Edward Konstant

Edward Konstant
Born	Edward M. Konstant 1936 New Jersey

Ed Konstant (b. 1936) was a young prolific magazine publisher who disappeared from the magic scene, along with his last periodical, Magic World News in the 1960s.

Biography

According to his bio in the Linking Ring Teenage Hocus Pocus Parade for March 1955, he first became interested in magic when his uncle took him to see Paul LePaul. He first appeared before an audience at the age of ten, performing for his fifth grade class.

In 1955, while going to college, Konstant wrote a local sports column for The Meadowbrook Sun, Long Island, New York newspaper.

In 1965, he and partner Martin Siegel launched "Magic World News," a trade newspaper for magicians, ventriloquists, jugglers and puppeteers. He relocated to the Caribbean a few months later, leaving Siegel in charge of producing "Magic World News." Only seven issues were produced. Siegel never was heard from again, but Konstant went on to become city editor, and then, later, Washington correspondent for the "San Juan Star" newspaper.

In March 1966, it was reported in the Linking Ring that an article entitled "Magic is a promotion tool" by an Edward Konstant was noticed in the February 1966 issue of the trade publication "Advertising and Sales Promotion". The article tells how The Southern New England Telephone Co. used the services of a magician to do shopping center shows. The article made a case for the magician as the attention-getter for the product and service, but the magician of the piece is not named. However, Ed Konstant probably had nothing to do with that article as he was living and working nearly 2,000 miles from the service area of the New England Telephone Co.

Periodicals:

• The Eagle (later called The Sorcerer) (1952)
• Magicana (1953)
• Sorcery (1955)
• Ed Konstant's Magic Bulletin (1955)
• Magic World News (1965)