Marshall Brodien a.k.a. “Wizzo the Wizard”

If you’re like me, a kid growing up in Chicago, you probably tuned into WGN quite frequently, especially when it came to “Bozo’s Circus” (later named “The Bozo Show”), a morning favorite filled with clowns, magic, cartoons, and fun guest stars. Filmed in Chicago, I remember the waiting list for tickets

If you’re like me, a kid growing up in Chicago, you probably tuned into WGN quite frequently, especially when it came to “Bozo’s Circus” (later named “The Bozo Show”), a morning favorite filled with clowns, magic, cartoons, and fun guest stars. Filmed in Chicago, I remember the waiting list for tickets to sit in the show’s audience was very long, even years, but ultimately most kids got their chance to see their favorite clown live. In fact, it seems like everyone knows somebody that played the Grand Prize Game.

As a kindergartner thru pre-teen, the show was larger than life – a magical ride that became a cornerstone in Chicago culture. One of the reasons “Bozo’s Circus” was so thrilling for kids was because of its strong cast of characters - one of which was known as “Wizzo the Wizard”, a zany performer of tricks played by real life magician Marshall Brodien for more than 25 years. “Wizzo” captured the hearts of children as far as WGN could reach with his amazing magic feats and illusions, but also with his kitschy humor, wild-eyed expressions, and of course by saying his coined phrase while wiggling his fingers in the air, “Doody-Doody-Do”. Brodien also appeared as himself, a magician, on several shows.

Marshall was instrumental in bringing magic to homes everywhere by developing and mass-producing magic sets and the ever-popular TV Magic Cards, selling items by the millions. For years before his appearances on “Bozo’s Circus” Marshall had already made a name for himself as an escape artist, hypnotist, and magician, but he became bigger than ever once his products began to sell like hotcakes, continuing to do so for decades – most furnished with his picture on the packaging, adding an authentic feel that made kids, like me, think, “This is serious stuff”. Now, decades after TV Magic Cards were introduced, Marshall is not only bringing them back, but is also developing a new deck with new tricks.

As a pioneer of many tricks and illusions, Chicagoland native Marshall has been called upon by other great magicians such as Lance Burton, David Copperfield, and Siegfried and Roy to not only design their own magic sets, but also to devise stage illusions. In reading Marshall’s new book “The Magical Life of Marshall Brodien”, I found the famed magician’s life a most interesting journey from his days as a teenager performing magic in a Cicero bar unknowing he was working for the mob, to his days as a traveling freak show talker, to his years as a hypnotist (in which he successfully hypnotized a boxer not to feel his opponent’s punches), then of course his selling of merchandise and the decades of playing “Wizzo”. All this with many adventures in between.

Marshall was kind enough to give us a tour of his Geneva home that features a museum of magical collectibles as well as historic memorabilia from his own life. Join the tour; watch Marshall perform some tricks then have a chat fest at BuzzNews.Net.

“The Magical Life of Marshall Brodien” is currently available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.             

Buzz - We want to talk about a couple different things, one thing, you said you weren’t watching the show [Phenomenon] that’s on the air right now. Ok, did you see the one where the guy got into a fight with Criss Angel?

Marshall – Oh yeah, right, I saw that.

Buzz – What was your opinion of that?

Marshall – I think that was wrong of Criss Angel to do that [call out Jim Callahan].

Buzz – Right, Right.

Marshall – It was wrong, in fact, you know what the guy should have said was, “I’ll tell you what, you go outside first and pick up a car like you did on TV.”

Buzz – Ah haaaah! Right.

Marshall – “Put it back down, then I’ll tell you what’s in there.” That would have put him in his place right away.

Buzz – That would have been a real good answer and settled it right there.

Marshall – There is no way he could have went outside and picked up a car like he did on TV.  I could probably do it, but not him (laughs).

Buzz – (Laughs) We were talking about the other thing that linked into it.  Do you feel that magicians who just do tricks, just do illusions, or use trick photography or whatever, do you think that those magicians are taking away from the studies of, what could be considered real magic?  You know, people actually levitating?

