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The hour long television special, The. World 0f Magic, was aired live by NBC on national network at prime-time on the evening of December 26, 1975, to a viewing audience of millions in the United States and in parts of Canada and Mexico. The star of the show was young DOUG HENNING who has held the lead in Broadway's first magical-musical show, The. Magic Show, which opened May 28, 1974, and is still running; breaking all records for a magic show in New York City. TV's The World Of Magic moved
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smoothly and mounted steadily to a drama tic surprise climax. Doug Henning is to be commended not only for being a superlative performer but also for the assembling and arranging of the magic; he presented the very latest in magical effects and then reached into the archives of Magic and updated several great illusions that mystified audiences of yesteryears,
Henning is, indeed, of the 'new school' of theatre and magic. In his Broadway hit show he dresses for the part he portrays. For nearly two years he has created his own image and his style of dress attributes greatly to this. On the TV special he was not playing the character he does in The. Magic Show, yet he dressed in his own style. . . the DOUG HENNING style; unlike past masters of our Art who dressed only in men's formal attire. This young man is appearing in the 'now', his dress and manner are fresh and new, it fits him so well and most important - he is 'doing it his way'. He has breathed fresh life into Magic and much credit is due him for his part in the boom Magic enjoys today.
Very few people ever stop to realize the vast amount of time and work that went into the producing of the one-hour long The World Of Magic. The planning, construction of props and sets, the hours upon hours of rehearsal, etc., etc., stagger the mind. It was a dynamic display of youthful exuberance which reached its pinnacle in the pro-
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duction, resulting in top flight magical entertainment.
The show opened with Hollywood's Gene Kelly giving a brief preview of what was to happen and emphasizing the fact that this was a live show and there would be absolutely no trick camera work. Then the curtain went up and in center stage stood Doug Henning. The cameras panned in close, so close in fact, that only Doug's hands filled your television screen. Slowly closing and opening his hand he caused a coin to vanish, reappear, then enlarge. The coin was dropped into a Juke Box which had been shown to be empty. Bill Cosby, of TV fame, was produced and acted as the master-of-ceremonies throughout the rest of the show. He tried to cut and restore a rope as Henning did, but to no avail. This was a running gag until just before the closing number when he was finally successful in restoring the cut rope. Live doves were magically caught from thin air in a net by Henning, then they were placed inside a large cage. This cage was covered with a cloth and tossed high into the air where the cage and doves vanished. From the folds of this cloth Doug produced a live, full grown, owl!
Now the camera takes us to a table where Doug is showing Bill Cosby close-up magic. Cosby sealed his selected card (minus a corner) inside an envelope and retained it. Doug lit a cigarette and discovered
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