Orson Wells Update

OK, it is not really an update when he has been dead for twenty seven years and the events I have pictures for are from nearly thirty years before that. I just did not want these other pictures to be lost in the previous post.

This photo is signed to my parents by Wells, as the names he called them during their run at the Riviera.  That is my Mother on the broom suspension and my Dad in the white jacket behind wells and to the left. Dad always said working with Orson Wells was a good experience but a pain in the neck. I was reminded of this by a note I received just a day or two ago from an old friend of his, Don Bice. Mr. Bice had some very kind things to say about my Father but he also shared some background on a prop and story that I wrote about earlier.

Another young magician shared this story with me in an e-mail a few months ago
"Orson Welles did a magic illusion segment on the Carson show in the 80's (?) I believe,

and he performed this same Throne Chair illusion. If you can find a back issue of Magic Magazine - with the story on Welles - there is a nice contemporary photo of him with this prop, from that appearance." I wrote about the prop primarily because I had a picture of my Mom sitting in it and then I found a clip on line of Blackstone Sr. doing the illusion. That post is linked here.

Don Bice shared this info with me...

"the throne chair.
 
I was the magic coordinator for the Tonight show
appearance.  The chair belonged to John Daniel.
Orson had used it years ago on the old Jackie
Gleason show working with John Daniel.
 
Orson called John and wanted to use the prop on
the show, but John didn't want to work with Orson
again. The big O can be difficult as your father had
told me years ago.
 
John said OK if I worked with O, and I jumped at
the chance. I called Mike Cavney and a friend
of Johns, Dennis Parr to assist on camera.
 
The prop is now owned by Jim Steinmeyer and
at the last collectors convention in LA, they 
showed the clip from the tonight show."

I told Mr. Bice that I am not surprised that the illusion went through many hands,

my Dad traded props, bought back props and sold them again many times. John Daniel

was a close friend to my Dad at one point and although they went back and forth with their

friendship, they never let it get in the way of business. 

Anyway, it is a little more info on the business dealings my Dad had with Orson Well and

assorted others in regard to magic.