Academy of Magical Arts

A non-profit social order devoted to the advancement of magic. Its clubhouse is the famed Magic Castle, one of the most unique private clubs in the world.

The AMA was started in April 1951 by William W. Larsen, Sr., whom subscribers to his magazine Genii became instant members. But the organization faded away when Bill Larsen Sr. passed away at the age of 48 in 1955.

In 1961, when Bill Larsen Sr.'s younger son, Milt Larsen, started creating the Magic Castle there was no club. He convinced his brother Bill Larsen Jr. that it would be a good time to resurrect the Academy of Magical Arts. The first members were again Genii subscribers.

There are several types of membership:

• MAGICIAN (REGULAR) MEMBERS
• ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
• HONORARY LIFE MEMBERSHIPS and VIP MEMBERSHIPS
• JUNIOR MEMBERSHIPS

There is an annual Academy of Magical Arts Award Show and Banquet. The highest award given is the Masters Fellowship.

Awards

Masters Fellowship

• 1968 - Dai Vernon
• 1969 - None because the Award dates were changed
• 1970 - Cardini
• 1971 - Virgil And Julie
• 1972 - Senor Frakson
• 1973 - Charlie Miller
• 1974 - Slydini
• 1975 - Dunninger
• 1976 - Robert Harbin
• 1977 - Les Levante
• 1978 - Dorney Dornfield
• 1979 - Walter B. Gibson
• 1980 - MacDonald Birch, Fred Kaps
• 1981 - Gene Gordon
• 1982 - Jay Marshall
• 1983 - Joe Berg
• 1984 - Maurice Rooklyn
• 1985 - Eric Lewis
• 1986 - Murray
• 1987 - Tihany
• 1988 - Mark Wilson

Lifetime Achievement Fellowship

• 1985 William W. Larsen,Jr.
• 1986 Don Lawton
• 1987 Milt Larsen
• 1989 Frances Marshall
• 1989 John Booth
• 1990 Jack McMillan
• 1991 Edwin Hooper
• 1992 Ron Wilson
• 1993 Charles Reynolds
• 1994 John Fisher
• 1995 Alan Wakeling
• 1996 Billy McComb
• 1997 Alex Elmsley
• 1998 Bev Bergeron
• 1999 John Gaughan
• 2000 Stan Kramien
• 2001 Tihany
• 2002 Les Smith
• 2003 Al Cohen and Christian Fechner
• 2004 Irene Larsen
• 2005 Martin Gardner

Magician of the Year

• 1968 Dai Vernon
• 1970 Albert Goshman
• 1971 Ron Wilson
• 1972 Mark Wilson
• 1973 Shimada
• 1974 Mark Wilson
• 1975 Siegfried & Roy
• 1976 Doug Henning
• 1977 Norm Nielsen
• 1978 Harry Blackstone, Jr.
• 1979 David Copperfield
• 1980 Marco the Magi
• 1981 Richiardi, Jr.
• 1982 Paul Daniels
• 1983 Siegfried & Roy
• 1984 Harry Blackstone, Jr.
• 1985 Lance Burton
• 1986 David Copperfield
• 1987 The Pendragons
• 1988 Harry Anderson
• 1989 Princess Tenko
• 1990 Silvan
• 1991 Lance Burton
• 1992 Juan Tamariz
• 1993 Jeff McBride[
• 1994 The Pendragons
• 1995 Penn & Teller
• 1996 Ricky Jay
• 1997 Mark Kalin & Jinger
• 1998 Luis DeMatos
• 1999 Silvan
• 2000 Ayala
• 2001 Rick Thomas
• 2002 David Blaine
• 2003 Mac King
• 2004 Darren Romeo
• 2005 Criss Angel

Official Web Site

http://www.magiccastle.com/ama/index.cfm

This page incorporated content from Academy of Magical Arts, a page hosted on Wikipedia. Please consult the history of the original page to see a list of its authors. Therefor, this article is also available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License