Ten Years Ago

This was the announcement of my fathers passing on the web site Magic Times. The site is very elaborate but this was the only thing I ever found on it that related to my Pop. There was also a very nice write up that appeared in the Linking Ring that year, written by my friend Gary Frank. When I locate it I will post it as well.

John Calvert Still Tough At 100

I saw this story on a Magic News web page, and I remember that John Calvert was a friend of my fathers. He appeared out of nowhere in 1989 and spent some time in Hollywood. He and my parents had dinner I think, or they saw a show at the Magic Castle. Anyway, I had this little Fan Club Card he gave them from that visit. I think the last time before this that they saw each other was in the 1960s.

Museum of Terrors-Spook Show

The Spook show circuit of the 1950s is a relic of the past that I can say I never saw myself. It definitely precedes me. There have been attempts to relive or revive it from time to time. In fact there was a period in the 1980s when my Dad was collaborating with a guy to try and bring back the experience at the Rialto Theater in South Pasadena. They may have thought it would go well with the weekly showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

This is the first Spook Show that my parents traveled with. Basically there would be a late evening magic show with horror elements to it and then they would play a midnight horror movie. Sometimes a legitimate film would precede the Spook show. I have a scrap book with ads from dozens of local papers from all over the Western U.S., promoting Kirk Kirkham's Museum of Terror. It played in Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and California for sure.

My older brother Chris was just a year old when he was dragged all of these places by my parents. I remember my mother telling me about a time they were stuck in a hotel in either Boise or Bozeman and he was really sick. My Dad went out to find a doctor in the middle of the night and he actually came to the hotel to help them. He had a dangerously high temperature and the doctor gave him something to help. My parents did not have insurance (in those days most people did not) and they did not have much cash. The doctor took a token fee and came back the next morning to check on my brother. A different world these days.

I know that they went out with the Spook shows a few years later. That program was called "Shrieks in the Night". I have some posters and other promo material in the shed and when I dig it out I will put together a post on that show as well. Here is a scan of a small envelope that looks like it was given out when people bought their tickets to the spook show as a separate admission to the event.

Kirkham, Blackstone and Bergeron

This is just a quick post based on a photo that my Dad had up in his library forever. I have mentioned before that Harry Blackstone was a mentor to him. He worked on the Blackstone show for nearly a year in late 1946 and early 47. This photo was taken around 1961. I believe Blackstone passed away just a short time later. The clown in the picture is Rebo, who appeared with magician Mark Wilson on the Magic Land of Alakazam TV show. Rebo was the persona of Bev Bergeron, a guy, who much like my father, had his fingers in a lot of different magic world pies. He designed magic and did lectures and performed in all kinds of venues. He and his family still send us their annual Christmas Letter, the Bergeron Bee, which is a mock up newspaper. It contains inspiring Christmas messages and family news as well. It is one of the few connections I have to the world of magicians these days. I have more to share on both of the people in this picture with my Dad, but I thought it was a nice shot of the three of them. I think it was taken at a magic convention here in Southern California.

Linking Ring Photo Quiz from May 2011

This is the cover of the Linking Ring Magazine from earlier this year. Linking Ring is published by the I.B.M., International Brotherhood of Magicians. It is one of the many organizations that my father was a member of. He was not really a political kind of guy when it came to Magic Hierarchies. He was not a snob about magic, but he did see that there was a difference between professional and amateur organizations. He did not want to immerse himself in the bureaucracy that comes from running a professional organization. He was a working performer and did not always have the time to devote to such energies. He was heavily involved with the Hollywood Chapter of I.B.M. Ring 21, the Carl Fleyming Ring.

This was a feature in the current years May edition, placed by my good friend Gary Frank. Gary was a friend of my fathers in his later years. Gary has been of incalculable assistance in helping me sort through all of my Dad's materials and also brokering sales of much of his remaining equipment. He is as much as anyone, helping to keep my Dad's name alive in Magic circles. Let's face it, the new generation does not want to be weighed down by the history and battles of old timers. There are new mountains to climb, but long before Criss Angel, David Blaine and the other well known performers of today came to prominence, the magic world was dominated by vaudeville performers and the generation of magicians that followed them.

