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Milt’s Musings - 5.18.2020

After 40 years I no longer do the weekly lunch menu stories that used to grace the Friday lunch tables at the Castle. Those became the basis for several of my books.

Now I will write stories as weekly updates during our National emergency. My thanks to Dale Hindman for making my many typos and mumbled dictation readable by the time we send it out. Thanks to Steve Mitchell for getting the news out to our members and other readers.

Last week I talked about my infamous meeting with Tom Glover (T.O. Glover) regarding using the old Lane mansion. To give you some background, A friend of Bills, Don Gotchall and I were thinking of doing something creative in coming up with a place that would feature magic with a bar and a restaurant. In our search , one place that turned up was a Grand Old Mansion across from the Wilshire Ebell Theater where I was already doing the It’s Magic shows. Unfortunately, the zoning for that area was a strict R1 residential zone, so a bar and restaurant would not be permitted. The real estate agent representing that house asked what kind of a place we were looking for. I said, “There is a grand old mansion on Franklin in Hollywood, it would be perfect”. He said, “What is wrong with that one?” And I said, “ It is owned by some crazy old coot who doesn’t want to sell it or lease it and won’t talk to anyone.” He said “ Well, I play poker with that “crazy old coot” on Wed nights, he’s a good business man and I will see if I can set up a meeting with you guys.” He did set up that meeting and that’s another story. Stay tuned!

Milt’s Musings

( Continuation of Fun, Fact and Fantasies with some twists)

After 40 years I no longer do the weekly lunch menu stories that used to grace the Friday lunch tables at the Castle. Those became the basis for several of my books. Instead, we will be doing weekly stories here and this is the one for this week.

I will write stories as weekly updates during our National emergency. My thanks to Dale Hindman for making my many typos and mumbled dictation readable by the time we send it out. Thanks to Steve Mitchell for getting the news out to our members and other readers.

The saddest part of the past few days has been the death of Roy Horn, of the very famous team of Siegfried and Roy. Irene became like a sister to them both. With Roy, it was about the animals, with Siegfried it was about magic. We knew that Roy and Irene are probably celebrating with some wine as I write this. Aloha Roy!

May 8th would have been Brother Bills 93 birthday. He only lived 64 years. We were very close as a family of magicians. We worked together and played together. Our lives went in different directions but were somewhat related. Bill as a TV executive and publisher/editor of Genii magazine. I was a gag writer and entrepreneur. We both had a great career in showbusiness. I was a writer for Truth or Consequences and Bill was a producer at CBS TV. Together we produced magic shows and Bill carried on with Genii.

That brings us to the question as why two brothers would get together to build a Magic Castle and a world-famous club for lovers of magic. Let’s start with the Magic Castle. In addition to my writing activities I was always in love with physical carpentry and the idea of creating interesting projects. My grandfather was a Master Cabinet Maker and so I naturally had a love of woodworking. I was able to practice on our family home at Brookledge working on the private theater and various projects outdoors as well. That’s is where I started working with materials that came out of buildings being torn down. If you look at the stage at the Brookledge theater it was the balcony box from the Grand Westminister Hotel. All that experience helped when in 1961 I met Tom Glover about the concept of turning his old Lane mansion into a club for magicians. Obviously, there is more to the story. Stay tuned.

I haven’t written a blog for a little bit, but I have been writing weekly for our new Magic Castle Cabaret. I will start to share these with all my followers (with the occasional blog as well!). Remember if you’re interested in Cabaret membership please call Alison at 805-845-0555.

Fun Facts & Fantasies #7

I haven't written a blog for a little bit, but I have been writing weekly for our new Magic Castle Cabaret. I will start to share these with all my followers (with the occasional blog as well!). Remember if you're interested in Cabaret membership please call Alison at 805-845-0555.

