Category Archives: Video Links

I don't know the date of this commercial. I just know you'll like it a lot…

Here's another promo produced by Stan Freberg for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is my favorite movie. When it first came out, Stan Freberg (my favorite satirist, who also had a bit part in the film) was engaged to write and produce TV commercials for it. Here's one of them as it was revised by Turner Classic Movies when they aired the movie for its 40th anniversary presentation…

I'm staying on the topic of the magic trick, "Metamorphosis" for one more day. A couple of folks who wrote me think that I was unaware that many others had done this illusion before the Pendragons. I never thought that and I don't think I could have made that clearer than when I described it as — and I quote myself — "a classic illusion but one that they perform better than anyone."

Others pointed out that when Doug Henning did the trick, he also did a costume change. Okay, fine. Others have, as well. But look at what Henning's wearing before and after and then look at what Charlotte Pendragon does. He could have easily been wearing one outfit over the other and just discarded the outer one. She deliberately wears outfits that couldn't have worked like that.

Which is not to take anything away from the late Mr. Henning. Here's his version of the same trick, as performed on some special with actress Didi Conn. One should note that since Ms. Conn was a transient partner, she and Henning probably practiced 'n' rehearsed for a week or two, whereas Jonathan and Charlotte Pendragon have been perfecting their timing for a decade or two. Given that, Henning's version is pretty good.

Yesterday, I linked to a video from America's Got Talent with The Pendragons performing "Metamorphosis" — a classic illusion but one that they perform better than anyone. As a couple of you wrote me, the show's director broke a fundamental rule by doing cutaways during the trick, showing the audience and the judges.

That's usually a no-no. Even if the home audience sees everything significant that they'd see if they were there watching it live, cutaways disrupt the flow and the sense of "this is actually happening." On magic specials, they often announce during an incredible feat that "the camera will not cut away" because they know it makes viewers suspicious. You can hide a lot of chicanery, and make a trick go much faster than it did in reality, if you cut away. A number of magicians on television (not the Pendragons) have been criticized because though they boast of no camera trickery, they do edit together multiple takes of a trick or edit a six minute act down to three.

It's part of the odd code of Truth Telling in magic. If you say "no camera tricks are being used," then you're lying if the levitation is accomplished by Chromakey. But it's perfectly okay to say, "I'm going to put the three of clubs in my pocket" when in fact, the three of clubs is in your other hand and it's the jack of diamonds you're putting in your pocket. It's dishonest to edit out the moment when you actually snuck your assistant off stage…but if it really takes three minutes to make the elephant "vanish," some think it's okay to edit that down and make it look like they did it in thirty seconds.

Usually, it's injurious to the viewers' appreciation of an illusion to do cutaways. I'm guessing that the director or producers of America's Got Talent know that and decided to do it anyway. Their show is more about the judge's (and audience's) reaction to a performance than it is about the performance…so they felt the cutaways were important. Today's link is Jonathan and Charlotte doing the same feat on another show that didn't cut to reaction shots.

Again, you'll notice that Charlotte changes her outfit in the process. It's the most amazing part of the trick but many people are so dazzled by the main switch that they don't notice it. I asked her once why she why she did it and she smiled and said, "To make the trick more difficult." Good reason.

We return to the theme of "Brilliantly Talented People Mark Has Met." In September of '06, I told you about how the great magician Jonathan Pendragon had been seriously injured. He fell onto an arrow which pierced his chest and for a while there, the magic community figured him for a goner. But Jonathan is an amazing human and I'm happy to say that he and his lovely partner/spouse Charlotte are performing again. I think they're at the Magic Castle this week and if I wasn't leaving for Minnesota on Wednesday, I'd scurry up and see them in action.

You saw them in action recently if you've been watching America's Got Talent. In case you missed it, here's how it went, including a brief discussion of Jonathan's near-fatal accident. And when they do the trick — which is even more impressive when you see it in person — pay attention to Charlotte's outfit. Most people are so boggled by the illusion, they don't even notice she changes clothes.

Stephen Silk pointed me to this one. It's a gent named Michael Moschen who has a new kind of juggling that is quite impressive and ingenious. Give it a look.

