Royal Vale Heath was an American Magician and puzzle enthusiast. Every effect he performed or taught utilized mathematical properties. Tricks with serial numbers, Magic Squares and dice were his specialty.
He contributed a full chapter to Hilliards' Greater Magic book (out of print) in 1938 on various number oddities. His own book Mathemagic: Magic, Puzzles and Games with Numbers is considered a classic.
Here he is shown performing his own favorite rendition of the Magic Square in which all numbers add to the same number even when turned upside down!
The Magician was an American television series that ran during the 1973–74 season. It starred Bill Bixby as stage illusionist Anthony "Tony" Blake, a playboy philanthropist who used his skills to solve difficult crimes as needed. In the series pilot, the character was instead named Anthony Dorian. The name change was due to a conflict with the name of a real life stage magician.
Bill Bixby, born Wilfred Bailey Bixby, (January 22, 1934 – November 21, 1993) was an American film and television actor, director and frequent game show panelist. His career spanned over three decades, appearing on stage, in motion pictures and starring in five TV series, such as My Favorite Martian and The Incredible Hulk.
In The Magician Bixby's character Blake was a professional stage magician who used his skills to solve crimes and help the helpless. Years earlier, Blake had been unjustly confined in a prison in an unnamed country in South America. He discovered a way to escape with his cellmate, which began his interest in escapology. The cellmate died and left him a fortune. The escape led to a career in stage magic which made him famous. He never forgot his imprisonment, and it motivated him to seek justice for others.
The show is noteworthy in that Bixby insisted on doing all of the magic himself, without any trick photography, although this was not the case in the TV-movie/pilot. He was instructed in these performances by the program's technical adviser, Mark Wilson. Once the format changed to have the hero based in a magic club, Wilson could occasionally be seen on the stage there, as well. In addition to escapes, Bixby performed feats of sleight of hand, mentalism, and stage illusions.
Photo above from the Doug Edwards Collection.
Bill Bixby as Anthony Dorian in the pilot for "The Magician" 1973 TV series. Guest starring Elizabeth Ashley, Signe Hasso and Barry Sullivan: Scene features wine production in a stemmed glass.
The magician in the photo is Carter The Great (Charles Joseph Carter 1874-1936). He has just produced his wife Corinne from behind the jumbo cards. Carter is especially known for his elaborate version of Cutting a Lady in Half and Cheating The Gallows. He has traveled on eight world tours.
America in the 1920s was a nation obsessed with magic. Not just the kind performed in theaters and on stages across the country, but the magic of technology, science, and prosperity. Enter Charles Carter -- a.k.a. Carter the Great -- a young master performer whose skill as an illusionist exceeds even that of the great Houdini. Fueled by a passion for magic born of desperation and loneliness, Carter has become a legend in his own time.
Carter the Great's thrilling act involves outrageous stunts carried out on elaborate sets before the most demanding audiences. Night after night, in towns across the nation, he performs these masterful feats, bringing his unique brand of magic to those starved for wonder. But nothing in his career has prepared carter for his most outrageous stunt of all, which stars none other than President Warren G. Harding and which could end up costing Carter the reputation he has worked so hard to create.
Filled with historical references that evoke the excesses and exuberance of Roaring Twenties, pre-Depression America, Carter Beats the Devil is a complex and illuminating story of one man's journey through a magical -- and sometimes dangerous -- world, where illusion is everything.
Here are some discussion questions for you and or a book club when you have finished: 1. In this case, the title of the book came from a real magic poster from the 1920s. There was never a question in the author's mind that the title was exactly what the book needed. How is the title significant to you?
2. We sometimes assume that our favorite characters would be the ones we would most like to meet. Is that true in this case?
3. The author was eager to hide any themes, symbolism, imagery, etc, within a roller coaster kind of plotline, hoping that with enough fun, the reader would hardly notice them. Brushing this misdirection aside, what sort of motifs stood out for you?
4. In a magic trick, the moment of transformation is when we know something miraculous has happened. Which -- if any -- of the central characters experienced similar transformations? Select a passage in the novel that you believe is pivotal to a character's development.
5. The novel is set mostly in San Francisco (of which much has been written) and Oakland, its somewhat impoverished cousin, a place relatively unknown. Are these settings at all evocative for the plot herein? Are you drawn to novels set in a particular time or place? Elaborate.
6. The 1890s-1920s were the so-called "Golden Age" of magic, and this novel makes the case for that era being a special time to be alive. What makes that period so appealing? In what ways does it seem knowing or naïve? Is our world right now experiencing a Golden Age in some other kind of way?
7. If you could change anything in the novel, what would it be and why?
8. Why did you choose this book? Would you recommend it to others?
9. Has this book altered your perspective on life? How? 10. When you finished reading the last page, what were you feeling?
Dressed in a magic man's outfit, Orson Welles feigns surprise when a soldier the audience steps onto the stage and finds his missing ring high upon the garter of Orson's beautiful assistant. It's all part of the actor's magic show where he reveals his feats of legerdemain and prestidigitation. His second wife, Rita Hayworth, is seen here assisting him at a USO event in the 1940's. Photo courtesy of the Doug Edwards Collection
Neil Hamilton: Paramount Pictures by Gene Robert Richee Courtesy of the Doug Edwards Collection
"The Trickiest Man in Hollywood is Neil Hamilton, Paramount player, and he is frankly proud of his title. Considered one of the best amateur magicians in the west, Hamilton amuses himself as well as his guests with a long list of intricate and mystifying tricks. His repertoire includes a record-breaking cleaning and dying act takes 'em out of their seats. Into his magic black velvet bag, Neil place a white handkerchief. In a spit second he brings forth the same object which has turned forth the same object which has turned a flaming red in the interim."
Neil Hamilton (1899-1984) was a popular silent screen star, later working as a character actor in television. He is best known to later audiences as Commissioner Gordon in the Batman television series.
"His Holiness Pope John Paul II Greets Stars: World famous illusionists Siegfried and Roy greeted by His Holiness John Paul II in St. Peter's Square prior to a private tour of the Vatican in Rome."
In 1986 Siegfried and Roy's manager arranged a trip to the Vatican for an audience with Pope John Paul II. It was also a present to Siegfried's sister Margot, a Sister of the Franciscan Order. Roy asked the Pope to bless his amethyst-cross. In late 2003 the cross appears when Siegfried brings it to Roy in the hospital after his accident. Roy grasps the cross in his hand and believes that it will assist in his recovery.
45 West 34th Street, Suite 608, New York, NY 10001, United States
Located in the heart of Midtown, in the Herald Square district of New York City, Tannen's Magic has been catering to the needs of professional and amateur magician's since 1925.
Royal Vale Heath was an American Magician and puzzle enthusiast. Every effect he performed or taught utilized mathematical properties. Tricks with serial numbers, Magic Squares and dice were his specialty.
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