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Blog #160 - May 22, 2019

It’s been a while since my last blog. I wrote that I got very busy with Magic Castle Cabaret matters and my train schedule changed. So, I had trouble getting back to writing the blog on a fairly regular basis. I wrote the following on April 12:

BACK ON THE TRAIN

I had fun last week performing my old “Great Larseni How to make magic props” act at our Magic Castle Cabaret. Since my act is only twelve minutes, I asked top cruise ship magician Richard Burr to be my co-star to fill in the 45-minute show with his excellent magic. All went well and we did our final shows Saturday April 6th. The next week coming up in a couple days was my birthday on April 9. Arlene arranged for the surprise performance of a wonderful group of six beautiful girl dancers - like they were from Radio City - specially for my birthday. It was a great party. On Monday I took the train to Burbank Station. Monday at The Magic Castle in Hollywood. I turned 88 and a dozen folks surprised me with a party in the Hat and Hare Pub. Arranged by Dale and Kris Garcia place. There was a great gathering of board members and employees. Champagne was flowing like water and a very spectacular birthday cake completed a wonderful surprise celebration. Tuesday, my actual birthday, Dale and I flew to Las Vegas to be part of fabulous celebration of the life of Johnny Thompson in the theater at the Rio Hotel. Arranged by who else but Penn and Teller. The celebration of life for Johnny was indeed a celebration of life for a dear friend. The speakers were the Who’s Who of Las Vegas magic. They expressed in pictures and memories of Johnny his immense contribution to magic. Okay, I’ll see you in Santa Barbara. We were scheduled to fly back the next day, but high winds changed our plans.

That was written on April 12. More than a month later I want to thank everybody who wish me a very happy 88th birthday on April 9 and Arlene’s birthday is on May 24.

Yesterday I had a wonderful time catching up with my oldest friend and longtime collaborator Richard M Sherman. We had lunch at our favorite restaurant Mussos and Franks in Hollywood. Richard ‘s son Gregory joined Richard, Dale , Kris Garcia and me for a great lunch. We used to get together almost every Friday for lunch at the Magic Castle but when we opened the cabaret (It’s open on Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday) , it’s been hard for our social lunches like we used to do. However, we figured out a better way to do it and now we have to get together and get some writing done. I have to get back to writing blogs on regular basis. Here’s a picture the two senior citizens enjoying a long overdue lunch at Musso’s.

BLOG # 159 - April Fool’s Day & Milt’s 88th Birthday Week

April 1st, 2019

It has been a while since my last blog. Many of my loyal readers have asked when and if I ever plan to perform my “Great Larseni Carpenter Act” at the Castle? I booked myself to do the shows at the Magic Castle Cabaret and do the act as well as other crazy nonsense. I will be performing April 3-6 - four nights only - two shows a night - Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Our intimate Cabaret showroom seats only 35 for the floorshows. Members of the Magic Castle Cabaret Club have preferred seating, but I have arranged for members of the AMA - Magic Castle to attend. Call 805-845-05555. (Provide your name and AMA Membership number.) Note club rules require coat and tie for dress code and over 21. There is a special $25 Door charge and two drink minimum. Specify the day and 8PM or 9:30 PM shows.

This is your chance to see the Cabaret, enjoy the fun and visit Arlen’s new one-of-a-kind gift shop.

Call or information and availability and reservations.

Blog #158

It has been a wonderful and exciting week! Arlene and I officially opened our new Magic Castle Cabaret on February 13th.That night was a reception for local press and Angel Members. Lance Burton joined us to inaugurate the Lance Burton Bird Lounge. The lounge overlooks the beautiful bird refuge lake. Lance introduced our star magician of the week Steve Valentine. Steve was the perfect performer to play our small cabaret showroom. Richard M. Sherman played a few of his Disney hits after the show in our concert lounge and had the audience singing It’s Small World After All. Andrew Goldenhersh also entertained with his classic guitar.

Major supporter Randy Pitchford and Kristi, as well as Steve Shultz and Kathy enjoyed the fun.

Mark Wilson and Nani we present at the opening of the Magic Castle on opening night January 2, 1963. They were our honored guests on our Cabaret opening night.

Arlene was unhappy that we missed having special parties on occasions like Halloween and New Year’s Eve. She has been famous over the years for fabulous parties and produced a loving tribute to Valentine’s Day with special favors and decorations. Our favorite musician Art Deco (Vince Hauser) provided the live band. Vince was our house orchestra in the glory days of our Variety Arts Ballroom.

