Connie Boyd, award-winning magician and author of "The Power of Magical Women," shares her journey from ballet to circus aerialist, Las Vegas headliner to cruise ship producer, and five career reinventions. Discover how the pandemic inspired her Magical Women project documenting female magicians, why Paul Romhany said "you've got enough here for a book," and the discovery aboit a 1903 book that rocked her world. Learn why representation matters and how these stories transcend magic itself.

Coming up in this episode of The Magic Book Podcast:

I determined that there wasn't a place that was documenting women in magic. And I thought, “Well, wouldn't that be splendid?” Representation matters. And when you see somebody that looks like you or that you aspire to, that can trigger something inside you.

You're listening to The Magic Book Podcast, conversations about classic and contemporary books that teach, illuminate, and celebrate the art of magic. I'm your host, Adrian Tennant, a lifetime student of magic and mentalism, occasional performer, and longtime book collector. Thanks for joining me. Today my guest is Connie Boyd, a Canadian-born, award-winning magician who became one of the few female headliners on the Las Vegas Strip. Over a career spanning more than 35 years, Connie has won Best Cabaret Magician at the World Magic Awards, the Mandrake d'Or in Paris, and received a special fellowship from The Academy of Magical Arts at The Magic Castle. After a career-ending injury in 2016, Connie reinvented herself as a producer of magic shows for global cruise lines. Then when the COVID pandemic brought everything to a halt in 2020, she launched her Magical Women projects: a YouTube channel documenting female magicians, monthly articles for VANISH International Magic magazine, and now a groundbreaking new book, "The Power of Magical Women," which profiles more than 70 trailblazing female magicians and is being described as the first book of its kind in history. Connie, welcome to The Magic Book Podcast!

Well, it's a pleasure to be here, Adrian. I can't believe it.

You've written that "resilience" could be your middle name. You've rebuilt your career from setbacks five times. Now, some listeners might not know that you trained with the National Ballet of Canada, you performed as a circus aerialist, and survived a really serious fall at the Houston Astrodome. Can you give us a sense of that journey and how it ultimately led you to magic?

Well, I think not even the great Max Maven, who is a brilliant mentalist, could have predicted my journey. And actually, when I was a little girl growing up in Canada, I thought I would be a ballerina. And my dream was to train with the National Ballet of Canada. And I eventually was able to. I auditioned and I studied with the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto, and I had a scholarship and I developed severe pain in my ankles. And foolishly, I didn't address that. And I continued dancing and then the pain went to my knees and by the time I actually went to a physiotherapist, I'd done some serious injury to both my ankles and my knees and I was forced to do rehabilitation, physiotherapy, and I was not a happy camper. And in the interim, there was an audition for a one ring circus and it was posted on our board.

So it was an official audition. I went to the audition not knowing anything about the circus, and I ended up getting the job. And I went and trained to perform two different acts in a one ring circus that was to debut in Toronto. And that's what I did. I joined the circus and my parents were not amused.

Oh, dear!

Yeah.But a couple things happened along the way. First of all, the skills that I had learned as a ballerina, those skills helped me as an aerialist. Now, I didn't have upper body strength that and that's required for aerial work, but I did have very strong legs and I was very coordinated. And those things helped me a lot. I performed these acts in the circus and that led to other circus opportunities. And I eventually learned a single trapeze act and I learned to juggle, and I was a participant in a juggling act. And those were my two strong skill sets in the circus. And I traveled with circuses all through North America.

I went to Japan, went to Hawaii – which is part of the United States, but was quite a journey. And I truly, I loved it. I used all the skills that I had at the time. And then a piece of rigging snapped at the Houston Astrodome. And I fell during a live show in front of families. And it was not my fault, but I did shatter both feet on concrete. And so that required surgery. If you have to shatter your feet, Houston's a good place to do it.

There are many professional football teams there and athletics teams. And my orthopedic surgeon was able to put my foot back together. The right foot was more seriously injured than the left foot. And he was able to operate and put that foot together with pins. And then they told me I probably would limp and I'd have a collapsed arch. . And I said, “Send me to physiotherapy.” So I once again joined the circus. And we were on tour, and in all of the various towns, like Chicago, New York, I would go to physiotherapy.

So I had access and I experienced lots of different physiotherapists. But I managed to correct my collapsed arch and I managed to end up working in heels without limping. And that was just determination and grit. Those two setbacks were pretty serious. And, you know, my dream was a ballerina. And then my second dream was an aerialist. And then my third dream occurred in the Strangest of places.

And it was in Las Vegas. And I was in Las Vegas, and I was performing with the juggling act in a show called Splash. And that was at the Riviera Hotel and Casino. And there was a headliner there, and his name was Barclay Shaw. And I had seen Doug Henning perform magic on television as a child. But I would be dishonest if I said I loved it. You know, it was just another art form that I knew existed. But Barclay Shaw's levitation tapped something inside me.

It was just breathtaking.

An illusion. And the woman under his control, she quivered. And it was extremely theatrical. It was beautifully presented magic very close to the audience. So that made it stronger because the audience could almost reach out and touch this woman who was floating midair. And then he put her in a plexiglass box and she floated inside this plexiglass box. And I get goosebumps talking to you about it.

