Lance Rich: Neon Dreams - The Story of Las Vegas Magic
Lance Rich, a magician, writer, and historian, shares his journey in the world of magic, focusing on his acclaimed book, "Neon Dreams: The Story of Las Vegas Magic." He discusses how he chronicled the rich history of magic in Las Vegas, highlighting notable figures including Gloria Dea, the first magician to perform on the Las Vegas Strip. Lance reflects on the impact of nostalgia as a gateway to understanding magic's history and emphasizes the importance of accessible storytelling. Through his insights, Lance inspires aspiring magic historians and writers to find their passion and create engaging narratives that resonate with a wider audience.
Transcript
You're listening to The Magic Book Podcast, conversations about classic and contemporary books that teach, illuminate, and celebrate the art of magic. I'm your host, Adrian Tennant, a lifetime student of magic and mentalism, occasional performer, and longtime book collector. Thanks for joining me. Welcome to the seventh episode of The Magic Book Podcast. Today, my guest is Lance Rich, a magician, performer, writer, and historian. Lance developed a passion for magic, music, and being the center of attention early in life, breaking into show business at the age of 5 in his family living room. Since then he's worked as a performer, creative consultant and producer on stages across the country, including amusement parks and with major symphony orchestras. Lance is well known for co-hosting the Magic Collectors Corner, an online show and Facebook community dedicated to magic history and collecting.
Adrian Tennant [:For this work, Lance and his partner David Sandy have been honored with the Alan Slaight Sharing Secrets Award, the Milbourne Christopher Ambassador of Magic Award, and a special fellowship from the Academy of Magical Arts at the Magic Castle. As a writer, Lance's articles and essays have been published in Magicol, M-U-M, The Linking Ring, and Vanish Magazine. Lance is also the author of "Neon Dreams: The Story of Las Vegas Magic," a comprehensive exploration of how Las Vegas became the global epicentre of magical entertainment. Published in 2023, the book received rave reviews for its combination of magic history and engaging storytelling. Lance, welcome to The Magic Book Podcast.
Lance Rich [:Oh, thank you so much, Adrian. I'm really excited to be here.
Adrian Tennant [:Well, let's start at the beginning. Can you tell us a bit about your first exposure to magic?
Lance Rich [:Yes. The first time I saw a magicians live, you know, I'd seen it on TV, I'm sure, by that point, seen the Copperfield specials. I'm, like, right in that era and when they were a super big deal. Right? The first magician I saw live was during my after school program. So I was about 5 years old, and he was a local performer, kind of a local legend called Broadway The Clown. He had studied at Ringling Circus School. His father was a famous magician in town, like, in the era, you know, kind of before me. So he came into this after school program, and I remember just being infatuated.
Lance Rich [:And so that really kicked off a passion. It's kinda cool because years later, we became friendly. I did some work for him as a as, like, a costumed mascot character. But, you know, when I had no other booking. And so Broadway The Clown, Nick Wilkins. That was my first magician I saw a lot, and and that kinda started something.
Adrian Tennant [:Well, you started performing at a very young age. Can you share some memories of those earliest performances?
Lance Rich [:Sure. The earliest show, and I kinda joke about it in the bio that I use, but it was in my living room. And it was after checking out a couple of books at the library and a book slash kit kind of thing that I got at the Scholastic Book Fair. I loved those every every year. So it was put together this show with myself and my nephew, and I was the star, you know, of course, and he did whatever whatever I told him to do, but that was the beginning. And so then my mom told my Boy Scout den leader that I had done a magic show for the family. And so my first public show, I guess, was in a basement across the neighborhood really, and that was my Boy Scout troop. You know, had a couple of effects.
Lance Rich [:Cole, my nephew that had assisted me before, he had already gone back to Saint Louis where he lived. And so now I was on my own up there. And I I remember my big finale was an escape. And this is something that wasn't from a book. This was just like I figured out I mean, I I just escaped. Base I mean, there's no trick. There's no gimmick. It could have gone terribly wrong, but it's like telling a bunch of 5, 7 year olds, you know, "Tie me up, and I'm gonna get out of it."
Lance Rich [:So that's what I did.
Adrian Tennant [:You've alluded to a couple of magic books. Can you remember what they were?
Lance Rich [:Well, I do remember what they were, and that's actually kind of a great story. And in my elementary school, I used to check out these books all the time, And I mean, all all the time. When you look at the books and you look at the pictures of me at the time and it it teaches you what to wear in the books, and that's what I'm wearing when you look at the pictures of me from that era. It teaches you the tricks to do and I can see those are some of the tricks that I'm doing from these books. Fast forward many years and I got a Facebook message from my elementary school librarian and this was at her retirement And she said, what is your address? And I gave her my address. I was living in Missouri by then. And a couple of weeks later, they showed up in my doorstep. She had pulled them out of circulation, and they actually have these withdrawn stickers on them, but they are "Abracadabra: Creating Your Own Magic Show from Beginning to End," and "Give A Magic Show."
Lance Rich [:Both very very basic entry level-types of books for children, but they really they made an impact on me. That was a pretty cool thing. So now, these books, my very first magic books that, you know, actually the first magic books that I had are, on my bookshelf.
