York Sunday News from York, Pennsylvania • 58

F2 YORK SUNDAY NEWS JANUARY 14 2001 LIFESTYLE agic cards send busin rising to ihe toL Success of Magic Workshop in Airville thanks to hard workhot hocus-pocus GREG MAHANY STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Lauren Dandy 8 of Fawn Grove looks at some of the items on display during a recent stop of the Museum of the Really Strange including a creature described as being part fish part human a STRANGE fellow from Venezuela called up and said 1 want to cut my wife up in three pieces I care how make it Martin Gram Sr Strange fascination? To book The Museum of the Really Strange or find out the travel schedule and locations contact Martin Grams Sr (717) 456-6604 Bizzaro world Continued from Page FI assassin on the Well a clump of dirt in a box from the where experts determined the assassin stood on the Dallas knoll But one thing in his museum even the curator figure out He calls it but a card propped against the display reads is Grams thinks the hairy creature was part aquatic being and part human judging from the X-ray he had taken of it after it joined -his collection a few years ago By KAREN MULLER ha the bifkildi Sunday rui A pack of trick cards was the start of a thriv- ing supply business in 1971 for Delta resident Martin Grams Sr 43 Nearly 30 years later the pack of cards is still popular with amateurs and pros alike magnets all he said amazes me every year that we keep producing Magic Workshop in Airville now manufactures more than 5000 decks of rising cards every year but Grams said all but eight of his tricks made for wannna-be illusionists The factory ships more than 600 custom-made items to professional magicians around the globe he said Thousands of items are custom-created from his blueprints each year for such clients as top East Coast magician Helene Schad and many others fellow from Venezuela called up and said want to cut my wife up in three Gram said the magician told him care how just make it So he did His approximately 30 stage illusions include such tricks as woman sawing woman in half zigzag and sword cabinets He also makes cages for changing women into Bengal tigers tigers not included GRAMS Legend has it that in the 1940s when Sarah lived with a California couple it swam in a large tub and would sit on the edge to eat scrambled eggs hot dogs and hamburgers with its hands he said And though the creature is dead dried and preserved he insists his dog is afraid of it barks at it and backs he said and a trick called a 'The allows a woman inside a cabinet to-be pierced with two large wooden tubes and 10 spears -and escape unharmed he said Grams grew up a with his magician father Charles Grams who performed in Baltimore and the surrounding areas he said When he was 8 he was able to pull a coin from some-j ear and regularly shared the limelight with his father by the time he was 11 He went solo when he was 14 with his first show in a Baltimore County church basement for 150 people Though he was he said the show was a success fact the pastor booked me for the summer camp and the Christmas party at the same he said was when I first realized a career GREG MAHANYSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Martin Grams Sr demonstrates the pack of trick cards one of 600 custom-made items his business Magic Workshop produces for professional magicians worldwide Li I LT 4 H- BILL KAUNASTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER ABOVE: Martin Gram shows off the largest which belonged to 750-lb Harold Spohn BELOW: On display with the traveling Museum of the Really Strange is a 15-shilling note the first currency printed in the United States rsf i GREG MAHANYSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Martin Grams Jr Is the author of several books on and early series such as Gun Will and C3S Radio Mystery he was working on other books concurrently After Grams wrote two chapters and the Hitchcock appendix for Alfred Hitchcock edited by Australian authoreditor Ken Mogg and published by Titan Books in London His most recent release Gun Will Travel a collaborative work with TV producerdirector Les Ray-bum was published in softcover in September by Kirby Publishing documents all 106 episodes of one of the highest rated TV shows in its six years from 1957 to 1963 Grams said Grams also has written magazine features His latest story of the Worlds the Panic Broadcast was published in the October issue of magazine no end in sight for writing projects overnight conversation on the phone can turn into a project the next he said a lot of fun become a celebrity without actually being one made a lot of nice friends famous and not Success story Continued from Page FI his new writing projects His sixth book Hitchcock Presents: A will be released in softcover by Kirby Publishing in late April and will be available at bookstores and on the Internet Grams interviewed more than 150 actors producers directors and writers' including Fess Parker who played Walt and Sydney Pollack who made his directing debut on the Hitchcock daughter Patricia Hitchcock wrote the forward for book Officials with Kirby the Arlington Virgina-based publisher expects Hitchcock Presents: A to pick up a large European market and perhaps be its best selling book because of its long-lasting universal appeal Grams said years from now people will still be writing books on he said The young author who admits to struggling with high school English Grammar attributes his achievement mostly to long hours of hard work and his love of old-time radio and TV series Tm always asked the he said can you do so many (books) and so He makes the time he said He is motivated not as much by money as by a strong feeling the work needs to be done before the episodes are lost The histories must be written he said before there is no one left who remembers anymore A professed Grams said he often stays up until 1 or 2 am writing then gets up to work his job" as head teller at the IIARCO Credit Union in Bel Air Md After his first book fans were asking for more Grams said so he wrote his second and personal favorite so far History of The Cavr alcade of You can find your local news on the we wwwyorksundaynewscom The NBC series ran from 1935 to 1957 and was sponsored by Dupont Like the second book is a chronology of all the se-riesTV and radio shows including the members of the cast and the plot descriptions for each episode His third book CBS Radio and Mystery Theater an Episode Guide and Handbook to Nine Years of Broadcasting took only six months to complete and was co-authored by New Jersey collector Gordon Payton known as the in the science-fiction radio broadcast industry Payton provided Grams with all nine worth of press releases for the show which was broadcast seven days a week Grams interviewed actors from the series to complete his work including Tony Roberts Rosemary Rice and Ralph BelL Released in hardcover in 1999 the book retails for $65 from McFarland and Company Publishers The fourth book published by McFarland and retailing for $75 is Drama American Programs which includes chronologies of such shows as Adventures of Ellery Adventures of The and among many others The project took him almost two years to complete he said as Cookies Crackers Candy Snacks 10 Sr Citizen Discount Every Monday NEW CAR SHOPPERS Announcing Premier Auto Event of the Year! The 2001 York Auto Show The York Auto Show features the latest new cars trucks vans and New" for 2001 Models Why run all over town when you can visit 24 area dealerships in one convenient stop Imagine a huge automotive showroom a single location to do all your new car browsing comparing nev makes and models side by side in one convenient location You can at the 2001 York Auto Show! Plus there is live entertainment and the chance to win a new car valued up to $50000! Or a chance to win $1000 cash no purchase necessary! Come to the York Auto Show! Friday 11AM 9PM Saturday 10AM 9PM Sunday 11AM 9PM Memorial Hall at the York Fairgrounds General Admission is $3 Children under 12 are FREE! i I A.