To this day, it really moved me. And I wanted to be the girl in the box. It never occurred to me to be the magician. But Barclay saw me every single day watching him in the wings or watching from the front, and he said, “You know, if you like magic that much, you should be a magician.” This is kind of interesting. When I talk about the book and I talk about magic and my influences, I talk about representation and how important representation is, and representation matters. And when you see somebody that looks like you or that you aspire to, that can trigger something inside you. And the thing that many people didn't know is that Barclay Shaw was a magician and a brilliant puppeteer.

Very, very dry, sarcastic humor, very intelligent man, and an inventor, a creator of magic. And the person that inspired him to become a magician was a woman, and her name was Cleopatra. There's not a lot that we know about Cleopatra. And the history of women in magic has been largely either omitted or just are small footnotes, or you have to really dive deep to find little excerpts of it. So many people don't know about Cleopatra, but in my research, I was trying to learn a little bit more about the history of women in magic. And I was reading “The Illustrated History of Magic,” by Milbourne Christopher, who was a very academic, very knowledgeable magician. And on page 315 of his “Illustrated History of Magic,” he stated that Cleopatra was the best female illusionist that he had ever seen. And he had a really crazy story that you couldn't make up about how she became the magician.

Cleopatra was originally Russian. She married a Greek magician, and they were touring in Spain. And they were in the era of the buzzsaw, I think most people know that giant saw that would come down and sever the woman in two pieces. And some magicians chose to make it very gory with fake blood. So it was that era of very dramatic magic. And they were touring and they were traveling from one town to the next. And in the middle of their tour, they were in an auto accident and the buzzsaw went through the cab of the truck and it severed her husband's neck. And in widowhood, Cleopatra became the magician.

And that's what was stated in Melbourne Christopher's book. Now, I have no other documentation that will substantiate that was actually factual, but it's quite the story.

Wow.

So she became a very strong magician. There are some magic historians in Europe that have playbills of her performing, I believe, at the Winter Garden in Berlin and various major venues in Europe. And then she got on a ship and she toured across the Caribbean. We know that there was a visa for her to go to Brazil. And there are some clippings of her performances in New York. There's a few little tidbits about her, but not a lot is known. But the most important element for me is that representation that a woman could be a magician. That's why Barclay Shaw believed I could be a magician.

And he saw that I truly was interested. He came to my very first performance and he built me one of my very first pieces of magic. And it was just a small screen that produced a duck. But I just am so grateful to him. Because of Barclay Shaw, I once again changed career paths and I became a magician. And so that's the long story of how that occurred.

I know that you invested your savings to create that first magic act. Two names became pivotal. Don Wayne and Joanie Spina. What did they each contribute to helping you find your unique performance style?

I did indeed invest all of my savings, and I wouldn't recommend my journey at all. It was a very terrible false start. On paper, it looked great. I had a manager, I had a magic consultant, I had a magic prop builder. I didn't have knowledge. I didn't understand the type of magic that would suit me. I didn't do my research. I really came in on the left foot.

It was a fiasco. The magic prop builder built equipment that didn't work. And the first choreographer I had stood on a prop and fell through the base. It just didn't support him or his weight. So it was a nightmare. And what I discovered from that learning curve, expensive learning curve, was that I had to be responsible for my own work, and I had to do my own due diligence, and I had to know what I wanted as an artist, how I wanted to represent my performance. And that was a really expensive, really difficult lesson to learn. But I reached out to several friends that I knew and I said, “Who is the best magic consultant that you know?” And everyone said, “Don Wayne.”

For people listening, perhaps they don't know. Don Wayne was David Copperfield's magic consultant at the time, and he is responsible for some of the most memorable pieces of magic that we know and associate with David Copperfield. And Don Wayne was instrumental in creating those effects. I said, “Well, how do I get a hold of Mr. Wayne?” And they gave me his phone number. I called Don Wayne and I said, “You know, Mr. Wayne, I have all of this equipment that isn't working and I'm, you know, in up to my neck. I really do like magic.”

“I want to be a magician, but I'm pretty inexperienced.” He said, “I'm going to be in town with David Copperfield, and if you'd like, we can meet.” I met with him, and he looked at my equipment, and he gave me three single-space lines of things to do and said, “I'll be back in two weeks.” And it was a test to see if I was serious or not. And I worked day and night. I sewed, I went to welders. I did things I never thought I could do. And when he came back, I had completed my list.

I think he said, “Okay, well, maybe she's a bit serious.” And that began a relationship with Don Wayne, and he became a very, very good friend. And until his passing, I would call him, you know, about challenges I had in the show or to see how he was feeling or just for a chat, because most of the creativity and the fabrication of props, that comes from him. He was the one that encouraged me to build my own equipment and build my own props and to make my own mockups and to develop things that made me stand out as a magician. Because the competition was fierce. You know, the best magicians in the world with massive budgets were in Las Vegas, so I had to come up with material that was different and more of a signature towards how I perceived my magic.

And it did help that I was a woman and there were a few women at the time, so I could present more feminine magic, and perhaps that helped me to stand out. And through Don Wayne, I met Joanie Spina. And Joanie Spina probably became my best friend. Joanie came to see a number I put in the show. Don couldn't help me with this number. This number was called “Floating and Flying.” And I came up with this concept, and I wanted to pursue it. And I called him, and he said, “It's a great idea. I think you should pursue it.”