Gary is a magic historian, who has written books on some of the early twentieth century magicians. He is currently working on a article for MAGIC Magazine on my father. I can never repay him for the kindness he has shown us by his friendship. The work of digging through literally tons of materials that may have worth or may be junk is thankless. He arranged this little photo quizzes appearance in the Linking Ring Magazine. The write up is very nice.

We saw Penn and Teller in Vegas a few years ago and they have a clever act, I do think however that they play a little fast and loose with the way they see themselves. They are Magicians, not a couple of guys who just know some cool stuff. I remember how they went to pains to separate themselves from some guy in a greasy tuxedo, pulling rabbits out of a hat. Many of the same tricks they do have been done by those who came before them. I know one way to be seen as hip is to diss those that younger people see as old fashioned, but I don't think old fashioned is uncool. It always felt cool to me to tell my friends what it was that my dad did for a living. My Dad has been dead for nearly ten years now, and he was not all there for almost ten years before that, but I still remember him and the way he loved working an audience. Look at the picture featured in the magazine, that dude and those girls were cool. Thanks Gary for keeping this part of Magic History alive.

First Magician to Apear on Television?

As you can see there is no doubt that he appeared on TV as early as 1939. I don't know of any other magician who can make that claim. Of course he was only thirteen at the time, did not perform, and was one of thousands of people to get that early privilege. Still, I think that's the way I'll tell it to everyone else, "He was the First magician to be televised."

The 1939 World's Fair in New York is legendary for it's introduction of technology and the imaginative art deco stylizing of images. The future had arrived and it was a place everyone wanted to see. My Grandmother took my Dad, and it was something he always talked about. We have some other material from the fair as well. When I find that I will post it also.

Miniature Santa Promotion

The Girl in a Fishbowl was a well known promotional effect which was exploited for a number of years at a San Fransisco bar/nightclub. It is basically an optical illusion based on lens and light refraction. Many of the old concepts in magic were simply advanced use of science principles, put into an entertainment format. With miniature video cameras, TVs and other technology like holographs, these old school tricks would not carry much cachet these days. As you can see from the above flyer, Kirkham used the concept as a promotion at fairs, conventions and other commercial events. In the late 1960's he had an original idea about adapting the effect for a different kind of promotion

He took the concept and used it as a way of presenting Santa Claus at a shopping center. We acquired a small house trailer, I'm sure we must have leased it, and modified it for the effect. Kids could walk into a lobby area, where the elves would lead them up to a small doll house sized version of Santa's workshop at the North Pole. Santa could be viewed working in the house by looking through a four inch window in the front door of the little house. He was moving around and had a big chair to sit in when needed. The kids could pick up a telephone and Santa would answer and talk to them on the phone. He would respond to them and act appropriately, but he appeared to be only eight inches tall.

The design of the small house is really quite cute, but I have been unable to locate a picture at this time. I know that some exist, it is simply a matter of finding it. The effect was offered with the Christmas themed show that we also did using a self contained stage that my Dad built. I will save that material for another post. I think we did the miniature Santa promotion twice. One time it was at the Arcadia shopping center. As you can see here, it was very enthusiastically received.

Like most kids and now most adults, our fondest childhood memories are of the holiday times. I loved working in the shows around Christmas, the music, shopping and excitement in the air is the stuff of my history. I remember the trailer and effect being put together on the driveway of the house in the Mid-Wick tract in Alhambra, and seeing it in use at the shopping center. Here are is a scrapbook page that had some of the promotional material from the shopping center newspaper that was available to guests while doing their holiday shopping.

Abbott's Levitation Designed for Chuck Kirkham

Here is an ad from the Abbot Magic Catalog that introduces a new Super X style levitation. It specifically mentions that it was initially designed for Dad, and that he received the first model and demonstrated it in a public show before anyone else. Many years later we still used this prop in the shows we did for the shopping centers and trade shows.

If you can't get to the picassa photo page to enlarge it, here is the paragraph insert from the Ad.

1983 Battle Creek Enquirer Article

My parents had gone back to their high school reunion in Battle Creek Michigan and the local paper did a feature article and interview. Colon Michigan, where the Abbot Magic Company is located is just a few miles away and they probably went to the Abbot get together at this time as well. The article may be had to read but if you enlarge it you can refocus and it should come out quite clearly. There is a bit of overlap because of my scanner and lack of skill with photoshop.

