• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

James Randi (and Martin Gardner's estate) are seeking help from historians of magic

I don't mean to bump my own thread (kind of hard to bump it to the top when it's the only active thread in the section), but if anyone has any luck with this, please report it here. I'm completely removed from it and would have no idea where to start looking, but for some reason, I'm worried about it. It'd be nice to know if someone had been able to help.

Thanks,
Ward
 
I think he (Martin) may refer to them in this video:
concise.britannica.com/new-multimedia/mp4/newdim025.mp4

He states the closest to ever being paid for his work was some shorts he was in for Marshall Fields. I don't know if this helps, but it might be a piece of the puzzle.

ETA: I am not sure if I am allowed to point to that site - is that what hotlinking is? If I am not supposed to, please let me know and I will erase it.

ETAA: I am taking the http out of the address because I really don't want a yellow card and I am afraid this is hotlinking.
 
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Interesting. I know someone who worked for Marshall Fields. I'll check it out. It's at least a crack into which I can start working a crowbar.

Ward
 
wardenclyffe said:
Interesting. I know someone who worked for Marshall Fields. I'll check it out. It's at least a crack into which I can start working a crowbar.

Ward
Click to expand...

I found a Twitter account WWMGT (what would Martin Gardner tweet) which put out a tweet (or is it a twit) on 12/26/2013 stating the following:
"The only time I was ever paid for doing magic was when I was in college and worked Xmas seasons in the toy dept of Marshall Fields" p.38

What I am thinking is where this would be date-wise? If he was in college in the 30's or 40's, the Marshall Fields thing may have no relevance.
 
OK, I finally had the time to watch the full video. It's a great documentary. I knew the basics about Martin Gardner, but I learned a lot from this. I wrote to him toward the end of his life and he responded to me as helpfully as he could. I felt special, but now I learn that he was like that with everyone. I feel a little less special, but I find that Martin Gardner was that much more special. What a great guy.

But to the point of this thread, they clearly show clips of the films in question starting at about 5:32. So the producers of this documentary clearly had access to them and transferred them to some type of electronic format. Perhaps they still have them or the digital copies. Since Randi is in the documentary, one would think that someone at JREF would know who to contact at CBC or whoever might have access to the original elements they used in assembling the documentary.

Ward
 
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