Margaret Hall expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto He never lost interest in the magic world, says Nancy. His wife is Debby Douillard (6 December1981 - 7 February2000)( his death), Barbara De Angelis (20 December1977 - 1981)( divorced). She was born and raised in Huntington Woods, Michigan, and is the daughter of Lorelei (Frygier), a nurse, and Indeed, part of Mr. Henning's popularity could be laid to his style of performing, one that immediately set him apart from the vaudevillian conjurers of the past. Henning spent his final years working with the Maharishi to build a meditation theme park in Niagara Falls, Ontario. If I produce a 450-pound Bengal tiger, its going to create a lot more wonder than if I produce a rabbit.. presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution All Jims bounty: a P&L Change Bag (turn one item into another, or pull something from an empty bag), an Ireland set of cup and balls, and a collection of mystifying instruction books. Lets deconstruct it.. Seven Doug Hennings World of Magic TV specials aired throughout the late 70s and early 80s, helping to make Henning a household name. It still coaxes grasps from a crowd. The Magic Castle rules call for people to stow their phones, and there are no TVs. Steinmeyer demonstrates a version of the sawing-in-half illusion. Henning was also a disciple of transcendental meditation and its leader, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Thats really what this is. By In 1973, he borrowed $5,000 from his mother and, with a friend, launched a rock musical-cum-magic show called Spellbound in Toronto. Theres the script where you ostensibly say whats happening, which is often a lie. Steinmeyer went and saw a performance by George Goebel, a veteran magician with a grand-scale stage act. Over the next decade, he was a regular presence on television, adding splashy new tricks to his repertoire, like a 1980 show where he appeared to have been eaten by a shark. Its a time capsule, everything analog, and the audience arrives with a roiling, tipsy energy. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. "Those magic tricks you buy in stores are junk. Debby Henning was the wife, assistant, business partner and muse to illusionist Doug Henning. He made a firm impact on audiences of the time, and because of this, he is a permanent part of magics DNA.. 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? Doug Henning & His World of Magic (Dec 11, 1984 - Jan 27, 1985) Performer: Debby Henning [Assistant] Mr. Henning was one of the supporters of a $1 billion theme park, Veda Land, proposed for the Niagara Falls area. For years and years, I avoidedI just thought it was presumptuous to say, Heres how you create things, he says. United Archives via Getty Images / Getty Images Doug Henning is often credited with resurrecting magic as a theatrical art in the 1970s. Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. Broadway. Type any trick into a search bar and you can view explainers and deconstructions of its mysteries in secondsendless variations on invisible wires, trap doors, and rigged boxes. 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. There is a century-old magic trick that Jim Steinmeyer finds particularly fascinating. The feet are fake, he explains. | Thats why we press for answers. His net worth has been growing significantly in 2022-2023. I had never felt anything like it in my whole life. Two other Steinmeyer illusions soon made a Henning TV special, and Henning eventually offered him a job helping launch Merlin on Broadway. All of us wish them nothing but happiness and the joy that comes from a loving partnership. I didnt have that engineering mind. Today, he has a trick in which his blond assistant materializes in an empty chair covered by a cloth. He was a writer and actor, known for. Debby met Doug Henning at a charity benefit at the Transcendental Meditation Center at Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa. 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. WebView the profiles of people named Doug Henning. Henning performed occasionally in the mid-1980s to raise funds for the maharishi, but also sold many of his illusions to magician David Copperfield. This story has been shared 381,315 times. 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. During the evening on my second day in Hollywood, Steinmeyer drives me to the Magic Castle. No, he died on 02/07/2000, 23 years ago. