Harry Blackstone Jr Anniversary

17 Years Ago, on May 14th, I was at Dulles Airport with my friend Adam Ace. We were about to take a plane to Mexico for shows. Before the flight I stepped into one of the gift shops and saw the USA Today Newspaper. There on the cover, a photo of Harry Blackstone Jr. and the words 'Has Died'. WHAT? How could this be? Sad, but true.

I never got to meet Mr. Blackstone. I was on an elevator with him once but other 'fans' were kind of crowding him so I didn't join the pack. I also sat in front of him at a conference once, but he was deep conversation with his wife, so again, I didn't intrude.

Needless to say, his passing was somewhat of a shock to the magic world. I only added 'somewhat' because we all new he had been ill. He had what seemed like a sudden and drastic loss of weight and he didn't look well. I remember seeing him on the Miss America Pageant producing Regis Philbin from a tip-over trunk. It was the last time I'd see him on TV. He was gone a short time later.

Harry Blackstone Jr. was one of the GREATS! I'll write about him more at another time. But for now, we remember his passing 17 years ago.

A Little Fu-Manchu Trivia

Some Interesting Facts About Fu-Manchu

When he performed he spoke Spanish with a Chinese accent.

His oriental robes were authentic. Many were purchased in Hollywood.

He adapted a principle from a novelty toy into one of the most amazing pieces
of magic ever seen. This principle sat untouched for many years until recently altered
and updated by Jim Steinmeyer. It was used in Fu-Manchu's Pit & Pendulum Illusion.

His father was Okito (Theo Bamberg). Fu-Manchu (David Bamberg) was the 6th and last generation of magicians known as The Bamberg Dynasty.

During his years in South America, he auditioned many women to be assistants in his show. One of the women who auditioned for him was Eva Peron, the First Lady of Argentina from 1946-1952.  She would later be immortalized in the musical EVITA.

The above poster is very unique and quite striking. There is another version of the poster which features an image of a woman's face and more text. It can be viewed here, along with one of Fu-Manchu's Movie posters.


David Bamberg in real life was a very nervous individual. But Fu-Manchu on stage
was as calm as they come. It's been written that whenever his assistants wanted to
ask for a raise, they always waited to ask Fu-Manchu rather than David Bamberg.

According to David, eventually the Fu-Manchu calmness creeped into his real life
and later in life he became less of a nervous wreck.

David Bamberg took the name Fu-Manchu from the Sax Rohmer novels of the same name. Because of this when he came to the United States, he was not able, due to copyright laws, to use the name Fu-Manchu. Instead he used FuChan. However, Bamberg was not the last to use the 'borrowed' name. A rock band now uses the name Fu-Manchu.

Book Review: The Metamorphosis - The Apprenticeship of Harry Houdini by Bruce MacNab

I just finished reading Bruce MacNab's book The Metamophosis last night. I bought the book from Bruce almost a year ago and it's taken me this long to finish. But the reason it took so long is not because of the content of the book but because of my performing schedule and an eye site issue that was making it harder for me to read for long stretches.

But I'm happy to say the book has been read, cover to cover. I have to say this book was an eye opener. Very different from any other Houdini biography I've ever read. This is maybe the first bio of Houdini where he isn't 'the greatest'. In fact, he is a struggling performer during the months in 1896 that are covered in this book. He stumbles upon things that will later be iconic parts of his act in years later, but during these early days they are so new that he is testing the waters to see what works and what doesn't.

A great example is an outdoor stunt that he was promoting where he would be tied to a horse and would free himself. The stunt quickly got out of hand when the horse took off running and Houdini could do nothing but hold on for dear life until the animal tired. Eventually, it did and Houdini was able to free himself. Unfortunately, the crowd of spectators also tired and had left before Houdini was free. He learned a huge lesson this day about staying in control of his challenges. The only thing hurt was his pride thankfully.

I loved the chapters with Samri Baldwin. I had written a bit about Samri Baldwin recently and was so excited at what I thought was a real 'find'. Then one of my readers pointed at that this info and more was in the Metamorphosis book. Indeed it was and it's great to read. Apparently, Houdini and Baldwin were going to team up on a tour at one point, but sadly it never came to pass.

The book does a great job at pointing out what a real grind show business can be. From renting the hall or theatre, to promoting and then waiting to see if your hard work has paid off. Often, things beyond your control come into play to prevent a crowd from attending. Houdini faced more small crowd venues on this Canadian tour than he did large crowds. And yet, in three short years Houdini would meet a man who would help Houdini become famous. That man was Martin Beck, who told Houdini to drop the magic and stick to escapes.

Yet, during the Canadian run in 1896, Houdini was doing every kind of magic imaginable, even a levitation and mind reading! Along the journey, we get to meet other performers and artists, some famous, some not so well known. It's not often that this much new information comes out on a performer who has already been written about in dozens of biographies.  The author Bruce MacNab really did his homework and researched this topic and dug up information that no one else had seen. He even describes situations where he searched and searched for documentation on a particular event but none could be found. My hat goes off to Bruce for such a fine job.

I know by now, most of my readers have probably read this book. But if not, please get yourself a copy and enjoy the journey of Houdini and Bess on Tour in Canada in 1896. Wonderfully done! Click the link at the top of the page to order the book from Amazon!