The next two nights were for members and their guests. They enjoyed the warm commadery of noshing on our appetizer Festalbord and our magical bartender Mark Collier.

Steve Valentine was a huge hit with our members.

Next week (February 13-16) our star magician will be Andrew Goldenhersh on Wed, Thurs., Fri and Saturday. Magic Castle Cabaret members are encouraged to make reservations early.

Photos courtesy of Howard Green:

Blog #157

February 1, 2019

It’s Friday and I am on my favorite Amtrak train to Santa Barbara. Excitement is in the air as we make last-minute preparations for the opening of the Magic Castle Cabaret in Montecito. After the invitation only reception on February 13, we have the first of many members’ only parties. To celebrate Valentine’s Day there will be one of Arlene Larsen’s typical fun parties with music, magic, party favors and Valentine decorations. The next two nights, Friday and Saturday, will be opening night for our members and their guests. The magic headliner for ALL FOUR DAYS will be Magic Castle favorite, actor, award winner, the one and only Steve Valentine. There might be some additional impromptu entertainment also.

After the opening week, the Magic Castle cabaret will be open Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the evenings for members and their guests. The week of February 20 our headliner will be Andrew Goldenhersh.

I just wrote a story for our February MCC newsletter that I thought might also be of interest to my faithful blog readers. Here is is:

MAGIC AND VARIETY

The primary attraction of the Magic Castle Cabaret Club is a venue to bring the finest magicians from the world famous Academy of Magical Arts at the Magic Castle in Hollywood to an audience on the Central Coast. Your new club is also a tribute to the allied arts of ventriloquists, marionettes, novelty acts, music and comedy. Our décor is devoted to many historical items from the days of vaudeville and theatre. The fascinating collector’s items on display are from Milt Larsen’s personal lifetime collection.

Larsen donated thousands of books on the variety theater, rare recordings, vintage sheet music and memorabilia to the library of the University of Southern California Santa Barbara, famous for its state of the art technology in preservation.

We feel we have created a warm atmosphere at the Cabaret, recognizing personalities of stars of the past, that adds to our goal of giving our members and their guests a unique old world experience.

For Cabaret membership information call Alison at 805-845-0555 -

Blog 156

This is my first blog for the New Year 2019. Because of a really hectic holiday season I just didn’t have time to write blogs because quite honestly I was not on the train. The big news of the day is the opening of our Magic Castle Cabaret private club in February.

After that date the club will be open to MCC members Wednesday through Saturday.- 5PM until11PM.

Many of our Academy of Magical Arts members have assumed that our new club is another clubhouse for the Academy. It is not!

Please don’t call The Magic Castle Hollywoood or our magic Castle Inc. business for information about the new cabaret. . Perhaps the following will help.

My wife Arlene and I are long time residents of Santa Barbara and wanted to share our love of magic with our friends and neighbors in our own home town. We found a fascinating property for sale and decided to create a now and novel club.

Our members of the new club are primarily residents of the Central Coast. They pay dues to enjoy a very intimate club where the finest magicians from the Hollywood Magic Castle are featured. Although members of the AMA are not members of the MCC, they will always be welcome to join the fun and experience of the Cabaret by obtaining a guest card from a member and making an advance reservation.

Club charge is $50 per person

Payment must be in advance.

Guests must be over 21.

For reservations and information:

1-805-845-0555 - Alison

Blog #155

‘Tis the season to be jolly and The Magic Castle Hollywood is jammed with jolly members and guests every night. It is also the season our Magic Castle Inc. office is deluged with calls from many hapless souls. They have been told that somehow they can expect that we have a magic way of helping them make last minutes reservations. That’s after they have been told there is no room at the club by the reservation staff.

In case you haven't noticed the Magic Castle looks like something out of Disneyland. Many beautiful lights! They really get carried away and the inside of the castle is being decorated more every day so it's a lot of fun . It’s all a great tribute to the management and all the behinds the scenes staff of the AMA.