“I think you're able to pursue it, but I cannot help you because David Copperfield is beginning to develop an act, ‘Flying’ and it's a conflict of interest.” He was a very ethical man, so he said, “But I think you're on the right track. It's nothing to do with the premise or anything about how David Copperfield is presenting his magic. And once it's up and running in the show, I would be happy to come and see it.” And so I actually implemented this new routine called Floating and Flying, which used a Don Wayne floating ball. And what made it distinctive was that the ball, at one point in the routine would fly up into the air, and I would float up to get it. And that, at the time, was something that hadn't been done, I believe.

So that was something a little bit different. And Joanie Spina came to see the routine, and I thought it was spiffy. I thought, you know, it was the cat's meow. And Joanie looked at it, and she came back and said, “I'd like to restage and redirect the entire number.” And I said, “Okay.” it's Joanie Spina! I mean, Joanie Spina was David Copperfield's director, lead assistant. She selected his music. She was responsible for some of the best magic choreography that exists to this day.

She was, you know, somebody that I had, as with Don Wayne, put on a very high pedestal. So I said, “Yes.” And she came back and she said, “Well, how small can the costume be?” And I said, “Well, it can be minuscule.” And she said, “Well, you need to be in a minuscule costume. That will be stronger magic.” Now, you have to remember, at the time, I have a dance background. I have a slightly acrobatic background. And we diminished those skills when I was performing in Las Vegas in the Folies Bergère, because they had dozens of trained dancers and acrobats in the show, and it would be foolish for me to present my magic and competing with other elements in the show.

We were really conscious about being just straight, strong magic. But Joanie changed that. Joanie put me in this little leotard, and she created this beautiful piece that became a signature piece of magic. She found the perfect piece of music. She restaged the entire piece. And when I flew up to the ball, the audience did what I call the magic gasp. And when you have 1500 people go “aaaaaah,” it moves you. And you got them.

And that's that wonder, that awe, that curiosity, all of those elements, they were in that piece of magic. And so that's how I started with Joanie Spina and Don Wayne. And they were my very good friends. They inspired my magic career, my magic direction, everything that I probably use to this day. There's some element of those two formidable, talented people that I had the honor of working with.

That's lovely. Well, your magic career really took off. And of course, you worked internationally. Can you tell us about that?

What happened was I was working in Vegas consistently until around the year 2000, and I saw a dramatic change within the venues and the cities that I had been performing in. And the budgets were being dramatically reduced. And there were a lot of husband-and-wife teams, which are wonderful. But I didn't have a husband that I put in a box. I had professional assistants. So I could see that things were shifting. And I started to accept more work in Europe and in Asia. And my work is visual.

It can be visual. I can also speak. But I had the ability as an illusionist to present visual magic. And so that was highly successful in Europe and Asia. And that led to the cruise company, the cruise entertainment director, asking me if I would help and consult on one of their new builds for a cruise ship company. And I accepted that. And it was the very first time that I had worked with dancers, teaching them magic. There was no magician involved.

And so it was completely different than the way I present my magic. But it was a wonderful challenge. And it taught me to teach magic to counts to dancers. And that was essential when I fast-forward to my career and start talking about producing these big magic shows and magic production shows. Because by having the capability of understanding dancers, understanding their mindset, and understanding what it takes to teach the magic in a timely manner, quickly, you teach it like choreography. So I learned the illusions as choreography myself. We were able to implement dancers into the magic shows very quickly because we taught it in a manner that they were comfortable with and familiar with. That was a big revelation for me.

And then that led to a magic production show that I starred in. And I had a cast of singers and dancers in this show, and that was great fun. And it was co-produced with a South African production team. And they did beautiful work, and the quality of their dance was superb, and their production was superb. And I learned like a sponge from them. And they were very, very generous. One of the producers directed film for National Geographic in South Africa. They had a lot of video that was implemented within the dance, which we use now.

And nobody thinks about it, but at the time, you know, I'd be hard pressed to see that use of video within dance. There were so many elements of their shows that I was, you know, I was curious, I asked questions and I learned. In 2012, I started casting out some of the shows to female magicians. And by 2016, I had three production shows running. I had a production show called “Illusions.” I had a production show called “Chicks with Tricks” that included all of the female talent in the show. And we had male dancers and singers in the show, but it was predominantly featuring the female element of the show and it was great fun. And the third show was my original show, which was called “The Beauty of Magic.”

And that's the show that was award-winning, that I performed all over the world. And that show I also taught to other magicians. So we had those three shows running and I was still performing and substituting out when they needed breaks. I had a really full plate.

Fast-forward to 2016 and you broke your femur in Italy, requiring a hip replacement. That ended your stage career as you'd known it. Connie, how did you move forward from that?

Well, it was dramatic, I have to admit. I was at a point in my life that I was actually looking to pursue the directing, mentoring and producing side of my career much more than I was the performance side. And when I broke my femur and had three weeks in the hospital in Italy, it was an opportunity to say to my agency and to the production companies, “I think it's time now that I step back and we let the other talent move forward”and, you know, I'll train more magicians for these shows.” And that's how it began as far as me stepping back and just taking on the lead as a director, producer and mentor of magic talent. But it was a very slow step. I must say that I didn't, you know, wake up one day and say, “I'm going to produce a magic show.” However many magicians we are producers, whether it's a small self contained card manipulation show or it's a full-on production show, you know, we're responsible for the lighting, the costuming, the sound. It's quite a natural transition for us.

