Dustin Stinett

Dustin Stinett
Photo by Kari Hendler
Born	December 14, 1959

Dustin Stinett (b.1959) is an amateur magician, writer, collector, historian, and the current Associate Editor of Genii, The Conjurors' Magazine.

Biography

Dustin started writing about magic in his teens, first appearing in the pages of Top Hat, the then publication for Magical Youths International. A magic history buff, he wrote a column called “Magical Trivia” in which he would pose questions which would be answered in the following issue. He took that column to Magic Manuscript magazine, writing until the publication was sold to Tannen’s Magic by its original editor and publisher (and Dustin’s friend), Adam Fleischer. (For the record, since he was unceremoniously fired from the job, there never was a “final installment” of the column, so to this day there are five questions that have never been answered in print.)

In 1981, Dustin became—and remains—an active Magician Member of the Academy of Magical Arts (AMA); The Magic Castle.

After posting a report on his first Los Angeles Conference on Magic History (the seventh edition in 2001) on the Genii Forum, Richard Kaufman asked Dustin if it could be printed in the January 2002 issue of Genii, The Conjurors’ Magazine. That his byline would appear in what he considered the greatest magazine in the history of the craft was a longtime dream, so the answer was, of course, yes. By 2004, he was a product reviewer (primarily of videos) for the magazine.

In 2004, his first cover feature appeared in Genii. A comprehensive piece on Mark Wilson and his work on the television program The Magician starring Bill Bixby. Since then, he has written more than 80 feature stories for the publication, including pieces about Max Maven, Kalin & Jinger, Mike Caveney and Tina Lenert, John Gaughan, Juan Tamariz, Guy Hollingworth, Derek DelGaudio, Jean-Jacques Sanvert, Rick Merrill, Wayne Dobson, Franz Harary, Michael Finney, Stan Allen, Eric Jones, John Archer, Jim Steinmeyer, Dr. Hiroshi Sawa, Lubor Fiedler, Alana Möhlmann, Steve Spill, Hannibal, Carisa Hendrix (Lucy Darling), FL!P, Bébel, Mike Pisciotta, David Kovac, Mondre, Chipper Lowell, Paul Gertner, and many others.

At the 2007 Los Angeles Conference on Magic History, Dustin spoke in front of the gathering on the magical duo, Milo and Roger. He had written a companion volume to Arthur Brandon’s autobiography, Milo & Roger: A Magical Life. The talk and book, Catching Up with Milo & Roger, covered his remarkable (if not unbelievable) story about his search for Milo &a Roger ephemera.

At the Thirteenth "Los Angeles Conference on Magic History" (2013), Dustin spoke on Earl Lockman (“Locks Don’t Hold Lockman”). Lockman, a fulltime performing magician and escape artist in the early half of the 20 th century, it was his handcuff collection that is seen in some scenes in the 1953 Houdini (film) starring Tony Curtis. His Leo Irby-made Milk Can Escape apparatus was also seen briefly in the movie, and that prop is currently in the collection at The Magic Castle in Hollywood.

In 2014, Dustin was appointed as the Associate Editor of Genii, a position he has held since, except during 2022 when he was the magazine’s Editor when Richard Kaufman took a year-long hiatus so he could concentrate on his monumental project for an updated edition of Greater Magic. “The history of that is not lost on me,” says Dustin. “The number of people who have held that job is not that long in comparison to the many decades Genii has been published. It is a tremendous honor to be on that short list, even if for only one year.” And while he loved his stint in the “big chair,” in 2023, Dustin returned to being, as he says, “second banana, which I thoroughly enjoy.”

Beginning with its October 2015 issue, Dustin became the editor of the AMA’s monthly member newsletter. He held that position until he resigned at the end of 2021.

In 2020, the charitable organization founded by Lisa Menna, Cause to Wonder—which uses magic to bring awareness to forgotten corners of the world that women must be treated with dignity and respect, as well as water safety and other concerns—awarded Dustin with its Thunder Award for Journalism. This was for a piece that he wrote for The Magic Castle’s newsletter, that brought more attention to the organization and its work. (Please go to https://www.causetowonder.org/ to see if there is any you can do for this worthwhile organization.)

A second-generation Southern Californian, Dustin married his high school crush, Cindy (a third generation South Orange County California native) in 1981. They have two adult children, Jennifer and Christopher.

Books

• Catching Up with Milo and Roger (2007)

References

This biographical material is about a living person.
Such material requires a high degree of sensitivity,
and must adhere strictly to all applicable laws in the United States.
See MagicPedia:Biographies_of_living_persons for more information.