Charlie Miller - Charlie Miller - Charlie Miller

 

Episode 79 of the Magic Detective Podcast is on Charlie Miller. He was known as a great sleight of hand master. But he was equally skilled with apparatus. I thought you might like to see Charlie in action. The first video is rather grainy and hard to see. Probably taken in the 50s or so. But you can see Charlie's skill with cards.        

Next week have Charlie, I think these were from the 1970s on The Magic Palace. He's past his prime here, but still can handle the props. The presentations are a bit dated, but that's to be expected. I really love his Chinese Sticks routine. There are two moves in there that I've not see done before, and they really help to sell this routine. The first one is early on when he shows that the cords are actually connected near the top, but then a moment later, they are not. The second sequence is harder to describe, but its when he is pulling the tassels straight up through the stick, rather than pulling them down. It's an interesting sequence. To see that footage you have to use the youtube link, it won't allow me to embed the video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLElkBMl4To

I hope you enjoy Charlie Miller's magic and check out my podcast too!

Ted Banks From the Music Halls of England To Behind the Scenes with Blackstone

 

Ted Banks is on the far right.

Ted Banks was from England. His real name was Edward William Coppin. He was a member of Fred Karno’s Army of British Music Hall Comedians. Karno was a British Theater impresario and really he was a comedian creator. In 1911, Fred Karno sent some of his players over to the United States to appear in a play called A Night In An English Music Hall. Among the ‘players’ sent over to be in this production, Charles Chaplin, Stan Laurel and Ted Banks. Charles soon struck out on his own to become famous in the flickers, or early silent movie motion pictures. 

It is here, that I must clear up some mis-information. Several magical periodicals, and also newspapers have that Ted then started The Keystone Trio with Stan Laurel and another woman. That is not the case. The Keystone Trio was started by Edgar Hurley and his wife Ethel.

Edgar and his wife were also former Karno performers. Stan Laurel joined with them for a time until the group split up. Stan Laurel went off to team up with Oliver Hardy to become the famous comedy duo, Laurel and Hardy.

What happened to Ted Banks/William Coppin?. He did not go off into the movies like Chaplin and Laurel did. One reference said he went to work backstage for Thurston for a time and then eventually landed in the Blackstone show. I know he started with Blackstone in 1923. In 1927, he married a member of the cast, Della Cowell. She became known by the stage name Sally Banks, so they were Ted and Sally Banks.

There is a surprising article in Billboard Magazine April 17th, 1937. It mentions that Banks has worked for Blackstone for 14 years, but while in Wheeling WV, he left the show. He returned to Colon Mich and was set to take up work on the west coast.

Blackstone & Banks

On Sept 11, 1937, Billboard says that Ted has joined the Percy Abbott staff in Colon. In 1937, 38, 39 and more, Ted was involved as stage manager for the Abbotts Get Together and the IBM National Convention in 1939. On Nov 22, 1941, Ted Banks returns to the Blackstone Show. Why did he leave in the first place. I believe he got diagnosed with a heart condition and life on the road became difficult. When he returned to the Blackstone show, he was given lighter duties because of his heart ailment. 

On Sept 2, 1942, the Blackstone crew was in Decatur ILL to perform at the Lincoln Theater. While preparing for the show, actually during the showing of the matinee movie before the live stage show, a fire was discovered next door in the Drug Store. To learn more about the fire and the conditions you can listen to my podcast Ep 78. 

The sad part of the story, Ted Banks died of a heart attack that evening after the stressful day of dealing with the fire and moving the show hurriedly out of the theater. He was only 50 years old.

Banks and Blackstone looking at the fire.

New Magic Detective Podcast Episode on Magicians of the Holocaust

 

I first wrote an article on magicians of the Holocaust back in 2011. I decided to update the article and put it up on my podcast. This time I've added to the list a female magician named Miss Blanche. There are a few more details on each of the various artists that were not in the original article.

To hear the podcast, you can simply click the link below!