Magic Magazine Article by Gary Frank

http://www.magicmagazine.com/2012/february/contents.html

Here is a screen shot of the article listing on Magic Magazine's Website. The article just came out and I have already received a couple of notes from magicians on the contents. I am a little jealous because I have not seen the Magazine yet, I should be getting a copy any day now. Gary worked tirelessly to put this together, and he has done it only for the sake of his love of my Father and our friendship. I was happy he got started on the idea because it forced me to start going through material that has basically just sat in boxes for fifteen years or so. This blog page got started because I was inspired by the effort that Gary was making. I know there is not enough room in a magazine for all the material that I have so I will continue to share on these pages. Again, I hope any of you who come to the site will feel free to post stories or corrections that you think might be appropriate. I would like to also thank Stan Allen the editor of Magic Magazine for publishing the story. I remember Stan from when I was a kid working in my Father's show. He was very kind to my Dad and Mom in their last years together and always made sure they got their copy of the magazine. There is a link above to the magazine web-page, if you don't already have a subscription, you can go there and order a copy of the magazine. Looking forward to more magic memories.

Thank you all, Richard Kirkham

Vanishing Elephant

This is a prop that belonged to Thurston and that my Father owned for decades. We never did it on stage, and It is one of the items that went to the Museum in France (I Think. If you bought this from my Dad, feel free to correct me.)

The only story I remember about it concerns the magician Doug Henning. Sometime around 1983, Mr. Henning was getting ready to do this illusion as part of one of his television specials. He had a large number of smart magic guys that worked for him building and designing illusions. It appears however there was some element to this trick that they were not entirely certain about. As was often the case, someone decided to call my father and ask for information. As I've said before, my Dad knew a lot of things about Magic that others had only a little bit of knowledge

on. Anyway, they came over and he talked to them and they got out the prop, set it up and he revealed some info that they had not been aware of. He did receive a consultant credit on the TV show but I don't know where the videotape is right now. If I ever find it I will post a screen shot of the credit. These shots were taken in the parking lot adjacent to the warehouse on Chapel in Alhambra, formerly the home of Owen's Magic.

Addendum: I received a message from an old friend of my Fathers. He actually purchased the Vanishing Elephant Illusion about twenty-six years ago, and he still has it. He described how light weight it was and also commented on the canvas paintings which you can see in the photos above are quite beautiful. They were hand painted. He shared an interesting story with me that I want to share. He said he was a friend of Jane Thurston, Howard's daughter. She told him that the prop was built for a baby elephant and the hope was that it would be a unique attraction. Unfortunately the baby elephant contracted pneumonia and it died. Clearly not the way you want your elephant to vanish. His story reminded me that Jane Thurston came to our place and dined with us on multiple occasions. Clearly I should have been paying closer attention.

Here is that Credit I remembered, It's From Doug Henning's 4th World of Magic Show

Crushing a Woman

This illusion is something that my Dad and Jim Sommers built. I never saw him perform it, or at least I can't remember it. It seems that a Magician named Chang was coming to the U.S. and wanted to lease equipment. He apparently called Ed Smith who believed my Dad had Dante's version of the prop. I guess he did not but was familiar enough with it that he was able to reproduce it along with Jim. Ed Smith provided them with sufficient funds that they in fact were able to make two sets of the illusion. Since Chang did an Oriental Act, they painted it with characters and made the tubing look like bamboo. I spoke with Jim Sommers and he tells me that he found the Japanese characters for the seasons and used them on the prop. The lady who lived next door to us on Hope Street was a Japanese woman and she saw the doors when they were drying and made a comment about how, yes it really was Spring out.

 This was taken at the house we rented in South Pasadena on Hope street. We were only there three or four years and left in early 1963. You can see the five garage structure behind the props, I'm sure that was one of the big attractions. There was a lot of storage space. When we moved to East Los Angeles, my Dad had to rent garages two doors down and a block down from neighbors, to accommodate the props we had no room for in the garage behind our house.









This is a shot of Jim Sommers posing with both props. One of these was leased to Chang and then Ed Smith sold it to another South American Magician, I thought we may have kept the second one but I don't really know. My Dad had an idea for a version of this that used a fish tank instead of two other girls to occupy the crushing boxes. With dramatic lighting and music it would have been spectacular. There were several times he spoke to possible backers of a in residence illusion show and mentioned this as one of the new attractions, but we never built it.

Are You With It?

"Are You With It?" is the title of an obscure Donald O'Conner musical from 1949. When my parents first came out to California, they provided the Magic Equipment that was used in the film for a brief comic scene. I looked for a number of years to find a copy of the movie to see what it actually entailed. Since my parents both had SAG cards at one point I thought they might have some on screen time. I had searched a variety of places to try and locate material related to the film. I called Eddie Brandt's in North Hollywood, perhaps the world's most well know collectors of film on video, they had never even heard of the picture. Finally I turned to one of my favorite sources on line, ebay.

