National Magic Company

The name "National Magic" belonged to an old and well respected manufacturer of magic equipment back in the 1930 and 40s. I don't know the history of it very well so anyone out there who is up to speed on this could please add some comments and help me get this right. At some point it became the brand name of Joe Berg, the magic dealer in Hollywood who was such a big part of our lives when I was a little kid. My Dad loved to hang out at Berg's Magic Studio. When he first arrived in Hollywood he worked as a demonstrator/counterman at the Abbot's store in Hollywood with Louis St. Pierre who later formed Hollywood Magic just a few doors away from Berg's studio. So he knew what magicians liked when they came into a store. At some point in the early 1980s, Berg's closed it's doors and sold the name rights and much of their inventory to my father. He used the name for his manufacturing business and when he went to conventions and set up shop in the dealer's room, he referred to his company as National Magic.

He had hundreds of parlor props and decks of cards and notes on effects for sale. He would take a selection with him to a convention, pay for the smallest space available and then have the widest selection of items in the showroom. He of course could not resist making trades either, so as often as he would come back with cash, he would also come back with more material for his collection.

I believe that the photos below, represent the stock he took to a local convention. It was a small selection but it had a nice variety of common items and hard to find materials. He also took with him a selection of posters from the Thurston Show that he acquired, and sold them. I will have another post on posters themselves, down the road a bit.

Today, the name of the "National Magic Company" is owned by my Dad's friend Gary Frank. I don't know that he ever uses it, but I do know that he carries on the tradition of performers like my dad, working at entertaining others and finding new ways to keep the art of magic alive. If I'm not mistaken, my Dad first met Gary at Joe Bergs, which should come as no surprise since magicians have been establishing connections in magic shops since the days of Merlin.

Stretching a Woman

This was an illusion that was a signature part of my Father's illusion show. He performed it on most of the convention shows we did, and he did it on television several times as well. This was one of the props that he acquired from the Thurston show via Will Rock. In it's original form it had a large spider on the facade and it looked quite old fashioned. When he did the illusion on the Hollywood Palace, he reconditioned it and gave it a contemporary look, featuring a black background and purple infused silver piping that gave the  appearance of  a series of infinity lines stretching out to the sides of the stage.

I know that many magicians are proprietary toward the illusions that they perform. Some of them created the effects and then saw others copy it and perform it under a different name. There were several times in the 1960s that my Father had attorneys send cease and desist letters to magicians that were doing an illusion like this. I suspect that one of the reasons he was on the outside of a few magic circles had to do with his confrontational style in pursuing such claims. In the 1970's, a magician from Atlanta I believe, had purchased one of the several versions of the Thurston prop that my Dad owned. Dad probably tried to obtain every version that had been associated with Thurston as a way of protecting his claim. So if Tampa or Dante had had a version of the stretching a woman, my father probably owned it at one time. Anyway, my Father's agreement with the magician from down south had been that he would not perform it in the Western region where my Dad still hoped to keep it exclusive to his own show. This performer was invited to be a part of the annual "It's Magic" and he wanted to bring the prop and do it as part of the show. Once again, lawyers were invoked, but I seem to remember that it was all handled quite amicably in the end, with the acceptance by both parties that this would be a one off booking and that the previous agreement would continue. Of course I was not in on all the wrangling so maybe I have this wrong. (The magician from the south was Abb Dickson).

There is a nice shot of the illusion featured in the Magic Magazine article that came out last month. In that performance my Mother was the woman who was stretched to incredible lengths. She was usually the victim or partner that was used in the presentation of this trick, but she was not the only person who took part. The performance on the Hollywood Palace show featured Phyllis, but not Phyllis Kirkham, instead it was Phyllis Diller. She was of course the groundbreaking female comedian, who had the wild hair and cackling voice. In the presentation on national television, she improvised a lot of lines and prompted some improvisation from my Dad as well.  She was a good sport and apparently really enjoyed working with my Dad. She invited him to work with her in Vegas but he turned down the opportunity. He had done Vegas with Orson Welles back in the 1950s and I guess did not want to get dragged into a similar situation. My older brother Chris was 15 when they did the Hollywood Palace, I was eight and my younger brother was four. Dad did not think living in Vegas for several months at a time or permanently was a good idea for a family like ours. It must not have offended her, in the DVD documentary that came out about her a few years ago, this presentation with my Father was included.



