| Jack Flosso:
is the person I call, "the last honest man." The only
child of the great Al Flosso, "the Coney Island Fakir, "
Jack grew up with the carnival in his blood. I met Jack in 1981,
and after appearing at a few engagements he heard about through
the client, he cried out one day when I entered his magic shop,
"Hey why dontcha tell me about these things?" So, for
the last 22 years I have been telling him those things and more
often he tells me things and I listen. The picture of Jack is
at a strange "project" I was involved in. I created
the illusion inside a wedding cake (designed by pastry chef Kristi
Hood) that was entered in a contest at Christie's auction house.
The cake was a replica of one of Houdini's trunks which Jack
owned. He is pictured with celebrity twin chefs Sara and Mary
Corpening at the opening. While Jack's store has closed, via
the magic of Ted Bogusta and the internet, they have reformed
on line at:martinka.com. |
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Sen. William Fulbright:
I never met Senator Fulbright. But I certainly esteem his career.
Once in Washington DC I had dinner with his wife who was somehow
related to my girlfriend at the time. Interestingly enough, were
it not for Senator Fulbright's work, neither I, or a close friend
of mine would have met our wives. When I sent him my copy of
his book, and a fan letter, he graciously signed it. |
| Sir Edmund Hillary:
and I have met twice, but I had wanted to meet him most of my
life. Hillary is known for having been the first to climb Everest
with Tenzing Norgay, but as a humanitarian, he has scaled far
greater heights. The Hillary Trust has planted over 1 million
trees in the Himalaya, and has built schools and the hospital
in Kunde where I was fixed up during a bout of altitude sickness
and dire depression when I was trekking in 1989. I thanked him
when I met him the first time. The second time I was introduced
by Senator Diane Feinstein who had encouraged Sir Ed to marry
his wife June. (I told Senator Feinstein after this talk that
I too had been inspired to ask my girlfriend to marry me. 6 months
later, I did.) Hillary is a bear of a man, and I was elated to
have been invited to a fund raising luncheon to celebrate Sir
Ed's first meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. If you praise
this man, praise his goals and join the American
Himalayan Foundation. |
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Joel Hodgson:
is one of the most creative artists I have ever had the pleasure
of watching. I knew of Joel first from his appearances on Saturday
Night Live and the Letterman show in 1982 as a prop comic.
In 1989 a friend, who knew I loved Joel's work, sent me a tape
of a small cable show broadcast in Minnesota and I was hooked...hardcore.
I saw every episode of Joel's Peabody award-winning, maverick
TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000 at least twice. Given
that it was a 2-hour show, friends of mine began to worry about
me spending so much time in front of the tube. We MST3K fans,
sometimes called "Misties" soon found out about one
another, and before I knew it, I was corresponding with a teenage
girl who called herself "Tom Servo," a character on
the show. In 1992 I few to Michigan to see Joel's act on a one
nighter in a high school gym, and at the last minute, probably
due to the demands of his ever increasingly popular TV show,
he canceled and I was crushed. So I sent him a letter telling
him I had especially gone to this magic convention to see him,
and he responded with a personal letter and photograph I prize.
Rock on Joel! |
| Sir Peter Holmes:
Chairman of "Shell" Transport and Trading, the English
parent of Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies was in my audience
one night at Snowbird. We got to talking after the show and became
friendly. His daughter was very anxious to figure out how my
tricks were done! What a life this man has lived. Like most adventurers,
his is not the pursuit of riches, but experience and art. His
book on Turkey is glorious and, to me, an odd piece of a synchronicity
story too long to relate here. |
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Diane Keaton:
Like everyone else on the planet Earth I fell in love with
Diane Keaton when she played Annie Hall, winning the Academy
Award. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would meet
her, much less work with her. But I did. I was hired by film
director Joyce Chopra to teach Diane (and a younger actress playing
the same role) how to pull a rabbit out of a hat for her film
The Lemon Sisters. We rehearsed in New York, and the film was
shot in Atlantic City. While Diane's rabbit and hat trick did
not make the final cut of the film (a disappointment), it was
really a lot of fun to meet her, and trade books. |
| John A. Keel:
John is one of the most famous people I have ever met, and also
one of the most talented, and he doesn't need me to spread his
fame. But, I did not contact him initially. He contacted me.
My senior thesis in college was about Indian magic, and because
it was published, I took out a small ad in a magicians' magazine
trying to sell a few copies. One day I received a tart letter
saying the author wanted to read my paper, but having been an
authority on the subject, "didn't feel like shuffling though
a lot of academic bibliography." It was the great Keel writing,
and I was amazed -- I had thought he was dead. As we became friends
he always signed his letters, "the late John
A. Keel." |
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When Howie was on the front page of
the Atlanta Constitution, for having performed before 10 heads
of state at CNN's 20th birthday party, he called me to Atlanta
to take some of the work he couldn't fill, and signed a copy
of the paper to me. |
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Howie Marmer: aka Howie the Great. I call him "Hurricane
Howie." In 1996 I was in Atlanta and I met this whirlwind
of a magician through our mutual pal, Max Howard. Some magicians
might do 8 shows a week. I have been with Howie when he does
8 shows in a day in 8 different locations. Howie can do
it all and is the only person to be able to put a card in your
hand, have you name any card, and then have YOU turn over the
card...and the results send people screaming in amazement because
they are so wigged out. He performs in Atlanta at Dave &
Buster's, as he has for 10 years. Go see him -- you'll be glad
you did. More info. |
| Orville Meyer:
is the Father of the Modern Bullet Catch and the man who taught
the most celebrated bullet catcher of all time, Ted Annemann.
Meyer never met Annemann, and I never met Meyer...but all three
of us sure corresponded a lot! Orville Meyer was know as "The
Wizard of Ahhs," and I always loved that title. He was a
fine magician and I am proud to have worked with him on our book
heralding his work. |
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Johnny Ace Palmer: In 1986 my agent got a card in the
mail and called me into her office and said, "You know this
guy?" I had heard of Johnny winning every magic competition
under the sun, but never seen him work. So, we went down to Mostly
Magic in Greenwich Village and Johnny literally knocked me out
of my seat. There's not much that can be written about my close
friend that hasn't already been written, except to say that he
has done things no other magician has ever done. He is the only
close-up magician to ever win the FISM Grand Prix, and though
distance separates us, our minds are always in sync. Were he
a musician, to me, and many others, he'd be Mozart. |
