Kirkham Magic: July 2018

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, July 20, 2018

Ozzy Throne Chair

Over the years my Pop found his way into the Rock and Roll world occasionally. He was hired to do a close up gig at Berry Gordy's house for a party that Diana Ross was hosting. It turned out that it was a kids party and the little ones were very young. He had planned an evening doing the pick pocket act for music and film people and was instead entertaining five year olds. He improvised and did what Ms. Ross said was a great show. Dad said she was very sweet sitting with the kids and watching.

I mentioned that the giant Will Rock Guillotine was used by Alice Cooper. Dad did not supply it directly, but James Randi who apparently did, asked Pop to come and make some adjustments when Alice was in L.A. in 1973 I think.

We had an unfortunate experience with Grace Slick. She was doing an album cover using a levitation, but they wanted a large hoop to use rather than the slim version that most magicians carry. Pop improvised a mylar covered hoop that was not practical for stage use but might work for a photo shoot. The photographer did not like it so they used an artist rendering instead. I think Pop got stiffed on that job.

The one easily remembered and documented piece of equipment that he provided for a Rock Show was a Throne Chair for Ozzy Osbourne.

The chair was originally made for the Ice Capades segment he manufactured in 1976. Some of the props reverted back to him after the run of the show, including the Throne Chair Production. We refurbished it for Ozzy's Speak of the Devil Tour. I personally tested the chair out to see that it would work for an adult male. We saw Ozzy using it in a clip on "Entertainment Tonight" and I think Dad contacted them to make some suggestions because as he was performing it, it simply looks like he runs through the chair rather than appearing in it.

Ozzy Fans will know the chair from the album cover of that record. It is only partially seen but it is clearly the Chair we built.

My brother owned a poster with a much better image of the chair and Ozzy at the same time. I wish I still had it but I did find an image on line that you will be able to see.

Here is a second image that has another figure in the foreground.

Finally, I found a few clips that show the prop being used on stage.

The first one is the "Entertainment Tonight" Segment.

The second is the opening of the show in San Antonio. This may have been when he got in trouble urinating on the Alamo.

The Third clip is not very well shot but the impact of the illusion is easier to appreciate. The last clip is the shortest but the lighting and laser show make it hard to see.

Friday, July 13, 2018

Broken Wand Obituary

I did not see this particular remembrance when it came out shortly after his death. This was written by Bev Bergeron, a friend of my fathers's and a well know author and figure in the magic world. I believe he is still active, and I have enjoyed receiving a Christmas Time Newsletter from his family for many years. The copy of the Linking Ring was sent to me by Pat Slusher, a name I don't automatically recognize but he appears to know who my Pop was and he was kind enough to ship it to me. Thanks so much for that treasure.

This is a largely accurate memory of my father. The controversies that swirled around him are long forgotten or completely unknown. There are a couple of stories concerning the Magic Castle brouhaha that would be interesting to hear. I know that he took no small amount of pleasure spending as much time as he liked there, without ever paying dues. He had dozens of friends who were regular performers at the Castle and I think he also knew every entrance to the place better than the staff did. Old grudges are the silliest kinds.

A Life in Magic: Here in Southern California

As a kid, I’d imagined myself following in my father’s footsteps and becoming a performer. I had magic kits, and puppets and a variety of equipment readily available. What I lacked was discipline. Someone once told me that the difference between your current status and expertise in a field was 10,000 hours of hard work. When I got to high school I discovered girls and debate, and suddenly, spending time on the technical craft of performing magic seemed less desirable to me. My father was never disappointed in my choice. He allowed me to stay a part of his world even though that part was on the sidelines. He was one of those people who understood the level of dedication that was required to be really good at your craft.

From the time he was a kid he wanted to be a magician, and that is what he worked his whole life at doing. He practiced and performed and read and dreamed. He talked with everyone who was interested in magic about everything connected to performing. When I was young my friends thought it was strange that my dad would still be asleep at ten or eleven in the morning. They did not understand that some people simply thrive at night. When he came home from a show or an evening with his friends in magic my father did not sit in front of the television; he read. He was a sponge when it came to magical knowledge. He listened to friends like Percy Abbott, Harry Blackstone, Bill Larsen Sr., and Dante tell stories and share secrets. He sought out magicians of all stripes to answer questions and to ask them. He acquired books and articles and lectures and blueprints and anything else he could lay his hands on, that dealt with magic and performing. When we needed funds to provide for his care in his last years it pained me to have to sell his library: I knew it was one of the most unique in the world.

