Ask Alexander!

The Great Alexander was a mind reading magician. He was billed as " The Man who knows".  From the audience one could whisper any question to his assistant  and although Alexander couldn't hear it, he would answer as if he did. Perhaps he was more known for his elaborate costume with gilded turban and striped robe and his large lithographed posters than his psychic ability. 

I once saw this unique costume in the private museum of David Copperfield in Las Vegas.  Alexander has past away long ago and doesn't need the costume any more. David Copperfield does. Unique to the costume were  two clunky World War II wired head phones concealed in the full turban.  Alexander, it seems, did know enough to use radio headphones to hear the questions that were whispered into the assistant's hidden microphone.

As ancient as that technology is today, Alexander has a new life on the Internet.  There is a site called "Ask Alexander".  Anything written about magic or magicians can be found on this data base.  Although I don't belong to the users group I understand it is a monumental repository of and for magical history.  

Of course my friend Harry is one of the chosen that get to surf this massive data base.  He called to tell me that in a global search, my name is mentioned over 800 times.  That is impressive to be mentioned that many times in the history of magic.  I asked Harry how many times his name is mentioned and he said 14,000.  I was humbled until he said, "But I'm a magician." Ventriloquists are rarely mentioned.

I always liked magic.  If I had been better at it I might have kept magic in my act.  It was part of my repertoire  for a while when I was a kid.  A traveling salesman who befriended my Dad was an magician, and used to do magic when he called on clients.  He retired and gave me his trunk of tricks.  From that I practiced and put 10 minutes of magic in my act with SQUEAKY.  The night I kicked over my magic table and had to crawl around on the floor seeking multiplying billiard balls and linking rings spilled everywhere; my magic career was over. 

As a member of the Left Handed League I was involved in a lot of magic, and produced Harry's magic specials on television, but never really performed it.  I did become enchanted with the Three Shell Game and performed a talking Pea routine.  I invented a move that several magicians used to this day, and still keep my chops up with the shells, just in case.

So I would like to thank the Academy of Magical Arts and Sciences for the mentions.

As you were,

Jay