Adrian Tennant [:That's amazing. Well, as a teenager, you produced a charity magic show for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. What inspired you to take on such a big project?
Lance Rich [:I guess, I didn't know that I could. So a little hubris and a little, like, you know, just lack of knowledge, really. I mean, aren't we kind of at that age -you know - we think that we know everything! And so I was super involved in a marketing organization called DECA, very involved with that all throughout my high school years. And DECA's national signature charity was the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I had, at that time, no particular allegiance or connection to to that organization. And then I'd seen, like, in The Linking Ring, this article about a local group, a local magic club that put on a show to raise money for something. Right? And so I thought, "Well, I could do that."
Lance Rich [:I'm 16 or 17. I think 17. You know, I went to my marketing teacher, the DECA advisor, and I said, "Hey. Can we do this?" And she said, "Sure. You run with it." And so she really gave me this carte blanche. She gave me, like, full control over the show, So I produced a show.
Lance Rich [:And at that time, I was a member of the Louisville Magic Club, which is a club with both an S.A.M. Assembly and an I.B.M. Ring. And I invited members of that club to come do the show, and we raised about $750 or something like that that 1st year. And I also emceed the show, which thinking about it now, like, why did I think that I could do that? I don't know. And hopefully, it was okay. But but I also did this big circus production number in the show as well that I thought, "Man, this was like just this is this big thing. I wanna do this big thing. And, well, I guess there was a little bit of this okay. I have this opportunity," because, you know, I love stage magic.
Lance Rich [:And so I created this opportunity. "We'll do it for this charity. We'll do it through the guys of this marketing club. But at the end of the day, you know, it let me, like, kinda flex my muscles." Now I will say, like, since then, you know, the Muscular Dystrophy Association is a great organization who I became involved with. I was a counselor at camp for a number of years with. MDA, since the the Jerry Lewis Telethon doesn't happen anymore, it's it's kind of, like, not as in the spotlight as it once was, but, certainly a worthwhile organization still.
Adrian Tennant [:You continued to produce that show for 10 years.
Lance Rich [:Yeah. Yeah. So I was a high school student for two of those. And then going to college and all of that, I would come back to my hometown every year and do this show, and the show's got bigger. So it started off with that local talent from the Louisville club, and there was usually somebody from Kentucky that would be part of it. But then, you know, I was pulling in people from kind of a regional talent pool, and we had Dan Sperry was there. It was after he had graduated from college, but certainly before, you know, The illusionists and America's Got Talent. And, yeah, it was it was a it was a great showcase there for 10 years.
Adrian Tennant [:How much have you raised?
Lance Rich [:I'd say that show specifically over the years, they list probably over, like, $25,000, which, you know, it sounds like a lot and it sounds like a little, I guess, depending on your perspective. But for me, as a, you know, like a 20 year old for 2 unit, that seems pretty cool.
Adrian Tennant [:That's pretty decent.
Lance Rich [:Yeah. Especially in this, like, little very small rural town in Kentucky.
Adrian Tennant [:In your early twenties, you worked at Beach Bend Park. What did you learn from that experience?
Lance Rich [:So this is an amusement park, little regional amusement park in Bowling Green, Kentucky. And there's a great opportunity to do things in a repetitive way, you know, because you're doing 3, 4 shows a day, and it's just constant. And so one, you wanna look engaged and feel engaged. And so I was hired there first as a singer dancer, and then the next season, I said, you know what? And so, like, I I pitched this show, which they didn't take the whole show, but they took elements of it. So I got to add magic to the arsenal there. So anyway, so that repetitive thing that trying to feel engaged even when, you know, it's 90 degrees outside and humid, because this wasn't amphitheater. 90 degrees, humid. It's your last show of the day, and there are, you know, 3 people in any kind of show, and you still want to do something that's good.
Lance Rich [:You know, you you don't wanna just, like, walk through it. This was actually during my last year at Beach Bend. It was my first year going to MAGIC Live! And because this was, like, later in the season, the park shows had already gone to the fairing only on weekends. Right? Which allowed me to go to MAGIC Live! during the week. And I went to a section that Joanie Spina hosted. And Joanie Spina, who, you know, your listeners know, from David Copperfield specials and Kalin and Ginger, their collaboration with them and so many other directors. You know, at that time, she had a column in MAGIC Magazine called "Directions."
Lance Rich [:But in her session, she said, you know, like, she gave me this this piece of advice, not me. I say she gave me, she gave everybody, but, you know, it felt like it was directed to me. And it's just about, like, connecting with the audience. It was about looking at them, not just scanning the crowd blankly, but just looking at them for long enough that you see a smile come across their face. You engage just that much and then you can move on to the next person. And that little bit of energy is feeding that person that you engaged with as well as the the crowd that's around them. And then you move on and and do that again. And I probably had just been doing just a lot of blank, you know, looking just across the crowd and not looking at people.
Lance Rich [:And so that that's a great piece of advice. And because I was still in the shows, I was able to go back that weekend and do the show and employ this piece of advice, like, immediately, and I could feel a difference there. So that's great.
Adrian Tennant [:You were very brave. You sent her a tape, I think, which was reviewed in MAGIC, and she didn't hold back with her advice.
