Spellbound

“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble.” Three Witches from MacBeth

Graphics by Mike Knight

“As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses.... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

—Severus Snape, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

When I think of all of humankind’s most essential and marvelous innovations, it's not the wheel but the creation of the phonetic alphabet representing human speech sounds. The alphabet can be traced from countries to empires and kingdoms worldwide, returning to the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Cushites, and Hebrews. Then it stops. Ends. Nada.

Egyptians and  Phoenicians attributed their systems of writing to an invention by their gods; the Phoenicians credited Taut, whom Egyptians referred to as Thouth- the first Hermes,  in which both cultures refer the creation of the alphabet to an ancient nation.  The "first Hermes" is attributed to the son of Zeus and Maia, a daughter of Atlas. This is the same Maia whom the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, an 1800s Mesoamerican historian and archeologist, associated with the Maya of Central America. De Bourbourg believes that the Mayan civilization might have originated from the lost continent of Atlantis described by Plato, who was the first to write about this mythical land as a powerful and advanced kingdom that sank, in a night and a day, into the ocean, destroyed by the gods who built her on the pillars of Hercules.

The original meaning of the word spell can also be found in the Bible in the word gospel, meaning good spell, which verbatim denotes the good news and is translated from Greek εὐαγγέλιο, Evangelion or Euangelion, the good news. Eu means good, and where we get the word angel translated, it means announcement. Combined, the word literally means good news. Good news delivered by the angels. Evangelion is also where we derive the word evangelical. (Evangelion, Not to be confused with the TV show).

Spell in all these usages mentioned above is the same as recital. Reciting words in a specific order to impart information. Add a little magic to a particular sequence of words, and you have an incantation, also known as a magic spell. Incantare is the origin of spells, meaning enchanting, charming, seducing, and leaving one spellbound. In religion, incantations are potent words that connect people of different cultures to God, Like Native Americans chanting Hayah, Hayah, Hayah as they summon the Supreme Being. (Interestingly enough, Hayah is the Hebrew name God gave to Moses when Moses asked God his name at the burning bush. Hayah means I am)

In Hollywood, (named after the wood of a holly tree), which was made into wands and used by Druidic magicians to cast spells, is a place where words are crafted together and broadcast through an image called a TV to millions and millions of viewers, affecting their opinions and beliefs. Hollywood magic is the most powerful on earth, and those wizards hiding behind the curtain use spelling (spells) to perform their magic, leaving audiences exhilarated in their trances and spellbound. Spellbound is an exciting word, meaning to bind someone to a spell. It’s also an excellent name for a magic show and was first used by magician Doug Henning in one of his earlier shows while playing at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto in late 1973 for a short run. Later in the early 80s, copped by a producer Dick Foster for a show first presented near Philadelphia in the suburb of Media at The Encore Dinner Theater starring Jonathan and Carlton Beck, aka Carlton and Co. Both these Spellbounds and I were meant for entertainment purposes, with no harm done from the casting of real spells by stirring up cauldrons like the three witches in Macbeth or waving a wand like Harry Potter. Audiences were entertained by the beguiling stage trickery and left the theater with the wonder of a good mystery.

It was 1983, and Jonathan and I were performing in a review show called Rocky Sennes’ Wild World of Burlesque at the Holiday Casino, which later became Harrah’s Las Vegas, when a gentleman by the name of Leon Altemos, a well-known developer and contractor from Philadelphia who owned many properties near Philly including the Sheraton Hotel and Valley Forge Plaza in Valley Forge as well as the King of Prussia Mall had seen our show and wanted to discuss bringing us to his Encore Theater in Pennsylvania to star in a big magic show on the scale of Siegfried and Roy. I can still feel the excitement I experienced entertaining the idea of starring in a significant show because, during those early days of our career, we were a two-person act who picked up assistants and crew at each location for financial reasons. We weren't a big company, so entertaining the possibility of an invitation of this magnitude was exhilarating. It meant relocating to the East Coast and giving up ongoing gigs with cruise ships, casinos, and Hollywood movie stuntwork. Without much consideration, we said yes, and Sandy Dobritch, our manager and agent, drew up contracts. Leon’s idea was a loose narrative of two magicians battling it out; one good wearing white and the other one wearing black, representing bad. A battle between good and evil. He hoped to find a producer for the show to develop his vision and concept to play out on his stage. Had Jonathan and I been visionaries, we would have convinced Altemose to allow us to be producers and directors of his stage spectacular. But that didn't happen because we were accustomed to working for a producer, and producing a show hadn't crossed our minds. Jonathan, with his education in theater, was competent to produce and direct the show.

