Today's Video Link

The audio and video on this clip aren't too good but I'm going to post it anyway. It's from a Tonight Show with Johnny Carson from, I'm guessing, the mid-to-late sixties. Johnny's guest is one of my favorite close-up magicians, Don Alan. I used to do magic — never as seriously as some folks I know and never with the slightest thought of doing it professionally — and almost everything I did was a trick like Mr. Alan's with (I hoped) a funny punch line. He was a big influence on me and I was as excited to meet him as any "celebrity" I ever met.

There are several things of interest here. One is that the guest in Johnny's guest chair is Broadway producer David Merrick. Merrick — a very controversial figure in his business at the time — liked to go on talk shows and attack critics, other producers, the New York City government, producers of other shows, etc. At some point, Johnny got tired of him and Merrick moved his act over to The Merv Griffin Show and included in his "hit list," Johnny Carson.

Also of interest is how mystified and surprised filled with awe Johnny is of what Don Alan does. This was a fine acting job of Carson's part because as a fellow magician, he must have known how every one of those tricks worked…and if he didn't, he was in the perfect spot to see Alan doing all the sneaky stuff. But Johnny knew the reaction that made a magician's act work and he played along. (He probably also admired Alan's skill and snappy patter.) Take a look…