971: Judge Gary Brown - Wand in a Million

971: Judge Gary Brown - Wand in a Million

From The Magic Word Podcast by Scott Wells

June 4, 2026 · 1h 1m · Episode 971

About this episode

Judge Gary Brown discusses the importance of wands in magic and shares stories about con artist Claude Alexander Conlin.

Gary Brown is a U.S. District Judge from New York, but he knows a con man when he discovers one. His recent revelations about Claude Alexander Conlin who had several aliases, but is most well know among magicians as “Alexander, the Man Who Knows.” Judge Brown has written several scholarly books about the history of magic including an innovative book, “Wandcraft” as well as “The Inventive Magicians Handbook.” His monograph on Alexander was published in Bill Kalush’s “ Gibecière". View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize This week, Gary tells us why wands are important to magicians and why we should use them. He also tells us some delightful stories about Al Flosso, the Coney Island Fakir. He then tells us a bit about what he uncovered about Alexander’s very shady and polygamy ridden career as he narrowly escaped the law by traveling from one State to another. He also talks about the non-existent silver mines that he sold over and over again. Wand in a Million Scott Wells with Judge Gary Brown Download Download this podcast in an MP3 file by Clicking Here and then right click to save the file. You…

People in this episode

Host: Scott Wells

Guest: Gary Brown

Topics covered

  • magic history
  • wands
  • con artists
  • polygamy
  • storytelling

Keywords

  • magic
  • wands
  • Judge Gary Brown
  • Claude Alexander Conlin
  • Al Flosso
  • history of magic
  • con man

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Magic Word Podcast, Pandora, SiriusXM, FeedPress, Tunein.com, iHeart Radio

Books & works: Wandcraft, The Inventive Magicians Handbook, Gibecière

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