| Meet
Mark Edward |
| Your Guide To
Psychic Entertainment
|
|
By Randall K.
Schostag
Feature Writer
|
Just
in time for Halloween, Stevens Magic is pleased to feature in this
catalog Mark Edward, who worked the renowned Houdini Séance
Room at
Hollywood
’s
Magic
Castle
for 14 years.
He is one of only five performers trained as a
medium privileged to have worked that room.
Stevens Magic is now the exclusive dealer handling Mark’s
products: an enticing assortment of books, which offer the “real
work” on doing psychic entertainment with a heavy emphasis on doing
séances. Some of Mark’s
past mentors have included Dai
Vernon
, Jules Lenier and Tony “Doc” Shiels.
“It was
suggested I change my name, so I
went with Mark Edward, my middle name.”
Mark Edward, 55, has been doing
magic, mentalism and bizarre magic since he was 10-years old.
He was born into a family with a grandfather who taught him
sleight-of-hand. By age
21, Mark was performing professionally.
He started working at the
Magic
Castle
in 1975, doing close-up magic. Including
the 14 years in the Séance Room, Mark worked 26 years at the Castle.
You may have seen him and his wife, Rena Small (who took many
of the photos for this article), who together performed the now
legendary “Levitating Dog” routine, which featured “Jim—Emperor
Of All Dogs” in the Palace.
Mark’s birth name is Mark Wilson, but when he
started at the Castle, Mark Wilson of “
Magic
Land
Of Alla-kazam” fame was on its Board Of Directors.
“It was suggested I change my name,” Mark said. “So
I went with Mark Edward, my middle name.”
Most of Mark’s early work
was based on a comedic persona, “...the regular guy who has
strange powers.” He
gives credit to Carl Ballentine, one of the first comedy
magicians (and television star as The Great Ballentine on the Ed
Sullivan Show, Gruber in “McHale’s Navy” and Cousin
Al in “Car 54 Where Are You”).
During those years, Mark developed his “anti-Kreskin”
persona, delivered in the
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