Mark Wilson (magician)

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James "Mark" Wilson (b. 1929) is an American magician and author. He is widely credited[citation needed] as becoming the first major "television magician" and in the process establishing the viability of illusion shows as a television format.

[edit] Early years

Mark Wilson aspired to be a magician after seeing Tommy Bearden perform. His family moved to Dallas, Texas where as a teenager he improved his magic knowledge by working for Douglas Magic Land as a clerk. As a student at SMU, Mark performed shows with the Morton’s Potato Chip Company as his sponsor.

[edit] Television

When television began to grow he arranged a local show in Dallas in 1955, which grew to other shows in Houston and San Antonio. When videotape was developed he created the first show to be videotaped and nationally syndicated. That show was the original black and white Magic Land of Allakazam and was sponsored by Scotch Brand Tape. His wife, Nani Darnell, assisted him and they were joined by Bev Bergeron, who helped write the shows and played his character, Rebo the Clown. Kellogg’s Cereals bought the series and moved it to Hollywood’s CBS-TV in 1960. The show moved from CBS-TV to ABC-TV in 1962 without missing one week on air. In 1965, the series left ABC and was internationally syndicated. During its peak it was one of the top shows in the Nielson ratings for Saturday morning.[citation needed]

The trio toured all the major state fairs during the summer and made appearances on other network shows. The writing team grew at CBS to include Bobby "Torchy" Towner, Bobby Fenton, Leo Behnke, Lin Searles with Johnny Daniel and Carl Owen building the illusions for the first year of 39 shows. For the second year the existing creative team remained, but Frances Martineau was added along with a young John Gaughan. This group was the nucleus that brought a new look to magic illusions that are still being used today.

Wilson later created The Funny Face Magic Show and the Pillsbury sponsored Magic Circus in 1971. He also provided the Hall of Magic at the 1964/5 World’s Fair in New York. He and his crew assisted in the technical production of the magic in many network shows, which included: The Magician, Circus of the Stars, Hollywood Palace, The Roy Rogers Show, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Incredible Hulk, Columbo and more. Wilson's last regular tv stint was "The Magic Of Mark Wilson". The series was seen in national syndication in 1981 and Wilson was aided on this final series by second son Greg[1] as well as by longtime assistant Nani.

In 1971, he published his Mark Wilson's Complete Course In Magic, which is still in production in various forms around the world.

[edit] Bibliography

Mark Wilson is the author of the following titles, currently in print; published by Running Press:

[edit] Awards

The Academy of Magical Arts (The Magic Castle), where he served as president for several years, has honored Wilson with several awards.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Greg Wilson Website (2008). Retrieved on 2008-01-10.

[edit] External links

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