A Magical Life

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ISBN: 978-974-642-265-9 Initial Print: E-book 2009.

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Acknowledgments & Thanks To my Family, especially my Mother and Father, and to Laurence, Mandy, Zara and Nikki Posener. And to my dear friends and colleagues: Maurice Amdur Joel Bauer Baron Benham Beverly Cahme Dick Clark Bob and Beverly Cohen Dave Cohen Eleda Cohen Eric Cotsen Rob & Ellen Deutschman Dr. Alex Eskander Jonathan Fisch Paul Freedman Cate Frost Sophie Gayot Geoff Goldstein Jack Kelly Anthony Lefort Kevin Mohajer Tony Nicholson Jonathan Novak 4

Stuart Paul Tony and Jeanne Pritzker Stanley Selwyn Tobey & Jonathan Victor Barry Wright

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Contents 1. I Was Born. 2. Schooldays Were Not So Happy. 3. Tommy Cooper. 4. Magic Hands. 5. Hair Raising Adventures in Israel. 6. Howard of Arabia. 7. I’ve Always Been Curious. 8. All at Sea. 9. New York, New York. 10. Annabel’s of London. 11. Opening Night at Annabel’s. 12. The Hostest With The Mostest. 13. My First Arabian Night. 14. Another Arabian Night. 15. A Television Celebrity. 16. A Corporate Man. 17. Pulling a Corporate Rabbit From The Hat. 18. An Explosive Success. 19. I Become A Lord. 20. The Right/Wrong Side of the Law 21. The Paranormal. 6

22. The Magic of Hollywood. 23. Hollywood or Bust. 24. My Family at The Four Seasons. 25. The Kid Stays in the Picture. 26. I Get Stuck Up. 27. My Hollywood Roller Coaster Ride. 28. After Hollywood. 29. Magic On The Orient Express. 30. Fake Paranormal & $50,000. 31. Celebrities UK. 32. Celebrities USA. 33. Ozzy Osbourne Meets Howard the Duck 34. A Magician’s Nightmare. 35. Howard Makes His Millions Disappear. 36. Magical Mates 37. Interesting Facts About Playing Cards. 38. Things Howard Would Like to Know 39. The Magic of Wisdom.

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Written by Best Selling Author Jake Anthony (C) 2009. 8

1 I Was Born The first words in the classic novel ‘David Copperfield’, by Charles Dickens: “I was born.” That’s not David Copperfield the magician. I’m the other international magician: Lord Howard Posener.

Age three months. Sitting with my older brother, Laurence. 9

I was born in post war England, in London. As in the novel David Copperfield, the attitudes of the ruling classes and the general population, were still quite Dickensian. The buildings too, many of which were built in the Georgian and Victorian eras. That is, those which had not been bombed by the Nazi regime during the preceding five years of World War Two. My parents met at the age of 16. Mum worked as a seamstress in a dress factory owned by our father’s aunt.

Mum and Dad in one of those funny seaside resort photos. They always had a sense of humour. 10

31 Celebrities UK I have been privileged to have worked with or for, many, many celebrities from Britain. None of us is perfect, but I cannot think of one who was anything other than courteous, professional and fun. Here are just a few of the many celebrities from showbusiness, the media, politics and other areas of public life who I have met up with or been introduced to in Britain. I hope I brought a few moments of fun to their hectic lives. For me, meeting them all has been a magical experience.

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Sarah Ferguson, popularly known as Fergie, became known as Sarah, Duchess of Cornwall after her divorce from Prince Andrew. Fergie was a regular at Annabel’s and invited me to perform my magic at her home and at charity events on many occasions.

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Baroness Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of Great Britain.

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We were introduced at the Beverly Hills Hotel and had a hearty discussion about her sleeping habits. Like her famous Prime Minister predecessor Winston Churchill, she only slept four hours a night or just took cat naps.

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Meeting up with Ronnie Barker. As far as British comedy was concerned, Ronnie was a legend in his own lifetime. Here we are during the filming of my UK TV show. Ronnie was much loved by the public and all those who knew and worked with him in showbusiness.

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With former featherweight boxing champion Barry McGuigan MBE & TV presenter Gaby Roslyn, guests on my British Television show.

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British actor and Director Lord Attenborough attempts to work out how I did the trick that left an amazed look on his face. Lord Dickie as he is known within the business, supports many charities. It was at a UK charity function that we met up.

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Not well known in the public eye, these two distinguished gentlemen and their spouses are high up on the list of the wealthiest people in Great Britain. I was often invited to entertain at their private parties. When I asked if they had any money to do my first trick, not one of them had any. I found it amusing that they had absolutely no cash.

