), Hennings television shows won him an Emmy and seven Emmy nominations. A native of Fort Garry, Manitoba, he moved to the United States and became an international star. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? At the time of my visit, Steinmeyer served as president (though his tenure has since ended), and we arrive about an hour before opening. Kellars arms are elevated skyward, a woman floating above his hands. He returned often to visit family and to do the occasional performance. He was always pleasantly surprised by the reception, Nancy says. Steinmeyer and I eventually wile away almost an hour analyzing the early-1900s illusion with the thief and the safe. I know it's weird to say, but somehow magic is immune from technology, he says. But after some back and forth, he had agreed to let me inside his world under an ill-defined agreement to stick to the basic principles of building magic tricks. I decide this is where Im going to make my stand and try to extract a secret. His battles with the church arent over, How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! Davis' Death of a Salesman co-star Wendell Pierce hosted a screening and talkback for the new film. After my heart finally calmed down, time literally seemed to go into slow motion. Debby met Doug Henning at a charity benefit at the Transcendental Meditation Center at Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa. Magic is something that happens that appears to be impossible, he said in an interview with The Times. to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about He later put an advertisement in a local newspaper reading: ''Magician: Have Rabbit, Will Travel. The lock-picking bandit looks at the closed safe with a pair of field glasses and disappears. Shackled hand and foot and encased underwater in a steel canister, he broke free in under a minute, emerging wet and beaming. That led to his role in The Magic Show. Doves became rabbits in Mr. Henning's hands, and horses took wing. Morritt had come up with a new twist on a familiar routine: Magician presses his fingers to his temples, closes his eyes, and sees the un-seeable. Known for his curly locks and crooked smile, Mr. Henning was a familiar face on TV in the 1970s and early 1980s, and was the star of Broadway's The Magic Show (with a score by Stephen Schwartz), Merlin with Chita Rivera (and a score by Elmer Bernstein) and Doug Henning's World of Magic. | Well, if the town of Appleton, Wisconsin means anything to, Today I thought Id feature a four minute vintage clip of Doug and Debby on the classic 1980s program Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Whats cool about it is that it gives us a glimpse not only into Dougs home, but his famed workshop where many of his illusions were developed. While attending elementary school in suburban Chicago, he went home every day for lunch, flipped on the TV, and watched Bozos Circus, a variety show sometimes featuring touring magicians. Whats striking, besides the polished performances, is the feeling in the building. People Weekly. His answer, at first, is that he doesnt really like the question. The cause was liver cancer, according to The Associated Press. Doug Henning, the ebullient, shaggy-headed magician who sparked a renewed interest in the craft and breathed new life into some of history's most famous illusions, died on Monday in Los Angeles. Blocking belongson the stage,not on websites. Coincidentally, Id seen that exact trick at the Magic Castle the night before. WebDoug Henningwas first married to Barbara De Angelis. Henning, the man who performed Harry Houdinis legendary water torture escape on national television before a live audience and later became a spokesman for He never has, its possible he never will, and this doesnt bother him in the least. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing it? Gone were the black capes and magic wands; Mr. Henning wore jeans, flashy jumpsuits, and tie-dye T-shirts onstage. Self-Driving Cars Wont Save Us Anytime Soon, Memes Could Save Us From Superintelligent Machines, Why Train Derailments Are Happening All Around Us. Before long, he developed what was known as a medicine pitch act, in which he played an old-timey snake-oil salesman and incorporated tricks into demonstrating his various cures. The illusion has been around for more than a century, and Steinmeyer has mentioned its timelessness and layers of innovation. The space is shrine to the history and craft of stage magic. '', As a student at McMaster College in Hamilton, Ontario, Mr. Henning studied psychology but planned all along to pursue magic as a career. Only when I press does he finally relent. In each case, he stunned audiences with a seemingly impossible array of disappearing assistants and levitating ladies. Newspapers Limited, 8 Spadina Avenue, 10th Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 0S8. He was 52 years old when he died. Doug was a guest and entertainer and Debby was a volunteer worker. A lot of people lose that. Once settled, I make an opening gambit: I ask Steinmeyer about the state of magic today. He made a real-seeming flying carpet for the latest turn of Aladdin on Broadway. All Rights Reserved. When he watches performances, he tunes in not just to the magic but the way people respond to it. To prepare for his career, Henning studied psychology in college, to learn more about the human mind and perception. In a sense, Dougy forced me to overcome my natural shyness.". This story has been shared 125,059 times. "When I perform, I could love a million people, but I had trouble loving one person Debby's helped me overcome my fear of intimacy.". '', After his success with ''The Magic Show'' and on television, Mr. Henning returned to Broadway twice, in the 1983 musical ''Merlin,'' and in a 1984 solo show, ''Doug Henning and His World of Magic.''. (His senior thesis was on hypnosis. His story about the burglar and the safe is as much about what he doesnt say as what he does. I ask where his ideas come from. When I was working in Walt Disney World EPCOT ( good friend Bev Bergeron invited Wife and self to come to WDW)- in the 80'90's my Mgr. He was determined to learn enough from the veterans to put magic in a play. Looking like a hippie, he is credited with restimulating an interest in magic and illusion, introducing such tricks as Harry Houdini's famous "water torture escape" to a new generation. This story has been shared 381,315 times. Theres the script where you ostensibly say whats happening, which is often a lie. WebWith Tenor, maker of GIF Keyboard, add popular Doug Henning Magic animated GIFs to your conversations. And the stories involve multiple layers of deception. