Magic Mike Schwally

04/20/2024

That one time I posed for a paperback cover.

03/27/2024

1993.
Offutt Air Force Base.
Off Duty, of course.
You can tell because I'm not in uniform.
I'm in that shirt. 🤣😂

03/26/2024

March 24 marks the 150th birthday of the master magician Harry Houdini, illusionist and escapologist who inspired the Shadow, Batman, and the very idea of the superhero.

03/17/2024

10/07/2023

A historic day in the life of Magic Mike Schwally. This was my 8th birthday, and that was my very first magic kit I'm holding there.

It was a gift from my Godparents, Aunt Kay and Uncle Chuck. It was the gift that kept on giving you might say.

I am forever grateful for the gift that kept on giving, the 8 year olds of today are grateful too! ♥️🎩🪄🐰
This also marked the last time I allowed my mom to cut my hair.

Instead of the traditional bowl cut, she decided to add a little panache and tried parting my hair on the side. You can see how that turned out. 🤷‍♂️ ✂️🤦‍♂️

03/13/2023

For no particular reason at all, here's a picture of Harry Houdini with his pet eagle.

"The only tame eagle in the world ‘Abraham Lincoln,’ Houdini, N.Y. Hippodrome Season 1916-1917."

12/17/2022

10/18/2022

10/02/2022

Had such a fun time performing at Alex's 8th birthday party today in Peculiar, MO. What an odd name for a town, don't you think? 😀

Some parents, a lot actually, don't want their kid's photos posted on social media. All in attendance today were fine with it though, so here you go.
Photo credit: Sophia Schwally
🎩🪄🐇

09/20/2022

Two magazine covers by the great American artist, Norman Rockwell.

The one from "The Popular Magazine" was the first of only two covers Rockwell painted for that publication. It's titled appropriately, "The Magician".

(Incidentally, only the most inhumane of magicians would pull a rabbit out of a hat by it's ears! It was common back then for artists to depict a magician pulling the rabbit out in just this way however, he was not alone.)

Published in 1916, this is one of his earlier works. He hadn't quite developed his signature style yet and it might not be recognized as a Rockwell painting at first glance.

The "Saturday Evening Post" cover, titled "Card Tricks" was published in 1930 and is obviously a Norman Rockwell painting. Obvious to me anyway.

This is one of the 323 covers he painted for that magazine. The "Saturday Evening Post" was the publication that really put Rockwell on the map.

I like this one a little more because I think it looks more realistic. Except for the playing card stuck behind his collar. I've ever used that location to stash a card.

09/01/2022

I promise, this is the last old newspaper clipping I will post...mainly because it's the last one I've got.

This one is from a college newspaper. I attended Nassau Community College on Long Island for one and a half semesters. It took exactly that long for me to conclude that I wasn't much of a student, let alone a scholar.

So, I joined the service. As it turned out, I needed to be more of a student in the Air Force than I ever did in college.

Anyway, this young lady found out somehow that I was a magician and decided to interview me. Her title was, Poetry Coordinator, which confused me further.

It was then that I found out that journalists will take a few liberties and embellish the story sometimes.

For example, I'm pretty sure I never said, "...there is not enough laughter in the world...". That doesn't sound like something I would say, even at 20 years old.

I'm glad I saved these clippings though, something to show my grandkids someday. Not so much for the articles, but to teach them about newspapers.

05/23/2022

I'm going to have to step up my game, the competition is getting fierce.

05/12/2022

Pick a card, any card...

From New York to Omaha, to Denver, to Kansas City, and somehow I've managed to hold on to at least one of every business card I've ever used.

I've been handing out business cards since I was 16 years old. 😀

My address and phone number have changed more than a few times over the years, my love of entertaining people with magic has not. 🎩🪄🐰

04/04/2022

Happy Birthday David Blaine!

"David Blaine is an American illusionist, endurance artist, and extreme performer. He is best known for his high-profile feats of endurance and has set and broken several world records.

On May 19, 1997, Blaine's first television special, David Blaine: Street Magic, aired on ABC. "It really, really does break new ground," said Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller.

