As of: Februaru 2nd, 2019
HELLO TO ALL MY ALLAKA-FRIENDS
Here we are already at the first week of February. The fifth week of the year. OMG, time goes by quickly. My buddy Clem and I have been putting in overtime to finish the upgrades and new additions to the site, while taking care of the "fixes" needed, of which you all have so kindly been helping us find.
As we go through this last week of prep for the big launch, we will be introducing the new elements one by one. We still need you to help us check things out and find those little bumps that come with every new project. Please let us know where they are, and let us know what you like too. You can make comments on pages, and/or send us an email. If it's a technical issue, please send it to:
CustomerService@AllakazamArchives.com
For comments, memories, and other fun stuff, or personal letters, please send them to:
Wilson@AllakazamArchives.com
Here's what you can see, right now, and have a blast exploring! (The rest of this letter has not been changed since January, so if you read this already, you can go back to the site.)
1) There's a menu at the top of this page, and most pages, that will help you navigate the site. Some of the menus look a little different. We are working on that. If the links are bad, please let us know. If you run into a problem, come back here: https://allakazamarchives.com/magic-hq/
That's this page. If you are mistakenly logged out, then follow the links to log back in.
2) Each Saturday, and for the week following, we will feature a new episode of Allakazam. We started counting from the first Saturday of this year, 1/5/2019, and posted Show #1. We are going to keep that one up for any new member that joins at any time. But that is the exception. Here's the way it will work for the rest of the nearly 100 shows!
Show #2 started Saturday 1/12/2019, and will play through Friday, 1/18. That's one week of free viewing for "Allaka-Fan Club" free members (Saturdays to Fridays are a week for us). Show #3 will start on Saturday 1/19, and play through Friday 1/25. And so on... Once Show #3 starts (on Saturday) the previous episode goes into the Archives, and not available to "Allaka-Fan Club" free members. So, if you just want to enjoy a "show a week" like a kid back in the 60's, please do. Come here any time during the week, Saturday through Friday, and see a "new" episode.
We will be introducing paid memberships very soon. They will include the ability to watch ANY episode we have digitized and put in the library. As you explore, you will see that I've written about the many things involved with each episode. It takes us quite a bit of work to get each one up on the site. But, we will have MANY more online in the weeks to come.
3) You can also go to the "Allaka-Episode Library" and read about the first few shows. You can see the video for the current week's show here too. Otherwise, you can read the stories we write about each episode, but the video will only be viewable for the current week or with a higher level of membership. More on that to come...
4) Please check out the "Allaka-Puzzle Library". So far, it only has 2 of the puzzles from the early episodes, and they are fun. The Eight 8's is an especially good example of how we are trying to inter-relate things on the site. Explore and see what I mean. Be sure you look for how to play the "secret" to the puzzles. Basil is your host, and he gives you clues at different places on the site... you'll see!
5) You can also have fun looking through the "Allaka-Fan Mail Library". We have Hundreds OF FAN LETTERS from the children that were kept in the Archives (the children themselves were not kept, we kept their letters!). So much of that fan mail contains adorable "little kid" letters, hand written, often in crayon. We've scanned them for you at a very high resolution so give them a moment to load on your computer. They look great! See if you can find the one that dad made notes on and "answers" one of the puzzles. These are really sweet and fun.
6) There are more sections that are available to higher levels of membership. Again, we will have that part open soon, and more description about it then. Amazing letters from Magicians, Sponsors, and more. I'm even going to share the business side of the whole Allakazam production years. I think it's important for everyone to know the real story behind the show. Once you see what everyone did, what the contributed, and what they sacrificed to keep the show on the air FOR FIVE YEARS, you really appreciate it even more.
The "Magic Land of Allakazam" transformed the way magic was presented not only on TV but also transformed the image of magic in general. I hope that the Allakazam Archives can do the same for the preservation and presentation of the history of magic from the analog age into the digital age.
There's much more I want to tell you, but I have to get back to work on the site. There's also much more to come. You will have even more fun as the site continues to grow.
With my sincere thanks and,
BEST ALLAKA-MAGICAL WISHES,
Greg Wilson, Allaka-Son#2
