The man has been missing a while. He has a 3 DVD set coming out soon. You may remember him from Penguin Magic and his Born to Perform DVD.
… DEVELOPING
David Eldridge is ripping off Jules Lenier now that he’s dead
According to multiple sources in Los Angeles, David Eldridge released a book based on Jules Lenier’s material. This is all fine and good as Jules was one of the greatest minds of magic as well as one of the greatest smokers – ever. Turns out, Eldridge may not have the rights to republish the material. Apparently, he used to work for a magic shop and was supposed to make a product out of it. Sounds like he conveniently waited for someone to die before striking out on his own. And they’re not his publishing rights! Hey Kaufman, you’ve got Jules Big Book on the table, don’t you? Get on this guy.
More to come as this debacle moves forward.
Anonymous tips may be sent to powell@hush.ai
UPDATE #1 – 7/10/07
Latest information says David Eldridge was assigned to pull material from Jules books to put together. After some time passed, Jules Lenier asked for his material back. No one was able to get the material back from David.
UPDATE #2 – 7/11/07
Verified from multiple sources close to the live Jules Lenier and someone close to the situation, the books were given to a shop, not to David. This is quite funny as David Eldridge (dpe666) appears to describe a situation where he was a friend of Jules and is releasing these books on his request. I cannot help but wonder if he ever met the man, or if he could pick Jules Lenier out of a lineup of two.
UPDATE #3 – 7/12/07
This is not a bad Max Maven impersonator. This is David Eldridge (Slow down, ladies, not all at once!). This photograph is taken from the ShopForMagic.com website and can be seen in all of its contextual glory. Shout-out to Las Vegas for the link.
UPDATE #4 – 7/12/07
The man has responded.
I spoke to Jules directly on the telephone and he told me that I could do as I wanted with the material. So if some magicians have a problem with it I really don’t care. The material was given to me directly and not to a shop that I worked in.
Is it me or is this just a standard excuse in magic for graverobbing? You can put any words you want in the mouth of a dead magician. Did I ever mention that Dai Vernon, Billy McComb, and Larry Jennings wanted me to do whatever I wanted to do with their material? It’s true! Ask them.
UPDATE #6 – 7/13/07
Quite a scathing reply from a magiccafe forum user named Pebkac. Here is a snippet:
Some of us actually knew Jules as opposed to pretending to know Jules. If you were on such good terms with him that he would give you his livelihood, why did he spend more than the last year of his life trying to get his books back from you?
His whole reply is quite revealing.
Let John Carney do it himself
John Carney loves to take care of all the lecture business himself. Offer some help to him in hosting a lecture in your town? He’ll turn you down. So what does this mean? I think this means we should all let John Carney do everything by himself. Let John Carney do it all by himself.
Picture it, John Carney calls the local contact asking the best place to host a magic lecture. Sorry, John. I am not going to help you undercut me. If you want the information, I want a kickback. How about $100?
He would like to send an email to all the magicians on my mailing list? Sorry, John. My list is confidential, and I would never jeopardize the sanctity of its members. I may be willing to forward an email from you if you pay me $250, though.
If he wants to keep those of us who promote and put together lectures out of the loop, I see no reason for us to embrace him into our loops. If he is so insistent on doing it himself, he can do it all by himself. I would not expect him to work for free; why should we?
Get well, Max Maven
We at Magician’s Oath wish for a speedy recovery of one of our favorites, Max Maven.
Multiple bypass surgery isn’t fun.
