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Judy Carter | |
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Born | Los Angeles, California, United States |
Medium | stand-up, Public Speaking |
Nationality | American |
Years active | 1980–present |
Genres | Motivational speaking, observational comedy, improvisational comedy |
Subject(s) | Humor, Storytelling, Stress Reduction, Self-help |
Spouse | Gina Rubinstein |
Notable works and roles | The Comedy Bible, The Homo Handbook, Stand-up Comedy: The Book, The Message of You, The New Comedy Bible |
Website | www.JudyCarter.com |
Judy Carter is an American comedian, magician, motivational speaker and author of five books on comedy and self-improvement.
Judy Carter was born in Los Angeles, California, the second daughter of Esther Silverman Carter, an entrepreneur and owner of a Beverly Hills dress boutique "My Flair Lady," and Sidney Alan Carter, a mechanical engineer for LA Water & Power.
Judy was born with a speech impediment [1] and her older sister, Marsha, was born with serious health problems. [2] In order to better communicate with her sister and to make her laugh, Judy, then eight years old, began checking books on magic tricks out of the public library and would purchase magic tricks from Joe Berg's Magic Store on Hollywood Blvd. The tricks came with a suggested patter. Carter attributes practicing the patter to helping her overcome her speech impediment.
While still in elementary school, Carter began performing at children's birthday parties as "Magica the Magician" with her assistant PG Rogow. She performed three or four shows a weekend, and eventually adding an accordion to her act. In September 1961, the LA Times profiled Carter and PG when their backyard benefit for Cedars-Sinai hospital raised over $500. [3]
Carter continued performing her magic for birthday parties through high school, and then her parents paid for two years of college at Cal State Northridge. Judy continued performing magic acts at birthday parties and fraternity houses. She graduated with a BA in Theatrical Arts from the University of Southern California.[ citation needed ]
By this time, Carter was performing as "Judiwitch" and was invited to perform on a local television show which aired on KCET. After doing her act, she was asked by the interviewer if she experienced discrimination being a female magician. She joked that she was often asked, "to see your bottom deal." KCET refused to air the interview and the controversy surrounding their decision made the CBS Evening news. As a result of the media attention, Carter was contacted by Gene Murrow who invited her to run the theater and television department for the Harvard School for Boys.[ citation needed ]
In the early 1970s, Carter began performing at The Magic Castle in West Hollywood. [4] There Ricky Jay and Johnny Thompson advised her to study sleight of hand with Dai Vernon. As a student of Vernon, Carter formed an act with mime Tina Lenert. The owner of the Magic Castle, Milt Larson, invited Carter to perform in the Close-Up Gallery at The Magic Castle. She was the first woman ever invited to do so. [5]
Judy is divorced from Gina Rubinstein.
Carter switched to stand-up comedy in 1979. [4] In 1984, Carter formed Comedy Workshop Productions, the first comedy classes ever offered in Los Angeles at Igby's Comedy Cabaret.[ citation needed ] In 1989, Carter started focusing on corporate events such as conventions and training for office-appropriate humor. [4]
Carter has also produced the California Comedy Conference in Palm Springs. [6]
In 1989, Judy wrote Standup Comedy: The Book (Dell Books). [7]
In 1996 she wrote The Homo Handbook , a comedic self-help guide for the LGBT community. The book won the 1997 Lambda Literary Award for best humor book. [8]
In 2001 she wrote another book on stand-up comedy, The Comedy Bible (Simon & Schuster) [9] The book describes different aspects of working as a stand-up comedian. [10] In 2020 she wrote The New Comedy Bible that was put out by International Indies Publishing.
Carter also works as a motivational humorist, and has also held workshops for other comics to learn how to adapt their stand-up acts for a corporate audience. In 2013 she wrote The Message of You (St. Martin’s Press) about motivational speaking as a career.
She has also contributed to National Public Radio’s "All Things Considered" with a radio program that explored how comedy has changed over the years. [11]
Burling Hull was an inventive magician, self-styled "the Edison of magic," specializing in mentalism and sleight of hand effects. During the greater part of his life he lived in DeLand, Florida. His aliases and stage names included: "Volta the Great", "The Man with the Radar Mind", "The White Wizard," and "Gideon ('Gid') Dayn."
Sawing a woman in half is a generic name for a number of stage magic tricks in which a person is apparently cut or divided into two or more pieces.
