presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution Shackled hand and foot and encased underwater in a steel canister, he broke free in under a minute, emerging wet and beaming. Hennings own sense of wonder fueled his professional success and personal appeal. Doug was a guest and entertainer and Debby was a volunteer worker. WebDoug Henningwas first married to Barbara De Angelis. He was a writer and actor, known for The Magic Show (1983), World of Magic (1977) and Doug Henning's World of Magic (1976). If it didnt, it wouldnt be a trick, it would be reality.. Steeped in the pop philosophies of the 1960's, Mr. Henning meditated daily and did yoga between shows. 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. We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 3 May. In honor of that special day, I thought it would be appropriate to post the above photo of Doug and Debbie in May, 1986. | During the evening on my second day in Hollywood, Steinmeyer drives me to the Magic Castle. He was ", Debby agreed, "It was like I blossomed right on the spot. WebKristen Anne Bell (born 1980) is an American actress and singer. In 1975, Mr. Henning broke through to an even larger audience when he performed Houdini's ''Water Torture Escape'' on a live television special. He is credited with reviving the magic show as a form of mass entertainment in the 1970s and popularizing it on television. 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. Debby received her B.F.A. The escape literally made him the worlds most famous magician (overnight). Well, thosehe points to a stack of notebooksare all that. Every trick has a flaw, he says. Counting both sides of a page, thats 4,800 pages dating back to 1980 or 81. 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. I decide this is where Im going to make my stand and try to extract a secret. Magic is not about knowing how weve been deceived. Upon graduating with a psychology degree in McMaster University in 1971, Henning and then-girlfriend Marsden Barrick performed as Henning and Mars at Yorkville coffeehouses, a military base near the North Pole, LAs famed Magic Castle, and on a 1972 episode of the CBCs Telescope program. But what Steinmeyer intends to unpack for me is uncertain. 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. A magician friend often told Steinmeyer, If you want to keep something a secret, publish it., So why dont more of us know how magic works? Hes not even sure what to call the act. This story has been shared 381,315 times. The Magic Show with Doug Henning He posed for photographs, signed autographs and then disappeared once again. Steinmeyer demonstrates a version of the sawing-in-half illusion. In fact, theres just enough room for the woman to drop her knees to one side and avoid the blades. What Shows Have Been Renewed or Canceled? I mean its allas soon as people believe youre doing one thing, you can subvert it by doing something else., In Hiding the Elephant, his narrative history of magic, Steinmeyer points out what most of us already suspect or know: The secrets of magic are not true secretsthe answers are often right in front of us. Will Virtual Reality Ever Live Up to the Hype? For magic to accomplish the impossiblemaking something disappeara flaw in the magic has to be hidden, like a trick mirror or special compartment. 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. Doug Henning: The Unbearable Lightness of Unbearability Doug Henning (1981 - 2000) his death. Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. In a sense, Dougy forced me to overcome my natural shyness.". The parks is linked to Indian spiritual leader Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation. Hed been polite, but wary. Some of these tell-alls have existed for generations. Tony-Nominated Magician Doug Henning is Dead at 52 His net worth has been growing significantly in 2022-2023. People Weekly. Had he lived, Henning would have surely become an elder statesman of magic, McNally says, one who would have consulted for other performers, possibly work on effects for movies and TV shows (or) lectured., Like the world of illusion, Hennings life had been full of possibility. Debby also married Mexican artist Jose Carcamo, whom she divorced in 1980. At 53 years old, Doug Henning height The act won a few local awards. He was also the first to re-attempt Harry Houdinis dangerous 1912 Water Torture Cell, in which the magician, restrained at the feet, escaped after being lowered into a glass tank of water. Discover Doug Henning's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Today, running his own business requires an astonishingly disparate set of skills. Doug Henning 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. WebView the profiles of people named Doug Henning. It was an overwhelming experience. As well, Debby starred in several summer theater musicals (including Fiddler on the Roof and Applause) and studied mime, jazz dance and singing. 