Carnegie: Magic Detective

Sunday, February 23, 2014

LeGrand David Auction is now History

Well, it finished. I'm not even sure what to say. Some prices so low it wasn't funny. Some soared. I picked up several things, but missed out on some really special pieces. I thought I'd show you the incredible sculptures that were part of the auction.

Here is an incredible bronze piece of David Bull, created by his father David F. Bull. It shows LeGrand David presenting the Zombie Ball which he was a master of. I believe the dog there is Blackie, who was an ever present feature at the theatre for many years.

All of the bronze sculptures were created by David F. Bull. I should have said the father of LeGrand David, and also of Webster Bull, who was in the show for many years as well.

This piece sold for $1000 I believe, which was below the auction estimates.

Next we have Marco the Magic and the Floating Table. This is one we were trying to win. We did
not, however. This piece sold beyond auction estimates at something like $3500 or more. It's a beautiful piece. We had a game plan to get all the Floating Table related stuff. I won the beautiful backdrop curtain that was used during the presentation of the Floating Table. But lost the Floating Table and Painting. Yet, we won the original Floating Tables. So I'm sad that we didn't get them all, but we did pretty well.

This next piece is massive and I believe it's one of three. There were two others, one is in the

collection of Ray Goulet's Magic Museum and the other one is in the American Museum of Magic. This piece sadly sold well below the estimated auction price. It went for $8000.

It depicts the floating of LeGrand David on the broom in the show by Marco the Magi. It is the moment when David becomes LeGrand David. It's an interesting routine because it has it's origins in Richiardi's original version of the broom suspension.

This final piece was also created by David F. Bull but it was a trophy, presented to Cesareo by the SAM Parent Assembly #1 in NYC. And this time it does not depict a member of the LGD company but rather the great escape artist and past president of the SAM, Harry Houdini. It's very rare, I think there are only a couple of these. I think it went for $1000.

Here is the curtain/backdrop I won (below). The Peacock Feather Curtain. It's stunning. I remember the first time I saw it, I was awe struck. I am so looking forward to having this as part of my show in the near future.

By the way, just because their show is over, doesn't mean it's the end. I'll be writing more articles about them in the near future. I will continue to carry the LGD torch far into the future.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

The Grave of Chung Ling Soo

(photo provided by Tom Atkinson)

This is very exciting. One of my readers, Tom Atkinson, sent several photos over of the Chung Ling Soo Grave. I've never seen photos of the grave in such detail. You can even view a close-up of the inscription on the side of the headstone (bottom of the page)

I would point out that the figure standing on top of the stone is missing a hand. An earlier photo I had seen shows the hand which was holding something. But that has either been broken off by vandels or had fallen off due to age.

Of course, Chung Ling Soo was none other than American born William Ellsworth Robinson. One of the most knowledgable men on the subject of magic while he was alive. He worked for The Great Alexander Herrmann and also Harry Kellar. Eventually, he went out on his own and he found success with an Chinese character he called 'Chung Ling Soo'.

To read more about Soo and see another photo of the grave, go to http://deadconjurers.blogspot.com/search/label/Chung%20Ling%20Soo