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To view past articles or propose a new feature article for the main page, visit the [[MagicPedia_talk:Today%27s_featured_article|discussion page]].
Previous featured articles are located in [[:Category:Featured Article]]


Proposed candidates are listed in [[:Category:Featured Article Candidate]]
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{{Infobox person
| image                    = Papa_Promotional_2.png
| image_size                =
| alt                      =
| caption                  = Promotional Photo
| birth_name                = Marcelo Alejandro Rodolfo Contento
| birth_day                =  January 19,
| birth_year                =  1955
| birth_place              = Haedo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| death_day                =  July 3,
| death_year                = 2012
| death_place              = Waltham, Massachusetts
| awards                    =
| box_width                =
| misc                      =
}}
'''Marcelo Contento''' (1955-2012) was a magician, shadowgrapher, jazz drummer and arranger, and engineer from Argentina. He owned and operated Marcelo Contento Productions (Marcprod), a business manufacturing magic effects, in Watertown, Massachusetts with his eldest sibling and brother, Victor.


For many years, Marcprod was considered the top producer of Magicians' props and effects in the market. Contento and his brother put together everything by hand. When Contento was diagnosed with a Brain Tumorand, the company slowly lost its' prominence  and eventually was forced to shut down its' workshop in Watertown in 2008. 
[[File: RichardPotter.png|right|thumb|200px|[[ Richard Potter]]]]


Born Marcelo Alejandro Rodolfo Contento on January 19th, 1955, to an Italian Physician and a devoted, Italian-born mother, Contento started practicing magic at the age of eight, and at the age of eleven took up drumming after spending some years on the piano and guitar. In his teenage years, he was mentored in magic by the late great [[David Bamberg]] (well-known by his stage name, Fu Manchu), and already playing jazz gigs around Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital.  
'''Richard Potter''' (b.1783-d.1835) is credited as the first successful stage magician born in the United States and as the first black magician.  


Bamberg taught Contento an art that was then known as "Chinese Shadows" (now more commonly referred to as "[[Shadowgraphy]]" or "Hand Shadows"), which he would carry alongside with him through life and eventually develop and hone into a unique skill and performing routine. One particularly important piece of advice Bamberg gave Contento was to finish school and go to College, regardless of what he wanted to do in life, and Contento did just that. He graduated College with the Argentine equivalent of a Master's in Electromechanical Engineering, and began working as an Engineer in companies around Buenos Aires. Concurrently, he diligently continued to practice and perform Magic and Jazz, at one point playing with then-well-known Argentine Guitarist Oscar Alemán and his troupe.  
== Biography ==
Reportedly, Potter was the son of an English baronet, Charles Henry Frankland, and an African American woman (some say "slave"). Frankland, however, died years before Potter was born.  Church records from Hopkinton, MA, list his father as George Simpson.  His mother's name was Dinah, who was a slave on the Frankland estate. Potter went to England around 1798.  There is no record of his actual education.  He returned to the United States around 1801, probably with [[John Rannie]], a professional magician whom he started out working for as an assistant in 1802.


One of the earliest records of Potter advertising a show was in Boston, November 2nd, 1811 at the Columbian Museum.  He advertised his show as, "An Evening's Brush to Sweep Away Care, or a Medley to Please."


 
[[Richard Potter|Read more about Richard Potter…]]
[[Marcelo Contento|Read more about Marcelo Contento...]]

Latest revision as of 17:27, 1 November 2024

Previous featured articles are located in Category:Featured Article

Proposed candidates are listed in Category:Featured Article Candidate


Richard Potter

Richard Potter (b.1783-d.1835) is credited as the first successful stage magician born in the United States and as the first black magician.

Biography

Reportedly, Potter was the son of an English baronet, Charles Henry Frankland, and an African American woman (some say "slave"). Frankland, however, died years before Potter was born. Church records from Hopkinton, MA, list his father as George Simpson. His mother's name was Dinah, who was a slave on the Frankland estate. Potter went to England around 1798. There is no record of his actual education. He returned to the United States around 1801, probably with John Rannie, a professional magician whom he started out working for as an assistant in 1802.

One of the earliest records of Potter advertising a show was in Boston, November 2nd, 1811 at the Columbian Museum. He advertised his show as, "An Evening's Brush to Sweep Away Care, or a Medley to Please."

Read more about Richard Potter…

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