Howard Thurston was a stage magician from Columbus, Ohio, United States. As a child, he ran away to join the circus, where his future partner Harry Kellar also performed. Thurston was deeply impressed after he attended magician Alexander Herrmann's magic show and was determined to equal his work. He eventually became the most famous magician of his time. Thurston's traveling magic show was the biggest one of all; it was so large that it needed eight train cars to transport his road show.
This is a glossary of conjuring terms used by magicians.
This timeline of magic is a history of the performing art of illusion from B.C. to the present.
David Acer is a Canadian author, stand-up comedian, close-up illusionist, inventor of magic tricks, and co-host/co-writer of the syndicated television series Mystery Hunters.
David Devant was an English magician, shadowgraphist and film exhibitor. He was born David Wighton in Holloway, London. He is regarded by magicians as a consummate exponent of suave and witty presentation of stage illusion. According to magic historian Jim Steinmeyer, Devant was “England’s greatest magician—arguably the greatest magician of the 20th Century”.
Joseph Dunninger, known as "The Amazing Dunninger", was one of the most famous and proficient mentalists of all time. He was one of the pioneer performers of magic on radio and television. A debunker of fraudulent mediums, Dunninger claimed to replicate through trickery all spiritualist phenomena.
Conjuring is an illustrated book about conjuring, or magic, by James "The Amazing" Randi, who himself was a magician and escape artist. Drawing on his extensive knowledge and experience in the field, Randi offers a series of brief biographies of a variety of noteworthy magicians and their unique styles, including Harry Houdini, Chung Ling Soo, Harry Blackstone Sr., Harry Blackstone Jr., Howard Thurston, and many others. He also provides an overview of several genres of magic such as stage magic, escapology, and mentalism, and of specific tricks such as the bullet catch. Reviews of the book were mainly positive.
A magician's assistant is a performer in a magic act who is not billed as the magician or principal name in the act.
Peter "Pete" Firman is an English magician, comedian, television presenter and actor.
Will Goldston (1878–1948) was an English stage magician in the first half of the 20th century.
Children's magic is a specialized aspect of parlor magic and is meant to entertain children. It is typically performed at birthday parties, churches, preschools, elementary schools, Sunday Schools or libraries. It is often the only type of magic most Westerners experience other than that seen on television. This type of magic is usually comedic in nature.
Dell O'Dell was the stage name of Odella Newton an American magician regarded in her profession as a pioneer who provided a role model for modern female performers. She was noted for being one of the first magicians to appear on television, on her own show, The Dell O'Dell Show, on ABC's local station in Los Angeles in 1951. She was also one of few American women to have her own circus, the Della O'Dell Society Circus, which toured the Midwest in 1925 and 1926. Before becoming one of the most popular female magicians on the night club circuit during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, Dell O'Dell also performed in vaudeville and burlesque. Her skills included juggling furniture and lecturing on physical culture.
Tommy Moore is an American comedian, clown, and motivational speaker versed in the styles of vaudeville and Catskill comedy. His act is filled with classic jokes, original material, props, costumes, improv, and misguided magic, drawing heavily on audience participation. Billed as The Professor of Fun, he has been called the "man who put the FUN back in Funny".
Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close-up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It is to be distinguished from paranormal magic which are effects claimed to be created through supernatural means. It is one of the oldest performing arts in the world.
Allin Kempthorne is a British actor, magician and entertainer. As a magician he works under three distinct identities as Alan Thorn, Professor Strange and Gizmo. He was originally a tabloid newspaper cartoonist. He directed and starred in the comedy film The Vampires of Bloody Island and was shortlisted in the 2012 Twitter Shorty Awards.
A levitation illusion is one in which a magician appears to defy gravity by making an object or person float in the air. The subject may appear to levitate unassisted, or it may be performed with the aid of another object in which case it is termed a "suspension".
Stuart MacLeod is a Scottish-born professional magician, television producer, writer, comedian, and television personality. He is best known for Magic for Humans on Netflix, The Magicians and working in Scottish BAFTA-nominated duo Barry and Stuart. Stuart was also a judge representing Scotland on CBS's The World's Best.
David Williamson is a professional sleight-of-hand artist, magician, and author. David Britland of Genii magazine called him "an exceptional stage performer" and "a magician who changed the way we do magic." He was named Magician of the Year in 2017 by the Academy of the Magical Arts, and was named an Honorary Member of prestigious British association The Magic Circle.