Ben Robinson
Ben Robinson became enamored with magic by watching Dutch master magician Fred Kaps follow the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. Seven years later, he made his professional debut. He has since written histories of: Martinka and Co., the oldest US magical supply house, the vanishing elephant illusion, a pictorial history of the rabbit-in-hat icon, a short biography of the Marx Brothers grandfather-magician Laff Schoenberg, and the cult classic history of magicians killed attempting to catch bullets in their teeth: Twelve Have Died (1986). His life-long study of Buster Keaton's use of illusion was published in 2002 by the International Buster Keaton Society, The Damfinos. In 2008 he received a trophy from the International Brotherhood of Magicians for his writing on Al Flosso: An American Original 1895-1976.
He was first presented as a one-man surrealist magic show (Out Of Order) by avant-garde and Broadway producer Lyn Austin and her Music-Theatre Group in 1988. In 1989 he trekked to the Base Camp of Mount Everest with the American Everest Team and entertained Sherpas, monks and climbers. Other one-man shows: After Magic?, Pyschodyssey, and Time For Magic.
In 2005, he recreated John Mulholland's performance at Mulholland's alma mater, using some of Mulholland's actual props. The show was presented 81-years to the day of Mulholland's last appearance at Horace Mann. He lives in New York.
(Photo by Arielle Doneson.)
website: www.illusiongenius.com
