2008 DRAGON Award
22nd July 2008
Michael and Hannah Ammar were presented with the 2008 DRAGON Award by
The J. Marberger Stuart Foundation, Inc. at the DRAGON Dinner at the
Kentucky The Galt Hotel on Tuesday July 22nd at the joint International
Brotherhood of Magicians and The Society of American Magicians Convention.
The DRAGON Award is presented in recognition of outstanding teamwork in
the art of magic. The award consists of four parts: DRAGON Award medals,
the Order of the DRAGON pins, a plaque and a thousand dollar cash prize.
The Stuart Foundation presented the award to the Ammars and in keeping
with the custom of the DRAGON Awards, the last winners, Norm and Lupe
Nielsen, welcomed the new winners into the Order of the DRAGON by
presenting the medals to Michael and Hannah Ammar.
The DRAGON Award name is taken from the criteria for winning. Recipients
must demonstrate outstanding talent in the categories of Drama, Romance,
Artistry, Glamour, Originality and Necromancy (magic).
Past winners of the DRAGON Award are:
Petrick and Mia
Marvyn and Carol Roy
Mark Wilson and Nani Darnell
Chuck and Jan Jones
Duo Absolon
Harry Blackstone, Jr. and Gay Blackstone
Glenn Falkenstein and Frances Willard
Mike Caveney and Tina Lenert
John and Pam Thompson
Moi-yo Miller and Arturo Montes
Fantasio and Monica
Ed and Nanci Keener
John and Kathy Daniel
Lee and Helene Grabel
Peter and Coral Reveen
Paul and Debbie Daniels
Alan and Michele Watson
Norm and Lupe Nielsen
Brief CV on Michael and Hannah Ammar
Magic was so exciting in the early 80’s! There were capacity crowds in
the Magic Castle and America was finally bringing home Gold Medals from
FISM.
Hannah would visit her mother, Frances Willard, a previous Dragon Award
Winner, and in 1983 she met Michael Ammar at a birthday party for Dai
Vernon. They met again, months later at the Academy of Magical Arts
Awards Banquet at the Beverly Wil****re Hotel, when Michael won both the
Close-Up Magician and the Lecture of the Year award. This time Michael
asked her age, and the answer was “16.” A southern gentleman, Ammar
decided to wait until a more appropriate, i.e. ‘legal’, time to ask for
a date.
Their paths crossed a few more times, always producing the wrong number,
until 1988, when a fortuitous chain of events led Hannah from Austin to
LA for Spring Break to attend the Awards Banquet. Spotting her from
across the dance floor, as casually as he could, Michael eventually
said, “Say... How old are you?” Hannah smiled, “21.” “Great! Let’s
have lunch!
Well, just a few months ago they celebrated the twentieth anniversary of
the lunch that never ended! They’ve been practically inseparable ever
since, having traveled to scores of magic conventions and hundreds of
lectures for magician all over the world since then.
In 1979 Michael won First Place in the Close-Up Competition at the
S.A.M. convention in Hartford, CT, indicating the tangent his star would
soon follow. In the next few years he won Close-Up Magician of the
Year from the Academy of Magical Arts, a Gold Medal for Close-Up from
FISM, then Lecturer of the Year followed by winning both awards from the
Academy in 1983.
During these years, Ammar played an im****tant role in transforming magic
lectures into a serious business, creating a win-win situation for
artists as well as the clubs. Michael's revolutionary work with the
Topit, combined with his quick smile and passion for magic were the
perfect combination for these live, instructional performances. THE
TOPIT BOOK, along with his THE COMMAND PERFORMANCE Series were some of
the most successful books of the decade, establi****ng Michael as a great
teacher, best selling author and award winning performer.
By the time they began dating in 1988, Ammar had 5 awards from The
Academy of Magical Arts, appeared 10 times on the Merv Griffin Show, and
twice on The Tonight Show. He had already done 6 instructional videos
with Hans Zahn, the two Topit Tapes, THE MAGIC VIDEO for Toys-R-Us, one
for the GREATER MAGIC LIBRARY, and created the entire outline and
questioning structure for the 17 videos in the REVELATIONS SERIES,
featuring his friend and mentor, Dai Vernon.
Hannah was a design major at the University of Texas, so Michael moved
to Austin to be with her. Right away she became indispensable to his
operations, by doing the illustrations essential for teaching the
techniques in Michael's MAGICAL ARTS JOURNAL. Paul Harris, Tom Mullica,
Johnny Thompson, Simon Lovell, and Michael Finney have also used
Hannah's skills as an illustrator or graphic artist for their projects,
and she's worked with Michael since graduating from UT, using computer
graphics for many things, including the development of his web site.
Their marriage in 1990 was the perfect setup for an incredible decade.
That year Michael also took part in a cultural exchange with Russia,
helping to open the first IBM club in Moscow. Following that he won his
sixth and final eligible award as the Parlor Magician of the Year from
the Academy of Magical Arts. L&L Publi****ng released THE MAGIC OF
MICHAEL AMMAR (dedicated to Hannah), and remains an all-time
best-seller, currently in its 19th printing. 1992 saw the release of
the first three EASY TO MASTER CARD MIRACLES; these wildly successful
projects are universally acclaimed as having launched the magic video
revolution. Twenty-four other volumes followed, including popular works
on the Cups and Balls, Thread Magic, Magic with Business Cards and Money
Magic.
A lot of television work followed, including THE WORLD'S GREATEST MAGIC,
MASTERS OF MAGIC, and three INTERNATIONAL MAGIC AWARDS shows. But the
most fun of all was traveling together during the lecture tours. Nobody
loved this more than Michael, except perhaps for the magic clubs. They
seemed to like Michael's magic well enough, but suddenly there was a
beautiful girl selling lecture notes and everything just seemed to
sparkle! The first break from this came in 1996, when Michael helped
open the MAGICAL EMPIRE at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, and stayed to
work for two years.
The turn of the millennium brought lots of changes. Michael began to do
more production work, including
The 42nd Presidential Inauguration, and several hundred shows for
Universal's Halloween Horror Nights, while stunning all his old
professors at West Virginia University when he was bestowed with a
"Distinguished Alumni" award for international achievements in his field.
Hannah still works closely with Michael, however she only travels with
him once or twice a year. While the joy of their time together on the
road is dear to them - something even more precious has taken a higher
priority in their lives: the birth of their two children, Savannah and
Evan.
Savannah Grace Ammar (November 28,2000) and Evan Anthony Ammar (August
5, 2005) are keeping life at the Ammar household a bit more
'exhilarating', shall we say. Savannah has shown an interest in magic,
and has made a few brief appearances for real audiences! Evan is a
chip-off-the-old-block, with blue eyes, a big smile, a fun-loving
spirit, and blond hair! Unfortunately, his Dad's hair looked the same
when he was Evan's age, but we've got faith that science will come up
with something over the next 40 or 50 years!
Magic in Hannah's family is 5 generations strong (Frances Willard, Harry
Willard, James Willard, etc...), her sister Margo has assisted the
Pendragons as well as having performed on her own; and Glenn Falkenstein
is her award-winning step father. So with Hannah for a mom and Michael
for a dad -- these kids have magic blood coursing through their veins
and a 50-50 chance to be good looking! With these little dragons
waiting in the wings, who knows what the future of magic will hold!
As for current projects, this year Hannah became the lead graphic
designer for a new art book for Anthony Hopkins, due out in 2009, and
Michael is completing work on his most involved curriculum ever,
MagicWorks University. The legacy continues...
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For more information, please contact:
Jane Stuart, President
The J. Marberger Stuart Foundation, Inc.
e-mail: magicjane@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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