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Difference between revisions of "Magicpedia:Today's featured article"

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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]].
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Previous featured articles are located in [[:Category:Featured Article]]
  
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Proposed candidates are listed in [[:Category:Featured Article Candidate]]
 
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[[File: MervTaylor1.png|right|thumb|200px|[[ Merv Taylor]]]]
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| image                    = Papa_Promotional_2.png
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'''Merv Taylor''' (b.1904-d.1974) was a magic inventor and manufacturer.
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| caption                  = Promotional Photo
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| birth_name                = Marcelo Alejandro Rodolfo Contento
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| birth_day                =  January 19,
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| birth_year                =  1955
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| birth_place              = Haedo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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| death_day                =  July 3,
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| death_year                = 2012
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| death_place              = Waltham, Massachusetts
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'''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.
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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. 
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== Biography ==
  
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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.  
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Born in Dennison, Illinois, but lived most his life in California, Taylor started out teaching art, metalcraft, electrical shop and mechanical drawing.  He also did some work for the government, but in 1940 a magician performing at the school took one of his broken props to Merv to fix, which sparked an interest in magic.  
  
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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.  
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By 1945, Taylor, who found the magic business more fun than teaching, moved to the San Fernando Valley and went into fixing and creating magic props exclusively. With three of his brothers and a few friends, he built a shop with a retail store in 1948 called [Merv Taylor Magic]]. He employed [[Alan Wakeling]] for a time and many people wanted his pieces including [[Richard Himber]] and [[Orson Welles]].
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[[Merv Taylor|Read more about Merv Taylor…]]
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[[Marcelo Contento|Read more about Marcelo Contento...]]
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Latest revision as of 19:53, 23 June 2024

Previous featured articles are located in Category:Featured Article

Proposed candidates are listed in Category:Featured Article Candidate

Merv Taylor

Merv Taylor (b.1904-d.1974) was a magic inventor and manufacturer.

Biography

Born in Dennison, Illinois, but lived most his life in California, Taylor started out teaching art, metalcraft, electrical shop and mechanical drawing. He also did some work for the government, but in 1940 a magician performing at the school took one of his broken props to Merv to fix, which sparked an interest in magic.

By 1945, Taylor, who found the magic business more fun than teaching, moved to the San Fernando Valley and went into fixing and creating magic props exclusively. With three of his brothers and a few friends, he built a shop with a retail store in 1948 called [Merv Taylor Magic]]. He employed Alan Wakeling for a time and many people wanted his pieces including Richard Himber and Orson Welles.

Read more about Merv Taylor…

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