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Steinmeyer allows that historically, the trick is that the woman pulls her knees up to her chest when the sawing happens. He abandoned his illusion magic for what he saw as real magic--the transcendental meditation and levitation ability of his friend and guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, with whom he began to study in the early 1970s. Despite his enormous success in the US, Henning always considered Canada his home and was proud to tell people that he was Canadian, Nancy says. Winnipeg-born Henning fell in love with magic as a child. WebWife: Barbara DeAngelis (div. Tony-Nominated Magician Doug Henning is Dead at 52, Magician Doug Henning, who popularized magic and illusion on Broadway in such shows as, Glenn Davis and Chris Perfetti Star in Rajiv Joseph's, 2023 Tony Awards Nominations Announced May 2, Olivia Valli and Celia Hottenstein Are New Leads in National Tour of, Joy Woods Returns to Skid Row as Audrey May 2 in Off-Broadway's, Broadway Eatery Glass House Tavern Targeted With Negative Reviews Following Dispute With Pedicab Drivers. He sold off all his illusions props, sets and secrets at auction to devote his time to Transcendental Meditation. Theyve just saw the world together again and seem comfortable in their relationship. I ask where his ideas come from. May 2, 2023, By Will Self-Driving Cars Out-Smart Human Drivers? How a Legendary Magician Builds the World's Greatest Illusions. | 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. 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. Just like a real-life movie, the story of Buddy the Elf meeting his biological father has come to life, just in time for the holidays. Today, running his own business requires an astonishingly disparate set of skills. May 2, 2023, By Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Henning exploded onto the magic scene in the 70s, bringing a modern touch to classic magic routines. It has to be all three things: That you keep it, that its messy, and that its a notebook. A spiral-bound Strathmore Sketch pad sits on the table between us, and he flips through it, pausing just long enough for me to glimpse the pages. Doug Henning (1981 - 2000) his death. The people are so pure. He was a writer and actor, known for The Magic Show (1983), World of Magic (1977) and Into a notebook it went, and years later he excavated it for the play. 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. ), Matthew Lawrence says his agency dropped him after he refused to strip for director, Ed Sheeran blasts music expert for criminal testimony in Marvin Gaye copyright trial, Roman Polanski and the woman he pleaded guilty to raping pose together 45 years later, Paul Stanley of KISS dives into debate over transgender acceptance versus kids transitioning, Has the Justin Timberlake Its Gonna Be May meme passed its expiration date? 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? Im sitting in Steinmeyers studio in Burbank, California. So when I abandon something because its not working, I can go back and find it. 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. Real magic uses laws that havent yet been discovered.. His story about the burglar and the safe is as much about what he doesnt say as what he does. Cause of death: cancer. I whispered, "I know you. Please consider supporting us bywhitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.Thank you! Its cool enough, but somehow learning the answer isnt as exciting as Id expected. This clever prop allows the British nanny to pull gigantic items from her carpetbag, including a hat rack and full-length mirror. 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. Here is all you want to know, and more! 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. Magic is something that happens that appears to be impossible, he said in an interview with The Times. At one point derided as crazy and a has-been, Henning insisted to one Canadian political reporter in 1994: Im a visionary., Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Hollywood writers strike over streaming pay after talks fail, Models and climate activists hit the streets to protest the star-studded 2023 Met Gala, Gordon Lightfoot, mournful Canadian singer-songwriter, dies at 84, Tim Bachman, founding guitarist of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, dies at 71. He begins a mesmerizing filibuster about the illusions evolution, citing his friend and mentor Alan Wakeling, who in the 1970s came up with an incredibly elegant design for the trick in which two audience members shackle the hands and feet of the woman, and instead of sawing the box in two, the magician stabs four blades through the sides. Doug Hennings income source is mostly from being a successful Writer. Rene Clement wrote: I remeber years ago they did a dueling magicians parody supposedly Henning vs. Copperfield. Kellars arms are elevated skyward, a woman floating above his hands. The New York Times, in fact, labeled Steinmeyer theaters celebrated invisible man.. (Some of Dougs illusions are still being used by magicians, says McNally.) Hed been polite, but wary. In the Close-Up Gallery, Tom Craven peppers his card, rope, and metal-ring tricks with a stream of old-world patter. 