Drama Book Shop Hosts An Evening on Whimsy, Wizardry, & Wine 4/22

Join us as we celebrate the release of the critically acclaimed new biography, Beating a Dead Horse: The Life and Times of Jay Marshall. Emmy Award-winning talk show host Dick Cavett will interview Emmy Award-winning writer and author Alexander "Sandy" Marshall about his father, dean of American magicians, Renaissance man, Jay Marshall "The most famous celebrity no one ever heard of." Wine reception commences at 6:30 p.m. The interview will begin promptly at 7:00 p.m. in the Arthur Seelen Theatre downstairs, with book signing to follow the interview. The Drama Book Shop is pleased to host the author's first New York appearance promoting the book. Limited seating; first-come, first-served.

ALEXANDER SAndy Marshall, a two-time Emmy winner (7 nominations), has more than forty years' experience as a writer, director, producer, and actor. He has also won the Clio Award, Golden Eagle, Gold medals at the New York Film & TV Festival, and a dozen international awards. The award of which he is most proud is the New York Mayor's Award for Heroism he received for stopping the violent crime of a rape in progress. His Emmy Award-winning film, The Revenge of the Sons of the Desert was released on The Laurel & Hardy Collection Volume 1 by Twentieth Century Fox in 2006. His play And in the End: The Death and Life of John Lennon received critical acclaim for productions in Great Britain and Australia. No stranger to magic, Sandy is related to two Deans of the Society of American Magicians: his grandfather, Al Baker, and his father, Jay Marshall. Sandy divides his time between New York City and Chicago writing, producing, and creating magic. His column, "Sandy's Rants" appears in The Newest Tops (www.topsmag.com). He is guest professor at Syracuse University, an avid Cubs fan, and insists anybody can have a bad century.

Dick Cavett was signed by ABC in 1968 as the host of a morning talk show, which eventually lead ABC to give Cavett his own late night program opposite The Tonight Show. The Dick Cavett Show ran on ABC until 1975. From 1977 until 1982, The Dick Cavett Show appeared five times a week on Public Television. In 1986, he hosted the first two seasons of Faces of Japan, a thirteen part series for PBS. The Dick Cavett Show aired for six seasons on CNBC. Dick Cavett was born in Gibbon, Nebraska in 1936. Growing up in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cavett won local fame as a teenage magician. In addition to his television career, Cavett has- in collaboration with Christopher Porterfield- written two books: Cavett (1974) and Eye on Cavett (1983). He made his Broadway debut in 1977 playing the leading role in Otherwise Engaged, a British comedy by Simon Gray. During the summer of 1988, Dick Cavett returned to Broadway in the role of the narrator in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. From October 2000 through January of 2002 Cavett appeared as the narrator in the Broadway production of The Rocky Horror Show. He has made guest appearances on such television programs as Cheers, The Edge of Night, and The Simpsons, as well as in the features Beetlejuice and Forest Gump. Talk Show, Cavett's blog currently appears on The New York Times website.

Beating a Dead Horse: The Life and Times of Jay Marshall is an engaging, no holds-barred look at the life (and many loves) of television pioneer Jay Marshall, an icon of the American magic community, who served as the dean of the Society of American Magicians from 1992-2005. This book captures the essence of Jay's comedic genius - both on and off stage - and a life of continual unabashed reinvention: performed 14 times on The Ed Sullivan Show; opened for Frank Sinatra in Sinatra's 1951 Las Vegas debut; appeared in three Broadway shows; played Radio City Music Hall, the London Palladium, and was the last next-to-closing-act (the star spot) at the Palace Theatre. Jay Marshall was a living library of the odd nooks of popular show business. His savvy showmanship and conjuring knowledge garnered the respect and admiration of his peers, and he mentored such stars as Penn & Teller, David Copperfield, Doug Henning, and Jim Henson. At his funeral in 2005, Jay Marshall was described as "the most famous celebrity no one ever heard of." Gut-bustingly funny!

"Awesome! Genuinely touching and diabolically funny." --David Ben, author of Dai Vernon: A Biography,

"A hilarious ribald, rip-roaring story that holds nothing back... immensely enjoyable." --Richard Kaufman, editor of Genii: The Conjurors' Magazine

"If you have an interest in magic, or performing, or celebrities of the mid to late 20th century, or the life of a show-business family or just plain great reading, don't miss Beating a Dead Horse." --Matthew Field,
review excerpt, The Magic Circular