Friday was the anniversary of the attack of Pearl Harbor in 1941. In 1942 a 21 year old enlisted in the U.S. Navy help win the war through 1945. He raised up to the rank of Lt Col. After the war he went into radio. In 1956 Ralph Edwards hired him to host the new daytime version of his number one hit game show “Truth or Consequences.” A television star was born and that star is Bob Barker. Bob is celebrating his 95th birthday this Tuesday, December 12th. My long career with Ralph Edwards Production started there and I quickly joined the writing team.

Truth or Consequences was a great show and Bob Barker was a great star. He was the Master of Master of Ceremonies. Bobby Lauher, Jerry Payne and I dubbed him “The Worldst Greatest Emcee.” He is retired now but he is still the WGMC. In my book.

I met my wife Arlene when she was doing costumes for Truth or Consequences. I came up with crazy ideas like the growing tie. The costumer designers were used to challenges.

We wish Bob a very happy 95th birthday

Blog #154

November 26, 2018

I wrote my last blog a month ago and talked about devoting my Halloween CRN TALK radio show to songs somehow related to ghosts, monsters and magic. On one of the segments I played the very rare cylinder record of the actual voice of Harry Houdini and his speech on “The Water Cell Escape.” I followed it with a hilarious takeoff as supposedly recorded by Edison. It was a track from the 1966 LP “Tom Edison’s Greatest Hits” by comedians Jeff Harris and Bernie Kukoff. Since the show was aired before my blog could be published I offered to send a complimentary CD to any of my faithful blog fans that asked for it. I got good responses and sent off CD’s as promised. The offer still stands. If you would like a free CD just send a request to [email protected] with your USPD mailing address.

That blog was written a month ago. Now this one is written the day after Thanksgiving. We just sent our November/December newsletter to the 161 members of the Magic Castle Cabaret. Due to many delays and the difficulties in getting work done during the holiday season we have decided to wait until we can offer a finished club in February.

When my late brother Bill Larsen Jr., and I opened the Magic Castle the Academy of Magical Arts only had 159 Charter members. That was 56 years ago.

Arlene and I live in Santa Barbra and wanted to invest in a project that would utilize our unusual talents in our senior years. The Magic Castle Cabarets simply a personal private club to provide our friends that live on the central coast a chance to share in the enjoyment of intimate magic and live variety entertainment.

We have magically turned an old Mexican restaurant into a replica of a summer palace in Spain --- The Countess d'Lota’s Casa del Oro, House of Gold, recreates the elegance of an old world European Cabaret.

Each week we will feature parlour and close-up magicians from Hollywood’s Magic Castle.

Memberships are still available by invitation. For information call Allison LeCount at 805-845-0555.

MILTING-POT BLOG #153

OCTOBER 27, 2018

PUDDLES, THE CLOWN AT THE LOBERO THEATER – AN EYE-OPENER!

I was very aware of the singing talents of Puddles since he had appeared in several of Erika Larsen’s Brookledge Follies shows but I had never seen his full show. . We noted that he was scheduled for a one-night performance at the historic Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara. The Lobero is a wonderful 600 seat theatre where our It’s Magic! Show has played every year for the past 15 years. We were surprised that there was no advertising in our local papers or TV and no publicity. How did they expect to fill all those seats? Erika called to say that they were coming up to see the show and Puddles had invited Arlene and I to be his guests. The day of the show came and Erika, Jessica and Michael joined as for a preview of our Magic Castle Cabaret After touring the club (still waiting for final permits etc. from the city) we went to the Lobero. When we arrived at the theater I was impressed that it was standing room only sold-out.

Puddles has a huge following.

The eye-opener was the show itself and Puddles the entertainer. It is a two-hour one-man delight. As a great believer in the art of audience participation I witnessed a master at work. He combined pantomime with his amazing vocal singing range and used cleverly edited video and magically transformed members of the audience into players.

