Word: tannen
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That brutal jerk Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) -- he who almost destroyed Marty's parents' lives in 1955, and from whom Marty rescued them in the earlier film -- has survived into the 21st century too. What's worse, on their voyage into the future Marty and Doc unwittingly provide him with the means to construct a dark alternate history beginning in 1955. Over its course, Biff has managed to turn pleasant little Hill Valley, Calif., into a hellish variant of Las Vegas, with himself as its czar. He has even contrived to make Marty's mother a widow and marry...
...York Jet Safety Steve Tannen, out for the season with an injured shoulder...
...always this lively, in Tannen's or at any other stop along the sorcery circuit. Just a few years ago, conjurers met at the bottom of nightclub bills and bemoaned the state of their business. All were afflicted with the magician's disease: ancestor worship. Gone was the golden age, they sighed. Television had consumed their best acts; film had taken the magic out of life. They spoke in the jargon of the trade: there were no tricks, only "effects"; a disappearing object was a "vanish"; a suddenly appearing object was a "production"; a nimble-handed move...
Scarcely less Foxy than Karrell are the salesmen at Lou Tannen's magic shop. All are masters at the special effect of separating an onlooker from his money. "We have kids come in here who never quit buying," says Tony Spina. "Twelve-, 14-year-olds think nothing of spending $50, $100 on magic. Anything new becomes an instant sellout...
...Tannen's most popular numbers are close-up effects, magic that can be done around coffee or conference tables. "Half and 20 centavo" ($12.50) turns a copper coin into a quarter-while the customer clutches it. "Chop-chop cups," little changed from the days of ancient Egypt, produce spheres from plum to orange size. "Spooky, the spirit handkerchief makes a ghost wander around under an empty little blanket of silk...