Lance Rich [:Absolutely. And that was in that column that I was talking about - "Directions," in MAGIC Magazine. And in my case, she actually met, like, personally with me. It was a time that I was in Las Vegas. And so we went through the video, like, in person and and she's like, "This is good. This, you know, this, you need to engage." And she she had a way of speaking to that. It wasn't harsh.
Lance Rich [:It was genteel, but it was direct.
Adrian Tennant [:It was on point.
Lance Rich [:Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. You've done the research. I forget when that was. I'm gonna say 2009, something like that.
Adrian Tennant [:It's the issue with Johnny Thompson on the front cover.
Lance Rich [:Yes. It is.
Adrian Tennant [:Funny how you remember which, volume things are in.
Lance Rich [:I tell you, people remember Johnny Thompson's on the cover. They don't remember that I'm in the pages!
Adrian Tennant [:You met your partner, David Sandy, at the I.B.M. Gold Medal Stage Competition in 2009. And, of course, you've collaborated on a number of projects over the past 15 years. You've described David as a "Renaissance man." Lance, how do your skills complement each other?
Lance Rich [:Yeah. I described him that, you know, but he really is. You know, he can engineer something and build it, but at the same time, he's creative and he's he's a business person and he's a this and a that. You know, he's he's many things, and he's a good magician too. I mean, it's kind of amazing. I think of him as a stage magician, kinda, but he grew up, like, literally learning at the feet of, like, Dai Vernon and Ross Bertram and his mentor Fawcett Ross. I mean, so these were like knuckle busting close-up magicians. So as a magician, he has this big spectrum that he can exhibit skill in.
Lance Rich [:But as to how we complement, I'm a big idea person. I'm a I'm a good art director. I'm a good overall picture. I wanna tell stories, but he so much better at, like, making something happen and making something happen now. You know, I can have something in the sketch pad, on the drawing board for forever. And he's like, "Okay, let's do it." You know, like, "Let's do it." So so we do sort of balance each other out in that way to where, I mean, he might like, "Let's do it today."
Lance Rich [:And I might be, like, "Let's do it in, you know, 3 years' time." And so so so now we gotta meet in the middle there.
Adrian Tennant [:If you're enjoying this episode of The Magic Book Podcast, please consider leaving a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple Podcasts. It can really help other people who share our interests discover the podcast. Thanks. Lance, let's talk about your book, "Neon Dreams: The Story of Las Vegas Magic." Now the book originated from a talk you gave at the Magic Collector Expo. Can you tell us about that experience and how it evolved into a full-length book?
Lance Rich [:Yes. So I was booked to speak at the at the Magic Collector Expo, which was to be in Vegas in 2020. Bill Smith was organizer of this conference. The year before 2019, I'd given a talk. In fact, David and Bill were partners in that one, that was in Minneapolis. And I'd given a talk that was sort of like a history, an overview of nightclub era magicians. You know, that very American mid-century sort of thing from maybe the mid- to late- thirties to all the way to maybe the early sixties when that was especially popular. And and so Bill was like, "Okay."
Lance Rich [:"Yeah. Do that for Vegas. Do that for Vegas." And so that's kinda how it started. And as was the case with the nightclub talk, it just evolves from being just an overview into, like, these little things, these areas that I want to focus on or something that particularly becomes interesting to me. And as I'm telling people that I'm working on this talk, they say, "Now who was the first person to play Vegas? Who was the first person to work Vegas?" And at first, I'm I I like first of all, I have an answer because I've always heard it was this one person. And then I've also heard it was this other person. Right? I mean, I don't wanna say their names, but, you know, people are, like, creating their legacy, you know, the proud of things.
Lance Rich [:So these different examples brought the case. They weren't they weren't who it actually was. The more I hear this question, the more I think, "Well, who was the first person to play Vegas?" But because of COVID, the convention and thus the talk keeps getting delayed. And I will say, had that not happened, the talk would not have been the talk that it was with some of the revelations that it had because the talk ended up being in, I think, August of 2021 after that convention was delayed, I think twice, maybe 3 times. And certain things just fell into place, certain revelations really fell into place right before August of 2021. I don't know that that talk would have been as as well ... and it was extremely well received. But I don't know that it would have happened that way had it not been for this delay, you know. And, and then as it turns out, just to get to the book, Joshua Jay was in the audience there.
Lance Rich [:Joshua Jay who with Andi Gladwin, you know, own and are responsible for Vanishing Inc. And Josh says to me very shortly after the presentation, "That's great. I think there's a book in there. Would you be interested in adapting that into a book?" And, you know, I thought for about, like, 2 seconds. I was like, "Yeah!" So there we go. And then, you know, fast forward a few more years, and "Neon Dreams" is released.
Adrian Tennant [:Your research process for "Neon Dreams" must have been really extensive. Can you walk us through how you approach gathering the information for the book?
Lance Rich [:Sure. Okay. Research in any sort of, like, history project. It's an important thing. So many of the performers who I knew were in Vegas, like a Marvyn Roy, Jack Kodell, Jay Marshall, you know, their books, autobiographies, or biographies about a lot of these folks. So, you know, I'm pouring through those. I'm diving into archives on my newspapers.com and Ask Alexander. I mean, it it is amazing to think about how this process went before the Internet, you know, before you had this access at your fingertips, which is still a lot of work.