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. Steinmeyer relies on both meticulous design and well-suited performers to construct tricks. "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.". May 1, 2023, By 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. He is survived by his wife of nearly 20 years, Debby. Beverly Hills [213]. As we walk through his home, posters of great magicians past stand guard along the walls. I asked one of his crew after the show if I might meet Doug and get his autograph. Nobody else is working at this level. It was very much of its time, Steinmeyer says. Where was it taken you ask? Magic is not about knowing how weve been deceived. There are 24 notebooks, 100 pages each. A native of Fort Garry, Manitoba, he moved to the United States and became an international star. Debby was born Deborah Ann Douillard to Roger and Ann Douillard, who ran a contracting firm in a New York suburb. As happened with ''The Magic Show,'' the musical portion of the show received poor marks while Mr. Henning's ingenuity was hailed. For magic to accomplish the impossiblemaking something disappeara flaw in the magic has to be hidden, like a trick mirror or special compartment. "So I tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around and we looked at each other. Davis' Death of a Salesman co-star Wendell Pierce hosted a screening and talkback for the new film. He was all over the newspapers, magazines, talk shows, and (had) yearly television specials. Sign up for reopening news, announcements, and exclusive discounts on tickets to your favorite shows! In the trick, which Mr. Henning performed in Broadway theaters, on television and even on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, his assistant was handcuffed and tied in a sack. Magic was Dougs passion and his life., Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. Henning, the man who performed Harry Houdinis legendary water torture escape on national television before a live audience and later became a spokesman for (His senior thesis was on hypnosis. 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. My heart was racing. This page was last modified on 15 February 2021, at 11:24. Only when Steinmeyer finishes speaking do I realize weve barely moved from my starting point. The safe is locked before anyone looks inside, and after a beat, a burglar appears. Doug Henning (Douglas James Henning) was born on 3 May, 1947 in Fort Garry, Manitoba, Canada, is a Writer, Actor, Soundtrack. That led to his role in The Magic Show. Help us get to over 4,000 biographies in 2018. May 1, 2023. In a sense, Dougy forced me to overcome my natural shyness.". is 5'5"(1.67m) . Every magician thats out there working today owes Doug Henning a great debt.. As well, Debby starred in several summer theater musicals (including Fiddler on the Roof and Applause) and studied mime, jazz dance and singing. Two pages depict a giant industrial fanclearly an illusion in which the performer passes unharmed through the spinning bladesbut many of the others are impenetrable. (www.travsd.com) is best known for his books "No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous" (2005) and "Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube" (2013). At the time of my visit, Steinmeyer served as president (though his tenure has since ended), and we arrive about an hour before opening. Ramon had never performed original tricks before, but in Steinmeyers studio he understood for the first time how they were birthed. He was always pleasantly surprised by the reception, Nancy says. Its become like, lets talk about magic as a puzzle. He was credited with updating an old-fashioned vaudevillian entertainment by modernizing its image with his long hair, tie-dyed T-shirts and jeans instead of the magicians traditional top hat and tails. Moments later, a telegram arrives for Morritt. Magic plus theater equals art, the 20-year-old psychology major argued, convincing the government in his native Canada to give him a $4,000 study grant with the goal of reviving magic as a theatrical art. Shut out of basketball by his size, Henning revived his interest in magic. Newspapers Limited, 8 Spadina Avenue, 10th Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 0S8. 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." permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com. His first wife, Barbara DeAngelis, was a TM instructor, and when Doug married his second wife, Most illusion creators stay in a lane: big-stage illusions, escapes, mind reading, theater productions, or close-up magic. Shackled hand and foot and encased underwater in a steel canister, he broke free in under a minute, emerging wet and beaming. The members-only club for magicians and enthusiasts is both a laboratory for the craft and, by night, a place for guests to take in performances both large-scale and intimate. In college, he started pitching tricks to Doug Henning, arguably the worlds most famous illusionist during the 1970s. Encouraged students of magic to make their own props and equipment, and not rely on ready-made magic kits. Debby also married Mexican artist Jose Carcamo, whom she divorced in 1980. He is credited with reviving the magic show as a form of mass entertainment in the 1970s and popularizing it on television. In