Audio, visual, all of those things.

If you're enjoying this episode of The Magic Book Podcast, please consider leaving a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also follow The Magic Book Podcast page on Facebook. Thanks. Connie. When the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, you lost everything – overnight shows on multiple cruise lines, your whole producing career. How did that lead to the Magical Women project?

It's true. Like many entertainers, it was dire. I was actually in Italy when the pandemic hit. I was training a magician from the Ukraine. We were working on a brand new act, and when that country shut down, at that point, we had three ships that were coming in from the Caribbean and South America and magicians on those ships as well. It was really difficult to send, first of all, the Ukrainian girl home and try to get flights for her out. And then the talent that I had. Because the magicians, at that point in time, there was a European, an Australian, and a South African working for me. And I had to get all three of those girls home.

Simone Shapland was the Australian, and we got her home to Australia on the last flight from Japan, and it flew into Brisbane. Even that's not her home. But we just got her on the last flight to get her in because they closed for several years. So that was really important to get these girls home and off these ships. It took 47 days to get Terry Lee Aspeling home – she's the South African – from Italy to South Africa, because there were deaths on her ship because of COVID. She was in quarantine repeatedly in different countries in different situations, but we eventually got her home. And then, you know, I came back to North America. And so with all of the shows sitting on ghost ships in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea or in a warehouse in Italy, I had not very much to do, but I had a lot of skills.

And I determined that there wasn't a place that was documenting women in magic. And I thought, “Well, wouldn't that be splendid? Many people aren't familiar with some of the older magicians. They should be, but maybe they're not. And I could interview them. I have a captive audience. Everybody is sitting at home. And some of these people are very difficult to get when they are working. But right now, everybody's at home.”

So I started a YouTube channel called “Magical Women with Connie Boyd.” And I started interviewing magicians such as Tina Lenert, Diana Zimmerman, Fay Presto. And the list just went on and on and on. And what I realized is that there was no other place in the world that had actually documented these women. And it's a free resource. And so it became really important to me, and I put a lot of pressure on myself to produce as many of these talks as I could in a timely manner while I had everybody accessible. And that's what started this sort of mania of over 300-plus uploads now that we have of interviews and mini docu-series and performances. We've got vintage video performances of magicians that, you know, perhaps people aren't familiar with like Celeste Evans and Susy Wandas.

And it's quite complex. The YouTube channel, how it evolved, that became my new project. And I never imagined when I started it that it would evolve into what it has today and that I would have a book and that I would be so much more knowledgeable about the history of women in magic today than I was five years ago. But I discovered I loved it. And you know, you jump down this crazy rabbit hole and you discover all of these wonderful facts and then you start compiling them and you realize that nobody's done that before. And so it was really exciting to me. And it's just another phase of my entertainment career, my journey. And the question you asked me previously, I think all of those challenges, all of those hurdles, all of those hiccups, they all led to where I am today.

And you can look at them and you can be devastated. And don't get me wrong, sometimes they were pretty dire and it wasn't fun. But if you just keep moving forward and you try to find a silver lining or find something that you're passionate or interested in, you can make a turn. And it's all within different genres of show business and entertainment. But I've been so fortunate to have a whole career that I've got to do what I love to do.

Your YouTube channel launched, as you mentioned, in 2020, and Paul Romhany, founder and editor of VANISH Magazine, invited you to write monthly articles for him. Connie, at what point did you realize that the articles you were writing had the potential to become a book?

Adrian, if I'm honest, it wasn't in my wheelhouse. I didn't imagine it. I looked at the Magical Women articles in VANISH, that they were an opportunity and another platform for exposure for women in magic. And I value that greatly. And it is a joy to work with Paul Romhany because he is so forward-thinking, he embraces diversity, he's a brilliant human being. And so that was a fantastic fit for me. And I'd been writing articles from 2020 to it would have been last year. And Paul, I guess he was looking for something, we were working on something and he looked back and I guess my file was pretty massive.

And he said, “Connie, do you know you've got enough here that you could write a book?” And so that was the trigger. It was Paul that saw it before I did, and he suggested writing something under the umbrella of VANISH.

And so I went back and I looked at all of the VANISH articles since it started, and I listed all of the magicians that I had written about and that he himself or other people had written about, and I went, “Oh, this is a really interesting mix. This sort of covers every genre of magic that I can think of.” And that's how it started.

Well, your book, “The Power of Magical Women,” gathers more than 70 profiles and combines them with reimagined and expanded pieces, archival images and new connective writing. What criteria did you use to decide what to include in the book and perhaps as importantly, what to exclude?

There was a lot of content, and I rewrote every single article. And the articles that I didn't originally write, I wrote in my own voice and then reached out to those individual magicians to make sure that I had it correct and if there were any changes or edits that needed to be done. But most of the magicians that were featured as solo artists in VANISH Magic Magazine are included in the book. There were some very complicated, complex articles that we wrote. For example, there was a series that we wrote about Japanese magicians. It was about the pop culture that's happening now with Instagram and TikTok magicians in Japan, as well as it dove into the magicians that are FISM winners. And then it went further into the history of women in magic in Japan with Tenkatsu and how she influenced magicians today. So that was really complex.