Lance Rich [:I mean, that's not to say that having it at your fingertips isn't work because you have to be looking for something. But before that, I mean, that, you know, it's incredible to imagine, like, something like what Sydney Clarke did or or Eddie Dawes when they're, like, literally going to the libraries across the country, across countries. Anyway, but back to this process. So I'm researching, I'm going down all of these trails. I did a lot of that for the talk. Right? And then when I decide that it is going to become this pool and gives me the opportunity to go to a lot of contemporary places or or more contemporary places like the Nineties, the 1990s was a huge time, an explosive period of growth for Vegas and for magic and for magic in Las Vegas. And that is history.
Lance Rich [:I mean, you think that's like 30 years ago. You know, in in many ways, I feel like I I it's hard for me to bet on that, but that's what I fell in love really with Vegas was in the 1990s. In addition to the research, the deep dives in research, now I get to talk to all of these people who were on the Vegas stage in that era. And so it's just dozens and dozens of new interviews asking about those Las Vegas experiences. That was a lot of fun. There are a lot of great stories that came out of that. Most of those really great stories are in the book. Some we couldn't print, but but most of them are in the book.
Lance Rich [:Anyway, so so that was great. And then I I gotta say too, I mean, the community of researchers and historians is so generous and collectors too because anybody who I ask to, like, open their library to me I mean, I give names. I don't wanna leave people out, but, like, I mean, the American Museum of Magic, David Copperfield's library, the University of Nevada's Las Vegas special collections, Those 3 in particular were great, but, like, you you asked David Charvet or Mike Caveney, "Hey, do you know this thing?" and they're right there with some facts with visuals if you need those and say, "Yeah, you can print that, you can print this photograph." And so just really great stuff like that. And even like Max Maven, Max Maven connected me to Bill Mullins, who's an amazing researcher. I mean, he finds things on the Internet. I don't know where he goes to get some some things that he's able to access. Richard Hatch.
Lance Rich [:Just a tremendous community of folks who can help support you.
Adrian Tennant [:How did you approach the writing process? Did you create a detailed outline first and write to that, or was it more organic?
Lance Rich [:There is an outline, first of all, and it started again with the talk. I had organized the talk in the way that Vegas reviews, like Folies Bergère and Jubilee, in the way that people organized, they had would have an act, and then they'd have, like, little sub acts or sub chapters, if you will. I mean, I'm using it as a sub chapter. And so I that's how I sort of started the talk. I thought, oh, that's a kind of a novel way to present it. I'll make it look like a show program from those shows. But what it allowed me to do is to sort of organize these thoughts in cohesive ways because the book is not linear. It does not move in a chronological format.
Lance Rich [:I mean, that was my choice. And as we were talking about the 1990s earlier, I wanted to start in the Nineties because it's when I fell in love with Vegas, as I said, but it's also this place where it it was super important to magic and and the town and everything. But I feel like it's nostalgia. And one thing I've learned is how nostalgia is almost this, like, this gateway drug, if you will, to history. So by beginning there in the 1990s when somebody my age was watching The World's Greatest Magic and dreaming about Las Vegas - my age or Matt Franco. Matt Franco is a Vegas headliner now, loves The World's Greatest Magic (TV) specials from the Nineties. So somebody my age who dreamed of it, you know, somebody who is 60 who is 60 now, you know, they were going to those shows, I would say. And they they were there, you know, they saw those shows.
Lance Rich [:So however you look at it on that pretty wide spectrum of ages there, there's something to connect within that 1990s period. Anyway, so I knew I was going to start there and then go back in time probably there deeper into history. And from after the Nineties, it does move in a fairly chronological way. But, again, going back to those how you outline, like, there is an act, if you will. I mean, that's that's how I labeled them in the book. There's an act that is all about the review shows. And so we go into multiple different review shows, multiple stories from different performers about review shows, but the review shows and by that, I do mean the the Folies Bergère, the Lido de Paris, especially. They were super important to the town and and to its evolution as an entertainment destination.
Lance Rich [:And so it was really important that I really drill down on that component. And so within that review show era, then the subchapters are sort of, like, in a chronological order. You know? Bit of the linear order there. Outline stuff kicks it off, I guess. I have a mission statement that I'd reread every now and then, you know, that's written at the top of my document. So as I'm writing, I look back up and it says something about to illuminate and inspire with whatever. And it's kinda cool because the book, it's not meant to be inspirational necessarily, but two different reviews have said something about being inspirational. And then I look back at that mission statement, and I didn't use the word inspire in the mission statement.
Lance Rich [:And I was like, well, "You know, maybe there is something to say about rereading that every couple of weeks as I'm working on it, rereading that mission statement." I was like, "Maybe it, you know, sunk in somewhere there with me even as I was writing it." So again, going back to the original question, have the outline and I just been filling in gaps. It's a I'm a little like ADHD where I'll like, I wanna research this thing or I wanna write about this thing. But then, you know, in a week, I'm kinda like onto something else, and I'll come back to that thing that I had been working on. But at least with the outline there, I know where it's all going. You know? I know how it's going.
