Henning said his goal was to help audiences recapture a childlike sense of wonder. Canadas investment in the arts paid off. 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. Theres the script where you ostensibly say whats happening, which is often a lie. Steinmeyer and I eventually wile away almost an hour analyzing the early-1900s illusion with the thief and the safe. His answer, at first, is that he doesnt really like the question. With his long, wavy locks, walrus moustache, colourful outfits, and perky new-age demeanour, he cut quite a contrast from the vaguely sinister tuxedo-clad, top-hatted magicians that previously ruled the field. ''When I was in college, being a magician was not the classiest thing to be,'' he said. Debby also married Mexican artist Jose Carcamo, whom she divorced in 1980. DOUG Henning the hippie magician who wowed the world with his amazing illusions on TV and on Broadway has died at the age of 52. He was determined to learn enough from the veterans to put magic in a play. Beverly Hills [213]. His job is to think of something completely impossible, then figure out a way to apparently accomplish itand that process can be messy. Which Celebrities Still Have Twitter Checkmarks? He walked through a brick wall, made an elephant disappear and switched places with a person who was locked inside a trunk. "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.". Steinmeyer doesnt know how the safe illusion works. If it didnt, it wouldnt be a trick, it would be reality.. Dougy almost fell off his chair. 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. Twenty-two years after his death he would have turned 75 this May Henning is still regarded as one of the greats by his peers, having blazed a trail for the likes of Siegfried & Roy, David Copperfield and Penn & Teller. Thats why we press for answers. My last day hanging around with him, I ask Steinmeyer straight up: How does the sawing-in-half trick work? The feet are fake, he explains. Steinmeyer uses the mind-reading trick as a launchpad into a disquisition on how magic tricks evolve, which is fascinating, but it temporarily walls me off from a question Im eager to ask about the trick, or, really, any trick: How does it work? Steinmeyer allows that historically, the trick is that the woman pulls her knees up to her chest when the sawing happens. Henning returned to Broadway in 1983 for the Tony-nominated musical Merlin, and the following year Doug Henning and His World of Magic toured across North America. He is survived by his wife, Debbie. Steinmeyer went and saw a performance by George Goebel, a veteran magician with a grand-scale stage act. Steinmeyer has invented card tricks and box tricks and levitation tricks and ESP tricks and every other imaginable kind of theatrical deception, then some you couldnt imagine, and all this for the biggest names in entertainment, including Orson Welles, Siegfried & Roy, Doug Henning, and Ricky Jay. A favorite of theatre fans and industry members alike, the restaurant is sounding the call for positive reviews on Google. This was after a show they did at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, Texas, outside the stage door. "Those magic tricks you buy in stores are junk. Theyve just saw the world together again and seem comfortable in their relationship. It earned monster ratings, and NBC made the Emmy-winning special an annual event. Actor: The Magic Show. 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. Hed been polite, but wary. In 1973, he borrowed $5,000 from his mother and, with a friend, launched a rock musical-cum-magic show called Spellbound in Toronto. Born May 3, 1947 Henning had revived magic in a big way. My eyes flick across Steinmeyers studio, his array of artifacts and scale models. The reason I can give wonder, Henning told The Times in 1980, is that I feel wonder about the world: the stars, a tree, my body--everything.. So whats the trick? True to form, Steinmeyer first gives a non-answer. knew I did Magic as an Ad-Vocation and had me go over to the United Kingdom Unit to asst Doug the day he was there - Don't exactly remember what he did -though did remember Doug was like a Big Kid. Into a notebook it went, and years later he excavated it for the play. He is survived by his wife and former assistant, Debby. Magic is not about knowing how weve been deceived. With Ivan Reitman, a university classmate, Henning conjured Spellbound, a musical magic show, written by David Cronenberg and with music by Howard Shore. 