Linking
Ring Review:
Mark
Wilson and Nani Darnell’s legendary “Magic Land
of Allakazam” is a world many of us thought we would
never visit again. Shown every Saturday morning on the CBS
networks and then on the ABC network from October 1960 to
December 1964, the program is a wealth of mystery and wonder.
Allakazam’s self-contained magical world “where
strange and mysterious things happen” remains the
definitive television magic program.
 
The
quality of the magic, the attention-grabbing personalities
of the performers, and the exceptional theatricality of
the entire production are still a marvel. Mark Wilson and
his wife Nani Darnell have released the first 24 episodes
of the series to the magic fraternity, and they intend to
release the remaining episodes soon. The half-hour programs
shown on these DVDs are just as they were seen in the 1960s,
with all the vintage commercials, excluding the Hanna Barbara
cartoons shown in the early episodes.
 
The
program influenced a generation of magicians, and we are
still under its spell. The eventual release of the entire
Allakazam opus, a series of 99 shows, will be a tremendous
magical event. Highest Recommendation.
–
Elson Bihm, Linking Ring Review
|