Adrian Tennant [:There is one section that contrasts stylistically with the rest of the book titled "The Newcomer." Lance, what inspired you to adopt a narrative approach here?
Lance Rich [:So "The Newcomer," I think a term is that's used is a creative nonfiction where it is a little more narrative. It's talking about a night at Gary Darwin's Magic Club. And for your listeners who don't know, Gary Darwin's Magic Club was an event that happened every week in Las Vegas. Late night, they would rent the backroom of some I mean, it changed it was a restaurant. It was a casino. They changed places throughout the the years. And local magicians, out of town magicians visit, and, like, headlining magicians would all come to the same meetings. It's like no magic club meeting you know, that you've been to, like, with the I.B.M. or the S.A.M. or whomever.
Lance Rich [:Really didn't kick off until, like, 11:00 maybe, but it's like the idea that, like, Siegfried and Roy are there at the same time as the guy who's visiting from wherever, from Kentucky, from Iowa. So these people, you know, you're all just in this big room together and drinking, having some food, smoking, I'm sure, because there were smoke everywhere back then, but it's just kind of a cool thing. Well, Gary Darwin started Magic Club and Gary Darwin moved to town and became kind of like the godfather of Las Vegas magic. He did perform on the stages in a couple of different venues. But behind the scenes, I mean, he just welcomed people into the Las Vegas magic community. So I've spent a great deal of this bigger chapter talking about Gary Darwin. I've described Gary Darwin's career, and I've described the club. I've had quotes from people who went to the club.
Lance Rich [:I wanted the reader to feel what it's like to be there. You know, I wanted to put them in that place. It became this sort of narrative creative nonfiction, if you will, of actually feeling like you're there. And another thing that that allowed me to do was to use interviews that I had conducted and bits of information, bits of stories, like, Fielding West. Fielding in some ways is sort of like one of the main characters in this chapter that we're talking about. He's so colorful. He's so, like, larger than life, and he's quoted so much within that. And these quotes of his really do.
Lance Rich [:I mean, like, if he's quoted there, it came from an interview. I'm not just putting words in his mouth. I just wanted it to feel like you were there. And it's interesting too. It was almost cut from the book for the reason that you said. It doesn't quite match the book in some ways, you know, in in the the storytelling choice. And so it was maybe on the chopping block because didn't necessarily fit in. And, and so then it was like, you know, I really hate to lose it because I want to experience everything.
Lance Rich [:You know, Andi (Gladwin) in the layout, it's in a different color background, it's in like a different format slightly just so it looks a little different visually. And, of course, it doesn't really have photographs during that chapter either because it should exist in your mind. But at the end of the day, it's one thing that people keep talking about that chapter. So I'm kinda proud of that. Everybody who is mentioned, say, in "The Newcomer" chapter is a character, if you will, a person who you've already been introduced to throughout the book in some way or another. So it's like you sort of have an idea who this person is already, and that continues through the rest of the book. So they're not all these digestible, bite-sized things. There is some flow as you make your way through the book.
Adrian Tennant [:"Neon Dreams also reveals two firsts in Las Vegas magic history. In your research, you uncovered the story of Gloria Dea, the first magician to perform on the Las Vegas strip. How did you first come across her story?
Lance Rich [:That came again through this research. David Goodsell had an article that he wrote in the program of a convention guide when the S.A.M. convention was in Las Vegas. Because he sort of queries too about who was the first magician to play Las Vegas. I asked if he'd come across any new information since he published that article, which is probably, 10, 15 years ago, and he hadn't. And I contacted Max Maven, asked Max about a couple of questions, and he said, "You know, this is a good question for Bill Mullins." So Max introduced me to Bill Mullins. And Bill Mullins compiled a list of all of these performers, just names he could find. I compiled a similar list of various performers.
Lance Rich [:I'm looking for a casino, hotel casino. And so you take away, like, the Eagles Lodge. You take away this political rally. You take away, you know, these things that happen, which could happen, you know, in "Anytown, USA," right? I want something that's a hotel casino because that's what makes Vegas, Vegas. You know, that's the credit you're looking for when you play Vegas. And, when you start taking all of those names away, you're left with one name. The earliest name I should say, and that was Gloria.
Lance Rich [:I mean, I had never heard of Gloria Dea, and, most people hadn't, I would say. And then I sent an email to Michael Claxton who is a great source again for those photographs. And Michael Claxton in particular has a great knowledge about women in magic. And Michael sent me a photo of Gloria, this, like, kind of composite image. It's it's great. It's so of that era, that composite image that she used for promotion. And then he says, "You know, it looks like as of whatever year it was, like, she might be living in Las Vegas." And so I, you know, I do some Google searches in this lands on a a blog post for 2009 written by a distant cousin of hers talking about her living in Las Vegas.
Lance Rich [:2009. I mean, I'm looking at this in 2021. That's more than 10 years. So a lot can change in 10 years, especially when you're talking about somebody of that age. So I reached out to her cousin, Kenneth, and he said, "Yeah. Gloria is alive. She's 98 years old." She was at that time. She was about to turn 99, and so he put me in touch with her.
