Welcome to Wonderland: Three Songwriters and a Bandleader

Magicians have left their mark on nearly every corner of the entertainment world, often in places where few people would think to look. Hollywood’s golden age offers no shortage of examples: Quite a few actors, it turns out, moonlighted as magicians, as did a number of directors and others working behind the camera. Many of these Hollywood men and women are probably well known to readers of this magazine. Director Orson Welles, for example, is now, at least in our community, famous for his magic involvement in addition to, and maybe even more than for, his directing. But a surprising example receives far less attention: the history of the Academy Award for Best Original Song.