Title: The Impromptu Miracles of Bob Read “The Lost Footage”
Medium: DVD
Arena: Stand up
Available: Any shop, Distributed by Murphys Magic Supplies

I learned about Bob Read right about the time of his death while on vacation from England to the United States. I read an article about him in Genii Magazine and appreciated his humor and magic but I had never seen any film of him performing, until now. The Impromptu Miracles of Bob Read “The Lost Footage” is a release by L&L of some video taken at a lecture in St. John New Foundland in Canada a number of years ago. The sound is fine but you can tell the difference between the old cameras used and the new digital ones. The production level is fine considering when it was shot, though I’m not sure when it was. It was shot, it looks like, during a lecture with only a few people in attendance who seemed to really enjoy the performance. I did as well.

First off there is a bit of repetition in that Bob is shown explaining different routines, for example his bottle steal, which he goes over four or five times. The thing is he is so charming and funny it didn’t bother me and he is so darn good at the steal no matter how many times he did it I never once caught him. The DVD opens with Bob performing, not everything is explained, and being off the cuff, the idea this is impromptu using non traditional magic items. Bob may be one of the funniest men I’ve ever seen perform, he has some great jokes that unless his ghost comes over and tells me not to I’m using! The magic is very good and he teaches the bottle steal and production, knife through jacket, a coin to glass, haunted hanky (dancing hank), coins from hank, and Gypsy Thread. Other routines are performance only, for example Prof Nightmare and Torn and Restored Newspaper.

I really enjoyed this DVD mostly due to the charisma of Bob Read. The magic is very strong and his types on performing are of value. While not at the level we come to expect from modern DVD the production level is fine. I don’t know if there is any other Bob Read video out there but I’d like to see it. It is too bad I learned about him after his death, I’d have loved to see him perform live. I think this is a nice tribute to the man and his art and it is a nice bonus that I got to pick up some good magic. I only hope with practice I can be as smooth as Bob is when loading that bottle, because he was smooth.

International Magic has a 4 dvd set of Bob that is phenominal.

Ewwwww! Thanks shipmate! I really like him and it bums me out he's gone.

I thought his "Transpo Tumbler" was among the strongest on the disc along with the bottle production.

http://magic.about.com/od/magicreview/fr/020408read.htm

-Wayne