Exactly 70 years ago, in 1955, the annual Abbott’s Get Together was in full force. Chami Kkan, a mystic from Venezuela, was nailed to a cross with three long spikes.
In 1926, illusionist Howard Thurston was granted a United States Patent for a “Nostril Expander,” which was marketed as Thurston’s Perfect Breather.
In 1961, Chicago magician De Yip Loo was the first guest act on the premiere of Bozo’s Circus, on WGN television
Those cards in Hofzinser’s machine; that dealer in San Francisco
William Lindsay Gresham died by suicide in 1962
On this day in 1863, letters of patent were issued to Henry Dircks and John Henry Pepper for “an improvement on apparatus to be used in the exhibition of dramatic and other like performances"
The new Portland, Oregon assembly of Magigals held its first meeting in 1951
En garde with our quiz, the Scottish magician respects the veils, contemplates Ramsay
As Davino, he contributed an article called “Dancing Cane Tips” to the March 1972 Genii; he offered a valuable touch for correcting the balance during the routine
Talma closed a week of performances at the Manchester Tivoli Theater with her new act, The Legend of the Silk Worm.
Clayton Rawson was born on this day in 1906 in Elyria, New York. He specialized in the “locked room” format—an impossible crime that couldn’t have happened, with the books featuring his magician/detective character, The Great Merlini.
Adelaide Herrmann was born in London in 1853, to a Belgian family. She was a successful magician who performed spectacular acts of sleight of hand and illusions.