Many magicians who are performing today acquired their enthusiasm for the art of magic from watching Mark Wilson's "The Magic Land of Allakazam" which ran from 1960 to 1964. The show began in 1955 as a local program in Mark's hometown of Dallas, Texas. The popularity of the show grew rapidly and soon it was airing in Houston and San Antonio. On Saturday morning October 1, 1960 the program began airing nationwide on CBS. In 1962 the popular show moved to ABC.
Marks father was a salesman and many of Mark's early years were spent moving from one town to town. The family finally settled in Dallas where Wilson attended high school. While attending high school he began working at "Douglas Magic Land", a magic shop where young Mark demonstrated tricks to customers. Wilson then went to Southern Methodist University school of business. Shortly after college Mark met a young and beautiful airline stewardess, Nani Darnell Arends. The couple were married soon after.
Mark's first television show was "Time for Magic" which first aired on WFAA in February of 1954. In the 1970s Wilson produced a one hour television series titled "Magic Circus" and in the 80s Mark hosted "The Magic of Mark Wilson".
Mark Wilson has served as consultant and build custom magic props for many television shows, motion pictures and theme parks.
He has traveled the world performing his stage illusions and in 1980 Mark and Nani were the first Western entertainers invited to perform in The Peoples Republic of China.
Mark has authored many books on magic, the most popular being "Mark Wilson's Complete Course In Magic", (available in our Magic Bookstore), first introduced in 1975, and still in production today. It has been translated into French, Chinese and Russian and has become the most popular magic book ever written.
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