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Henning sees no one at any. Thats when I became interested in stage magic, Steinmeyer says. This is a man who changed an art form forever. The Los Angeles-based McNally, who launched the Doug Henning Project online archive in 2017, is currently wrapping up a feature-length documentary on Hennings life and art. So whats the trick? His net worth has been growing significantly in 2022-2023. The escape literally made him the worlds most famous magician (overnight). , money, salary, income, and assets. My eyes flick across Steinmeyers studio, his array of artifacts and scale models. ''He was a kind of Peter Pan,'' Mr. Willmarth told The Associated Press, ''who led magic away from the tuxedo approach.''. He sold off all his illusions props, sets and secrets at auction to devote his time to Transcendental Meditation. Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com, Conversations are opinions of our readers and are subject to the, The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star As happened with ''The Magic Show,'' the musical portion of the show received poor marks while Mr. Henning's ingenuity was hailed. Mr. Henning was 52. Its a mind-reading trick, but instead of the magician playing the part of the clairvoyant, its the third-party burglar. To order rights reserved. .css-v1xtj3{display:block;font-family:FreightSansW01,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-weight:100;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-v1xtj3:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-v1xtj3{font-size:1.1387rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-v1xtj3{line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-v1xtj3{font-size:1.18581rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.5rem;margin-top:0rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-v1xtj3{font-size:1.23488rem;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0.9375rem;}}Top 3 AI Image Generators. You can find books that lay out the mechanics of most illusions in sonorous detail, down to diagrams with measurements. During the early days, he practised at home for hours, says his sister, Nancy Henning. By Wonder, Henning always said, is necessary in life, and magic can reawaken the wonder that occurs naturally in children but is lost to cynicism as people grow up. The New York Times, in fact, labeled Steinmeyer theaters celebrated invisible man.. CREDITS. This page was last modified on 15 February 2021, at 11:24. The mellow magic man famed for his trademark shaggy hair and tie-dyed shirts had suffered from liver cancer for five months. No, he died on 02/07/2000, 23 years ago. When he offered to help launch the solo career of Alex Ramona former magician for the Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey Circushe asked Ramon to write down his favorite tricks, architectural styles, pieces of art, color schemes, and so on to garner a sense of his aesthetic and his way of thinking. WebThe ever-magical Doug Henning My wife refused to let me bring this poster home. Today, running his own business requires an astonishingly disparate set of skills. "I had never felt anything like it in my life. "", "My friends told me there was practically a flash of light," Doug told People magazine in the December 20, 1982 edition. This story has been shared 141,467 times. permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com. Debby was born Deborah Ann Douillard to Roger and Ann Douillard, who ran a contracting firm in a New York suburb. | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Contact Us. So as one of historys greatest conjurers of magic continues to explain and not explain the safe trick, I find myself wondering: If anyone can dig up the secrets behind many of Steinmeyers tricks, why is he so intent on hiding them? "I will not have that in our house," she said. Doug Henning was born on May 3, 1947 in Fort Garry, Manitoba, Canada. Magician Doug Henning, who popularized magic and illusion on Broadway in such shows as The Magic Show, which earned him a Tony Award nomination, died of liver cancer in Los Angeles Feb. 7. He earned a Best Featured Actor (Musical) nomination for his work in the conceptual tuner, The Magic Show, in the 1974-75 season. His first wife, Barbara DeAngelis, was a TM instructor, and when Doug married his second wife, But what Steinmeyer intends to unpack for me is uncertain. Magic was Dougs passion and his life., Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. The box incorporates design elements that make it appear narrower to the audience than it actually is. He is engaged, insightful, and animated, and he speaks about his life and biography with depth, but he deflects other questions that remind me of the conversational rope-a-dope magicians use, suggesting one thingSee these rings? It was a box-office success during its two-week run at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in 1973. Because Zig Zag was so fresh in the 70s, things that felt like that were attractive.. He died on 7 February 2000 in Los Angeles, California, USA. Steinmeyer allows that historically, the trick is that the woman pulls her knees up to her chest when the sawing happens. If I produce a 450-pound Bengal tiger, its going to create a lot more wonder than if I produce a rabbit.. Education Ramon had never performed original tricks before, but in Steinmeyers studio he understood for the first time how they were birthed. He is from Canada. WebAfter Falling Under the Spell of Wife Debby, Doug Henning Hopes to Charm Broadway Again (Part.2) My friends said there was practically a flash of light, says Henning, 35. It was supposed to last six months; Steinmeyer kept the gig seven years before moving on to Disney Imagineering. He walked through a brick wall, made an elephant disappear and switched places with a person who was locked inside a trunk. Magic renews that wonder.. Given the nature of his business, he said, he had to be proprietary about sharing the way magic is accomplished. Most illusion creators stay in a lane: big-stage illusions, escapes, mind reading, theater productions, or close-up magic. Steinmeyers older brother, Harry, nine years his senior, had a drawerful of abandoned magic props, and when Jim was about six, he says, I found that drawer.. Our website is made possible bydisplaying online advertisements to our visitors. With Ivan Reitman, a university classmate, Henning conjured Spellbound, a musical magic show, written by David Cronenberg and with music by Howard Shore. With his magic shows, he rejected the traditional tuxedo and top hat costume and prefered bright multi coloured casual clothing and tights. Logan Culwell-Block Its cool enough, but somehow learning the answer isnt as exciting as Id expected. I remember something Id read in one of Steinmeyers books: Magicians dont protect their secrets from the audience, they protect the audience from their secrets. who owns american essence magazine, bloomberg internship 2021, frank fay cause of death,