that Ahmanson show, for example, he turned a woman into a black panther, sawed two women in half and reassembled them on each others legs, walked through a mirror, suspended his wife in midair before making her vanish and reappear in a box hanging over the stage, escaped from a chained trunk like Houdini and conjured up the Bengal tiger. He walked through a brick wall, made an elephant disappear and switched places with a person who was locked inside a trunk. WebDoug Henning seems unmarried yet he is married. The legend reads: LevitationThe Greatest Illusion in the World.. WebHe was living with his second wife, Debby Douillard, and he had no children. He is survived by his wife, Debbie. With a curly mane of hair and a near-constant grin, Mr. Henning was one of the most famous illusionists in the world during the 1970's and early 80's, appearing in three Broadway shows and a dozen television specials. Its also, The date was October 9th, 1985. To order copies of WebDoug Henning was born on 3 May 1947 in Fort Garry, Manitoba, Canada. Aside from its ambition and quality, what stands out is the breadth of Steinmeyers work. According to new reports, Mr. Henning was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1999. 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. He also dabbled in politics. Its important to me to create the largest wonder, Henning told The Times in 1984 before appearing at the Los Angeles Music Centers Ahmanson Theater. CREDITS. This couple stayed married until Hennings death. To prepare for his career, Henning studied psychology in college, to learn more about the human mind and perception. 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. A lot of people lose that. He married Debby Douillard in 1981. 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. Henning left the magic business in 1986. 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. 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.. 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. He was 52. WebWife of. He is a member of famous Writer with the age 53 years old group. He was a writer and actor, known for The Magic Show (1983), World of Magic (1977) and Doug Henning's World of Magic (1976). My brain fizzes with unsated curiosity. Canadas investment in the arts paid off. In a room tucked behind the main entrance, I test Irma, the ghost operating the grand piano, and she nails my softball request (Hotel California). Education My last day hanging around with him, I ask Steinmeyer straight up: How does the sawing-in-half trick work? Doug Henning was born on May 3, 1947 in Fort Garry, Manitoba, Canada as Douglas James Henning. 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 ), Hennings television shows won him an Emmy and seven Emmy nominations. 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. The guy very snobily said Mr. During the early days, he practised at home for hours, says his sister, Nancy Henning. Join Facebook to connect with Doug Henning and others you may know. Hes a large man, around six feet tall, sturdily built. One shows an illustrated Harry Kellar, a sensation in the early twentieth century. 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. He vanished and gradually restored on stagefrom veins, to nervous system, to skinthe titular character of The Invisible Man. WebThe magician Doug Henning died at the age of 52. 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. When were little kids, were filled with wonder for the world its fascinating and miraculous, he once said. Also, what I, After Falling Under the Spell of Wife Debby, Doug Henning Hopes to Charm Broadway Again (Part.3) He stuck with magic. He never has, its possible he never will, and this doesnt bother him in the least. 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.. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? It was a trick Houdini needed 20 seconds to perform; Mr. Henning did it in less than 10. The energy ramps up once the doors open, the dressed-up crowd rolls in, and the performances start. | from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and Science in New York where she majored in painting, graphics and video art. 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. Debbie told Beverly Hills [213] magazine in 1986. He is credited with reviving the magic show as a form of mass 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. Dougy almost fell off his chair. I realize Steinmeyer has been trying to lead me to this point all along. Actor: The Magic Show. Was nominated for Broadway's 1975 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical) for "The Magic Show.". But the boy was more interested in sports and then began premed studies and earned a psychology degree at Canadas McMaster University. In 1992, he announced that he and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a spiritual adviser, would build a $1.5 billion theme park near Niagara Falls, Ontario.
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