Mark Wilson paved the way for every magician who ever had a television special.

Wasn't it Copperfield who helped out Henning at the end of Doug's career?

Bill,

Of all people, you should know that Milbourne Christopher paved the way for USA magicains having TV specials. You CAN'T rewrite magic history.

Gerry

You are right. I should have mentioned Milbourne Christopher. If my information is correct, he had 3 syndicated television specials, starting in 1957.

Thanks Bill.

I know the younger guys don't this, which is why I think Christopher deserves the credit. Still, Mark Wilson did a lot for magic,

Thanks,

Gerry

Would you like to buy a verb?

"I know the younger guys don't this, "

Bill,

Got me on that one.

Gerry

And?

Supply and Demand...

Every now and then I've seen them for sale on ebay as DVD's. I have no idea as to their quality or where they are originating from.

Frank

As far as I know, all of the Henning specials on DVD are illegal copies.

Bill,

That would not surprise me. I've suspected this from the way they are listed on ebay, so I haven't bought any of them.

Frank

Copyright volation is a volatile topic as most people seem to believe that intellectual property has no value. Let me simply mention that a screenwriting associate of mine who posted downloadable copies of Hollywood screenplays from produced movies on a free website, and who gained nothing financially, is now the sole defendant in a multimillion dollar lawsuit initiated by Fox Corporation.

I know, I know. That won't happen to a guy helping out a fellow magician.

Doug Henning was cool, though. He did bring magic back to life for a large part of the population.

To an entity that is based upon the sale of intellectual property, for example, the movie industry, giving away downloadable copies of their intellectual property with or without compensation is tantamount to giving away free wheel covers without paying the manufacturer for them. The difference is that IP is intangible and wheel covers are tangible. I'm suprised that a screenwriter would not know this.

Typically, cases like this are given lots of publicity, so nobody else will do it, then the offender settles out of court for a very small amount of damages.

It's estimated that the music industry alone loses about 50% of its royalty money to illegal copies.

While this is way off topic to the Doug Henning thread, I guess I should advise that the screenwriter case mentioned above was, unknown to me at the time, settled out of court on November 3. The settlement will remain undisclosed, but at the very least the writer has spent thousands of dollars in legal fees over the last several months. Her argument was that she was making legal "fair use" of the copyrighted material for educational purposes. It didn't fly.

Now ... back to all things magical.

I have been patiently waiting for years for someone who knows more people than I do to obtain rights and compile all of Doug Henning's specials into a DVD set. I guess we have to wait for the right "new" thing to become popular with the public so someone can realize there is LOTS of money to be made by having Doug's specials piggyback off of it. It seems there are very few original ideas in television right now and that networks are creating new versions of old specials in the hopes of gaining both new and old audiences. Unfortunately none of it is done very well. Hawaii Five-O is the last somewhat successful remake I can remember of late. Maybe the time is right to bring Doug back to life! I would love to see all those old 70's and 80's acts performing with him... Donnie and Marie, Shields and Yarnell... I can only dream.

Speaking of Henning and his NBC specials, I just posted a nostalgic shout-out to his second special and the vanishing elephant which aired 35 years ago today.

http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2011/12/......day.html