The English Invasion band Herman's Hermits was also on the show that week and my Brother Chris got to meet them at the height of their career. I have a pictures of him backstage with the band  and when I lay my hands on it I will add it to this post. He got to work the prop on TV and that is pretty neat. If you watch the video of the performance, you will see him pretty clearly. The Hollywood Palace was a West Coast version of the Ed Sullivan show, it featured singers, dancers, comedians and assorted variety acts. It was produced by Bing Crosby's company and rather than having a single host, The Hollywood Palace had rotating hosts, some of whom hosted once and others hosted several times. The show aired on Saturdays and it was on the ABC network. The stairs that are seen in the video are at the end of our bed right now, to allow the dachshunds access.

In December of 1971, I had my turn to be in the act with this prop on stage at Magic Mountain. We did the main stage for two weeks during the Christmas season. The stage where we worked was called the Showcase Theater, and I think that the idea was that Magic Mountain would try to have Celebrity performers on a regular basis. The marque of the theater is featured in "This is Spinal Tap" where the band is listed as supporting the puppet show.  The park was brand new at the time, opened only for about six months. Since the admission policy was unlike Disney, once you were in the park you had access to all of the attractions. I had a great time riding the roller-coaster and the log ride as much as I wanted between shows. I remember that my Dad tracked the exact mileage to the park everyday and that it was fifty four miles one way.

We worked with three celebrities during the run of the show. Shari Lewis was the first, she had Lamb Chop and Charlie Horse doing their bits and then came out and was the woman who was Elasticized by my Dad in his part of the show.  The second week we worked, the celebrity act was Tim Conway and McLean Stevenson. They did a comedy routine. I knew who Tim Conway was but this was right before Stevenson was cast in the TV version of M*A*S*H. I can't remember anything about their act except that it was funny. Tim came out and he became the Elastic Man for the rest of our run in the show. In order to make it funny and to keep his feet clear on the prop, he wore a pair of florescent orange socks. Of course I had a pair as well and I always referred to them afterwards as my Tim Conway socks.

Kirk Kirkham and James Hamilton

Kirk Kirkham and Jim Hamilton circa 1970

Of the many magicians that befriended my Father, James Hamilton was one that I was on the most familiar terms with. He was one of the original Long Beach Mystics, and I knew him when he went by his real name which is Polish or Ukrainian and nearly impossible to say much less spell. Jim worked in many of the big shows we did in the late sixties and seventies, he also helped in the last big shows my Dad did in 1986 at Long Beach and Pasadena.

Some time in 1973, I got to return the favor. Jim was doing a big show and needed an assistant. I was asked to help and was happy to do so. The theme of his act at the time was oriental and we rehearsed several times at the apartment of another Southern California Magician, Bob Wagner. His sister Pat Kass also worked the show with Jim and I. My memory is not as sharp on the performance as it is on the lead up to it, I think the show was at Plumber Park in West Hollywood. I had a great time and it was nice to be able to help Jim out the way he had helped my father so often.

Many years ago Jim relocated to San Francisco, and he has been very active in the Magic business there. He does a parlor show that is a salute to Alexander Hermann. I have only one photo of Jim working on stage, and interestingly enough it was taken by another friend of my Dad's who is a follower on this blog, (Hi Ron, do you remember taking this shot?)

A year after my Mother passed away, my Dad was living with us in a new house in a new town. I don't think he knew most of the time who we all were but he loved playing with the dog and shooting baskets in the backyard with my daughter Amanda who was six at the time. I needed to go up to San Fransisco to help a friend of mine and Jim offered to have my Dad stay with him for a day or two while I was there. Dad seemed to remember Jim and enjoyed their visit together. I think they even went to the movies and saw "Dumb and Dumber".

I haven't talked to Jim since then, but he very kindly shared some memories in the article that appears in the current "Magic" Magazine. He said some wonderful things about Dad and he was right in saying that my Dad knew everything about any prop. Somewhere I have a great shot of Jim on stage with my Dad, acting as waiter for a little decanter trick that he would do in front of the curtain while the next illusion scene was being set up. I will add it to this post when I locate it.

Of course I am trying to focus on magic themed posts here but I remember Jim best as a guest at my parents home. He was there for many holiday dinners and Sunday afternoon visits. He was one of the few magicians that my wife got to meet when we were over at my folks place. Sitting next to Jim at the dining room table in my parent's apartment is one of her fond memories of my parents. I know she shared some jokes with him about the Kirkham family dynamics in the kitchen. I don't remember if he was there when my Mom tried oyster dressing for Thanksgiving, but she does mention occasionally how she and Jim laughed together when Mom and Dad were struggling with a Prime Rib which had not had the bones broken and cut. Our meal almost ended up on the floor and they were both cracking up.  I'd like to thank Jim for his friendship with my Dad over many years.