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. Was nominated for Broadway's 1975 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical) for "The Magic Show.". (His senior thesis was on hypnosis. Will Self-Driving Cars Out-Smart Human Drivers? Then simultaneous with that, theres the script of what youre actually doing, so theres a divergent thing where youre saying one thing and youre doing something else. https://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.php?title=Debby_Henning&oldid=85761. Only when Steinmeyer finishes speaking do I realize weve barely moved from my starting point. is 5'5"(1.67m) . He died in Los Angeles on Feb. 7, 2000, from liver cancer. The space is shrine to the history and craft of stage magic. This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. Coincidentally, Id seen that exact trick at the Magic Castle the night before. He honed his skills touring North America with veteran magicians, and with a bit of luck, he opened a magic-music show in a Toronto theater. Thats what this has become, he says, lifting Albert into his lap. Though one critic hailed him, After 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. Gone were the black capes and magic wands; Mr. Henning wore jeans, flashy jumpsuits, and tie-dye T-shirts onstage. He wears a khaki vest over a tie and pinstriped Oxford, a look that combined with his affable demeanor conjures him as a boy haunting Chicago-area magic shops in the 1950s, hobnobbing with performers, probing for tips. A full body orgasm at the L.A. Phil? In the mid-1980's, Mr. Henning retired from the stage and became increasingly interested in transcendental meditation. When you gasp or scream in response to a card trick, its a hotwire to that emotion, to that sense of being incredibly pleased and feeling a sense, not only of surprise, but of wonder.. 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. With his magic shows, he rejected the traditional tuxedo and top hat costume and prefered bright multi coloured casual clothing and tights. I whispered, "I know you. According to new reports, Mr. Henning was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1999. Secrecy is the coin of the realm here, and Steinmeyer is an open secret himself: Most people who see magic shows assume the performers invent their own tricks, but its illusion designers like Steinmeyer who conjure most of the magic offstage. We've received your submission. rights reserved. People call out to performers, laugh, slap shoulders, and scream with surprise and wonder. All Rights Reserved. He also created special effects for tours by his friend, Michael Jackson. | Here is all you want to know, and more! Everyone idolized him, and the age of modern television and stage magic began then. WebMini Bio (1) Doug Henning was born on May 3, 1947 in Fort Garry, Manitoba, Canada. He starred on Broadway, toured with a large stage show, and popularized magic in his own television specials. The cause was liver cancer, according to The Associated Press. How a Legendary Magician Builds the World's Greatest Illusions. He married Debby Douillard in 1981. But what Steinmeyer intends to unpack for me is uncertain. In the studio with us are two of the trick tables. Superstar magician Doug Henning led a wild life | The Star Major General Dany Fortin, military officer acquitted of sexual assault, sues government, PM for $6M The god-tier highlight of his career is arguably designing David Copperfields televised vanishing of the Statue of Liberty, but over more than three decades, Steinmeyer has engineered an entire pantheon of physics-defying, brain-exploding, how-is-that-even-possible feats. Inspired by Federico Garca Lorcas The House of Bernarda Alba, the play takes on gentrification and social strife in New York. The family moved to Oakville when Henning was in his early teens, and in 1969, he lived in a third-floor apartment at 94 Winchester St. in Cabbagetown, where a plaque now commemorates his life as a magician, teacher and politician. Henning performed occasionally in the mid-1980s to raise funds for the maharishi, but also sold many of his illusions to magician David Copperfield. ), Hennings television shows won him an Emmy and seven Emmy nominations. WebDoug Henning was born on 3 May 1947 in Fort Garry, Manitoba, Canada. It was that performance with that guy. Id be remiss in not mentioning that yesterday, March 24th, was Harry Houdinis 147th birthday. 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. The Canadian version even promised a building that would levitate. Help us get to over 4,000 biographies in 2018. In the 1993 federal election, Henning ran, unsuccessfully, in the riding of Rosedale in 1993 as a member of the TM offshoot Natural Law Party of Canada. I know it's weird to say, but somehow magic is immune from technology, he says. These positions had their rewards, he says, but he struggled with the compromises that come with corporate productions. Two other Steinmeyer illusions soon made a Henning TV special, and Henning eventually offered him a job helping launch Merlin on Broadway. Discover today's celebrity birthdays and explore famous people who share your birthday. They havent been touched by cynicism. He also tried to help the maharishi develop a series of theme parks to be known as Vedaland with pavilions devoted to enlightenment and transcendental meditation--first in India, then in Orlando, Fla., then in Niagara Falls, Canada. Its a great commercial in the sense that its most likely one of a few he used as he moved