Brodien's "TV Magic Cards" were a national seller - I bought a pack or two over the years. It was just a Svengali deck with a new name, but he made them look cool!
When I talk magic to people who don't know magic, I often refer to Dai Vernon as "the greatest magician you've never heard of." I don't know as much about him as I'd like, but I do know that he was a credit to the craft. As I've heard it, he almost never actually performed formally, preferring to instead develop new magic and pass it on to other magicians; it's how he earned the moniker "The Professor". There was a bit of hardship in his life as well, especially towards the end, but I don't yet know enough of the details.
When you're talking about "unsung", I think you're referring more to magicians who aren't getting the attention of modern mass media, television in particular. There are countless magicians out there who will never be a household name - and I have news for you: you would not believe for a moment the number of people I've spoken to who have never heard of David Blaine or at the least don't know him by name, only by reputation for the human endurance feats he's performed (and they probably know that only because they live in the city where most of them were performed)!
Countless magicians are out there all the time, performing on stages and at private functions, getting round after round of applause - only very few get to become the "rock star" magicians, in much the same way that there are thousands upon thousands of singers, but only a handful have the recording contracts with national distribution, the stadium tours and a spot on the Billboard charts.
I could call someone like Magick Balay or Alex Pandrea or any of the countless other magicians in the New York area "unsung" - but they're out there, hustling, doing side jobs and making a living in their field and doing what they love. If I could make a good buck doing it, I'd probably be out there with them right now (assuming I had more experience under my belt) - but I wouldn't be rushing to quit my primary job, since it probably pays more than what a lot of working magicians make on a regular basis. It's the same reason why I hold an FCC license but have no grand desire to become a radio deejay - jobs are harder to find than a fresh jack-o-lantern on Thanksgiving and I make more than perhaps 90% of all radio deejays right now, if you count my benefits.
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