This last photo also features film producer Bill Self, a friend of my Dad's friend Ron Pascu. Ron informs me that he recently passed away. They all looked like they were enjoying themselves don't they?

Nino

Nino and Tihany

One of the pleasures of this blog is remembering old friends. I have heard from several former associates of my Father since I started the blog but also since the article in Magic Magazine appeared. My Dad collected friends and adversaries with both hands. Sometimes they even switched hands. One person who was always on the "Friend "side was the magician known to me only as Nino. I'm sure he had a last name but we never used it and although we worked with him on many big shows, I never saw him billed with any other name.

Nino was a disciple of the great Senor Frakson, a Spanish performer famous for his cigarette magic.  Nino did many of the same cigarette effects and he used doves and silks in his very polished act. My Dad took me to his house once in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles, we must have been delivering something, but I can't remember what. Nino was always at the house helping out with some project my Dad was involved with. This is a picture that I found that is really only magically based because of the two subjects. There is no prop and I have no specific story. I just know that when Tihany was in town, Nino sometimes helped him navigate the L.A. area. Here are the two of them in what is simply describable only as a moment of exuberance. That may be Nino's truck and they were picking up something from my Dad. This is in the parking lot of the warehouse on Chapel in Alhambra.

One of the people who I have heard from since the article came out is Connie Keeler Mcleod, she worked many big shows with my Dad along with her husband Bill. She told me that Nino was still around and that she speaks to him on occasion. I hope this picture will bring back some fond memories for him if he gets a chance to see it, I know it brought some back for me.

The Amazing Phyllis Kirkham

Those of you who knew my parents, know that my father's common sense came from the woman he was married to for 47 years. They were High School Sweethearts at Battle Creek Central High. She worked with him in his entire professional career. My Father could be impulsive and short-tempered at times. He was also pig headed about a lot of things, yet if it was needed, my mother was there to calm him down, point out something that he was unwilling to see before, or back him up like a tiger. They were a team. Most professional magicians have the spotlight while their spouse moves in the background. It always seemed to me that my Mom got as much attention as she ever wanted from us, but she did step out front and center on occasion.

Houdini did a straight-jacket escape from tall buildings to draw attention to his upcoming appearances. My Dad must have thought it was a great idea, but he was an innovator and somehow managed to get my Mother to do the escape bit when they were touring around. I can't say for sure how many places they must have done this but in the early years before my older brother was born, they traveled extensively in the Western U.S. and this probably was featured in any town that was of sufficient size. 

Here she is at street level, this may have been in Battle Creek because the older woman here looks a lot like my father's Grandmother. I can't say for sure, and I don't know who the little girl would be. They may simply be bystanders who stopped to pose with the daredevil  woman.

In the late forties and early fifties there may not have been enough tall buildings in small towns to have the dramatic effect that Houdini would get from hanging off a skyscraper, so the next best thing appears to have been a hook and ladder from the local fire department. I can't imagine the red tape you would have to go through these days to pull a stunt like this. Back then, you might only have needed to ask at the fire house and get the chief on board.

If you watch the video above, you will hear some very dramatic music being played to heighten the sense of danger. From my point of view, hanging upside down fifty feet above the asphalt of the street intersection would be plenty dangerous enough. I wonder if there was ever a band or recorded music used at these events. Now a days, there are so many graceful performers working in places like Vegas, high above the stage and audience, we may get a little jaded as to how truly dangerous this stuff could be.

This shot gives me just a bit of vertigo by looking at it. You can see that there is some dramatic flare in the presentation with her arms outstretched once released from the jacket. My Mother must really have loved my Dad to do this kind of stuff. She comes from a family of five sisters who were all amazing in their own ways. The oldest sister, my Aunt Reba,  in in her late eighties and still plugging along. She is the last in the series of Lines sisters to be with us, but I have multiple cousins and second cousins that I have never met, who will know how my Mom could do something like this because they have met Aunt Reba. The Lines sisters were not shrinking violets.

Somewhere else in my dozens of boxes, I have a photo of my Mom standing with several other Magicians, getting ready to escape from straight jackets as part of a Hollywood promotion of the movie "Houdini " starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. When I find it I will add it to this post.  The producers of "You Asked For It", which my parents appeared on several times, might have been horrified to learn that my Mother was pregnant with my older brother Chris when she did this stunt on their show. How is that for being a trooper?

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