page_title: Harry Blackstone Sr.
section_title: Performance style and career
hierarchical_section_title: Harry Blackstone Sr. / Performance style and career
caption_attribution_description: English: Newspaper ad for the Great Blackstone in Seattle. Lightened by the uploader so the image of Blackstone was clearer.
context_page_description: Harry Bouton Blackstone was a famed stage magician and illusionist of the 20th century. Blackstone was born Harry Bouton in Chicago, Illinois, he began his career as a magician in his teens and was popular through World War II as a USO entertainer. He was often billed as The Great Blackstone. His son Harry Blackstone Jr. also became a famous magician. Blackstone Sr. was aided by his younger brother, Pete Bouton, who was the stage manager in all his shows. Blackstone Sr. was married three times. Blackstone Jr. was his son by his second wife.
context_section_description: Blackstone was in the model of courtly, elegant predecessor magicians like Howard Thurston and Harry Kellar, and the last of that breed in America. He customarily wore white tie and tails when performing, and he traveled with large illusions and a sizable cast of uniformed male and female assistants. For a number of years he toured in the Midwest, often performing throughout the day between film showings.
  Blackstone remained silent during much of his big stage show, which was presented to the accompaniment of a pit orchestra and such lively tunes of the time as "Who", "I Know That You Know", and "Chinatown".
  Among his especially effective illusions was one in which a woman lay on a couch uncovered unlike the versions others performed in the day. It was called the Kellar Levitation which Blackstone called "The Dream of Princess Karnac". In another illusion, a woman stepped into a cabinet in front of many bright, clear, tubular incandescent light bulbs.  When the magician suddenly pushed the perforated front of the cabinet backward the light bulbs protruded through the holes in the front of the box (to the accompaniment of the lady's blood-curdling scream).  The cabinet was then revolved so that the audience seemed to see the lady impaled by the blinding filaments.
  His "Sawing a woman in half" involved an electric circular saw some three to four feet in diameter mounted in an open frame.  Blackstone's version differed from others in that the lady lay on a table that was pulled by a motor through the saw blade.  Blackstone demonstrated the efficacy of the device by sawing noisily through a piece of lumber.  Then a female assistant was placed on the saw table in full view, as wide metal restraints were clamped upon her midsection.  The blade whirred and appeared to pass through her body, as ripping sounds were heard, the woman shrieked, and particles were scattered by the whirring blade.  When the blade stopped she, of course, rose unharmed.
  In a gentler turn was his "Vanishing bird cage", an effect in which a score or more of children were invited to join him on the stage and all "put their hands on" a tiny cage holding a canary.  Blackstone lowered the cage and then seemed to toss it into the air: bird and cage "disappearing" in the process to the astonishment and delight of the surprised children.
  Among his lovelier effects was "The Enchanted Garden", in which countless bouquets of brilliant feather flowers appeared from under a foulard and on tables and stands until the stage was a riot of color.  "The Floating Light Bulb", was perhaps his signature piece.  In a darkened theatre, Blackstone would take a lighted bulb from a lamp and float it, still glowing, through a small hoop.  He would then come down from the stage and the lamp would float out over the heads of the audience. Dutch illusionist Hans Klok became the custodian of Blackstone Sr.'s famous "floating light bulb" illusion after the death of Blackstone Jr.
  When not on tour, Blackstone lived on an island he called Blackstone Island. It was near Colon, Michigan, where he had a brief stint as co-owner of the Blackstone Magic Company. His partner in the business – which lasted only 18 months – was an Australian magician named Percy Abbott. After Blackstone and Abbott dissolved the company, Abbott, five years later, restarted his own magic manufacturing business in Colon. Called Abbott's Magic Novelty Company, the enterprise shipped simple, inexpensive tricks (with mimeographed instructions) to young boys and professional magicians the world over,  while also building large illusions.
caption: Image of the Great Blackstone in an ad for a performance in Seattle, 1922.
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