(Hank) Moorehouse 1934 – 2011 - The Society of American Magicians

INFORMED OPINION
unspeakable acTs book
by Jim magus wiTh Terry nosek and neil Tobin
Available from Jim Magus through PayPal to
jimmagus@comcast.net
Price $75.00 plus $8.00 shipping in the USA
revieW by Joshua Kane
Unspeakable Acts is this year’s
guilty pleasure read. It is a witty and
salacious roller coaster ride through
the life of one of magic’s most complicated
and creative individuals; a man
whose legacy has left three distinct
identities for historians and friends
alike to contend with, be confused by,
and miss seeing at the bar or hospitality
suite. The man, the myth, and the
magic are inseparable in the tripartite
subject of this volume. Three of the
most creative and impactful performers,
whose work I frequently bought
from Magic, Inc. in my teens, were
Tom Palmer, Tony Andruzzi, and Masklyn Ye Mage. Imagine
my surprise later in life when I learned that all three people were
actually one person, whom I came to hold in high regard and
knew from late night phone conversations.
Over the years, it has become clear to me that almost everyone
I have met in magic either knew Tony Andruzzi or had a story
about him. Tony was one of those performers whose name you
could have used for a round of “six degrees of Kevin Bacon,” if
the Bacon game had been played with magicians. His fingerprints
are all over contemporary magic history.
Andruzzi was the undisputed godfather and public representative
of bizarre magick. Despite Tony Raven being the actual
creator of Invocation magazine, it is Andruzzi who is most
often identified with the monthly journal that united shamanistic
performers and Lovecraftian writers. Prior to this, as Tom Palmer,
he was involved in the early days of televised magic and worked
with such luminaries as Mark Wilson. As Masklyn Ye Mage, he
was an early member of the Psychic Entertainers Association and
was just as famous for effects that did not work as he was for
ones that did. He was happily infamous for his ability to terrorize
hotel staff with his portable Satanic altars and rituals. His Invocational
conventions were famous in their time; being able to claim
attendance at them is still a status symbol equal to being able to
claim that one saw the original NYC production of Harold Pinter’s
The Birthday Party. And like that event, which would still be
running today if as many people had actually seen it as claimed to
have, Madison Square Garden would have been required to seat
all those who claim to have played with Tony and his gang.
If there ever was a performer whose life was stranger than
fiction and suited for a mad bio-pic, it was Tony. If it were not for
the careful documentation of newspaper articles and references
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Compiled and Edited by W. S. Duncan
to primary sources included in the volume, no one would believe
even half of the tales that have been collected and published. Tony
even knew Jack Ruby, the nightclub owner who shot Lee Harvey
Oswald after President Kennedy’s assassination. Tony’s testimony
to the Warren Commission is included in the detailed appendix.
Jim Magus, Terry Nosek, and Neil Tobin (the star of Chicago
Supernatural) are to be commended and thanked for compiling
and editing so much material into a volume whose momentum
and page-turning energy never flags. The book is hardbound, 533
pages, and is lavishly illustrated with line drawings, photographs,
and reproductions of articles, ads, and ephemera. I thoroughly
enjoyed the read and know that I will return to it often.
Because no effects are taught in the book, and because the
community who most passionately remembers and reveres Tony
is a self-selecting one, I feel that the publisher could sell ten times
as many copies as a $35 paperback. At that price it would be a
no-brainer. At the hardbound price, some folks may be scared off.
I recommend that every collector, magic club, and assembly order
at least one copy for their library.
danger in paradise/malay woman book
by sid Fleischman
Available from Stark House Press
Price $20.00
revieW by Jim Kleefeld
Just when you get ready to waste some
free time and think there’s nothing in
escapist literature around, along comes
a pair of saucy stories about adventure
in exotic lands. Stark House Press has
gained some renown by republishing
pulp fiction of the ‘40s and ‘50s. About
five years ago I picked up a book with
two stories by Fleischman, Look Behind
You, Lady and The Venetian Blonde.
Both were about magicians caught up in
crime and turmoil. I thoroughly enjoyed
both stories for what they were – light
reading with a bit of nostalgia thrown in.
This new Stark republication contains another pair by the
same author. Two short stories, Danger in Paradise and Malay
Woman are combined in one 276-page book. Written in the early
1950s, they both contain great gobs of post-war pulp escapism.
Hard-boiled mugs duke it out with foreign bums and miscreants,
while dames with great gams and ulterior motives entice them
with feminine wiles. It’s all very Dashielle Hammet and Ellery
Queen, with a touch of Fu Manchu.
Fleischman spent the war years in Indonesia and the Far East,
so he learned the ins and outs of tropical settings. He uses his
travels (and a great deal of research) to make Malay, Bali, Kuala
Lumpur, and Singapore come to life in these stories. Steamships,
ports, seedy bars, and rubber plantations provide the backdrop for
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