The first items I came across were some lobby cards for the movie. I did not bid on them but I did steal some digital shots of the cards as you can see here:

The film is largely set in a traveling carnival/circus. So the magic material fits in well in the background. I kept looking and finally a private collector was offering a copy of the movie on DVD and I sprang for it. Well the copy is not great as you can imagine, and to be honest the movie is only mildly interesting. The biggest disappointment was that I could not locate a shot of my parents. However, I do suspect that my Mother's feet managed to make the final cut. Those of you in the magic world will know that she must have proceeded me as the featured "Feet" in the act. I do have a couple of screen shots that show the prop used in the movie.

 I originally got started tracking this down because somewhere in my collection of material there was an article in the Battle Creek paper, which mentioned their involvement in the movie and had a picture. I have not yet found the article but I do have a copy of the photo that ran with it.

Many years later, around 1985 or so, my father got a call from a friend of his who was some kind of agent. The television show "Simon and Simon" was casting for an older man to play a vaudeville style Magician in an episode. I don't know if he auditioned but I do know that he had a meeting for the part. The show decided to go in a different direction. Instead of casting a Magician, they cast an actor and had some one do the magic close up scenes. The actor my Dad lost the part to was Donald O'Conner.

IBM 1986 Show in Long Beach

The same year my Dad did his show at the Beckman Auditorium in Pasadena, he did this convention show. I am sure that most magicians (hell most of all of us) have a variety of ephemera laying around. I found this small sized program schedule which lists the Kirkham show featuring Illusions from Thurston.

On other parts of the schedule, you will find the names of Stan Allen and Mike Caveny. Both of these guys were in the Long Beach Mystics and became fine performers and authorities on their own, but I remember them from the big shows we did in 1968, 1969 and 1971. They worked as assistants on those shows. Also listed is James Hamilton who was one of our best friends in the last magic years and still does his "Alexander" act in San Fransisco. I have not heard from these fellows in a number of years, like I said I have been out of the Magic Scene for almost two decades. I do know that they continue to thrive and my Dad was always proud to see how well they were doing. "Nino" is listed as the protege of Frakson. Nino was a buddy of my Dads who always seemed to be around. I have no idea what became of him.

I also have a couple of tickets to the show. It took place on my Dad's 60th birthday. I don't think he did any major performances after this point. He continued to do some small club dates and the Pick Pocket Act. I know he also did close up at parties after this, but I don't think he ever did a full stage show after that year. He had already begun to have some trouble remembering his routines.

Giant Guilliotine

This is a performance of the Giant Guillotine by Kirk Kirkham on the "You Asked For It" series, some time in the early 1950s. Again, I think the camera placement is a little problematic for this illusion and it loses some of it's effect as a consequence. My Dad sold the original Giant Guillotine some time in the late sixties or early seventies. He first acquired it in the 1950s. Since he bought the Will Rock show and the Thurston illusions that came with it in 1954, I assume this clip came right after that, so probably 1955.

This is a shot of it in my Grandparents backyard. That would be my mother's parents. While my folks lived out here in Southern California with my Dad's folks in the 1950s for long stretches of time; when they were not on the road, they stored equipment they had purchased at the house in Battle Creek. I remember as a kid going back to Michigan each summer and while we were there, digging out crates and having them shipped back and forth across the country.

I don't have any memory of my parents ever using this prop on stage. For the nightclub act they had, they used a Lester Lake style head chopper that I still own. That would probably explain why he was able to part with this piece of equipment. I do know that the prop came with the Will Rock equipment, what I am not sure of is whether it was a Rock original or if it had been part of the Thurston show. When looking on line I found some intriguing material that explains only a little about it's history.

I had always believed that the prop was sold and then after we had owned it, it moved on and was ultimately used in the Alice Cooper shows in the 1970's. My Dad was not a big rock fan (except for Elvis), so I was surprised when he went to see Cooper at the Forum in Los Angeles in 1973. I think I remember him saying he went at the invitation of the magician that had provided the guillotine that Alice was using. I know he thought the rock concert was basically a big "Spook" show like he had done back in the 1950s.

The shot on the right here is with some other props he was storing in Michigan. That is either Ed Deland , a friend of my Dad's or my Uncle Dick who was married to my mom's sister Betty. (Hey, any of my cousins who can tell let me know). Anyway, I was always under the impression that the prop we had once owned was now owned by Rock star Alice Cooper. While I was doing research, I found this exchange with James Randi, who is a magician and is credited with obtaining the prop for Cooper. This comes from a Web site devoted to Alice Cooper and other shock musicians.

He says it was built based on the Will Rock model. That suggests that it was an entirely new prop. Again I am not sure what to believe, I have heard contradicting claims on this for years. Another exchange I found came from a magician named David Alexander. I knew David, he and my Dad had been good friends, and then had some issues and then were friends again. He called me ten years ago right after my dad had died and we spoke for about ninety minutes about all things Kirk Kirkham. He had some great stories to tell. Here is the post on a magic forum that I found from him.

I tried to e-mail him and then I sadly discovered that he died just a year ago. So I can't elaborate on the story he must have heard at some point. Again, one of the reasons I am putting this blog together is so that If others have stories or information or corrections, they can post them so I can be clearer.

