Harry Blackstone Sr.

Vintage unused 3.5 x 5.5 postcard photo, signed without inscription in black fountain pen. Stamped on reverse “Autographed Souvenir Photo “BLACKSTONE’ April 19, 1947 at Stull Magic Mfg. Co. 341 Market St, San Francisco, California. Signature is very clean. Postcard has a couple heavy creases but otherwise in fine condition.

HARRY BLACKSTONE (1885-1965) was a famed American magician. Blackstone 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 was in the mode of courtly elegant predecessor magicians like Howard Thurston and Harry Kellar. He often 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 lying on a couch and covered with a gossamer shroud appeared to float high in the air and then vanish, as Blackstone pulled off the covering. 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, she seemed to be pierced appeared through the holes in the font of the box (to the accompaniment of her blood-curdling scream). The cabinet was then revolved so that the audience seemed to see the lady impaled by the blinding filaments.

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