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32 Celebrities USA Due to living and working in the USA for a couple of decades, the number of celebrities I have worked for, entertained or met up with from all areas of public life but particularly from Hollywood and the showbusiness world, would have been an autograph hunter’s wildest dream. For me, meeting them all has been a magical experience, and it continues.

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Two cockneys together in Hollywood. Me and Sir Michael Caine, one of Britain’s greatest actors.

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Mel Gibson at a party where I did some magic. As his expression confirms, he is still wondering how I did the trick!

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With Danny Glover, Mel’s on-screen partner in the ‘Lethal Weapon’ series of movies.

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At a Hollywood party with Scottish comedian and actor, Billy Connolly. His companion for the night was Hollywood actress Rene Russo.

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With Elizabeth Hurley at another party. You can meet as many Brits at Hollywood functions as you can Americans.

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Sarah Jessica Parker, star of ‘Sex & the City’, tells me where I can get some Sex in the City. 192

With Antonio Banderos and Melanie Griffith.

I manage to secretly remove Melanie’s watch. 193

Ben Stiller and I meet up at a charity function in Beverly Hills.

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Steve Martin seems unsure whether he’ll get back the $100 bill I turned into $1. Incidentally, in his early days Steve did a great act as a comedy magician. He was known as ‘The Great Flydini’.

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Showing President Gerald Ford and his wife Betty how to balance the budget by changing blank pieces of paper into hundred dollar bills. The President offered me a position as Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve. I was not an American citizen so was obliged to decline!

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Hugh Hefner and I show each other a trick or two. 197

Showing John Travolta how to be a card sharp at a party for Dustin Hoffman.

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I trick Oscar winning actor/director Kevin Costner at a movie premiere.

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Leonardo DeCaprio is a magic fanatic and as a result we got on like a house on fire. We met at a charity function. 200

With Matt Damon at a party after the ‘Golden Globes’.

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I don’t know what Angelina sees in Brad!

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I don’t know what Brad sees in Angelina!

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I met Jay Leno at the Los Angeles Car Show where I was doing my magic act. Jay is an avid car collector.

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With Dick Van Dyke. Dick is an accomplished magician in his own right. He did a few tricks that really impressed me.

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Samuel Jackson and myself at a charity event.

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Sports star Magic Johnson after my show at Newport Beach We have both had a bit of magic in our lives.

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At a Hollywood party Sylvester Stallone showed me some of his boxing moves from Rocky and I showed him how to change a piece of paper into a hundred dollar bill.

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With Michael Clarke Duncan, Oscar nominated actor in ‘The Green Mile’.

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With actor Jeff Goldblum at a charity event.

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Dustin Hoffman tells me that as a magician, it is about time I ‘graduated’.

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With actor James Woods at a private party.

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At a movie premiere with John Voight.

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At a movie premiere with two time Oscar winning actor Tom Hanks.

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Steven Spielberg with business partner David Geffen. Steven works magic with most of his movies and we swapped secrets.

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With veteran actor Robert Stack. I thought he would be rather ‘Untouchable’ but he turned out to be a really nice guy.

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Chatting with legendary actor Charlton Heston. He told me how with Cecil B. DeMille’s help, he had parted the Red Sea. I told him my ancestors used to live nearby.

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With my buddy, actor James Caan. James does a lot of charity work and calls me to perform my magic at his events. James is a keen magician himself and is extraordinarily proficient.

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With martial arts actor Jackie Chan at the premiere of one of his movies. When I asked him to cut the cards, I did not expect him to do so with a karate chop! That’s another pack of cards I’ll have to buy!

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My friend the lovely and talented Sharon Stone. Sharon does lots of charity work and it is always a pleasure working with her. 220

Last but not least, there would be no celebrities without the celebrities to whom we all play to the audience. Here I am at London’s Hyde Park before 100,000 of them. To audiences everywhere, a big “Thank You.”

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33 Ozzy Osbourne Meets Howard the Duck During Ozzy Osbourne’s mega-successful reality TV series in the USA, I was asked to perform a magic show at a family function in his luxurious Beverly Hills home. This was to be filmed for his TV show. For weeks before my appearance, I puzzled as to what illusion I could create for the king of heavy metal music that would also appeal to the wider audience for his TV show. It came to me just days before the show, and I decided to be the absolute opposite of Ozzy’s personna. Originally I was going to go bats, vampires and Black Sabbath things, which is where Ozzie originally gained his worldwide following. I went in complete reverse and used a family friendly approach by way of an antique magic prop, an 222

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