The Phoenix Poster- Le Grand David

How fitting that I should return to my blog with The Phoenix! This is a poster I saw at the Cabot Street Cinema Theatre during my very first visit many many years ago. After the show, seeing the show for the first time, I had the opportunity to buy one of these cool posters but didn't.  I regretted my decision. (I did purchase two 'other' posters however, which I still have today)

A few months later I would see the poster on display at the American Museum of Magic. And over the years I would see various versions of the poster, but getting one myself always alluded me.

According to the book, Carteles de Magia, by the Le Grand David Company, the poster was created

in May 1977. It was one of their most popular posters. It was called 'The Bird of Paradise or The Phoenix'. The poster featured the full name of the theatre for the first time, The Cabot St. Cinema Theatre, and also proclaimed the newly added second show on Sundays at 8:15pm. The design was done by Rick Heath, it was marker on mat board. What made the poster so unique is that on some of the posters, members of the company customized them by adding paints, water colors, glitter and even decoupage. The posters were printed on various colored paper and came in two sizes 20.5x28.5 and 10x14.

I have only ever seen the larger ones customized.  The two images above are from the first Kaminski Auction. I have seen various other versions on ebay and elsewhere. Finally, thanks to the kindness and generosity of one of my readers, I can proudly say I have one of the customized Le Grand David Phoenix Posters in my collection. I have never seen a blue version before so this one is very special to me! The poster is also signed by Marco, Seth, Le Grand David and Professor Besco, the four lead performers at that time.

More On Houdini and Kellar

More on Houdini & Kellar

Five years ago, I wrote an article about Harry Kellar and Harry Houdini, and then wrote a follow-up article on a different blog. I've decided to move that 'other' article over here for you to enjoy, but I'm also rewriting it a bit.  I am totally fascinated by these two performers. I can't get enough of Kellar and Houdini. The more I find out about each of them, the more interesting they become.

KELLAR of course was the first nationally famous magician born in America. Robert Heller and Herrmann the Great preceded him, but Heller was English and Herrmann was from France. If you want to go back further, you could make the case for Signor Blitz as he was quite famous as well, but again, he was from another country.  Kellar was born in Erie PA so he was a native born son. It's said that Harry Kellar was the inspiration for the character of the Wizard in the Wizard of OZ. Actually, I've only heard this said within the magic world. I have a biography of L. Frank Baum, the author of the Wizard of OZ and there is no mention of Kellar in the book. Still, that doesn't mean he wasn't the inspiration.

Kellar was around before the modern media, before radio/TV/internet/movies, and certainly no Social Media. In fact, in Kellar's time, it was rare to see a photograph in the paper, as that technology was still in it's infancy. Instead, there were line drawings or fancy fonts in ads that were being used. So how did Kellar sell his show? POSTERS, newspaper ads and word of mouth! Kellar has some of the most beautiful and highly collectable posters in the history of the theatre.  If you examine Kellar's posters you'll receive a 19th Century lesson on Branding that is still valid today. His posters had a consistent look and theme. Whether they displayed young Kellar or older Kellar, they were still done in the same style. Some posters featured Kellar performing his signature effects, others showed only Kellar...and usually a few of his devilish imps appeared in the posters as well.

There are a number of effects in Kellar's show that have always intrigued me, probably because I saw posters for them when I was starting out in magic and the images stuck with me. Two in particular were Flyto and OH!. Flyto was an illusion invented by Charles Morritt and it consisted of two upright rectangular cabinets on the stage set several feet apart. A woman would go into one and a man into the other and instantly they would change places.

OH! was kind of a challenge vanish. There was a chair, with a curtain cabinet around it. A Steel plate went under the chair to prevent someone from dropping into a trap door. The assistant who sat in the chair put her hand through the curtain which was held by a spectator from the audience, and the other hand held a ring which was attached to a cord held by another spectator. And under these stringent conditions the person in the chair still vanished without a trace! 

HOUDINI was not born in the USA, but he always presented himself as if he was. In his mind he was a mid-westerner from a little town called Appleton. Now, where Heller and Herrmann were Kellar's rivals, they had a different connection to Houdini. Herrmann was a distant relative (maybe). Houdini enormous respect for Heller, even going so far to track down the old magi's grave. He said of Heller, "he was the most versatile magician to ever life."

Houdini was not the inspiration for any fictional characters that I'm aware of, however, he was such an iconic figure in history that he became the inspiration for many people inside and outside of magic. Even today, they still make movies and write books about this fellow, so still he has a hold on the public's imagination.

Houdini predated the internet/social media and TV. But he was right there when radio and movies were in their infancy, and he used them to the best of his ability. He did a number of radio interviews and as far as movies went, he starred in movies as well as opened his own movie studio to produce his own movies and his own film development company.  He also used newspapers in ways that others had not with his sometimes scandalous photos (think naked jail escapes).  Through his outdoor escapes he created his own sort of 'social media', back then it was called 'word of mouth' and it was extremely effective.

