Welcome to the Calvacade of Magic Presented By Kirk Kirkham

My Father was the Magician known professionally as Kirk Kirkham, his real name was Charles and many folks called him Chuck. He lived from 1926 to 2001. He was an active professional performer from the time he was sixteen years old. Magic was the only living he ever had. He toured with the USO after World War II, did the spook show circuit and television extensively in the 1950's, did thousands of club dates, school shows, and more television in the 60's, continued performing in the 70's but also became a well regarded prop maker who produced equipment for other magicians and attractions around the country.

Currently, David Copperfield has the largest private collection of illusions in the world, but prior to his success and collection, my father may very well have been the previous holder of that title. He owned parts of Thurston's Wonder Show of the Universe and Mysteries of India. He acquired much of the core of his collection from Will Rock back in the early 50's but continued to add to it the rest of his life. He knew and worked with Harry Blackstone Sr., Percy Abbot was a mentor to him. Dante was a personal friend, and he owned famous illusions that belonged to all of them.

My goal is to keep his legacy alive here in cyber space, and provide some historical context to the Southern California Magic scene in the 60's and 70's. I have had virtually no contact with the Magic world since my Mother passed away in 1994. My Dad suffered from Alzheimer's in his last years and he could not write the book that he always said he would get to someday. I don't know enough about magic to write competently concerning history, practice and technique. I can however provide an historical context for my Father, a man who knew almost everything about magic during the 20th Century. He had a huge library, subscribed to dozens of magazines, and had met every important magician of the second half of the century. He was consulted by many of the experts that now make up the intelligentsia of the magic community. He was also a mentor to many fine magicians and scholars of magic. I hope to hear from some of those people as a result of this blog.

Welcome to the Magical World of Kirk Kirkham.

Friday, October 21, 2016

Knott's Scary Farm 1984.


Dr. Doom was Dad doing an 80s version of Spook Show Shtick. My brother Kirk worked the show, i just helped in rehearsals and getting some of the props up to speed. He did a buzzsaw arm amputation that splattered blood and the guillotine routine that was his bread and butter for years. Dolores and I went with our friends Art and Cathy Franz to see the show and spend the evening at the park. Somewhere there is some video of this performance, I will have to keep digging to find it, I just have too much junk.


Friday, September 30, 2016

Promo for the Wilshire Ebell Show

Whenever I open a box in the house of the garage, something interesting inevitably turns up. This is a flyer for the Wilshire Ebell Show we did for the Hollywood I.B.M Ring 21 Cavalcade of Magic Show in February 1971, not too long after the earthquake. My friends Don Hayes, Mark Witt and Kevin Bowe came to the show. I think Kevin's Dad brought them down, he was the scoutmaster for my Boyscout Troop at one time.

The show was great and one of my favorite memories of the Magic World.