Milbourne Christopher made an appearance on I’ve Got A Secret in 1959, playing at fooling the panel and levitating former Miss America Bess Myerson to boot.
Milbourne Christopher made an appearance on I’ve Got A Secret in 1959, playing at fooling the panel and levitating former Miss America Bess Myerson to boot.
Alfred DeLage, billed at the time as the world’s fastest magician, made an appearance on the classic game show To Tell The Truth in 1960. Can you figure out which one is really Alfred?
His billing was probably connected to an effect he invented called The Fastest Trick In The World, which involved the instant disappearance of a potted bush without cover.
We’re going to be honest: it is kind of a slow news day. Since it is Women’s History Month we are going to take the day to highlight some women in magic… something we will keep up all month long. We won’t just highlight today’s great ladies of magic, either. Speaking of that: we are trying really, really hard to find footage of Dell O’Dell. We can find footage of other magicians she shot, as shooting home movies was one of her favorite hobbies, but we can not find any footage of her!
Today’s first clip is of Celeste Evans’ appearance on CBS game show To Tell The Truth sometime in 1957 or ’58. Celeste passed away in 2017 at the age of 85. She spoke to iTricks back in 2013, leading to a two part article on her (here and here).
We have run this clip before, but it is Women’s History Month so we are determined to remind you of some of the great female trailblazers in magic such as Irish beauty queen turned nightclub magician June Merlin, also known as June McComb and June Cochrane. We ran a feature on June back in 2014 which you can read here.
I am sure we have posted this video of PC Sorcar from NBC’s 1957 Festival of Magic television special, but in honor of his birthday over the weekend we figured it was a good time to share it again. It really could be argued that Sorcar and Kudu Bux were the first Asian magicians to achieve international stardom in modern times!
Filmmaker Adrienne Sanders has released this short documentary on Teddy Lee, owner of the Lee’s Funeral Home and a performer with decades of experience. You can read more about Teddy and film in this Lohud article.
Houdini’s life is getting renewed interest thanks to the new Science Channel show Houdini’s Last Secrets and Maryland Public Television recently visited the Jewish Museum of Maryland to learn more about their special Houdini Exhibit, which closes next Monday!