical cocktail party.”

David Devant mural painting courtesy The Magic Circle, London

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I updated the list I posted in 2010 and have added more of the coolest, quirkiest things to do in New York that are guaranteed to not only keep you busy for years to come, but also leave you with stories to share for life.

Please enjoy and share these…

1. Indulge in a Seared Rock Lobster & Asparagus Omelet or the “Donut Even Go There French Toast” breakfast, served every day until 3:00 pm at Norma’s.
2. Great way to see the downtown skyline: the Ikea Express Shuttle. Free weekend service between Pier 11 near Wall Street and the Ikea store in Red Hook, Brooklyn. (Of course another free option is the Staten Island Ferry.)
3. Tour Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, a designated National Historic Landmark for its beautiful art and landscaping.
4. Get spooked in Gowanus, Brooklyn at the Morbid Anatomy Museum.
5. Go to a Brooklyn Cyclones baseball game on a Friday or Saturday night (check the schedule), stay for the fireworks show afterward, then walk the Coney Island boardwalk. Rides and funnel cakes optional.
6. Spend an afternoon or a day at Snug Harbor in Staten Island. Performing arts, a maritime museum, a botanic garden, and a tiny castle are all within walking distance.
7. The Millionaires’ Magician. Share a suite in the exclusive Waldorf-Astoria for a private Chamber Magic show with legendary magician Steve Cohen. (I hear this guy’s amazing, lol. C’mon, you know I had to throw my show “into the hat!”)
8. Sample some real NYC pickles (and other pickled vegetables) at Brooklyn Brine, then stay for lunch at the Pickle Shack.
9. Plan a visit to the Waterfront Museum in Red Hook, Brooklyn—a combination working houseboat, performance space, and mini-gallery.
10. Take the Roosevelt Island tram from Manhattan for the price of a subway fare and stroll the skinny island’s length down to the impressive Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park.
11. Hit the City Reliquary for a unique and personal collection of New York memorabilia packed into a cozy corner of Brooklyn.
12. Socrates Sculpture Park. See large-scale sculpture & multimedia installations in a Queens waterfront park with unparalleled views of the Manhattan skyline at sunset.
13. Catch an offbeat film in a small theater and get food and drink delivered to your seat at Williamsburg, Brooklyn’s Nitehawk Cinema.
14. Soak up river views and a festive-yet-classy al fresco dining experience at the West 79th Street Boat Basin Café.
15. Get a jump on the day with Morning Gloryville’s 6:30 am “immersive morning dance experience.”
16. Late-night dim-sum in Chinatown at Wo Hop (they’re open 10:00 am – 7:00 am every day!).
17. Habana Outpost. Sustainable Cuban fare in a cool, eclectic eatery and bar. Ride a stationery bike to power the blender for your frozen drinks and save $1 off the price!
18. Cupcake Wars on foot! Walk between four legendary NYC cupcakeries; rate them (and burn off the calories) as you go: Billy’s Bakery, Cupcake Café, Magnolia Bakery, Butter Lane.
19. Have a chocolate orgasm at Max Brenner. You can even make a reservation at their chocolate bar!
20. During the holidays, no festivity can beat a walk around Dyker Heights, Brooklyn’s famous Christmas light displays.
21. Tour the unique food landscapes of NYC with Foods of New York Tours.
22. Sleep No More. Experience the award-winning, site-specific, interactive British theater production. Shakespeare like you’ve never seen it.
23. Enjoy a night of master storytelling at The Moth.
24. Go Funderground! Laugh off a long day at the Upright Citizens Brigade.
25. The New York Earth Room. 3,600 sq ft of pristine dirt on display at a Wooster Street gallery.
26. World’s Coolest Map Room. The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division of the New York Public Library. A 7,000 sq ft map room; home of the largest map collection of any public library in the world, all in 1911 Beaux-Arts glory!