Like Kellar, Houdini used posters to their maximum effect. He even had one poster that had devils on it, but he eventually went his own way when it came to the images on the posters. He emphasised drama, fear and emotion in many of his posters. The Water Torture Cell posters and the Milk Can, 'Failure Means a Drowning Death' and the Water Torture cells often had the depiction of a green giant putting Houdini in the cell. Pure drama!
  

In regards to his performing material I've always been intrigued with the escapes but lately it's his magic that is pulling me in. I never in a million years considered doing the East Indian Needle Trick. The It's an effect that has danger (real danger) and suspense and it appears totally impossible. It's frankly brilliant and Houdini recognized the trick for how powerful it was. He would do it in newspaper offices, he even did it on the stage at the Hippodrome Theatre, one of the largest stages in the world! Watch for it in my act, because it's coming.

Houdini's Walking Through a Brick wall is another piece that is simply genius. Though I don't expect to Walk Through a Brick Wall anytime soon (it won't fit in my Van). And frankly, I have a new found respect for the Milk Can after having done a ton of research on it. The Milk Can restarted a stalled career for Houdini and then when he was ready to replace it with the Water Torture Cell, he found continual uses for the Milk Can.

It's ironic that Houdini and Kellar didn't really become friends until after Kellar retired. Houdini always looked up to Kellar. Houdini had a habit of looking up to 'father-figures'. Kellar fits this description, as does Harry Cooke & Oscar Teale.

The Houdini/Kellar relationship carries a valuable lesson.  No matter how famous you are, there are people out there that you can admire. These two performers, certainly both admired each other.

By the way, maybe the best photo of the two magicians together can be found online. I will post the link, because I don't know who owns this today and would not post it without the owners ok. https://new.liveauctioneers.com/item/33516298_portrait-photograph-of-houdini-and-kellar

A Piece of Doug Henning Memorabilia

Thanks to my friend Michael Stroud, who is a fine magician and also a big fan of Doug Henning and Le Grand David, I now have one of the canes from Doug Henning's Cane Cabinet in my collection. The Cane Cabinet as presented by Doug Henning was called Backstage With A Cane Cabinet and it was the creation of Jim Steinmeyer.

The origins of the trick go back to U.F. Grant and can be found in a number of different magic books including Tarbell.  The U.F. Grant version used Steel Bars and an upright cabinet. Jim's creation was basically the same cabinet with some subtle alterations to the method and with canes rather than steel bars. It was introduced into Doug's show in 1984 according to the book, Spellbound, by John Harrison.

The routine borrowed liberally from Dante's Backstage With The Magician presentation, with a painted backdrop that looked like the audience. The illusion was performed facing that backdrop, so it appeared to the real audience they were getting a view of an illusion that wouldn't normally be seen.

In the course of the illusion, the magician, sneaks out of the cabinet (in full view of the real audience of course) and goes underneath a covered table-like structure. A large quantity of wooden canes are shoved into the now apparently empty box. Once all the canes are in, one of them mysteriously begins to move, the assistants quickly jump in and remove all the canes. At the conclusion of the illusion the magician is found  having vanished underneath the table and is yet again inside the Cane Cabinet. It's a wonderful effect, part penetration, part transposition. Doug later performed this on The Tonight Show w/Johnny Carson.

In October of 2014, Jim Steinmeyer's column in Genii Magazine called CONJURING, featured another take on the cane cabinet, this time called The Petite Illusion. That version doesn't have the 'backstage' feature but does offer another 'sucker' like ending.

To my knowledge the only other person to present The Backstage with a Cane Cabinet was Lance Burton. I remember seeing the illusion featured on one of Lance Burton's TV Special's and I think he also performed it on the Tonight Show, but this time Jay Leno was the host. I am pretty sure I saw him perform it at his fantastic show at the Monte Carlo Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. At the bottom of the page is a video of Lance's Cane Cabinet in action.

The photo above/left shows the cane once owned and used by Doug Henning. I am actually going to have it mounted on a board with a photo of the cane cabinet, but I have to locate a photo of Doug presenting the illusion first. The Cane Cabinet owned by Doug Henning was purchased at the Southern California auction of Doug's props by a magician from Hollister, CA, William Wizard. My friend Michael purchased the illusion from Mr. Wizard at a later date.  Michael held onto the illusion for a while but it's size became an issue for storage so he eventually sold it to an eccentric collector in California. However, Michael kept the canes and now one of those canes is in my collection.

If you enjoyed this, I'll have another Doug Henning article later this month!

Memorabilia from Kalanag

I first encountered this name 'Kalanag' when I saw his photo in Milbourne Christopher's book, The Illustrated History of Magic. I found him very interesting as I read his story. His real name was Helmut Schrieber and he was born in January 23rd, 1903 in Stuttgart Germany. During WW2 he was a movie producer and amateur magician. There is a lot of controversy surrounding Kalanag, from his connections to Nazi's and the Third Reich in Germany, to his blatant stealing of Dante's catchphrase,
Sim Sala Bim, which Kalanag claimed as his own.