I won’t go on to describe this indescribable performance but I strongly suggest you try to see it. I checked his information on Google and found he has an amazing schedule playing top theaters on the West Coast. I note he is at the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood on December 29 at 9pm. What a great way to end the year? Check out Puddles Pity Party.

We’ll e enjoying the Magic Castle’s Halloween week. All the management and staff go all out to make this the event of the year. The volunteer “Boo-crew” works all year planning and building effects for this celebration

I celebrated Halloween by airing special Hear Them Again for the first time radio show that I’ve aired on Halloween week several time over the years. I play vintage novelty records. One segment of the show always has my guest Prof. Harry Hockmann who finds very obscure collector’s items. On the show that aired on CRNTALK RADIO Octor 27 & 28 he played the original Edison cylinder recording of Harry Houdini that he recorded in 1914. David Copperfield owns it. Harry also played a great comedy routine from a 1970’s Lp of supposedly famous people recorded by Tom Edison. It is hilarious. By the time you read this blog you will have missed the show but I will send an audio CD of that segment to any of my faithful blog readers that would like to have one. just send a request to my Email: [email protected]. Send me a mailing address. Enjoy the show.

My radio shows are heard every weekend worldwide on www.CRNTALK.com

Go to listen and then

Saturday CRN #3

Hear Them Again - 7PM-8PM

Milt Larsen host guests, Richard M. Sherman and Hurry Hockmann

Followed by - Hit Parade Cavalcade

8PM – 9PM

Milt Larsen host = talks about the songwriters of Tin An Alley Richard M. Sherman

Sunday CRN #1

Repeat shows

HTA – 4PM HPC 9PP

Archive shows are also heard

Daily on www. Yesterday USA.com

And Saturday

Blog Post #152

My last Milting-pot Blog was published on September 3rd. It reported the news that our Magic Castle Cabaret had a major problem. After three, two-day “soft openings” the Santa Barbara Building and Safety Department forced us to close due to the lack of the building permits on work we were doing.

I wrote a Blog 152 on the morning Amtrak to Burbank on September 11th. 9/11 was a day of mourning for everyone in the United States, but I got word on the train that Dale Hindman’s wife Cindy had lost her battle with cancer and had passed away that morning. After expressing my deep sadness I went onto happier thoughts about news that we might have a temporary Occupancy Permit and open again by October 4th. Then I told of the greats plans Arlene and I had for the Halloween and holiday season.

Today, October 9th, would have been the 36th wedding anniversary of Dale & Cindy, and is Dale’s birthday. Dale is finally admitting he is a senior citizen.

I finished my blog on the train on 9/11. Dale’s assistant Kris picked me up and we had a martini in memory of Cindy at the Smoke House.

Please understand that I love writing my stories on the train but I am a terrible writer. My dad, William Larsen Sr. wrote all of his books on a portable typewriter in our patio at Brookledge, using the popular “Hunt and Peck” typing technique. He would type as fast as he would think. I was good too. Until I started writing on the train. I love the train but it tends to jiggle and my eyes aren’t as good as the should be in my Octogenarian days.

Where am I going with this story?

When I write anything on the train it is a disaster. When the train jogs I end up going to the adjacent keys that can create words that are not in context or gibberish. I email the story to Dale Hindman who, before being a Bank of America executive and being the COO of Magic Castles Inc., was a schoolteacher. He taught English! Dale de-codes my work and sends it to his daughter Tiffany and she magically turns it into my Milting-pot Tumblr blog. That may explain why there was not a 9/11 blog.

That original blog reported the happy news that the Cabaret problems were almost over. That was wishful thinking. I write monthly newsletters for our members of the Magic Castle Cabaret. We have about 150 wonderful and very patient and understanding people. We have many new members joining now and we appreciate their support in these trying times. Our architect is submitting requited plans this week and all the city agencies are being very helpful in trying to get our train back on the track. Magic enthusiasts remain excited about the future of the club and look forward to the announcement of the date of the real grand opening of the Magic Castle Cabaret.