Leon Altemose

We solidified our agreement with Leon before he found producer-director Dick Foster and magician Carlton Beck. We had only worked for him once in an ice show, replacing a magician, which wasn’t the best experience because performing magic on ice without the right shoes, etc., is very challenging. My bare feet were delighted to only act in his show for a few nights. Foster had been an established producer of ice shows and moved into the arena of magic but didn't have the expertise of magic he had with ice shows. Still, he did manage to produce one or two, including one in Tahoe, where he sought free advice from us regarding our Broom Suspension and Metamorphosis. I can't recall if we assisted him, but I know I was unhappy he chose to use a few dancers to execute these difficult-to-perform illusions in his show instead of us, but they were cheaper, and the show began and ended in Lake Tahoe. It was Dick’s job to find a second magician for Spellbound, and he brought Carlton and Co. to fill the part. Carlton had been through some difficult times after a several-year contract at the Flamingo Hilton, starring in the Razzle Dazzle show in Las Vegas. An extremely competent magician and illusionist with a similar background as Jonathan, he was a great choice, and with Foster putting money into Carlton‘s new illusions, he once again had the opportunity to shine on stage.

We moved to Philadelphia in the summer of 84 to begin production of Spellbound. I had never spent much time on the East Coast, so I was excited to explore the different cities and cultures. Philadelphia is located 2 hours in each direction between New York City and Washington DC, with Baltimore down the street, off the 95. Unlike the West Coast, where the metropolises of Los Angeles and San Francisco are separated by miles and miles of mountains and vast farmland, the East Coast cities are situated close to one another, making our days off intoxicating by visiting the different cities.  The first thing I noticed was Philadelphia was designed like a wheel, with few streets running north and south and avenues running east and west, unlike the city grids I'm used to on the West Coast. We had been in Philadelphia for about two weeks. Jonathan‘s brother John drove to Philadelphia with Jonathan, and I flew with our dog. When John returned home, we drove him to the airport, and he was fortunate his plane was late because we were very disoriented driving around Philadelphia trying to locate the airport. If you are unfamiliar with a city not built on a grid, the experience can be bewildering. The stars need to be your guide. Incredibly challenging at first was negotiating the roundabouts, which have only recently been introduced to California in the last few years. So, I'd enter a roundabout, not knowing exactly which fork to exit. I made many mistakes before learning how to drive on the East Coast. We found a cute mid-century-style home off Blackhorse Pike with floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room. When it snowed, it was a magical winter wonderland. I wanted to stay forever, except with beautiful snow comes frigid temperatures, and shoveling it off our driveway reminded me of the stories told to me by my mother, who grew up in North Dakota, including the one about walking 10 miles in the snow to get to school uphill both ways. ❄️😂

Program of Spellbound

The Encore Dinner Theater was an exciting place. It wasn’t just a dinner theater, but it also acted as Pulsations, a Studio 54-like discotheque famous in New York during the 70s and frequented by top celebrities. It was a fantastic place. During the daytime and early evening, it acted as the Encore Dinner Theater, where patrons could eat a wonderful lunch or dinner, followed by Spellbound, starring Carlton and Co. and The Pendragons. When the evening show of Spellbound ended, and the audience cleared, all the tables and chairs would mechanically recede into the walls, leaving a giant open space for guests to dance and attend Pulsations after hours. The place was a work of genius built by Leon Altemose and never replicated. It was an actual work of magic, and to make it more mystical, the location was in rural Media, Pennsylvania, in a field, reminding me of the movie Field of Dreams. Build it, and they will come. And they came—six nights a week for evening shows and daily matinees. I remember people drove as far away as New York City and Washington, DC, to attend. During the winter months, it was just as packed as the warmer months. I remember one snowy winter night, and the disco was filled with a crowd wearing bikinis and bathing suits for a Beach Nite at the disco. Altemose brought in sand, and it was one hell of a party. Often, we would hang around after our show ended to watch and experience Pulsations at the nightclub. Leon Altemos was quite a wizard to make all this happen and draw people from miles away to this remote location at the edge of Philadelphia. It was like he cast his spell over the eastern seaboard.

Brochure of Encore Dinner Theater

Dick secured his contract with Altemos as a producer of ice shows, but he had limited experience in magic. He relied mainly on Jonathan, myself, and Carlton to direct and stage our illusions. But most of our staging and choreography had already been completed before we arrived in Philadelphia, so we required little rehearsal of our pieces. Leon stayed close to Jonathan and me, and we shared his vision and future for the show. The same is true for Carlton, who got along brilliantly with Altemose, but Dick and Leon butted heads because he and Foster had two different concepts for the show, which collided and eventually destroyed the show. For the audience who experienced the Encore Dinner Theater, watching Spellbound was an authentic adventure from when a big giant spaceship landed on stage. A robot opened the show to the end, where Jonathan and Carlton vanished in a hangman’s gallows, reappearing unscathed, the show held the audience spellbound.