It took months to write that article for that magazine, and I opted not to include it because it would have been so difficult to get permission from all of those Japanese artists for their content, for their images. It was just too much. And there was another instance of a film called “The Queen of Magic,” and it was a short film loosely based on Adelaide Herrmann, who we all know, any of us in the magic community, as The Queen of Magic. But the short film was based loosely on her life and her experiences, and that one also was one - it just didn't feel like it fit into what we were looking for for this compilation of content. But the majority are there.

Could you just walk us briefly through the structure of “The Power of Magical Women”?

Certainly. I would not be where I am today if I did not have a brilliant editor. Marianne Ward, she's a professional editor. She has nothing to do with the magic community. And that's a benefit because that means that she's seeing the material as the general public will see the material. And it's really important to note that when I was putting this book together, I wanted to expand the stories of these women in magic beyond the magic community. Because I think the stories are really important. They're motivating and they're inspiring.

And most of the general public, there's a curiosity about magic in general, but there's such a lack of representation about women in magic that they don't even know they exist in many cases. So it is pretty exciting to be able to expand the footprint, shall we say, and to allow people to experience these new stories. So Marianne, my editor, was instrumental in helping me to compile all this content together and to divide it into chapters. And there are six chapters that focus on different aspects, not necessarily the genres of magic, but just different points, like women that are using magic for greater good or to improve social change, or women that are breaking barriers, or women that are using some form of storytelling in their magic. And the rising stars. Because Paul Romhany is a huge advocate of promoting young talent that maybe wouldn't necessarily be featured in other magic magazines, but he's very forward-thinking about trying to have a voice and an imprint of the up and coming generations of magicians as well, and trying to encourage that. And one of the many things that I really enjoy working with him about. So there's a rising star section.

I think having that ability to divide it into those sections, I think it makes it more palatable for other people that are maybe not so knowledgeable about the magic community. And these stories, whether you're a man or a woman, a girl or a boy, it's the stories that are powerful, it's the stories that are compelling. And I think it's those stories that will move you and hopefully inspire you to take some steps forward in your own life to pursue your passion or your dreams or whatever it is that you need to do to make yourself happy and to fulfill what you're looking for.

Well, the book is sumptuously illustrated with over 200 high quality photographs. Connie, can you tell us about the process of collecting the visual source material and securing permissions for all those photos?

It took a mad woman. Images to me are really important, whether it's in artwork or they can trigger a thought. So to have access to beautiful photographs of the people that I'm writing about, you know, they say “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and these images really support the stories that we are trying to tell. I believe that photos and the images are as important as the text. That's how powerful those images are. I had written about the majority of the magicians and those I had not originally written about. I compiled lists of all of their photos and had to make little screenshots of each of those photos.

And then we had to have permission from each individual magician that they owned the content or that they were crediting so and so with the content to have permission to use it within the book, because these are living magicians today. The majority of the people that are mentioned in the book are alive. And so it was a completely different concept than you would deal with if you were presenting a historic book, because that's a whole different genre of rules and regulations. But this one was extremely complex because we had to make sure that we credited, when we could, the photographer. We had to make sure that the people that were giving us the photos, that they owned that content, that they signed that they owned that content. So, yes, it was extremely complex. It took over half a year. And I was very persistent because I believed firmly that these images supported the stories and that it would help the people that were reading it to understand beyond the words, you know, so the image just captures the essence of the performer.

Paul Romhany - he did the layout and the design of the book, and he chose the images. I received permission and sent them to him. And I do this also with our articles. I send a slew of photos, and then I let him be the creative and put them together to complement what I've written. And he did a beautiful job selecting photos. They are action photos. They're not, you know, your typical sort of stagnant headshot. Each photo, in my opinion, tells a story in itself. And so I think those images really do make the book so much more compelling and so much stronger.

Well, you've discussed Paul Romhany's involvement, but you've described Margaret Steele as your silent partner on the project – of course, a previous guest on The Magic Book Podcast. What guidance did Margaret provide?

Both Margaret and I have theater backgrounds, and she's a friend. She's a mentor, she's a colleague, she's a fabulous producer. She's a fantastic writer. She's so articulate and so knowledgeable and generous of spirit to share her knowledge. And I know I'm gushing, but she's been instrumental in this project, and with both Paul and I, she's just been so helpful. I'm really grateful for her guidance. And, you know, Margaret has two very compelling books and she has another one she's publishing this year now. It's just so important that we go beyond the magic community and that we share these stories with people that they can understand and be encouraged themselves.

They may not even be fans of magic, but if it's written beautifully, if it's illustrated beautifully, if the stories are compelling, that might inspire them and motivate them. We both feel strongly about that. And it was thanks to Margaret that we ended up indie publishing this book. And I'm very, very grateful to her because we have the book as we envisioned it. And when you work with a publishing house or you work with a literary agent, it's very different and you end up with a version of the book that they think they can sell. I'm very grateful to Margaret for that as well. Yeah, she's wonderful.

Just a reminder that you can be notified when new episodes of this podcast are published by subscribing to the email alerts. You'll find all the details on the podcast website at TheMagicBookPodcast.com, which is where you can also find transcripts plus accompanying blog posts with summaries, timestamps, and links to the resources mentioned in each episode. Connie, “The Power of Magical Women” launched with a live-streamed event in conjunction with the Los Angeles Tribune. How did that come about?