As you may have figured out by now, I know a lot of supremely talented people. One — who has powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men — is a juggler, comedian and magician named Charlie Frye. He and his spectacular wife/partner Sherry tour the world with an act that is like a piece of expert ballet, only funny and amazing. I used to go see Charlie in Vegas revues (for a long time, he was the star act in the Folies Bergere at the Tropicana) and even drunken frat boys would get impatient for the topless ladies to clear the stage so Charlie could come back out and juggle more Indian Clubs.

One of the first times I took Carolyn to that city, we went to see Charlie and Sherry do what they do so well, and went out to a late dinner with them after. Charlie was still in a performing mood so he started juggling everything on the table — and I mean everything, including a bowl of New England Clam Chowder I'd ordered. He didn't spill a clam. At one point, he balanced a spoon on his nose, did a little flip of his head and suddenly, it was tucked behind his ear. This is not humanly possible but he did it…and you'll see him do it in the video below. Carolyn turned to me after and said, "You have unusual friends." She meant that in a good way.

Here are two videos of Charlie doing impossible things. The first is a promo for his act, and I don't think it does him justice, but it'll give you some idea of how good he is…

And now, here's Charlie doing magic — the classic Cups and Balls, done about as well as it can be done. This is from a series of videos he has out called Eccentricks. On them, Charlie teaches you how to do an array of neat things…magic, juggling, physical comedy and little stunts that can make you, as they say, the life of any party. They're just great and if you don't want to learn to do this kind of stuff, I'll bet you know a youngster who'd flip for them. Order from Charlie's website.

My favorite recent segment on The Colbert Report was the guest appearance by my favorite Muppet, Cookie Monster. In case you missed it, here 'tis…

Sadly (for some of us), Frank Oz has retired from the role…and apparently all Muppeteering. Muppet fan boards are debating whether the performance here was by David Rudman or Eric Jacobson, both of whom have reportedly played the character since Mr. Oz stepped aside. I'm not familiar enough with them to know the difference but whoever it is, he did a pretty good job…

I once worked for a producer who (almost) never laughed at anything I said. I think he was afraid that if he did, he'd have to pay me more or something. Anyway, every time I see Ethel Merman, I think of the one time I did manage to make him laugh. He walked into a meeting and said, "I just heard from Ethel Merman in New York" and I asked, "Did she use a telephone?"

This clip is from the 1972 Tony Awards telecast. It's Ethel, sounding a lot like all the Ethel Merman impersonators these days (some of whom are even women), doing three of the many great songs she performed on Broadway. I like the middle one, where poor Larry Blyden — a wonderful musical performer who died way too young — tries and fails to hold his own in a duet…and you can kinda see that he knows Ethel has squeezed him out of the number and he doesn't mind.

I'm not sure she didn't prerecord these vocals and lip-sync to them on the air but who cares? It's five minutes of Ethel Merman. Beat that. I dare ya.

A fun moment from the game show, To Tell the Truth…

Here's the 1999 Broadway musical Fosse cut down to ten minutes…

Here's about twelve minutes of George Carl, one of the funniest man who ever lived. This is very similar to the act I saw him perform one night at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas. I was in town with my friend Len Wein and I told him as had to go see the show there and see George Carl. Len said, "What does he do?" I said, "He gets tangled in the microphone cord." Len didn't get it but since I also assured him the show contained topless showgirls, he agreed to go, wondering all the time why I was interested in a guy whose act was getting tangled in the microphone cord. As we sat there howling at Mr. Carl, Len — gasping for air — managed to say, "I get it." You will, too…

We have a piece of film history here: The screen debut of George Burns and Gracie Allen, doing a hunk of their vaudeville act as an 8-minute Vitaphone short called Lambchops. This came out in October of 1929…and just to save you doing the research and the math, Mr. Burns was 33 years old at the time, and he and Gracie had been married since January of '26.

Gracie's age is a little more difficult to peg. When asked her birthdate, she gave a wide array of answers, including "None of your business." When she died in 1964, George told reporters she'd been born in 1902. Historians have since concluded that 1895 is more likely…but not proven. If she was born in 1895, she was a year older than George.

This short did not catapult the team of Burns and Allen to movie stardom. They made a few more like this one and it boosted interest in their act. But it wasn't until they got into radio that they became famous. Here's a great artifact of the days of vaudeville…

I don't know who April is…but someone put this on YouTube for her birthday present and it's the funniest, laugh-out-loud clip I've seen there in weeks. It's Joe Cocker at Woodstock…but with subtitles. Thanx to Dawna Kaufmann for telling me about it.