In the first photo an illustration showing the giant spacecraft which carried Carlton to the stage to open the show. The second photo is the hang-man illusion

Video of the full Spellbound show for your enjoyment

Carlton provided the show with beautiful exotic cats and large illusions that filled the stage and worked with Colleen, his principal assistant; Sue and Janet, dancers who performed in a few of his illusions; and Ed and George, his male assistants, who provided drama dressed in black head to toe including their faces. They all worked together to play the bad guys wearing black, contrasting Jonathan and me wearing white, who were two in number performing as a duo compared to Carl and his company. Our minimalistic style was an about-face turn in contrast to Carlton and Co.'s sizeable flamboyant approach, prompting a  writer from the Philadelphia Inquirer to say, paraphrased in a review, Carlton has his animals, but The Pendragons has animal magnetism” referring to our athleticism and physicality along with authentic-like illusions which defied reality giving the show balance alongside Carl’s giant alluring tigers and leopards. The show was filled with dance numbers and comedy by Mark Kornhauser, adding extra layers to this magical show, which the audience had no idea of the behind-the-scenes friction between the owner and producer. Although one of the best magic shows at the time, the show's future, at least in Philadelphia, was soon to end.

Jonathan and I and Carlton and Co.

Ironically, Leon Altemose's show concept, as I mentioned earlier, was based on two magicians battling it out each evening for the top position. Although the show did not work out the way Altemose envisioned, the battle between the producer and owner behind the curtain was real. So eventually, Dick Foster Productions and Altemose separated, leaving Leon to find a new producer to continue the show. From my memory, both Carlton and ourselves wanted to stay after Dick left and perform in his new show, which Leon named Lords of Illusion. Complications occurred for Carlton because Dick had financial investments in Carlton, so Carlton reluctantly left the show. Jonathan and I were free agents and stayed to meet the new producer in New York, whose office was in the Empire State Building. At the time, being a California girl. I thought, “How cool is that.” I can't recall the name of the producer we met, but I didn't like him, nor did Jonathan, from what I remember. So we packed our bags and drove home on one of the most memorable trips across the country, which I'll save for another article.

Here we show off our minimalist style by performing a simple, but gorgeous floating ball. Intriguing a photo of what appears to be our malamute Kindernacht at the time.

Dick continued selling Spellbound to buyers worldwide, and each was never the same twice. Magicians would bring their flavor to the show, and some shows like the Spellbound we performed at the Reno Hilton Featured only Jonathan and I as the magic stars of the show. I remember it was years before we worked with Dick again. We had a connection in Vienna, Austria, who, after seeing a video of Spellbound, requested we notify Dick to bring it to a sports arena in Vienna, I think in 85. He invited us to perform in  Bophuthatswana, South Africa, in the 86 and the early 90’s; we joined Spellbound in Las Vegas, which was once The Alladin, now Planet Hollywood and the Reno Hilton as the only magicians being the sole headliner in those venues. But each place seemed haunted, jinxed just like the original Spellbound. In South Africa, all the principals in the show were injured, some more badly than others. I, for instance, unbeknownst to me, except years later, broke my kneecap flying on a Peter Pan-like rig where I was supposed to land one stage during a rehearsal but instead hit the side of the wall of the stage with my left knee absorbing the impact. Jonathan fell 17 feet to the concrete, breaking his hand along with other minor injuries. He was in a cast for a year. Another magician fell into the orchestra pit. Everyone was hurt. But the show continued, so despite these problems, we all continued performing even with casts on our arms and wrapped knees. At the Aladdin, we replaced a magician who became ill from appendicitis, and in Reno, Jonathan was mauled by a tiger. Tragic events seemed to follow the show, and I'm unsure why. Perhaps someone incanted words of justice, and Karma visited someone? And we were just in the crossfire of this spiritual warfare. I found an intriguing meme about reverse karma and an incantation of words spelled out to affect someone who betrayed you.

Casting instructions for “Instant Karma”

Have a clear mind, and you already have your intention ready to chant many times as you feel comfortable.

Back to you, three times three.  Your energy and it was bad towards me, take it back as I let it go. Now your karma starts to show.

Sometimes Karma’s a bitch and leaves the recipient spellbound, but not in a good way. Be careful of how you use the magic in your life and its influence on others. It can come back to bite you. Remember what you were taught in Sunday school, “Do unto others as you want others to do to you.” leave retribution to God so you don't get caught up in spiritual volleyball using words as weapons against an adversary. If you add the letter “s” to the utterance of “word,” you get “sword” — a weapon that cuts sharp. Sometimes words cut deep.

Quality words increase  good vibes, and bad words promote negativity. These energies project throughout the world and effect  earth’s harmony is what I believe. Choose your words wisely.

I leave you with this Hopi message, Askuali lolomani (thank you for all the blessings) 🤗✨🙏

Good night