27. Accomplice: The Show. Organize a group of friends and go on a unique NYC scavenger hunt/mission/game/tour with these stealthy professionals (I loved this!).
28. Drink in the jazz on a floating barge in Brooklyn with Bargemusic.
29. Martinis at the Roof Garden Café at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
30. Trapeze School New York. Fly through the air 23 feet above ground!
31. Kitchen Arts & Letters: Revel in 12,000 books on food and drink, including out-of-print, rare, and classic cookbooks.
32. Harlem Gospel Walking Tour. Experience the wonderful sounds of gospel music and take part in a Harlem church service.
33. The Mandarin Oriental Lobby Lounge. Stop by for afternoon tea, lunch, or evening cocktails and enjoy a stunning view of Central Park (one of my favorite spots).
34. Nap it up! Tired after a tough day of touring? Take a “YeloCab” power nap at Yelo Spa.
35. Sakagura Sake Lounge. Serving over 200 types of sake, Sakagura has become one of the top sake bars in the U.S.
36. Rock music’s best pics. Check out legendary rock images at Soho’s Morrison Hotel Gallery.
37. Urasenke Chanoyu Center. Learn the art of tea ceremony through demonstrations and classes.
38. Radiostar Karaoke has original vintage high-end entertainment decor, and is located in the heart of the Fashion District. Belt out some tunes with friends in a private room and let your inner rock star sing.
39. Kalustyan’s Spices. No matter what spice you’re looking for, you will find it here.
40. Spa on Steroids. Wall-to-wall and rooftop whirlpools and much more water fun in the outer reaches of Queens at Spa Castle.
41. Where comics come alive! The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art.
42. Kayaking NYC-style with Long Island City Community Boathouse in Queens.
43. Drool over billions in gold. There are billions of dollars in gold bars below ground in NYC. Learn all about it at the Federal Reserve Bank (reservations required).
44. Make a shopping stop at beloved emporium of Asian goods, Pearl River.
45. Remember and honor 9/11 victims at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
46. Beer’s last stand. Grab a beer and visit the oldest beer garden in NYC—Bohemian Hall in Queens.
47. The real Little Italy. Authentic Italian cooking and delicacies on Arthur Avenue, the Little Italy of the Bronx. Dine at Roberto Restaurant for dinner—it’s worth the wait!
48. Historic houses of NYC. Visit a historic NYC home with the Historic House Trust.
49. Explore the city’s skyline from the ground at The Skyscraper Museum.
50. Brooklyn Flea outdoor market (& its food equivalent, Smorgasburg).
51. Visit the only medical library open to the public in NYC at the New York Academy of Medicine library (appointment necessary).
52. New York Philharmonic open rehearsals. Take a sneak peek and listen to the masters shape and polish classic works.
53. The Frying Pan. Eat, drink, and explore on this historic floating lighthouse docked in Chelsea.
54. Retreat to the first museum in the world devoted solely to Tibetan art, the serene Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art on Staten Island.
55. Cake-baker’s heaven. Unleash your inner Martha at New York Cake Baking Supplies & Education.
56. Get out the binoculars and discover a unique world of birds at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.
57. This ain’t your grandma’s ping-pong. SPiN New York, a 13,000 square foot table-tennis social club located off of Park Avenue in Manhattan’s Flatiron District.
58. The 100-year-old original City Hall subway station with arched tiles, chandeliers, leaded skylights, and Guastavino ceilings, designed by Heins & LaFarge. It’s been closed to the public since 1945, but can be seen by staying on the #6 local train after the end of the line riding southbound, and looping around to enter the Brooklyn Bridge station northbound (provided the conductor lets you stay on). The Transit Museum also runs sporadic tours.