Lance Rich [:And then there's this whole other serendipitous journey from a magician named AnnaRose Einarsen, and that story is all on the book. But it's really the way that everything fell into place in really just a couple of weeks time. And AnnaRose and I both ended up on the same journey to the same woman through and she she found well, I'll I'll let you read. It's just it's just like, I don't know if I believe in serendipity, but it makes me believe in serendipity because it's just the amazing way that this story fell into place and the things that happened after it fell into place are pretty incredible. All of that wouldn't have happened without this research and these incredible people who have helped me.
Adrian Tennant [:As a direct result, Gloria got to enjoy a very special 100th birthday party. What was it like seeing Gloria that day?
Lance Rich [:Oh, it was really amazed. So this is a woman who I will say, you know, she was a magician. She was a child magician. She became a dancer. She danced with the Earl Carroll Vanities and she danced with Billy Rose's Aquacade. I mean, some really crazy crazy things that these big names from entertainment history, not magic history. And then, you know, she was an actor actress. She was in some bit parts in movies including Plan 9 from Outer Space by Ed Wood, which is, you know, largely considered to be the worst movie of all time.
Lance Rich [:So she's this, like, kind of interesting, you know, touching show business greatness without ever being a star, without ever being recognized. Probably the age of 40, maybe a little past that, she kinda walks away from show business in general. She walks away from magic. She goes on to other careers. Now when she performed in Las Vegas at the age of 18, she was not living in Las Vegas. She lived in LA. But eventually, like in the late Seventies, she does move to Las Vegas. And so she's lived in Las Vegas for, you know, now 40 years, more than 40 years, really.
Lance Rich [:So seeing her now at the end of her life, a 100 years old, get this recognition of being a show business trailblazer, a magic trailblazer. The Clark County commissioner was there that day. He presented her the key to the strip. And he says, when he gives it to her, he says, "Because you helped create it." And it's true because when she performed on the Las Vegas strip, the review she was in ran for about two weeks at the El Rancho Hotel. El Rancho was the first hotel casino on The Strip. I am pretty sure this is the first person to play a hotel casino. Brand new hotel casino, newly built on The Strip that hadn't happened before.
Lance Rich [:1941, and it's her. I mean, you just you take away all those other names and it's her. Anyway, so now she's kind of basking in this glory, this recognition that she had never had before. I mean, she said one time, she said I was never a star, but this has made me a star. Kinda cool. And she really is. I mean, she is now, you know, she is now in the history book. People know her name.
Lance Rich [:We're talking about her on this on The Magic Book Podcast.
Adrian Tennant [:One of the magicians who features prominently in the history of Las Vegas is, of course, Lance Burton. Now in addition to sharing a first name, you're both originally from Kentucky. Towards the end of "Neon Dreams," you write, "Las Vegas is the magician's dream. It's a place where German boys and Kentucky bumpkins can become stars." How does Lance feel about the reference to Kentucky bumpkins?
Lance Rich [:Well, I think he would be okay with it. He hasn't said anything to me about it. And I'm I'm also speaking there about Mac King too, another fellow Kentucky bumpkin. Lance calls himself "Hillbilly," which is historically speaking kind of a more disparaging term. But the point that I'm making there too is that, like, these people from these diverse backgrounds, the war-torn German boys, Siegfried and Roy, of course, to, you know, somebody who who grew up in a field in Kentucky have that opportunity to become stars in in Las Vegas. So, I'm sure Lance enjoys that.
Adrian Tennant [:Excellent. You can be notified when new episodes of this podcast are published either by signing up on the website at TheMagicBookPodcast.com or by following the Facebook page. Thanks. As I mentioned in the intro, your work on the Magic Collectors' Corner with David has been honored with the Alan Slaight Sharing Secrets Award, the Milbourne Christopher Ambassador of Magic Award, and a special fellowship from the Academy of Magical Arts. Lance, how has producing the show and maintaining the Facebook community around it influenced your perspective on magic history and collecting?
Lance Rich [:Magic Collectors' Corner started as kind of something for us to do during COVID. And I think it was surprising for us how much people latched onto it, almost immediately. I mean, like, within the first couple of weeks, we were filling up our Zoom room, and we were streaming it on Facebook as well. And then that Facebook community where you are showing your antique and historic props or you're asking questions about history, you know, that has just grown and grown. I think it's it's like 6,500-ish people now, which is amazing. Accessibility has been like a major thing. I know so many people who say, "Well, I'm not a collector, but, you know, I have 500 decks of cards. I mean, and they're all different, you know, like, not just 500 bricks, but I've got, like, I've got these decks."
Lance Rich [:Well, that's kind of a collector. You're kind of a collector! You might specialize in one collection, but you're kind of a collector. And it's like, "Well, I'm not a historian, but did you know ...?" and, you know, tell some of that. And I'm like, that is where it's at. So I think sometimes we can do a disservice to history or collecting community when we label it like the Magic Collectors' Corner as we tend to or the Magic Collector Expo or Magic Collector Association because it seems like there must be a barrier for entry, and there's not. And if you love your 100 decks of cards or if you love your, you know, the three Square Circles that you have, you had one when you were a kid, you bought one in your twenties, and you have one now and, you know, you're 65. But when each one is maybe a little more expensive or a little different, but you got your three Square Circles.