I remember hearing Siegfried from Siegfried and Roy talk about Kalanag and how he was inspired to become a magician from seeing his show. He related the story of how Kalanag made an icecream cone magically appear. As I recall, there was a video of Kalanag doing that very trick which accompanied the dialog. That goes back to one of those old History Channel documentaries on Magic from the late 90s. 

Kalanag's life story deserves more time than I am going to devote to it right now. There is a new book out by William Rauscher about Kalanag called, Kalanag Magician of The Third Reich, which I need to pick and and read. And there was an old Genii article that I need to dig up that was about Kalanag. For now however, I want to share with you a small item I picked up at an auction recently.

The item is a small pin, which Kalanag personally gave to Cesareo Pelaez. I probably overpaid for the item, but I don't really care. It's interesting to me on two fronts and that is what matters. I don't know the whole story of how/where Cesareo met Kalanag, and it's not likely I'll ever find out. I did ask one of my Le Grand David friends, but he had not recollection of any Kalanag stories as told by Cesareo. I have an old email from Cesareo where he mentions Kalanag in passing, however nothing specific. But as Rick said, he spoke more of Okito, FuManchu and Richiardi than of anyone. Still, this is a great piece of magic history.

The Great KIO, Russia's Greatest Illusionists

Years ago when I visited the American Museum of Magic for the first time, Bob Lund told me about this fellow named KIO who was the most famous magician in Russia. I'm not sure why that stuck with me, but it always did. Ten years ago, when I had my own little museum inside The Underground Magic Theatre, one of KIO's posters was featured on the walls. I actually have two KIO posters, one of them is above which wonderfully captures their Cremation illusion. The other is in storage but I found an image of the same poster online which can be seen here. The truth be known, I don't really know much about KIO. But I'll share what I've been able to dig up.

There were three KIOs. The father was Emil KIO and the star illusionist of the Moscow Circus. He was born Emil Teodorovich Girshfeld-Renard April 11th, 1894 in Russia. He died December 19th, 1965 in Kiev Ukraine. Upon his death, his youngest son, Igor Kio took over the show.  The eldest son, Emil Jr. was also an illusionist, worked with the Union of Circus Artists of Russia. Emil Jr. is still alive but retired.

Igor Kio

Igor had quite the career after he took over for his father. He appeared in the U.S. at Madison Square Garden with the Moscow Circus back in 1967 and later toured the country. He performed on TV and had a number of his own Television specials in Russia. A rather unusual note to his career, was his marriage in 1962 to the daughter of Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev. Galina Brezhneva was 32 and Igor Kio was 18.  The marriage made Igor famous but the marriage only lasted 9 days. To make matters worse, Galina had been married to a circus acrobat at the time she met Igor and quickly divorced him to be with KIO. When word reached Leonid Brezhnev of his daughter's new marriage he sent to KGB after them. Apparently, the though the two were separated initially, they continued an on again off again affair for 3 years.


Like his father before him, Igor Kio was a circus illusionist which meant besides being part of the circus his shows were performed mostly surrounded. It has been said he performed "more shows per year than there were days." I saw estimates between 500 and 600 shows a year. He performed mainly with the circus, but also in theatres, sporting arenas and on television.  Igor KIO passed away August 30th, 2006 in Moscow. He has one of the coolest graves of any magician I've seen. Maybe only Houdini's grave is better. He is buried, along with his father and mother in Novodevichy Cemetery Moscow Federal City, Russia.

One of the featured illusions in the KIO show, presented by father and sons, was a spectacular Cremation illusion. An assistant would stand on a raised platform. A circular paper tube would cover her whole body and then it would be set on fire. The assistant would later appear elsewhere in the audience. Another popular illusion was the Lion's Bride, where an assistant, in this case, Igor's mother, would climb inside a large cage, which then was covered by a cloth, and a moment later, the cloth whisked away to reveal she had changed into a lion. There is a video of the father, Emil, performing the Lion's Bride, also some sort of Flyto Illusion, and several other effects, here.

Below is a video of of several of the KIO illusions, presented by both father and sons. There is also some footage of what I assume is the KIO warehouse where the illusions are stored.

Finally, I found this Russian documentary of KIO that is absolutely fascinating. I watched the entire thing and have no idea what was said (I don't speak Russian). But I did get to see a number of the illusions. There are interviews with Emil Jr and other family members and cast members. There is archival footage of Igor as well. The KIOs were clearly very famous and very loved by the public in their country and beyond.

The KIOS used many different posters to promote their performances. Back in April two KIO posters showed up in the Potter and Potter Auction. The description gives them as being for Igor Kio, but I'm certain they are his father's posters. There were a lot of KIO posters and it's hard to know whose was whose, except when they had an image of the particular person like the one on the below/right. There are some great posters for sure! I've been able to find at least 15 different posters online, and one which is similar to my poster at the top of the page except it is not framed in red.