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. Magician Doug Henning Dies of Liver Cancer at 52 Of course, Im still hoping hell decide to lift the lid on his more guarded secrets, and Im alive to the fact that Im sitting in the room where much of his classified material is hiding in plain sight. (His senior thesis was on hypnosis. On December 6, Doug and Debby were married at the University. .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. Kellars arms are elevated skyward, a woman floating above his hands. Steinmeyer allows that historically, the trick is that the woman pulls her knees up to her chest when the sawing happens. Its also, The date was October 9th, 1985. Share the best GIFs now >>> Logan Culwell-Block "I had never felt anything like it in my life. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Neil McNally and The Doug Henning Project with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. 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. To take the stage, Kyle passes through a giant fan with spinning bladesthe very trick Id spotted in one of Steinmeyers notebooks. People like Jim come along once every two or three generations.. | The two actors join the cast of the international hit musical in St. Louis, Missouri. How a Legendary Magician Builds Illusions | Jim Steinmeyer Henning performed occasionally in the mid-1980s to raise funds for the maharishi, but also sold many of his illusions to magician David Copperfield. He also made guest appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and The Muppet Show.. Only when Steinmeyer finishes speaking do I realize weve barely moved from my starting point. I know it's weird to say, but somehow magic is immune from technology, he says. 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. "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." A full body orgasm at the L.A. Phil? My eyes flick across Steinmeyers studio, his array of artifacts and scale models. Henning, the man who performed Harry Houdinis legendary water torture escape on national television before a live audience and later became a spokesman for 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 You want that thing to be very clear.. WebDoug Henning. The thing about the Magic Castle and places like it, when youre there in the right size theater, the intimacy is just completely amazing. The safe is locked before anyone looks inside, and after a beat, a burglar appears. Beverly Hills [213]. 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? 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. By almost any estimation, Steinmeyer is the greatest creator of illusions in the history of magic and theater, but describing Morritts idiosyncratic piece of stagecraft still animates and energizes him. In the 80s Henning also created illusions for others, including Michael Jackson, Earth, Wind & Fire and the Toronto rock band Lighthouse. He launches into a commentary about how people dont just receive entertainment anymorethey see it as a challenge. 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. You can find books that lay out the mechanics of most illusions in sonorous detail, down to diagrams with measurements. Doug Henning - NNDB Then we cross their yard to his studio followed by Albert, their doddering but ebullient 13-year-old dachshund. Steinmeyer heads to his board meeting and leaves me to roam the castle, still only occupied by staff hustling to prepare for the first dinner seating. 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. '', 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.''. According to new reports, Mr. Henning was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1999. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. My brain fizzes with unsated curiosity. He added stage sets and dancers and speeded up the illusions. He is credited with reviving the magic show as a form of mass Doug Henning was stiff as a board, and as he didn't sing, the musical numbers were never really landed in the show. I had never felt anything like it in my whole life. The dazzler was Debby Douillard, 27, an abstract painter with bottomless blue eyes who was, In doing some online research I came across this fascinating article from the December 20, 1982 issue of People magazine. (Check out the Toronto Magic Companys work with the citys budding magicians), It was 1975, and 50 million viewers tuned in to watch the stunt on live television unheard of today, says Henning expert Neil McNally. His answer, at first, is that he doesnt really like the question. Doug After Falling Under the Spell of Wife Debby, Doug Henning Hopes to Charm Broadway Again (Part.3) He stuck with magic. A decade later, Henning was awarded a star on Canadas Walk of Fame a touching epilogue from a country that gave him so much, says McNally. 