Lance Rich [:I mean, by whatever standards rules, I I think three is a collection. Right? Two is two and three is a collection! So I guess it's just like being that Facebook community, being able to post and ask questions, it's that accessibility. You know, my own interest in history came from and and this goes to the name of the podcast. You know, we talked about my first magic books. This my interest in history starts also in the Nineties because of book, and they were mass market book. It was "Conjuring," by James Randi, which told great stories that were kind of bite-sized stories but about magicians throughout the years, and, "The Encyclopedia of Magic," by Eddie Dawes and Arthur Satterington. I never owned that book, actually.
Lance Rich [:I do now, but I didn't own that book because that was a public library book. I checked it out all the time, and I tried to buy it many times. Pages are torn. Things are drawn in it. And they're like, "No. We don't we don't wanna sell it." I mean, it could have just gone missing off of their shelf, but I never did that. You know? I never just took it, but I did check it out all the time.
Lance Rich [:And what's great about that book to me too is that it was contemporary because, you know, I think it's published in '85, '86 or anywhere near. So it had contemporary performers, Siegfried and Roy and Copperfield were in it. It taught some tricks, so you can learn a little bit of magic, but then it also had great history as well. And so both those books, "Conjuring," and "Encyclopedia Magic," mass market books accessible to me. "Conjuring," I think I bought at Barnes and Noble. And likewise, "Architectural Digest" with David Copperfield on the cover. That was sort of my introduction to "People collect?" and, like, you know, make it in this beautiful display. Now I think, I'm just guessing here, I don't think another magic collection has made it to "Architectural Digest" other than this, but but still, like, that was like an that's that's that's pretty cool.
Lance Rich [:That's pretty cool. I mean, I bought that at Walden Books, you know, that issue of that magazine. So going back to the collectors, if you knew our 40-year old, 17-year old, whatever you you stumble on this thing, you don't think of yourself as a collector, historian, whatever. But you think like, "Oh, I've got a question about this problem." And and so it's just that intriguing. And now, you know, we have, I don't know, almost 40-ish episodes of the Collectors' Corner and they're long and people tell me, people watch them, like rewatch them, which is amazing. I mean, there's a lot there is a lot of amazing information in them. Somebody, like, said to me one time they were doing a rewatch, and I was, like, "It's not The Sopranos!"
Lance Rich [:Right? It's not like ... like but so the idea of, like, going back and rewatching these 3-hour long episodes, it's pretty extraordinary. But I am proud of what we've created, and hopefully, it has been an entry point to some people. And I think it has because when we have seen people at, like, Collector Expo, collector conventions, and non-collector conventions like MAGIC Live!, It's like, "You know, I found you during the pandemic, and I really enjoyed this." And, you know, and then they tell me a story. And that makes a lot of difference. It's pretty incredible.
Adrian Tennant [:Well, this is The Magic Book Podcast. So today, Lance, what is your most cherished magic book and why?
Lance Rich [:That's a hard question to answer. I'm not always good with favorites and and that sort of thing. I would say those two books that I got from the librarian, you know, because of my connection to those, my personal connection to those, those might be it. And I have my own copy of "Neon Dreams," as well that I have had people sign, the people who I've interviewed, people who are featured in it, that's kind of becoming kind of special to me as well. So I don't have nearly enough signatures in it yet. I still have to make the rounds at some conventions and that sort of thing to get everybody's signature, but I have enjoyed collecting the signatures from these people for this book that is for me. It's my first book. That's kinda cool.
Adrian Tennant [:That's very special. Lance, are there any upcoming projects or books you're working on that you can tell us about?
Lance Rich [:Well, I am working on a talk, another talk for the Magic Collector Expo, which will be held in Vegas again in May of 2025. So Bill Smith is has booked me for that. I don't have a book project for sure. I've turned down a few. And then I don't I just want something that I connect with as far as that goes. I will say that this has nothing to do with the history project, but there's a novel you know, I've begun, it's Vegas magic-inspired.
Lance Rich [:We'll see if it goes anywhere. It may just be for my own entertainment, but it's like a couple of stories. They're kind of being rewritten and reenvisioned, so as not to be the direct story, but yeah. So we'll see if that novel becomes something. But it it's directly inspired by a couple of different stories that are kinda all rolled into one.
Adrian Tennant [:That sounds interesting. At the end of "Neon Dreams," you write, "This book is not a history of Las Vegas magicians, rather, it's a love letter to them." What advice would you give to aspiring magic historians or writers who want to contribute to preserving and sharing magic's rich history?
Lance Rich [:I would say be passionate about, you know, find something that you want to write about. I mean, this is my first book. You know, that's a great question to ask somebody like a Mike Caveney or a David Charvet or Jim Steinmeyer, somebody who has like a lot better [indistinct]. For me, it is passion. It's not a short process. Right? It's a - it's a lengthy process. Do I wanna spend months or years with this particular subject? I also think going back to that accessibility thing, I think that there's something about something that is engaging and accessible. Who is a fan of of reading textbook? My aim with this book, certainly, I wanted to write a book that my mother could enjoy.