Marshall – I’ve never heard of anyone really levitating.

Buzz – Except for Jesus.

Marshall – Oh Jesus, yes.

Buzz – You know, walking on water.

Marshall – Well yeah, that’s real magic.

Buzz – So we covered a whole bunch of different phases in your career [during home tour].  I think it’s great that you were on that show for kids, and you were “Wizzo the Wizard” for all that time.  That is, like, formative television.

Marshall – And I did a little over 3,000 episodes in the twenty-eight years.

Buzz – Wow! How was that?

Marshall – The show was a 5 days a week show and I was only on 1-3 days a week. And then when someone wasn’t there or got sick for a few weeks or months, I was on 5 days a week. I would be on all the time but at the same time I had TV Magic Cards on television. I was in other business, but I enjoyed getting behind that make-up and acting crazy. It was fun to go out there and no one knows who you are.

Buzz – I was just going to ask that, did the kids recognize you?  When you were like grocery shopping, “Hey! There’s the wizard!”

Marshall – They didn’t know what I looked like. In fact I had people that did know me well and they knew I did magic, and they would come up to me and say “Who is that weird guy - that Wizzo guy? He is really weird. What is he on?”

Buzz – (Laughs) And can I get some?

Marshall – (Laughs) Yeah! And I tell people, “Yeah, I know who he is”, but I would never tell them it was me. And then later I would run into that person and they would say are you Wizzo?” And I’d say, “Yeah.”

Buzz – (Laughs) That’s the magic. That’s so neat. But, how did you decide to market your first Magic Cards?

Marshall – Well, I was working in the State Fair and I did an illusion act in there and I walked around the midway and I’d see these guys selling that trick deck which was called The Miracle Deck. I’d see them stop 100 people and half the people would buy it. And I kept thinking - why couldn’t I go on TV and hit a million people and have half of them buy it?

Buzz – Smart.

Marshall – So I talked about it for several years and I ran into a friend of mine and he said, “I’ll go. I’ll be your partner on this.” And he talked me into it and we went down to WGN and talked with Ned Locke, the Ringmaster, who also sold time to clients after he was through with a show. And he’d tell us, “You need to spend a bout $5,000 on T.V. time, and you gotta run 2 or 3 commercials a day. You can’t run it for a week. You run it for three or four weeks and you will see it start to grow. And all of a sudden we went out and started selling, and they [orders] started coming through the mail in bushel bags.

Buzz – Cool. Was that one of those like “Ah-Ha!” moments? Wow, you were way ahead of your time doing that.  Brilliant, with that marketing and timing and everything.

Marshall – Then we came out with magic sets after that, which you may have seen a few.

Buzz – So this is your new book “The Magical Life of Marshal Brodien”.  This looks so groovy. It’s got some really cool pictures, too. It’s got some floating people and I love these pictures, real Rat Packy.

Marshall - Pictures from when I was sixteen years old and all the way up to today.

Buzz – Well, you had an awesome career, and you are still having it.  You’re still influencing people and you are still coming out with new products. Young people are getting into your stuff. Our editor got turned on to magic and he went to buy some stuff at Lance Burton’s shop and now he is torturing us all.

Marshall – (Laughs) It’s fun though isn’t it?

Buzz – It is fun.

Marshall – I was a very shy kid when I was younger. I was real shy, and when I started doing tricks, all of a sudden, you get people who come around you.

Buzz – So I want to know where people can buy you new book “The Magical Life of Marshall Brodien”?

Marshall – You can get it through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.  We are trying to get these into the stores and we will.

Buzz – And where can we still buy these [magic] kits and stuff?

Marshall – They can get ‘em at Target right now.

Buzz – Targe’

Marshall – They are coming out with a whole new line next year.  TV Magic Cards, the old TV Magic sets that were on television in the 70’s.

Buzz – Awesome. Thank you, that’s awesome.

Marshall – Well thank you for coming by, hope you had a good time.

Buzz – It was wonderful, magical even. I hate to use that word.

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