We received word last night that Glen Falkenstein, long-time partner and husband of Frances Willard passed away in a nursing facility on July 4th.

According to Dodd Vickers’ always informative The Magic Newswire and a bulletin from Alan Watson, Mr. Falkenstein’s death was due to advanced Alzheimer’s disease after a very brief stay in a nursing facility.

Mr. Vickers has included a heart-breaking note from a friend of the great performer.  Apparently Mr. Falkenstein suffered for years as the disease took his memory and memories.  Mr. Falkenstein hid his illness through feigned recollection of people and events.  Less than two weeks ago, Mr. Falkenstein was unable to recognize even a close friend and could no longer hide the true state of his health.

Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease that causes pain to so many in addition to the patient.   So many families have been affected by this unrelenting, wasting attack on that which we as humans treasure most, our memories.

We add our prayers to those offered around the world for Mr. Falkenstein’s family and loved-ones.  We met him and the beautiful Frances Willard after one of their performances.  He was gracious and incredibly charismatic.  He withstood our fusillade of effusive praise as if it was the first time he had heard such compliments from a fan within or outside of the magic community.

We will post information about any memorial service or preferred charity for donations in Mr. Falkenstein’s name.

So, you know how it is, how it goes, and all that stuff. And then you miss the chance to see something really amazing and you are reminded of your failure everywhere and all the time.

We missed out on the chance to see Terry Evanswood and his highly touted Wonders of Magic show at Wonderworks in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We wanted to see it. We planned to see it and even Google Mapped it. But our rig had problems as we left Kentucky and it didn’t get any better as we moved into the mountains heading south.

We were driving the big semi through Tennesee on our way to Florida for what turned out to be a month-long engagement in Orlando and the better part of the week in West Palm Beach.

We could have made Pigeon Forge only by driving it hard. We’d have to be averaging 60 mph for the next few hours and hope for no traffic. The mountains made it impossible to keep anywhere near 60 or even 50. The traffic did not help much either.

Our Kenworth’s nose crossed the Pigeon Forge city line exactly when Terry Evanswood was likely taking his final bows in the final show of the day.

For the rest of our time in Florida and along our trip back to Mystic Hollow, Michigan, we saw constant reminders of our poor timing and horrible luck.

Tonight, we read news of Terry Evanswood’s success at Wonder Works.

Read the rest of this entry

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Photograph by Steve Spatafore from Las Vegas Sun

After Memorial Day, one may wear white pants and white shoes. After Mac King Day, plaid jackets may be adorned with impunity.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman declared yesterday, May 4th to be “Mac King Day.”

In our book, everyday is Mac King Day except for October 31st, held for our solemn observation of Houdini’s death.

“Growing up in a family of magicians, magic has been my life,” Mac said. “I am truly honored to be celebrating 10 years with my show at Harrah’s Las Vegas. This is an exciting time for me, and I can’t wait to celebrate with the audience this afternoon.”

Mac King performed 5,200 shows for more than 1 million people at the main showroom at Harrah’s. He told Robin Leach of the Las Vegas Sun “that translates into 2,600 days of wearing his trademark plaid suits; 15,600 feet of rope used for his rope trick; 270,400 playing cards; 15,600 magically appearing Fig Newtons; and 26,000 audience volunteers pulled up onstage.”

The nice man and great magician comes from a family of magicians — both grandfathers were performers. He fell in love with the craft after checking out a library book — presumably about magic.

Check out Robin Leach’s complete article on Mac and his life in the spotlight at The Las Vegas Sun.

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