He was more than just a fountain of knowledge though; he was a performer. Being on stage is where he came to life and made his mark. While he was an accomplished illusionist and a talented close-up performer, my father’s greatest strength lay in interacting with an audience. He loved having the little kids come up from the audience to do the hats and pants routine – just playing a silly, wonderful game. When they laughed and smiled, he was in his element. Lots of magicians do a guillotine trick, but Kirkham did ten minutes of audience participation, comedy and drama. The trick was the climax of the segment but it was hardly the highlight. His byplay with the two brave boys who volunteered to be onstage was where most of the fun was. When the curtain opened and an illusion was performed, my dad was as good as anyone else. In front of the curtain, setting up the scene or doing a small effect with patter he was better than everyone else.

We worked all kinds of shows and venues. Club dates at nightspots, corporate picnics in parks, high school auditoriums and legitimate theaters for full evening extravaganzas. When he did TV, I always felt special and made sure to tell my friends to watch ABC on Saturday night or CBS Wednesday afternoon. My older brother worked on my father’s show, along with my mother, for years before I was much help.

From 1965 to 1975, I went on all the state fair shows and company Christmas parties. My younger brother was in the act as well but by the time he was able to do some of the things I got to do my dad had slowed down a bit, so I can safely say that I was the only reason he could offer $10,000 to anyone who could prove he used two girls in the Thurston sawing a woman in half act. And so I got to discover that the smell of sawdust did a lot to minimize any claustrophobia I might have experienced as a kid. Speaking of sawdust, one year my Dad and my older brother, Chris, ran away with the circus; when it came to town, my younger brother, Kirk, and I joined for a couple of days – Kirk sold programs alongside the kid in the circus who was a fantastic juggler – so Kirk and I got the experience but did not have to caravan in a trailer for six months like Chris and Dad did.

In the fifties Dad and Mom worked in Vegas with Orson Welles. In the sixties Phyllis Diller asked Dad to come to Vegas and work with her. He had lots of chances to be a pioneer in sin city prestidigitation, but after all the issues he had with my troubled older brother Dad thought that relocating to Vegas, which was not the corporate tourist friendly spot it is today, was not a good idea. With two young boys at home, he sought a more traditional upbringing. We were kids of the suburbs, but show business and Hollywood were the office that Ward Cleaver went to each day instead of the insurance company. We got to meet movie stars and eat in fancy restaurants. We saw the eccentrics on Hollywood Boulevard before it filled up with drug users and homeless people. And then aside from the mundane Hollywood insanity, there were all my parents friends.

We had close friends who practically lived with us and helped out with the shows Dad was putting together. There were young performers from the Long Beach Mystics who came and milked my Dad’s brain for information and exchanged time working in the show for all of the encouragement they got. We had old timers from vaudeville sit down at the dining room table and regale us with stories of the past. Business associates visited, ate and became our friends as well as our parents friends. We had the star of the Moscow circus, at the height of the Cold War, sharing secrets even though he spoke little English. One time my Dad got into a fistfight with another magician in Baja California while we were down there to see a magic show. My mother had to go out and pay off the cops in the middle of the night to get him out of custody, leaving my younger brother and I at the hotel. Later, he and the other magician became friends again and did business together on several occasions. So while we had the trappings of a fifties family, the reality was often far different.

My Dad was always up for a confrontation, so his relations with some of the other elements of the magic world in Southern California were terse at times. I don’t know what feuds and rivalries were important and which were minor. I just know he loved the life he led in good times and tough ones. When my Mother passed away in 1994, we lost all connection to the magic world because my Dad needed her to keep track of his memory. His decline was accelerated by her absence. Those of you who knew my parents know how much that was true. Those of you out there who are meeting them for the first time through this article, welcome to the real history of magic in Southern California. My family would like to thank everyone involved in putting this material together. It is good to have a legacy, but it is better to have friends who remember you fondly.