During the pandemic, I worked a little bit with Tim Wise. He had a project called Abra TV and I worked with him on that. And I provided monthly content for about six months of what I called “Magical Women in the News.” And a lot of the content that I use in the book and a lot of the connections that I discovered during the pandemic, they were through that project. You know, I just reached out to people to try to say, “What are you doing? and “How are you coping?” And it was just this fun little thing that I did every month and which took a long time to put together, as you well know. So that started sort of a relationship with Tim Wise, and then things started to change and things started to go back to normal and I didn't have the time that I had. And so I stopped working on that aspect of the Magical Women project. Now, fast-forward to 2025, and Tim Wise reached out to me and said, “I have this remarkable situation.”

“The Los Angeles Tribune owner, Mo Rock, has become a friend, and he is looking to have a Global Magician's Hall of Fame. And he has actually allocated a date and a place for this to happen. And would you please help me?” And this is where I put on my director hat and my producer hat because we had, I think it was three weeks to pull this off. And it was crazy. It started with the list of who the inductees into the Hall of Fame would be, and then a list of the awards that the Los Angeles Tribune were going to award various magicians. And so it was very complex with many moving pieces. But we pulled it off and it happened. And it was an event held at the Clark County Public Library Theater in July, and many, many fabulous magicians were involved in it. Kyle and Misty Knight, and Kevin James was there virtually.

Ben Barnes was there virtually. Margaret Steele is included in it. Legends like Diana Zimmerman, Dorothy Dietrich, Gay Blackstone, they were involved in the show. I'm mentioning all the women, and I'm forgetting some of the great men. Colin Cloud was there. Criss Angel was given the Greatest of all Time award. It was a massive undertaking, and it was thankfully a success. And as a result, the Los Angeles Tribune, I kind of got, I think, a little bit flagged.

And so I was speaking to one of their upper management, her name is Ava Manuel. And I was telling her about this book that we just finished the manuscript, and I was so excited. And she said, “Well, we have a division of the Los Angeles Tribune. You should send me the manuscript.” And I said, “Well, we're actually getting ready. We're sending out advance reader copies, so I'll send out an advance reader copy.” And I submitted an advanced reader copy and an assessment to the Los Angeles Tribune. And with that, we were actually given a “Critically-Acclaimed Los Angeles Tribune Bestseller” label for our book.

And they did a beautiful assessment of the book where they made suggestions that were on point. It's an actual document that you have to meet all this criteria. And the book met it. So we had a book launch date of November 1st. Paul and I had decided that's the date we're going to go. And I had also submitted the book to other resources for advanced reader copies for quotes. And we received a Reader's View five-star review, which was unbelievable because you have to remember, this is my very first book.

I've never written a book in my life. And so I had a meeting with Ava and somebody else. She was holding some group chat, and she said, “You should come.” So I came. And she said, “Well, what are you doing for your book launch?” And I said, “Oh, Ava, I'm so busy. You know, I'm juggling so many balls.” And she said, “Well, we would be honored to provide the platform for a book launch for you.” And this was two weeks before the book launch.

And I couldn't say no. I said, “Well, okay then.” Because that meant that I didn't have to worry about the technical aspects. They were going to run it for me. And she said, “Just look at it as a party.” So I immediately sent an email out to all of the women and men that are included in the book. And I received such an overwhelming response back. More than 25 of the people that are included in the book were available.

Everyone that I reached out to, many of them are working, so they were on cruise ships or in foreign countries. It wasn't possible, but over 25 said, “No, we can make it. We want to be there.” And some were pre-recorded, some were there. Actually, there were so many I had to create panels of people and divide it into sections. And we did it over a two-hour period. We had the most festive, wonderful launch party thanks to the Los Angeles Tribune and their technical support. But it was just a beautiful way to start sales of the book.

And during that wonderful festival of celebration, Ava then revealed that we had been submitted for a Pulitzer Prize. And that is just - that's beyond my imagination and my dreams that the book was even considered. I figure I won. And I think all of the women included in the book feel that they've won, just being seen and being heard. And it's just that they trusted me with their stories and that they trusted me to be able to put this together. It means so much to me and I don't take that lightly. So any accolades that I get are on behalf of everybody and it's a huge weight, but it's also a huge honor to represent them all.

Well, since its publication, you've been really busy promoting “The Power of magical Women.” What has the response from the magic community been like?

It's been brilliant. For example, Adrian, you can't imagine. I wanted to promote the book at The Magic Castle because they were there from the very beginning. When I presented my first talk for Max Maven and the historic series at FISM, “How Women Influence Magic,” there was a contingent of The Magic Castle there and they were so excited by my talk, they said, “We have to have you, we're going to bring you in.” And they did. Within a year of my talk, they brought me in, and I performed a lecture at Behind the Bookcase. And they subsequently also gave me an Academy of Magical Arts Special Fellowship for my work on the Magical Women project. Again, these are accolades and recognitions I never dreamed of.

And I certainly didn't start the project with them in mind, but there have been some - so many benefits from this beautiful work that has just sort of snowballed into something massive. And it's a massive movement forward and which is exciting. So I reached out again to The Magic Castle and they said, “Yes, please come for a book launch book signing.” So I performed a book launch book signing. And I thought I was going to have two books for that signing, the 6 inch by 9 inch paperback and the 6 inch by 9 inch hardcover books that we were offering. But in addition to that, I'm also providing a collector's book. And the collector's book is eight and a half inches by 11 inches.