The post 58 Cool Things to Do in NYC That Turn Visits Into Epic Stories (revised!) appeared first on Chamber Magic.

Chan Canasta (1920-1999) is one of my heroes in magic. In front of live audiences he took major risks that are breathtaking to behold. Sometimes a trick wouldn’t work and his entire presentation failed. Unlike a traditional magician, Chan Canasta was fine with that. Failure was an acceptable outcome. But when he succeeded, ah! The outcome was gloriously impossible. This was part of the public’s fascination toward Chan’s brand of psychological illusion – they were keenly aware that his experiments could fail, so they believed he was real. His approach elicited empathy, and audiences earnestly wanted him to succeed.

“Failure only makes the successes more exciting.” -Chan Canasta

In the 1950s and 60s, Chan appeared on hundreds of television shows in England and the United States, including the Ed Sullivan show and The Tonight Show with Jack Paar.

Later in life, he left the world of public performance and focused on another lifelong passion – painting. As artists evolve, they often find new outlets to express themselves. Chan put down the deck of cards and picked up a paintbrush to stimulate audiences in a fresh way. His paintings presented the world in a dreamlike fashion, challenging viewers to discern the difference between reality and illusion.

Today Chan Canasta paintings are seldom seen – most are held in private collections spread across the globe. I encountered my first Chan Canasta painting in 2004 hanging on the wall of Derren Brown’s flat in London. It made an impact on me because I knew that the canvas behind the plate glass had been personally touched by our mutual hero. Although Chan died in 1999 and I had never met him in person, I felt his presence while standing in the same room as his painting.

Years later, I chanced across an eBay auction containing twenty Chan Canasta paintings. At the time I wasn’t in the market to purchase art, but I felt a sudden inspiration to create screenshots of each painting. I saved those digital files and later posted them in a blog post on my website, dated April 13, 2010. The dealer selling these paintings was located in Brussels, Belgium, and I instructed my blog visitors to contact this dealer via eBay if they wished to purchase an original Canasta.

After a week of being listed on eBay, something magical yet disturbing happened. Not only did the auction listings end, but the Belgian art dealer himself had vanished. There was no way to track him down on eBay, since he had used an untraceable screen name that didn’t correspond to any known galleries.

I continued to host the twenty images on my blog. Five years passed.

On January 9, 2015, I received an email from a lady named Renata Kadrnka who explained that she was Chan Canasta’s widow. The day she wrote would have been Chan’s 95^th birthday and she was reminiscing about life with her late husband. Renata had searched the Internet for articles about Chan, and stumbled across my blog post.

To my knowledge, Renata has had no contact with magicians or show business folk since Chan died. I would venture to say that nobody in the magic business even knew she existed.

This fortuitous email was the beginning of a long conversation that continued for months. As we wrote and spoke with each other, I asked Renata if she would be interested in presenting an exhibition to feature Chan’s artwork and to celebrate his life. Renata lives in Europe but had been planning to visit the United States with her daughter, so together we decided to launch a special exhibition during their stay.

My Chamber Magic shows at the Waldorf Astoria hotel are held on Friday and Saturday each week in a spacious suite in the Waldorf Towers. I explained to Renata that this would be an ideal location for our event, so we decided to host it in my familiar environs.

Once the ball began rolling, all sorts of developments began to surface. Renata tracked down other fans and friends of Chan’s, several who own paintings they have agreed to loan to our exhibition. Most recently, she even located the Belgian art dealer who has been storing all twenty of the eBay paintings in the basement of his gallery! He has graciously agreed to ship those paintings to New York to add immeasurable breadth to our exhibition.

One exciting development is that Renata has located TV footage of Chan’s appearances that has not been viewed since the 1960s. This footage is currently being transferred to DVD and will be screened at our event.

The date of this historic celebration is Sunday, June 28, 2015 from 2pm to 5pm in my Waldorf Towers suite; Renata will be there to greet visitors and talk about her husband’s life and work. If you plan to attend my Chamber Magic show earlier that weekend at the Waldorf Astoria, I suggest you make plans soon since those shows (June 26 and 27) will sell out quickly. The Chan Canasta event on Sunday is free, and some paintings will be available for purchase.

Throughout his career, Chan Canasta was known as a remarkable man. I guarantee he will continue to dazzle and delight modern audiences and viewers with the wonder of his timeless artistry.

Details:

Date: Sunday, June 28, 2015

Time: 2pm to 5pm

Address: The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria, 100 East 50th Street, New York, NY

RSVP by June 15th to: hollypeppe@gmail.com

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A recent guest at my Waldorf show introduced himself as a relative of the great old-time magician, Max Malini. According to the gentleman, his great aunt’s second husband was Malini. A few weeks later, he sent me a piece of memorabilia from their family scrapbook – Malini’s calling card.

This image was drawn by the world-famous tenor, Enrico Caruso.

To my knowledge, this is one of two in existence.

It’s now a prized part of my Malini collection, along with two hand-signed Malini photos and a vivid poster reproduction released by Norm Nielsen. There are a few other original items I’m looking for, since Malini is one of my all-time heroes. (He also performed at the old Waldorf-Astoria hotel when it was located on Fifth Avenue and 34th St!)

Malini’s relative told me that he never saw the master perform magic, but at one family party, Malini came into the house, took out a hand drill and drilled a hole into the wall. It was quite noisy, and left shavings on the floor.

He then took a metal hook from his jacket pocket, and used the hook to hang his coat on the wall for the evening. At the end of the evening, he proposed one small trick for the group. He removed his coat from the wall hook, and showed that the hook was gone — and (!) there was in fact no hole in the wall whatsoever…

Max Malini, Conjurer of the Century & Royal Entertainer

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