TUBZ

Karotsuke

Thanks for joining us Mr. Goldstein/Maven (I still don’t know which is the real you, if either is the case)

I just this second got back from Derren Brown's stage show and saw a great piece involving your routine form the Videomind series. It was excellent to see it live and made me even more impressed with it than I already was!

How do you feel about other performers using your work (even though I assume he had permission) and are there any other great names you've helped?

I am delighted when a performer makes use of something I have released.

MAX MAVEN

I'm not particularly thrilled when, as has happened too often, a performer takes something from my performance repertoire. (There are lines of mine that have now become "public domain," which I suppose on some level is flattering, but is mostly annoying.)

As to well known magicians whom I have advised, the list would include David Copperfield, Lance Burton, Mac King, Jeff McBride, Eugene Burger, Harry Blackstone Jr., Doug Henning, Siegfried & Roy, Penn & Teller, The Pendragons, and... um, many more.

GARY SCOTT

The WRESTLING question

As a former professional wrestler, I would like to know more about your profound interest in wrestling. What are your likes and dislikes about

' the King of sports'...

TUBZ

You learn something new every day!

If I may ask, could we have a little history of your wrestling career and how you made the move to mentalism?

GARY SCOTT

Sorry Tubz, wrong wording...

I was a professional wrestler but Max has a deep interest in professional wrestling and I would like to hear more of his likes and dislikes...

MAX MAVEN

I developed a strong interest in professional wrestling because it has so many similarities to mentalism.

EL LUSION

The Phil Goldstein Persona

I'm sure that I recently read somewhere that Phil Goldstein was being laid to rest. Is this true, and if not what are your future plans for him?

MAX MAVEN

When I changed my name in the mid-1970s, I opted to retain the "Phil Goldstein" moniker for writing technical magic because at the time I'd been publishing for ten years (which, to a lad in his mid-twenties, seemed like a long time).

Eventually, this began to have complications. For example, when I did the "Videomind" tapes, I was both performing and explaining. Which name to use?

So, this year, on the fortieth anniversary of my first publishing, I decided to retire that name for the sake of simplicity.

HUW COLLINGBOURNE

Image

You, of course, have a very striking stage image. Many other mentalists have quite unremarkable images, often seeming deliberately to avoid any hint of a 'stage persona'.

What, in your experience, are the main advantages of a strong image? And what are the disadvantages...?

MAX MAVEN

The obvious advantage of having this strongly defined image is that people remember it, and it establishes a focal point that I can play off of during performance.

The negative is that there are circumstances where the image does not fit, at least in the minds of some producers. Although I've done quite well in, for example, the world of corporate shows, I know that there are bookers who won't consider using me, as they feel the image is too strange for their events.

Ultimately, it's about making choices. And as my goals have always favored art over commerce, I have chosen what might be defined as an "extreme" image. (Although with various fashion trends of punk and goth and such, these days it is far less extreme than it was back in the 1970s...)