Blog #151 - 9/3/18

I started writing this blog on August 23.That was the first day our Magic Castle Cabaret was open for business. People have been congratulations us on “our opening.” It was not nor a grand opening. No searchlights and red carpets. It was just what they call a soft opening. Starting that day we would be opening every Thursday and Friday. Evening. We were far from finished and, like our Castle in Hollywood, we will always be “a work in progress.” The reason for the soft opening is to see what things work and train a brand new staff in new jobs and new policies. The only way to test the water is to have real live customers giving you their input on wonderful ideas that may, or may not, work.

We have great friends in the local press and we tried to explain this was only the soft opening, but they insisted on covering “the opening.” They did and we got wonderful reviews. Our first featured strolling magician was Adam Wylie who simply proved that close-up magic is a great art form. Shawn McMaster entertained on August 30 and 31. Audiences and the member reaction was fantastic .

On the afternoon of August 31 st we had a visit by the Santa Barbara City Building and Safety inspector. We had not signed off on needed permits. He was very understanding that we had done nothing wrong but we were unaware of paperwork that was needed. However the law is the law and we were in violation.

Since it was in the afternoon he allowed the shows to go on that night buy we could not continue. We all agreed that it was all not a problem but it would be difficult to get temporary occupancy permits for a couple of weeks We had to cancel our upcoming shows and will not take any reservations for Thursday and Fridays until we get the green light from the city. Our architect Bill Wolf is working with the S.B ARB to fix any problems that may still exists.

The good news is that we can now really use the time to work with our management staff. Arlene has assembled a talented team of workers that will continue creating our very unique club.

No further construction is anticipated. While we wait for temporary occupancy approval we will be attending to hanging posters, displaying historical props and some magical effects.

We are looking forward to a great and very active October and holiday season. Our official date of opening is September 4. 2018. It remains a private club devoted to intimate magic and variety establishment for the enjoyment primarily for our friends and neighbors in Santa Barbara. For membership information call Alison at the Magic Castle Cabaret 1-805.845-0555.

Please do not call the AMA or MCInc Offices for Cabaret information.

Blog #150

I just realized this is Blog #150. I wrote my first Blog four years ago:

MILTING POT SEPTEMBER 2, 2014

FUNNY THING ABOUT BEING A WRITER

By Milt Larsen

For the past forty years I wrote a little column for our Magic Castle Friday lunch menu. It was kind of a daily diary of news of the members, visitors, and rumormongers hanging out at the club on Friday. It would also go out on the Internet. For four decades I used to get up way too early Friday morning to try to amuse and inform my readers. A few years ago our lunch policy changed and the new buffet lunch didn’t really need menus. I felt that was a great excuse to throw in the towel and get rid of that obligation.

Okay, I miss it! Habits are hard to break.

.....and I’ve been writing my stories on the Amtrak Surf liner every week or so and here we go again. Normally on Friday lunch I host a table with close friends and associates. Starting next week Friday , August 23rd, the Larsen Lunch Table will be missing Milt Larsen. The reason for this is our new Magic Castle Cabaret in Montecito will finally open for business on a limited basis every Thursday and Friday evenings.

Being in two places at the same time is a trick I have not yet mastered. I will miss my social time with our Castle Lunch regulars and friends.

The good news is that our Magic Castle Cabaret will be up and running beginning next week. The club will open initially for just two days a week.We are not planning any kind of grand opening. There is still a lot of work to be done but we have been getting wonderful comments from members that have been seeing the progress along the way in small “show and tell” parties.

The featured Magic Castle strolling magician August 23 & 24 will be Adam Wylie and August 30 & 31, will be Shawn McMaster.

Many thanks to our pre-opening “Angel Member” party magicians Whit “Pop” Haydn, Andrew Goldenhersh and Paul Green

Most of the members of the MCCabaret are our friends that live in the Santa Barbara central coast area. The club is our personal way of introducing our passion for magic, variety and musical entertainment to our neighbors. An evening at our Cabaret will be like a party in our home. Charter memberships are still available .

For information: call Allison at 1-805-845-0555 or [email protected]. Please do NOT call The Academy of Magical Arts or the Magic Castles Inc offices for information. They would just refer you to the above number.

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