hi fellow travelers thanks for joining today we're at the museum of surrey again this time
welcome to another half hour of magical entertainment starring man drake the magician
assisted by the lovely miss velvet and now here he is ladies and gentlemen mandrake the magician
leon giglio better known by the stage name leon mandrake was a canadian magician mentalist
illusionist escapologist ventriloquist and stunt performer known worldwide as mandrake the magician
as a young child he became fascinated with magic when watching the circus shows and
vaudeville shows that came through town he began practicing with a used magic
kit that was left behind by one of those magicians and gave his first performance
as a vaudeville magician at the young age of 11 in new westminster british columbia
by the age of 14 he was performing at the moyer's carnival for the pacific national exhibition
and it expanded his repertoire to include fire eating mind reading and ventriloquism by age 16
he began traveling across north america with the ralph richards touring magic show by the
1930s mandrake began to make a name of himself and began traveling with his very own magic show
around the same time the mandrake magician comic strip began to appear
to some people mandrake the magician is considered to be the first superhero comic
it premiered in 1934 four years before the first edition of superman
although officially unrelated the comic mandrake bears a striking resemblance
to his live counterpart with recognizable top hat red cape and pencil thin mustache
over the years the line between the two mandrakes was often blurry but they served to cross-promote
each other and as a result mandrake became a household name across north america
this fame was further magnified when a 15-minute radio show called
mandrake the magician was introduced in the 1940s
presenting mandrake the magician
as his fame grew mandrake merchandise became popular
and his image was marketed on a variety of products like magic kits board games and figurines
in the 1940s leon mandrake revolutionized the world of magic by introducing shocking flashy
and imaginative production numbers it said that in one act he would chop off a lady's
head with a guillotine impale it on a sword and then the head would come back to life
in 1947 leon married his second wife who became his assistant with the stage name
velvet mandrake and velvet had several children and two of their sons lon and ron became magicians
however they are never simply given the secrets to their father's tricks and if they asked how tricks
were done leon would challenge them to think about it creatively until they came up with the answer
but by the 1950s magic started to lose some of its popularity
as more and more people wanted to stay home and watch television
to keep people interested mandrake often staged publicity stunts such as driving
a car while blindfolded hypnotizing people to fall asleep in a department store window
or making great escapes from boxes in an attempt to make the leap to television mandrake bought the
rights to former magician alexander's material and reinvented his image as alexander the great
in a series of television programs mandrake had several other tv performances including
a cbc special in 1963. he performed in the television series the manipulators in 1970
and guest starred as himself on an episode of the beachcombers in 1977
okay you come here you come here
and in the 70s he also inspired a catchy disco tune called magic mandrake
hard work was acknowledged in 1978 when the academy of magical arts in los angeles
presented him with the prestigious annual performing fellowship award
thousands of people watched mandrake perform between the 1920s and 1980s including those
that attended his stadium shows saw him on television or live at universities and world fairs
sadly leon mandrake left us on january 27 1993 but he was survived by his comic
alter ego who continued to run in papers until july 6 2013. since its passing the
vancouver chapter of the society of american magicians has honored leon by presenting local
magicians with an annual leon mandrake award for excellence in showmanship and creativity
although today his fame has been eclipsed by several of his modern counterparts
leon mandrake was known for many decades as the most famous magician alive
and entertained generations of audiences who attended his stadium shows
watched him on television or saw him live at universities and world fairs
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