Thayer Bulletin

This was the cover of an in house Magic Magazine from 1948. It was primarily a sales promotional publication. The Larsen Family were the publishers although it was separate from Genii magazine, it did share some of the editorial staff. On the inside there is a brief message about the cover, identifying both my Dad and Mother as you can see below.

Tihany Crystal Casket

Back in 1971, we moved out of a great house we had lived in for two years in the Mid-Wick track of Alhambra. My Dad had built quite a bit of equipment for himself and for others in the driveway because the neighbor called the cops if he used the garage. It was a strange attempt to use a zoning code to keep work from being done there. It may have been one of the reasons my parents decided to leave, although they had done much to repair the house after the previous renters had trashed it. If they had bought the house then, there would have been a huge windfall because it was a great property and in the 70s and 80s, the value appreciated substantially. Anyway, we ended up in the apartment building that my folks lived in for most of the rest of their lives. There was very little room when we first got there but over time we acquired access to storage and basement rooms that proved very helpful. Still needing a place to work, my father leased a garage that was on a big vacant lot just four blocks from the apartment.

Les Smith, the owner of Owen Brothers magic, also in Alhambra, and just a few blocks south of where we were living, was a friend of my Dad's at the time. He let my father store some of our furniture and appliances at the warehouse where the factory was located. We did not expect to be in the apartment long and it was a nice gesture on his part. This was around March 1971. A few weeks later, a magician named Tihany, visited Owen Brothers and was conducting some sort of business when Les Smith blew his stack over something. Apparently he was pretty cantankerous. He threw Tihany out of his place and told him to take his business elsewhere. My Dad knew Tihany and he came to see us. We had gone down to Mexico several years before to see Tihany's big show. He toured in a giant tent with a very nice Vegas style theater inside. There were circus acts and animals but most of the show was Tihany and his illusions. Anyway, Tihany needed an illusion and Les Smith did not want to make it the way Tihany had requested. He asked my father if he would build it for him. Well, this was the end of my Dad's friendship with Les Smith. He explained to Mr. Smith that Tihany had come to him, after he had been rudely thrown out by Mr. Smith. My Dad needed the work and took on the assignment, figuring he was not stepping on anyone's toes, but failing to recognize that reason does not always rule in these situations, and that business does frequently interfere with friendship.

Not only did Les Smith end his friendship with my Dad, he sold our appliances and furniture. This began a bitter professional rivalry. Any time my Dad could take a job away from Owen Brothers, he was happy to do so. He had been close to Carl Owen and frequented the business when he was alive, but after Smith took over and we had this nasty bit of business, that company was also dead to him. I think a lot of our business in those years consisted of magicians who had similar run ins with Les Smith. I know that my Dad was short tempered as well, and he knew how to carry a grudge, but I also know he was quick to forgive and forget if given a chance.

The prop that Mr. Tihany wanted was a crystal casket to be used for a production box lifted off the stage. I don't know what it was that Les Smith didn't like about the request, but my Dad built a very nice prop in the dilapidated garage on the corner of Fourth and Linda Vista. I remember the orange and yellow plexiglass that we used, it was not nearly as classy as the clear glass that we had used on a similar prop a couple of years before. However, it was the seventies and anyone who lived in those times knows how those orange tints crept into all kinds of places. I have seen some ugly furniture and wallpaper with the same orange and yellow colors. It screams 1973.

That is my brother Kirk in the glass box that would be lifted off the base on stage for the girl to appear in. I may very well have taken the picture of my Dad in front of the garage where he built this, I don't quite remember. I do remember that Tihany was quite pleased with it and he and my father remained friends. We did build some other props for him in later years as well. I also have Tihany to thank for my first rifle. He was with my father when he was shopping for a birthday gift for me. I think Tihany talked my Dad into it and may even have paid for part of it. I still have the lever action .22, and I think of my Dad and Tihany, every time I see it in the closet.

This is a page from the program for the Tihany show. It was an impressive presentation. I don't think we built the cage illusion pictured here, but we might have. I know that we constructed at least two of these in the early seventies.