Another quiet day...

Except for eBaying.

I found someone who was selling the Michel Thomas Italian course for $1, with 4 hours left to go in the auction, and placed a bid for $15.00, against my better judgment. I say that because I left the auction as the high bidder, for the stated $1 opening bid, and someone came by with about 3 hours left to go, ran up the bidding to $14.50, and then abandoned the auction. (Sure it's still a good deal, but still... it's the sport of the thing.)

Right now, I've got some greeting cards in my sights (for the store). These I shall try to snipe at the last minute.

Cheers...

More eBaying (at the trees)...

A horse shop posted several auctions on eBay, including 8 that were selling out its inventory of a greeting card line that happens to sell very well at the store. I sniped all of these in the last minute, and ended up winning 7 of them (137 cards for under $70, or about 50 cents a card). Since I did all of this last-minute bidding "by hand," I'm still waiting for the adrenaline concentration in my blood to go down. :^)

Whoda thunk I coulda got so hepped up over a bunch of greeting cards?

* * *In going through some old boxes yesterday, I ran across an envelope I received from Jay Malbrough back in 1980. Jay and I were among the small band of magicians who did close-up magic at the Forks Hotel in Buffalo back before I set off for Russia and my first real job. The major difference between us was that I was a complete, wet-behind-the-ears tyro who knew from nothing about real performing (though even then I had little nervousness about appearing in front of crowds), while Jay had almost a lifetime of show-business experience under his belt (including work as a clown on a children's TV show out of New Orleans), albeit not the kind that results in limousines and champagne.

That is not a criticism.

When we met, Jay was a Baptist minister and he was working on developing a repertoire of "gospel magic" (the illustration of Bible stories and morals with magical entertainment). But what was really the apple of his eye at the time I knew him was his family. (I never did ever meet a man who could carry on so about his newborn son, and I hope that enthusiasm never left him.)

In any event, the envelope that started this memoir contained a gee-we-oughta-stay-in-touch-more-often letter and a pamphlet with some of Jay's latest close-up effects. (Which reminds me that I have a pile of such "lecture notes," from various magicians. I shall have to see, one day, if any of them are worth anything.)

Anyway, as seems so natural now, after examining the envelope and its contents, I decided to do a Google search to see what I could find out about Jay. Among other things, it turns out that a copy of the pamphlet he sent me is available through an online outlet that sells used magic equipment and literature; on a more somber note, Jay passed on sometime before 2001. I am currently trying to establish an email correspondence with the source of that last bit of information, so that I might find out more.

Jay taught me a lot about what it means to be a performer and was very generous as he shepherded me in my early years on stage. The highlight of my career -- the two months I appeared at the American Theater of Magic, um, under Broadway (yes, that Broadway) -- was due entirely to Jay's efforts. I think I may have been something of a disappointment when I took my leave of "the the-a-tah" (cue the joke about the guy sweeping out the "Palace") for a job in Russia, but I knew then that I was not really cut out for that kind of life.

Cheers...