Time commented, "His deceptively low-key, ultracool manner leaves spectators more amazed than if he'd razzle-dazzled."

Since that time he has been buried, frozen, perched, trapped, submerged, electrified, and shot at.

03/10/2022

Happy Birthday Lance Burton, 62 today!

Lance Burton is an American stage magician originally from Columbia, Kentucky.

"As a teenager, Burton entered his first magic competition and won first prize. Shortly after his 20th birthday, he was awarded a "Gold Medal of Excellence" from the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

Soon after, Burton moved to Southern California, where within a week he appeared on The Tonight Show.

Through the course of Burton's career he was invited back for a total of 10 performances while Johnny Carson was host, and another 10 performances during Jay Leno's tenure.

He performed an initial 8 week trial at the Folies Bergère show in Las Vegas, and then had his contract extended for a record-breaking 9 years.

In August 1994, Burton signed a 13-year contract (the longest contract given, at that point, to any entertainer in Las Vegas history) with the Monte Carlo Resort in Las Vegas. The 1,274-seat Lance Burton Theater was built to Burton's specifications for his show, cost $27 million, and opened on June 21,1996."

In 2010 he ended his 31-year Vegas show, and moved back home to Kentucky.

"Burton slipped seamlessly back to the farm on which he was raised, about 100 miles south of Louisville. He has re-settled on the 100-acre property, with its 40 or so cows and some chickens.

He kept his word that he would retire from performing full-time on the Strip after closing his show at the theater named for him at the Monte Carlo. Burton left, simply and slyly, making no formal announcement..."

02/14/2022

Happy Birthday Raymond Teller, or just plain Teller as he had his name legally changed to.

"Teller began performing with his friend Weir Chrisemer as The Othmar Schoeck Memorial Society for the Preservation of Unusual and Disgusting Music.

He met Penn Jillette in 1974, and, with Chrisemer, they became a three-person act called Asparagus Valley Cultural Society, which started at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and subsequently played in San Francisco.

In 1981, Jillette and Teller began performing exclusively together as Penn & Teller, an act that continues to this day.

On April 5, 2013, Penn and Teller were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the live performance category.

Their star, the 2,494th awarded, is near the one dedicated to Harry Houdini.

The following day they were recognized by the Magic Castle with the Magicians of the Year award."

02/10/2022

On this date, February 10, 1844 Alexander Herrmann was born.

Herrmann was a French magician, better known as Herrmann the Great. He was married to magician Adelaide Herrmann, known as the Queen of Magic.

01/13/2022

Magic Mike Schwally has been helping people forget their troubles for a long time. This article is from 1991, two months before I would leave for basic training, but I didn't know that at the time.

Some of the books on magic that I had read, written by professional magicians, mentioned that they had performed free of charge at hospitals and nursing homes when they were first starting out.

It was a way to entertain some people who perhaps didn't get many visitors and help them pass some time in a fun way. It also gave me an opportunity to practice and perform in front of a live audience.

It has been a while since I've done this type of thing and seeing this old article makes me want to do it again.

(I thought the photos were from the same visit, but I just noticed as I'm posting this that I'm wearing a different jacket and tie, so they must be from another time. Same hospital though.)

12/31/2021

Waiting for 2021 to disappear...and to ring in the new year with the hopeful anticipation that 2022 will be Everyone's Year!

12/23/2021

To all my friends and family here on Facebook,
I hope you have a Merry and Magical Christmas!

12/07/2021

Compared to the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, this is trivial...but I like trivia so here's something else that happened on this date:

"On this date, December 7, 1969, the "Frosty the Snowman" television special first aired on CBS; it has aired annually every year since.

The special was based on the Walter E. Rollins and Steve Nelson song of the same name. It featured the voices of comedians Jimmy Durante (in his final film role) as the film's narrator, Billy De Wolfe as Professor Hinkle, and Jackie Vernon as Frosty."

You can probably guess my favorite character. 🐇🎩☃️☀️🎅🛷

11/25/2021

Have a great Thanksgiving everybody!