Here, Randi seems to be saying that it is indeed the original Rock Guillotine, and that he never built other illusions that had been talked about with the Alice Cooper production. Regardless, I think it is all interesting as a show business story with some intrigue and a lot of fun.




I'm going to finish off this post with one more photograph. This is another one that was taken in Michigan, If the above picture is Ed Deland, then I am guessing that the girl in this picture is Carol Deland his daughter. On the other hand, it could be one of my cousins. It is not a very clear shot, so if anyone recognizes yourself, please step up and confess.

I just found one more shot on the set with Art Baker so I will add it here at the end.

Addendum: I have been contacted again by an old friend of my Dad, he says that my father sold the illusion to Ed Smith, and that it was probably after Ed was murdered in Hollywood that the prop probably moved on to it's eventual place in the Alice Cooper Show. Ed Smith was a collector of Magic Illusions and a good friend of my Dad. I remember him quite well, he was over at the house in East L.A. quite a bit when I was a little guy about nine or ten. He teased me about something one time and I remember making a Vac-u-form sign with a skull and cross bones and his name on it to give to him.  I also remember him taking my Dad and I to a Chicken Dinner Restaurant that he wanted to invest in, it was a broiler based franchise that I don't think ever took off. He bought several illusions from my Dad, and then sold them back to him and then would buy something else. They were a little bit like kids with trading cards. Ed was killed by two robbers in Hollywood right outside his apartment building. I thought I remembered where he lived, and I was sure I saw the building again in the movie "Pretty Woman", of course that could just be the years playing tricks on me.  My Dad's friend says that he last saw the Guillotine in 1970 when Ed Smith tried to sell it to him. I am also told that it appeared in the movie "The Stripper" with Joanne Woodward. 

Shirley Temple Theater

Several years ago I was looking for a copy of the Hollywood Palace Episode that my Dad Had appeared on. I knew it was in 1966 but the exact date was not in my memory. I then did what most people now do without thinking about it, I went to IMDB and typed in Kirk Kirkham. This is what came up:











As you may notice, there are a couple of other references as well. He did a lot of television but it is not well cataloged. Not listed are all the episode of "You Asked For It" and "Truth or Consequences" and "The Steve Allen Show" as well as numerous others. One thing that was listed that I had never heard of was the Shirley Temple Storybook Theater. He was listed as Magician, so I assumed it must actually be him. I hesitated many times about buying the series because I was sure he was only in the show for a couple of minutes, but over the holidays an opportunity came up to get a copy at a fairly inexpensive price, so I went for it. I was right, he has just two brief scenes in the episode based on "Madeline". Apparently, she has run away to the circus and in the morning she is greeted by as assembly of variety performers; there is an acrobat, a juggler, a fire eater and the magician.  I was surprised to see that the episode is in color, because it was 1960 and color TV was not yet standard. I do seem to recall however that NBC made a big deal out of color being a huge part of their network so that may explain why.  The sequence here actually featured Kirkham more than any of the other circus folk, he does a nice bit of slight of hand that was mostly lost because the camera director did not seem to know how to shoot it. He looks very distinctive in this part with a fake mustache and goatee.

When the commercial break ends, the camera comes up on him immediately, performing a vanishing cane into silk trick and then the kids take center stage again. He did this effect at the beginning of the fast opening to most of the shows I worked with him on.

There is some dialogue as the kids talk about how tough it is for other kids who don't get to live in the circus, and how when they are grown ups they won't make their own kids go to school. While that is going on, my dad is in the background doing some more slight of hand that again, the director of photography had not staged very well. The truth is that the show was low budget and changed stories each week so they probably had to do a lot of this stuff on the fly.





He finally brings the kids in to help him prepare a pudding. They add some flour and vinegar and then a lighted candle to the pan.

And then Ta Dah:

The flames shoot up and the pan is filled with fire. Magician Kirkham covers the pan and then opens it to see if the pudding has come out and of course it is a large white duck. 

This shot shows the duck as it fly's off the table. We had a lot of P & L equipment in the collection and this Duck Pan was probably one that they made. The only times I ever saw my Dad use this type of prop were for kids shows because the live animals were always a hit with the little one.








The costume he is wearing looks like a combination of one of his tuxedos and then a red sash and epaulets are added to it. We may have had a cape with red satin lining but I do not remember it so it may have been a studio contribution as well. It was designed to look "Magician-like" for television. Although he had only a brief couple of scenes, he was listed third in the credits, right behind the little girl who played Madeline. He must have had a good agent.





The IMDB listing also has him a production manager for Plan Nine from Outer Space. I have no idea if that is actually him or if there is someone else with the same name that worked in Hollywood. I do know that he worked with Vampira on some TV stuff and she is in Plan Nine, and it would not surprise me a bit that he hooked up Ed Wood and his rag tag band of cheapo film makers with some material they used in their movie. He never spoke of it to me so I am only speculating. If any of you know if the Kirk Kirkham listed in the credits for Plan Nine is indeed my father please let me know.