Broken Hand

I'm back.
Sorry. I have been away for awhile----shooting a television special. This special will aire on a "major network" early in 2008 and is filled with many types of escapes (handcuffs, jails, locks, etc., etc.). There will be a retrospective on my twenty-five plus year career in the escape field at the beginning of the show. We were shooting on location in New Mexico, Texas, Pennsylvania and Maine and when I mention "we", I mean myself and the wonderful production company that has been behind me on this. Escapes and magic are difficult to shoot for television (being a live performance art) and admittedly we made several stumbles in the run-up to this production, but nevertheless I think we have finally found our groove. Myself and the writer (an Emmy award winner) come from different backgrounds and while it was a challenge to find out how to work together in the beginning, I think, through this process we have come out more informed, and better artists. It was a Trial by Fire so to speak. He has made me see things in a new light, I'm sure the same is true for him. We finished our initial shoot in June and then had to go back and re-shoot new scenes in September. On the shoot in September, I had broken my left hand in one of the stunts. Since this happened on the second day of a four day shoot, I had to manage the last two days working with a broken hand. My hand was not severely broken, but rather was a "longitudinal fracture of the fifth phalanx of my left hand. " I was able to carry on for two more days before it was X-rayed and then splinted.
Currently, two editors (one in Califonia and the other in Maine) are hard at work taking over 30 hours of raw footage and funnelling it down to an hour show of hard-hitting escapes. That, as far as I'm concerned, is the real magic.

Also have been busy writing several articles for the new "Encyclopedia of Escapes" that is being updated and re-printed this year. This book is on sale only to the magic community, but in it, I have decided to tip several of my methods for this new edition. First published in 1965, it was, when I was a kid one of the very few books on escapes. Hungry for information, I read it spiral bound cover to spiral bound cover many times and recall learning almost everything in the book. Meeting the author recently was a humbling experience and I readily agreed to be part of this new edition.

To all who have sent well wishes and/or read this blog, thank you. The best to all of you this Thanksgiving. I for one, have much to be thankful for.

Peace,
Thomas