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. Our website is made possible bydisplaying online advertisements to our visitors. As is customary for first-time guests, Im given the password that, when spoken aloud, opens the hidden door into the castle. Thanks for contacting us. The lock-picking bandit looks at the closed safe with a pair of field glasses and disappears. People Magazine Interview: Part Three Once settled, I make an opening gambit: I ask Steinmeyer about the state of magic today. I asked one of his crew after the show if I might meet Doug and get his autograph. Please consider supporting us bywhitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.Thank you! It earned monster ratings, and NBC made the Emmy-winning special an annual event. ''It was like being a folk singer before Bob Dylan. Built in 1909, the building is a shambling maze, a classic chateau-themed manor with narrow passages, branching wings, antique banisters and Tiffany stained glass windows. She was born and raised in Huntington Woods, Michigan, and is the daughter of Lorelei (Frygier), a nurse, and He reveled in the intricacies of itthe different historical accounts, Charles Morritts possible motives, all the potential explanations. Survivors include his wife, Debbie. Theres the script where you ostensibly say whats happening, which is often a lie. She was successful as a painter and graphic artist and also in the clothing design business. Rebecca Taylor Henning / AP. 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. 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. Lets deconstruct it.. The diminutive Doug Henning soon landed at Hollywoods Magic Castle, grant in pocket, for a three-month cram course. Newspapers Limited, 8 Spadina Avenue, 10th Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 0S8. We say hello to Steinmeyers wife, television producer Frankie Glass, whose many documentary credits include Ancient Aliens and a series called History vs. Hollywood. In college, he started pitching tricks to Doug Henning, arguably the worlds most famous illusionist during the 1970s. His story about the burglar and the safe is as much about what he doesnt say as what he does. That led to his role in The Magic Show. My heart was racing. Doug Henning 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? Doug Henning had no children. I was a 13-year-old kid who just lost a father And it was like another door opening on an interest I already had, and opening in some bigger, grander way., In the following years, Steinmeyer dropped his own act; what he really loved, he realized, was conceiving ambitious illusionsthe flashbulb of an idea popping inside his head, the mental calisthenics of how it might work, the sketching and spitballing. I had never felt anything like it in my whole life. Henning died Between 1975 and 1982, he created and starred in several television specials, aired on NBC and CBS, under the title of "Doug Henning's World of Magic." Magic renews that wonder.. His shows led to a general resurgence of interest in magic, said Phil Willmarth, editor of The Linking Ring, a magic magazine. Davis' Death of a Salesman co-star Wendell Pierce hosted a screening and talkback for the new film. He died in Los Angeles on Feb. 7, 2000, from liver cancer. He was always pleasantly surprised by the reception, Nancy says. He conquered Broadway with his smash rock musical, The Magic Show, which ran for more than four years at the Cort Theater. It was supposed to last six months; Steinmeyer kept the gig seven years before moving on to Disney Imagineering. My last day hanging around with him, I ask Steinmeyer straight up: How does the sawing-in-half trick work? May 1, 2023, By Magician Henning Dies - People It was that performance with that guy. Steinmeyer and I eventually wile away almost an hour analyzing the early-1900s illusion with the thief and the safe. Steinmeyer helped Ramon create what has become a signature part of his act. Because Zig Zag was so fresh in the 70s, things that felt like that were attractive.. WebWife of. Andrew Gans Debby met Doug Henning at a charity benefit at the Transcendental Meditation Center at Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa. Solid metal, right?before doing another. 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. 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. Steinmeyer began as an audience member. He was married to Debby Douillard and Barbara De Angelis. Shut out of basketball by his size, Henning revived his interest in magic. WebHis real name: Birth name of Doug Henning is Douglas James Henning Is Doug Henning still alive? Doug Henning Doug Henning (Douglas James Henning) was born on 3 May, 1947 in Fort Garry, Manitoba, Canada, is a Writer, Actor, Soundtrack. Jim is an expert in virtually every area of magicin fact, hes singular in that, says Richard Kaufman, publisher of the industry magazine Genii and the author of scores of books about magic. True to form, Steinmeyer first gives a non-answer. Henning Every magician thats out there working today owes Doug Henning a great debt.. But the boy was more interested in sports and then began premed studies and earned a psychology degree at Canadas McMaster University. The New York Times, in fact, labeled Steinmeyer theaters celebrated invisible man.. Given the nature of his business, he said, he had to be proprietary about sharing the way magic is accomplished. To order He also dabbled in politics. I remember thinking that was a really good idea, but I had no use for it at the time, Steinmeyer says. is 5'5"(1.67m) . 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. And the stories involve multiple layers of deception. May 1, 2023, By