And it is beautiful high-end glossy paper which just showcases the images so brilliantly. It's a limited edition of just 150 copies. And I had planned to have that available at the end of December, beginning of January. But unbelievable, the books arrived six weeks early. I had those collector's editions books in addition to the 6 inch by 9 inch hardened paperback copies, color copies for The Magic Castle talk, which was just beyond my dreams. So that was a huge win. And then from there I had planned to go to Fresno, California, because Hocus Pocus had one of the very few brick and mortar shops in America and they are handling the exclusive distribution of the collector's editions book, the special signature books. And I had planned to go there to just discuss with them, but what happened is I went and signed 150 books.

So each of those collectors books now has an individual number and is a signed copy by me. So that was again, not in the wheelhouse, but we will take that win and we will run with it. And then from there we flew to Chicago and I presented a talk at The American Museum of Magic. And where I presented my talk, it was in front of Harry Houdini and his authentic Milk Can Escape. And during that talk, I talk about Minerva and the rivalry between Harry Houdini and the Milk Can Escape. And it was happening in real time in this, this wonderful museum. That was just a really powerful moment and I'm sure Houdini was rolling over at his grave when I explained that Minerva's Oak Barrel escape had more bondage and was more dangerous and more accredited than his. Because there was a huge rivalry between Minerva and Harry Houdini.

At The American Museum of Magic. We used and included in the show to young female magicians, one Brynn Cummings, who is a magician and also a ventriloquist, who was featured on America's Got Talent and is 14 years old and she did the introduction of the talk and did my introduction with a puppet as a ventriloquist. It was one of the most beautiful introductions I've ever received. And then in the middle, in our rising star section, when I talk about the chapters in the book, we presented another magician and her name is Leia Spade and she's, I believe, 15 years old. And she performed a section within the talk. So it was just so wonderful to have this young, up-and-coming talent in the midst of all of the content that I've, you know, curated over these years. And so that was great fun. And then we went to the Chicago Magic Lounge and this was twofold.

They presented an evening, a spotlight on the power of magical women. And we started with a show. And in that show there was Abby Segal and Paige Thompson, both of whom have residencies at the Chicago Magic Lounge and both are included in the book. And I performed for the first time in almost 10 years. I performed two effects in the show. And then later I talked about the book and then we did a Q and A of the book and then the book signing. So I finished on such a high of this sort of mini tour. But my point is that everyone I asked in the magic community, they all said yes and they all embraced it.

And the feedback I think you can see on social media from the various magic sites there, it has just been wonderful. And there are examples of male magicians that are buying the book for their daughters or for their children. It was just wonderful representation and I am very, very grateful for that.

Well, when we were preparing for this interview, we discussed the way that this book actually transcends the magic community. Connie, what reactions have you received from readers who aren't magicians?

It's been really insightful and interesting. For example, just the last day of 2025, Reedsy Discovery, they gave us a powerful review. And that review was written by a man who is a stay-at-home dad, if I recall correctly. That was wonderful. And the Reader's Views review, that was the five-star review that we received from them. The woman said she didn't know what to expect and she picked up the book and she was just blown away by the content and the visuals and the stories. I think it's an element of entertainment that not many people are aware of.

And I think when they read the challenges and the obstacles that these formidable women have overcome, it is inspiring and it is motivating. And I think people can apply those stories to their own lives. I don't believe it's limited to magic. I believe that it has a larger scope, and that's what we were hoping for. And that is indeed my goal. Because if we can expand the footprint beyond the magic community, that means that we are going to be encouraging, you know, new generations of magicians and people to see things in a different way. And that's what we need in the arts.

We need to keep magic peeling the onion, to expand artistically and, you know, intellectually. And so it's really important.

Now, you hinted that there might be another book in development with Margaret Steele. Connie, are you allowed to share anything with us about that project?

I am. Margaret and I are working on a book centered on magic's best kept secrets. And that would be the compelling stories, once again, that are inspiring and personal, but about the historic women in magic, the women who were involved in magic in, let's say, in the 1800s. Many of them were omitted or many of them were just a tiny footnote, but they existed. And an example is that Gary Hunt and Michael Claxton have done some extensive research on female escapologists, and there were more than. Than 70 female escapologists during Harry Houdini's time. And they have them documented now.

You know, they weren't all at Minerva's level, however they existed. And that's just one genre of magic. It's not going to be an encyclopedia listing all of these magicians, but it is going to be some of the interesting, compelling stories that we've discovered that hopefully will inspire readers to want to learn more and to be surprised, pique their curiosity, one would hope.

Well, this is The Magic Book Podcast. So I have to ask, Connie, what is your most cherished magic book, or books, and why?

I actually, Adrian, I pulled out - I've got a stack here …

Okay!

… that have inspired me, so I had to dive deeper. You know, the magic historians have really, in the last 10 years, they've really produced some fantastic work and brought to light some wonderful magicians and their backstories that we weren't aware of before, like Charles Greene with Ionia, and Kobe Van Herwegen with Susy Wandas, and Michael Claxton with Dell O'Dell and Margaret Steele with Adelaide Herrmann, and then the fabulous book, “The Great Boomsky,” and all of the backstories of the Herrmann dynasty with them. And then we have Lance Rich's book, “Neon Dreams,” in which Gloria Dea, who was the very first magician to perform on the Las Vegas Strip, I call that the scoop of the decade.

