February 7th, 2000, Doug Henning passed away. He was only 52 at the time. It came as a huge shock to the magic community for several reasons. For one, he was way too young to pass away. But secondly, he had started to get back into magic just prior to this. He had been spotted at several different magic shops and had some communications with old friends in the magic world. Some even speculated that maybe, just maybe, he was going to make a come back.
But that was not to be.
Magic was very different 23 years ago. Ok, maybe not VERY different, but different enough. I guess I'm thinking of when Doug was around and performing. New strides in the world of Illusion were happened, they started with Doug and then when he left, they continued with David Copperfield primarily. The man behind those innovations was Jim Steinmeyer. But he wasn't the only one, Andre Kole was creating incredible illusions, as well others.
Just this past weekend, I began to explore the world of one of the guys who worked with both Doug and David, his name is Doug Bennett. I recalled the name, but wasn't aware of this many contributions. In fact, as I type this, I have a friend working on a jumbo version of a trick Doug Bennett created called The Criss Cross Deck. Doug featured it on one of his TV specials.
Doug Bennett is probably best known of his Bewildering Effect, that Doug Henning featured on a Tonight Show spot with Johnny Carson. And there is another effect he created called FireTrap, which again, Doug did on a TV spot. It was cool to discover that Mr. Bennett is still working in the magic world. as a consultant. HIs latest commercial item was a Floating Selfie Stick, ala. Dancing Can....brilliant. If you'e like to learn more about Mr. Bennett, check out http://www.dougbennettmagic.com/magicconsulting.php
And please take a moment or two to remember Doug Henning and his unique brand of magic.