Lance Rich [:My mother who doesn't care about magic, doesn't care about Vegas, something that she would enjoy just from a storytelling point-of-view. And I don't want it to be super academic. You know, I want something that's accessible. So I think that accessibility is important too. Don't assume that your reader is at the same level of knowledge as you are about any of the subjects you write. With this book, I wanted to take whatever subject it was that I wanted to talk about. Let's say, Lance Burton's sword fight. One of the things I enjoy about one of his chapters is that it kinda takes you on the evolution of the sword fight, and he makes a reference to Blackstone's Man in the Whiskers illusion.
Lance Rich [:Well, okay. That's great if you know what that is. But if you don't so I felt the need to explain to the reader what the Man in the Whiskers illusion was just so that, you know, we're all on the same page here. Literally literally, I guess, we're all on the same page. Anyway, so accessibility and passion. I think those are those are two things, entertainment. And by accessibility, I mean entertainment.
Adrian Tennant [:Harrison Greenbaum was recently a guest on The Magic Book Podcast, and when I asked him what his most cherished magic books are, he included "Neon Dreams." The reason he gave was that because he had always hoped that if he went to Las Vegas to do magic, which of course he did with Mad Apple, he would at least be a passing reference in the book about Las Vegas magic. So, Lance, if someone were to include you in a magic book, what would you most want it to reflect about your work to date?
Lance Rich [:First of all, that's very, like, I'm shocked there. That's very flattering. I appreciate that. I was included in a Harrison Greenbaum joke. So, when he did a, like, a state of the magic union at MagiFest, he made a joke about me. So I feel like that's the magic equivalent to being portrayed on SNL. Right? You've made it now. I feel like I've made it.
Lance Rich [:So that he says that that's kind of flattering. What went I be I think I would want to be included probably in some project. I would say the reference is Gloria Dea. So, you know, there are quite a few projects about women in magic right now and the and the importance of recognizing not women coming up even, but women who have come in the past. So that is something that I feel like I have been a part of giving to the magic community is her story. And I think I I would want to be written about in a way that may again, go into this entertainment, made something that was an entertaining read.
Adrian Tennant [:You created a music playlist to listen to while writing "Neon Dreams." Now is this something you always do when writing or preparing a lecture?
Lance Rich [:Yeah. Actually, it it kind of is. It's a great way to procrastinate. When I should be writing, I'm like, "Oh, what music inspires this? What music inspires this?" And I might not listen to it as I'm writing, but it puts me in the mood as I listen to, like, a certain song from a certain era, particularly, like, when we're talking about Vegas. You know, I listen to one of these 1960s Sinatra songs, and it gets me in that frame of mind. And one of my favorite, like, kind of little side projects or promotion, I guess it was a promotional project. I created this playlist for myself, and it's probably like a 3-hour playlist or something. But I condensed it down to an hour long, and I wrote little blurbs about them.
Lance Rich [:And and that was put out as a, like, a blog on the Vanishing Inc. website as a promotional tool, you know, when the book came out. But I loved that. I loved creating that and and sharing with the ringer why that song was chosen for that. But if I'm listening to this piece and feeling whatever emotions come out of it, maybe that's gonna translate to the page. You can go to that blog and get that playlist. It's on Spotify or Apple Music and, you know, listen to it yourself as you as you begin to sit down to read the book.
Adrian Tennant [:Well, if listeners who don't yet own a copy and would like to dive deeper into the history of Las Vegas magic, where can they find "Neon Dreams"?
Lance Rich [:You can find it at Vanishing Inc.'s website. I've given out a a shorter version of the talk that I've gone to some conventions and have done, and I usually have a couple of copies with me as well there. So if you wanna sign a copy, you know, that's a good place to to do that, or I have some copies here. You can email me again if you want a signed copy, but, you know, Vanishing Inc. has free shipping. That's a great great place to get it from.
Adrian Tennant [:Lance, thank you so much for being my guest on The Magic Book Podcast.
Lance Rich [:Well, thank you, Adrian. It's been a lot of fun talking about the book, the writing process. I am really excited that you enjoyed it and that readers have really seemed to connect with.
Adrian Tennant [:You've been listening to The Magic Book Podcast. In this episode, we learned about Lance Rich's journey from a young magic enthusiast to a respected author and historian in the magic community. We explored the creation of his book, "Neon Dreams: The Story of Las Vegas Magic," and gained insights into his research and writing processes. Lance also shared his perspectives on the importance of preserving magic history and offered valuable advice for aspiring magic writers and historians. I hope you enjoyed this deep dive into the glittering world of Las Vegas magic and Lance's contributions to documenting its history. You'll find the transcript accompanying this episode on the website at TheMagicBookPodcast.com, plus a blog post with a summary, timestamps, and links to resources we mentioned. If you have a question or would like to suggest a topic for a future episode, please contact me, adrian@TheMagicBookPodcast.com. Thanks for listening to The Magic Book Podcast.
Adrian Tennant [:I've been your host, Adrian Tennant. Until next time, goodbye.
