Max Maven

And the b- he...

You know when Max Maven died? And how we got to Max Maven I'm not too sure, but do you remember when Max Maven died and his final Facebook post was, "I think we could do better, and I think we will"? And he was talking about the magic community coming together and being better.

I'm pretty sure that when Max Maven died and he wrote that, he had Alex Kirk in mind, because that is one of the nicest, one of the kindest, and one of the best people in the community.

You shouldn't boycott Alex Kirk for any reason, let alone sending out an email, a joke email about a fucking...

Sorry, I'm really pissed off about all this.

You know, right, but fuck.

That's like, um, I, I don't, I don't know.

You did mention a couple times about the person's passed on or if they're not around anymore, but like, like, like a Max Maven, you know?

Yes.

I wanted to mention something that Max Maven had said that in, in, um, I, I think it's Glorious Monster.

I don't know.

It's the documentary that they did on Max Maven.

Uh, the interviewer asked, "A lot of people who have seen your show come out thinking that what you do is real, that you could read minds.

So how do you respond to that?" And Max Maven said, "Your question presumes that I can't." And when [laughs] and when he-

[laughs]

... and when he was approached with-

So, you know, if I had 15 or 18 people at a lecture, it was pretty tight cause all the products are in there and all the counters and I didn't really move stuff around.

But although Columbini was definitely one of the first ones that came, Daryl came, uh, when I got friendly with Max Maven, he was one of the first ones.

Well, and after, I think maybe after the max one, uh, I realized that there's a real thing here because people came out and, and he didn't lecture at the castle.

And some of these guys will come work the castle and not lecture at the castle.

But I was really happy, you know, this is, This is great.

Simon Aronson, in touch with Simon over a particular idea and Max Maven, first wrote to me to correct one of my references.

And then he wrote to me to correct my spelling.

I kind of love Max.

I'd say there's quite a few guys who would take the time to do it.

And you know again uh beginner magicians and intermediate magicians don't be afraid if you go to these conventions to go up to these guys and don't just be star struck and say oh my god it's it's wes eisley can i have an autograph please i mean say you know wes i geez i saw you on fool us you were doing that awesome coin coin flip trick can you tell me a little bit about the coin flip trick and tell me a little bit about fool us and and and wes you'll you'll talk to them about it then you'll show them you'll see what's done and help them with it

so yeah that's what it's all about man we're a family it really is i yep it's so awesome you know when we got to go to the castle and just be in max maven's presence i was like i don't know what to say i don't know what to do and he's so dry and so nice to meet you it's just I mean, I'm looking up to these guys my whole life.

They're on my TV more than celebrities are.

And then, you know, there was a quote from one of my mentors, an incredible, he's the most prolific inventor of magic that ever lived.

His name was Max Maven.

And he said, the magicians of the 20th century accomplished a great feat.

They took something truly profound and rendered it trivial.

All the variations I've released, including how to manufacture them, have appeared in my, in a number of my publications over the past 30 years, and I finally brought them together in my 2022 book, The Mentalism Factory." So he's essentially saying, Mark saw my lecture and then brought the, brought out his.

Now, if anyone knows Mark, he's arguably, since Max Maven left us, one of the most well-read historical-

Yep

... magic, uh, uh, not just historians, but creators on the planet.

I know.

So I feel like, so again, you know, the wonderful Max Maven slash Phil Goldstein, like brilliant, brilliant stuff.

So I haven't fully, again, this is interesting seeing, I think, I think quite analogously with magic.

And I think what's interesting is that sometimes people look at me weirdly when I suggest an analogy.

Now, At The Magic Word, I really don't like to necessarily...

Well, I never talk about topical things that are here today and gone tomorrow, like who's working Las Vegas, because these podcast episodes are things that are archived for hopefully all time, that people can go back and listen to Tom Mullica, for an example, or Max Maven, or whomever.

And if we start talking about things that happened today, then that can change again tomorrow.

However...

And I still learn little bits from it as well.

There's a Max Maven trick on there where you tear two cards in half and they switch places.

It's mind-blowing.

There's such incredible stuff on there.