Yes.

To many male magicians that claim to be first, it was actually an 18 year old woman in 1941 at the El Rancho Hotel and Casino. So all of those books. Yes, I love them all. But I'm going to cite the book that came as a shocker to me this last year. And it was, and I have it here. I've got a couple examples of it. But it's a book from 1903 and it's called “The Modern Conjurer.” And the reason I'm going to select this book, because this book rocked my world.

I was doing some research and I discovered just through an image I went, “That looks like a woman's hand.” And it is. And this book is filled with photos of a woman demonstrating and teaching the magic to male magicians. And her name was Mademoiselle Patrice. The author was C. Lang Neil. She was his wife, and she was trained and tutored by Charles Bertram. I had read quite a bit about Charles Bertram and I have to admit I'm not a great fan because he basically said women can't become magicians.

And that's in this book, “Isn't In a Wonderful Life?” And I'll give you the page if anybody wants to read it. It's on page 119. And he mentions Mademoiselle Patrice and that she's the exception and that women can't perform magic. But then he does go on to mention Madame Card, Okita, and Madame Nicolo. So there were women at the time. But I won't go into my opinion of him. But what I do want to talk about is “The Modern Conjurer” and that Mademoiselle Patrice was a brilliant magician.

She performed for His Royal Highness. She would cover Charles Bertram's show when he was out of town. She was that skilled and he trusted her that much that she performed for him. There are some fabulous quotes and newspaper articles about her, but the photos alone, I think I'm going to cite this one as my favorite book because it was the one that surprised me so greatly. And then also there's a second book in addition to “The Modern Conjurer.” It's “Modern Card Manipulation” by the same author. And it also contains photos of Mademoiselle Patrice, who is from the uk.

Yes. Back to your book. Where can listeners purchase “The Power of Magical Women”?

Well, if you would like to support the author, you can do so on our website. And the website is ThePowerofMagicalWomen.com and on that website, if you'd like to purchase a collector's book that will send you to the link to Hocus Pocus. It also provides links to Amazon and it also provides links to purchase directly from us. So we have multiple possibilities to purchase books. And we are offering three different books. The two 6 inch by 9 inch paperback and hardcover books. And then we have the 8 and a half by 11 inch signature limited edition book. The paperback book is listed at $39.95, the hardcover 6x9 inch book is listed at $69.95 and the collector's signature limited edition book is $149.95.

And we've tried to keep it as low as possible pricing wise because we are so enthusiastic about the content and spreading the word. But the color images make the publishing a lot more expensive. I believe the color images also make the book much more compelling.

Well, I would agree. We should also note that for the collector's edition, purchasers will receive some extra goodies.

Oh, that's true. I'm glad you mentioned that. For the first 50 we actually have a signed individual magical women deck card from one of the magicians in the book. And again, this sounded like a good idea, but it was a lot of work. I had to personally send all these cards out to all of these magicians and they had to sign them and then they sent them all back to me. And then we put them in a protective sleeve. And so those will be a collector's item. We have a bookmark.

We also have a numbered label that can be placed in the book or used however the person is purchasing wants. And those are to all 150. But the first 50 have those individual magical women deck of cards playing cards in them. And those collectors items we sold out within the first six months. So unless you buy on eBay or we don't have access to the decks of cards anymore. And it's the gilded deck too, which is, it's a red foil on the external of each card which you can barely see. But at least they know that they're getting something truly special. And then there's a postcard of myself and it's also numbered.

And it just thanks them for supporting our project and supporting the book.

Yeah, it's a lovely package. And where can people find you online to learn more about the Magical Women project?

Ideally at our website. For the book, thepowerofmagicalwomen.com, we have a YouTube channel, “Magical Women with Connie Boyd.” And it has actual performance footage of myself and vintage footage of many other magicians and then it has some really wonderful interviews and talks with some of the most formidable women magicians in the world today, women that you've included on your podcast, like Julie Eng and Margaret Steele. And so just a wonderful smorgasbord of over 300 uploads of women on that. And then if you want to see my production shows, my magic production shows, you could do that at ConnieBoydMagic.com. So those are probably the best resources if you were interested to learn more.

Perfect. Connie, thank you so much for being my guest on The Magic Book Podcast.

I respect so much what you're doing. It's wonderful. Thank you.

You've been listening to The Magic Book Podcast. In this episode, we traced Connie Boyd's remarkable path from ballet scholarship to circus aerialist, Las Vegas headliner, cruise ship producer, and now author of “The Power of Magical Women”. We heard about the five reinventions that shaped Connie's career, the pandemic project that became a movement, and why she believes these stories transcend the magic community. You'll find the transcript accompanying this episode on the website at TheMagicBookPodcast.com plus a blog post with a summary, timestamps and links to resources we mentioned. If you have a question or would like to suggest a topic or a guest for a future episode, please contact me: Adrian@ themagicbookpodcast.com. Thanks for listening to The Magic Book Podcast. I've been your host, Adrian Tennant. Until next time.

Goodbye.