Meet the President of Abbotts Magic, Greg Bordner. Greg took over running Abbott's over 25 years ago when his father, Recil Bordner retired.
In this video,
Greg takes you on a brief tour of the Abbotts Magic Factory. This is one of the most requested video's that we have had and we finally did get around to doing it. The tour took place after working hours and took about 45 minutes to do, unfortunately limitations at You Tube forced us to edit the video down under ten minutes. This was every kids dream who grew up reading Abbotts Magic Catalog and I felt like I was Charley at the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory while I was filming this!
Making the Magic
Surveying the Stage
Surveying the Stage
Mark Holstein is Abbotts Stage Manager for the Get Together and he takes us on a quick backstage tour of the stage where so many great and wonderful performances have been seen over the years. The Abbott stage crew (including Mark) is completely comprised of performing magicians which makes Mark's job a little easier considering the limited amount of time Mark has to transform a gymnasium into the stage you see on these pages.
Each year proves to be a different challenge for the crew, this year they have a 470lb bengal tiger coming to visit and in the past everything from monkeys to bears. A great group that really deserve much more accolades than they get.
Starbursting the Silks
Have you ever wondered how some of the silks get those starburst patterns? Or how the mutilated parasol covers get those brilliant colors? They all start off white and begin their transformation in the Abbott silk dyeing room, probably one of the least glamorous rooms in magic as it involves messy and tedious work.
Karen, Abbott's seamstress, takes you on a little tour of the process while getting a silk made up for Dale Salwak in California. During this process, if the person dyeing the silks makes even the smallest error, the silk will not be sold by Abbott's so the pressure is on since there are no errors tolerated!
Starbursting the Silks
Balancing the Books
Balancing the Books
Odds are that if you have ever visited Abbotts or called on the phone, you probably already met Julie. Although her official title is "Abbotts Bookkeeper" she fills many other roles at Abbotts, even being produced from some of Abbotts Illusions when needed. However her main role is keeping the books and when you think about all the items Abbotts makes and sells, from the light feathers on a Botania to the Steel in a cage production, its truly an amazing job that Julie does.
So the next time your emergency overnight shipment of hat coils from Abbotts arrives in the nick of time, you know who to thank!
Doing the Demonstrations
Meet BJ Mallen who works inside sales and marketing for Abbott's, but magic is Bj's first passion and many times you can find him behind the counter at Abbotts performing magic and doing demonstrations for the customers in the showroom. BJ has been with Abbotts for over 15 years and invites everyone to come and visit Abbott's and the Magic Get Together.
You can see samples of BJ demonstrating the Color Monte Trick here and also doing the Chinese Sticks here. There are many other demonstrations with BJ Mallen on this site (and YouTube) but these are a couple of the Webmaster's favorites!
Doing the Demonstrations
Working the Website
Working the Website
For the longest time high speed internet was not available in Colon and internet surfing was restricted to 56K modems, however in the last 18 months or so, all that has changed. With high speed internet access flowing through Colon, Abbotts is in the process of huge updates and changes to its internet presence. Lets meet one of the young driving forces of Abbott's Internet presence, webmaster Nick of Abbotts Magic.
The future is very exciting and without limits as far as Abbotts and the web. The two go together very well and Abbott's hopes to have a completely new web presence by 2008 Get Together which will include streaming live videos, RSS Feeds and Podcasts, and several new sites and shops.
Making The Mutilated Parasol
Abbott's chief seamstress Karen explains why the Abbott's Mutilated Parasol is the finest in the world (and I agree with her, I have purchased two in my lifetime, one for myself and another for my son).
The Abbotts Parasol is designed to last for years and with the quality workmanship that Karen provides one can understand why this prop is so popular with magicians around the world. If you would like to see what the Parasol looks like during a live performance click here to see Duane Laflin perform it at a recent Magic Get Together!
Perfecting the Parasol
Behind The Super Botania
Behind the Botania
The unmistakable beauty of a well made feather flower is undeniable, so this behind the scenes video at Abbotts is all about feather flowers and what it takes to make a Botania, Super Botania, Garden of Flowers, etc. Abbott's Feather Flower Expert Amanda will be your host and take you on a little tour of a Super Botania as it is being made.
When you are ready to really make an impression with a feather flower production, be sure and give Abbotts a call! Remember, you can custom design it with Abbotts, tell them what color flowers you want and Abbotts will make it happen! As a matter of fact, the first trick I ever bought from Abbotts was a Garden of Flowers back in 1986.
Percy's Chest of Memorabilia
You never know when you are going to run across a small treasure at Abbotts. There are many old books and shelves that are homes to other old documents that we consider precious. Perhaps a relative going through their parents items will find objects of interest as well, and when that happens, we place them here, in Percy's Chest, for safe keeping.
So if you are curious about what jokes were floating around Abbotts 50 years ago or so, or if you wanted to know what Abbotts pays its employees....in 1946, you may want to take a moment and click on the chest to the right and open Percy's Chest for yourself.
