57-MANDRAKE MUSES

#57 – Mandrake Muses [3/18/1999]

LEE FALK DIES: As the creator on Mandrake the Magician he brought the idea of a superhero magician to millions of readers for more than 60 years.

Leon “Lee” Falk who created the “Mandrake the Magician” comic strip in 1934 while a college student died of congestive heart failure on Saturday March 13th at the age of 87.

Mandrake who is one of the most famous magicians in the world is really a hypnotist who uses his powers to fight crime and solve mysteries. The amazing thing is that Falk has continued to write the comic strip from its inception until now. Currently “Mandrake the Magician” appears in 125 newspapers worldwide.

I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with Falk, who lived in Manhattan, several years ago and we discussed magic, his experience with magicians and his influences in creating the comic strip.

When I asked him about the creation of Mandrake the Magician he told me that he modeled Mandrake after Cardini whom he saw perform many times at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. He described Cardini as a great magician who looked debonair and sophisticated.

I asked if he saw any other magicians prior to creating Mandrake. Although his memory was sketchy he described a time when he was about five years old and was called up on stage by a magician who he believed was Thurston. He described a beautiful woman who was laid on a table and then a rope was tied to her feet and another around her neck. Falk was asked to hold the end of the rope which was tied to her feet while a little girl from the audience held the end which was tied to the assistants neck. She was covered by a cloth and then began to float while the kids were still holding the ropes. All of a sudden she vanished in mid air as the ropes fell to the ground — still being held by the kids. As he described this routine he had an expression of amazement in his eyes as if reliving that amazing moment as a child.

He obviously loved magic and wanted to see one of my shows, he gave me his phone number but I never followed up. At our meeting I had him autograph some of the Mandrake comics I collected over the years, one of which he never saw as it was in Italian.

In 1936 Falk created his most popular superhero “The Phantom,” known as the man who cannot die or the ghost that walks. The Phantom was also the first masked comic book hero and reportedly was the inspiration for others such as Superman and Batman. In 1996 The Phantom was released as a major motion picture and the comic strip which has continued to be written by Falk currently appears in more than 500 newspapers.

Falk was born in St Louis, Missouri, and graduated from the University of Illinois. During World War II, he worked in secret intelligence with the Office of War Information and later joined the US Army, all the while writing Mandrake and Phantom stories.

He later became interested in playwriting and theatrical productions owning theaters in Massachusetts and the Bahamas. He produced more than 300 plays and directed about 100 others.

Mandrake the Magician was ahead of his time. In addition to making the Statue of Liberty vanish in 1967 (years before David Copperfield), Mandrake has the distinction of being the first racially integrated comic strip which featured Lothar as Mandrake’s partner of more than 60 years.

“Mandrake the Magician” is copyright by and continues to be distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

MENTALISM: Marc Salem tapes his one-hour TV special this month.

Marc Salem who starred in the Off-Broadway smash hit, Mind Games and made numerous TV appearances in 1998 will be taping his first television special on Monday March 29 in NYC.

The title of the show is “Marc Salem’s Mysterious, Wonderful, World of the Mind” and is being produced by Emmy-Award winner Marty Berman and the PAX television network.

Several outside events have already been taped with celebrity participants Peter Max, Olivia Goldsmith and Michael Strahan. The live audience segments will be taped during two shows to take place on the set of Broadway’s Cabaret at the historic Studio 54. The TV show is scheduled to air the last week in May on PAX-TV (US).

A QUOTE TO MAGISH BY:

“The kind of magic that I do is really not for amusement, but rather for amazement. I try to amaze the audience, really shock them, choke the audience good and hard. I strive to bring them to a point of profound anguish.”
…René Lavand, “The Mysteries of My Life ” (1998)