from town to town. Biography - A Short Wiki. The project's status is uncertain. Newspapers Limited, 8 Spadina Avenue, 10th Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 0S8. Henning, the man who performed Harry Houdinis legendary water torture escape on national television before a live audience and later became a spokesman for the spiritual leader Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, died of liver cancer Monday in Los Angeles. In further support of the maharishi, Henning also ran (unsuccessfully) for political office in England and Canada as a member of the maharishis Natural Law Party. TV magician and escape artist who brought Merlin to Broadway and became known for his groovy mustache and rainbow-colored clothes. Will Virtual Reality Ever Live Up to the Hype? Its also, The date was October 9th, 1985. "I proposed to her four days later, Doug said, I made a diamond appear in a rose petal and it rolled out into her hand." Henning received a PhD in the Science of Creative Intelligence from the Maharishi University in the late 1980s, and along with TM founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, planned to build a $1.5 billion-dollar theme park near Niagara Falls. His shows led to a general resurgence of interest in magic, said Phil Willmarth, editor of The Linking Ring, a magic magazine. The guy very snobily said Mr. I ask where his ideas come from. "I will not have that in our house," she said. Aside from its ambition and quality, what stands out is the breadth of Steinmeyers work. You want that thing where people go, Ohhh, theyre about to divide a person into three pieces, Steinmeyer says. Debby received her B.F.A. | There are no dead ends.. He is credited with reviving the magic show as a form of mass It was supposed to last six months; Steinmeyer kept the gig seven years before moving on to Disney Imagineering. Doug Debby met Doug Henning at a charity benefit at the Transcendental She was born and raised in Huntington Woods, Michigan, and is the daughter of Lorelei (Frygier), a nurse, and Henning left the magic business in 1986. He felt he had achieved his goals in performing and he wanted to move along to other challenges, says Nancy. For one it was written as Merlin was just about to open on Broadway, and the other being that it delves into Dougs new Resting along an opposite wall is a pair of tables used in the iconic sawing-the-assistant-in-half illusion, as well as a locked chest for mind-reading tricks, a cylindrical phantom tube used for optical illusions, and a foam-core model of the magic table he created for Disneys latest stage rendition of Mary Poppins. Henning was approached by Broadway producers Edgar Lansbury and Joseph Beruh about bringing a version of the show to New York. In ''Merlin,'' for example, Mr. Henning created the image of a flying horseman disappearing into thin air and his co-star Chita Rivera being turned to stone. He later married Debby Douillard in 1981. He was the face of magic, McNally says. Logan Culwell-Block Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Some days Steinmeyer is a mechanical engineer, building scale models with foam core, mirrors, and toothpicks; others, hes a historian and detective, reconstructing old tricks; still others, hes a graphic designer drawing up informal blueprints, or a playwright developing scripts to go with his illusions. He admires a trick well done. (Houdini traded places with a prisoner in a trunk in 20 seconds; Henning did it in one-third of a second. Stay tuned to Playbill as Broadway gets ready to reveal its top honors. He was a writer and actor, known for The Magic Show (1983), At the height of his popularity in 1987, Henning dropped out. The interview is notable for two reasons. To take the stage, Kyle passes through a giant fan with spinning bladesthe very trick Id spotted in one of Steinmeyers notebooks. Magician Doug Henning a favorite of TV, Broadway and arena audiences died Monday in Los Angeles after battling liver cancer for the past five months. Please consider supporting us bywhitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.Thank you! From Magicpedia, the free online encyclopedia for magicians by magicians. I cannot imagine why.Sideshow Gathering 2010 In fact, theres just enough room for the woman to drop her knees to one side and avoid the blades. Its from the master thief. You know, in terms of explaining how things work, he told me, I cant get into too much of that.. And the stories involve multiple layers of deception. In the Close-Up Gallery, Tom Craven peppers his card, rope, and metal-ring tricks with a stream of old-world patter. Doves became rabbits in Mr. Henning's hands, and horses took wing. He never has, its possible he never will, and this doesnt bother him in the least. It usually involves revision upon revision, sometimes over several years. After 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. Doug Henning . Henning eventually bought a piece called Modern Art, an illusion in which the magician stands inside a frame and, when the frame is moves, is subsequently split in halftheir legs stay in place while their torso and head slide with the frame. He died on 7 February 2000 in Los Angeles, California, USA. | The result was The Magic Show, which lured mesmerized audiences to Broadway for 4 1/2 years and earned the young illusionist the first in a string of annual NBC television specials. In a world of deepfakes and identity theft and warfare by invisible computer viruses, real-life deception has consequences. He erased an elephant from the center ring for Ringling Bros. Every trick has a flaw, he says. Soldering 101: How To Bond Wires, Cables, and More, How the Microwave Was Invented by Accident, How Noise-Cancelling Earbuds Actually Work. CREDITS. Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. See the article in its original context from. He knew that if he wanted to do what he loveddesign illusions from a molecule of an idea in his notebook and let it grow into something naturallyhe needed to be on his own. Its become like, lets talk about magic as a puzzle. Doug Henning hippie magician television tv Published by travsd Writer and performer Trav S.D. May 2, 2023, By May 1, 2023. .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. Today, running his own business requires an astonishingly disparate set of skills. Lets deconstruct it.. He was 52 years old when he died. When the safe is opened, the list matches up, item for item. To order copies of Hes not going to let me flip over his mirrors or rifle through his drawers, and when I give him a straight-line question, he responds with misdirectionlabyrinthine tangents and looping alternate pathways. It was a trick Houdini needed 20 seconds to perform; Mr. Henning did it in less than 10. Then we cross their yard to his studio followed by Albert, their doddering but ebullient 13-year-old dachshund. Rather than perform for a small circle of spectators, the tuxedoed Goebel stretched his act across the entire stage, employing costumed assistants in larger illusions like levitation and sawing someone in half. Rene Clement wrote: I remeber years ago they did a dueling magicians parody supposedly Henning vs. Copperfield. When Steinmeyer was 13, his father died, leading to what he describes as a hell of a year. As the family wrestled with grief, his mother encouraged him to attend a magic convention in Michigan with his friends, to plug into something that might distract or excite him. Part of the challenge is that a trick has to tell a story, because magic above all is about storytelling. Its hard for people to comprehend this today, but he was like a rock star.. Moments later, a telegram arrives for Morritt. 03 of 10. Neil McNally and The Doug Henning Project 2017-2022 Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this sites author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Once settled, I make an opening gambit: I ask Steinmeyer about the state of magic today. Doug Henning, a Superstar Of Illusion, Is Dead at 52, https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/09/arts/doug-henning-a-superstar-of-illusion-is-dead-at-52.html. Huh. To prepare for his career, Henning studied psychology in college, to learn more about the human mind and perception. He never lost interest in the magic world, says Nancy. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Henning became intrigued by magic as a child when he saw a magician levitate a woman on televisions Ed Sullivan Show. His mother bought him a magic kit. That led to his role in The Magic Show. expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto But with Wakelings box, you can still see her feet sticking out the bottom, and beyond that, the box looks too narrow for a knee lift. Education At the time of my visit, Steinmeyer served as president (though his tenure has since ended), and we arrive about an hour before opening. Encouraged students of magic to make their own props and equipment, and not rely on ready-made magic kits. Rebecca Taylor Henning / AP. May 1, 2023, By He was a writer and actor, known for. In the more traditional world of magic, he brought a painted portrait to life and back again (The Artists Dream, performed by husband-and-wife team the Pendragons, among others) and designed a whole series of illusions in which the performer walks through a mirror, a wall, and a number of other impenetrable objects. May 2, 2023, By Dubbed Veda Land, it would be the first theme park concerned with spiritual enlightenment and would include a levitating building and a journey into the heart of a rose. May-be. Doug and Debbie Houdini Plaza 1986 Performance, Close Encounters of the Doug Kind: Part Three, Nathan Lane Discussing "Merlin" on Playbill.com, Remodeled James Earl Jones (Cort) Theatre Interior, Follow THE DOUG HENNING PROJECT on WordPress.com. Debby Henning was the wife, assistant, business partner and muse to illusionist Doug Henning. Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band.
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