On this evening in 1960, Ralph Edwards surprised Harry Blackstone Sr. with the words, “This is Your Life!” The NBC network then broadcast their live television show, surprising Blackstone as friends from his past stepped onstage. Harry Blackstone Junior appeared, recalling his father’s performance of the Floating Princess illusion in San Diego: One night a sailor in the audience stood up and shouted, “I can see the wires!” Blackstone Senior stepped off the stage, squinted, surveyed the scene from several positions in the auditorium, and turned to shout, “Like hell you can!” (On network television, Junior avoided the word “hell.”)
