Sam Walker

Baltimore Nighthawks

(from left to right)
Thomas C. Worthington III, Arthur Gans, Charles Fulton Oursler, Sam Walker, Earl Canapp, Hen Fetsch, Ernest B. Marx, Phil Thomas, Milbourne Christopher, Bob Tilford, Lou Walston, Bob McAllister, John Eck, Dantini, Vin Carry, Mike Schirmer, Paul Trattner, Henry Ridgley Evans and Frank Thompson...
Graphics by Kiddmagic

BALTIMORE MAGIC (The 18th & 19th Centuries)

Friday, December 3rd 1787 at the Old Theater FALCONI spoke five languages fluently and would entertain French soldiers stationed in Baltimore and elsewhere along the east coast.
Signor Falconi put on the earliest recorded magic performance in Baltimore on December 3, 1787 at the Old Theater. The Italian magician traveled the East Coast performing “Natural Philosophical Experiments,” which mostly relied on mechanical means. In his act, he used a hidden magnet to stop watches and attract small metal objects. He also employed an automaton who could answer audience members’ questions and predict which numbers would come on a pair of dice rolled by a volunteer. For the grand finale, Falconi would load a piece of paper with a question written on it into a pistol, which he fired out of the theater. A dove would then appear instantly bearing the answer to the question on the paper in its beak.
Baltimoreans went wild for Falconi’s show. He extended his stay in the city for several weeks and he rolled out more exciting illusions with even more exotic names for each show. People paid a handsome sum to see the “Talisman Chinois” and the “Theophrastus Paracelsus” in person— 75 cents for box seats and 50 for those in the pit. Four lucky—and presumably rich—attendees could pay to sit on stage during the show.

Henry Ridgely Evans
(Click me to learn more)

Baltimore’s own 
Librarian-Lawyer-Journalist-Mason-Magic Historian Extraordinaire!!!

  Considered one of the 20^th Century’s preeminent magic historians. 
His ability to write and record benefits the magic profession to this day!

ELIJAH J. BOND Inventor of The Ouija Board 
(Click me to learn more)

CAPTAIN CHESAPEAKE

"AHHHOOOOOOY CREW MEMBERS!"

Captain Chesapeake was a morning and afternoon children's show on WBFF (channel 45) in Baltimore, Maryland hosted by George A. Lewis who portrayed "Captain Chesapeake".
The show aired from April 1971 until 1990.

WHO REMEMBERS !?!
 
ANDREWCLAWS THE LION!?!

BRUCE THE BIRD!?!

MONDY THE SEA MONSTER!?!

THE CURIOUS CABIN!?!
Who remembers the "Curious Cabin" where universal laws did not apply?
Captain C would perform experiments such as pouring water from a pitcher where it spilled out at an angle! Ooooohhhh!!! lol

GEORGE A. LEWIS

AN INTERVIEW   It's nice to hear his voice   (CLICK ME)

The Captain Chesapeake show began with the poem: 

"A shipwrecked sailor found himself in a plight.
 Lost at sea he was really a sight. 
He swam and swam 'til he thought he'd die, 
when a wondrous sight appeared to his eye. 
A derelict boat that saved his life 
and put an end to his watery strife."



 

Children in Baltimore could become a "Crewmember" on the show. 

 

By the mid '70's, "Captain Chesapeake" boasted more than 50,000 card-carrying "crewmembers" and the station received as many as 3,000 letters to Lewis a week. 

 

 

 

BRUCE THE BIRD being his usual self and heckling CAPTAIN C and MONDY THE SEA MONSTER.  Audiences never got to see BRUCE THE BIRD, as he refused to come out of his birdhouse on camera! lol ... so kids would make drawings of how they imagined Bruce appeared and send them in to be shown on air.

"CAPT. C" loved his Goetze's Caramel creme candy...

...and his Briardale Cola

...to wash down a Double-R-Bar burger from Roy Rogers!!!
Everything a growing kid needs! lol 

"BE SOMEBODY IMPORTANT... BE YOURSELF"








AMONG THE SHOWS THE CAPTAIN WOULD FEATURE...

THE LITTLE RASCALS

"SEVEN BELLS... IT'S TIME FOR SPEED RACER!"

The theme song was the Bob Crosby tune "Stumbling" by The Three Suns. This theme was played from a 33 rpm at 45 rpm speed.

ON YOUTUBE...
THE CAPTAIN CHESAPEAKE INTRO (CLICK ME)

A TV COMMERCIAL FEATURING CAPT. C (CLICK ME)

 Lewis began his career as the children's host of the Steamboat Bill and Mr. Cartoon shows on WSAZ-TV in Huntington, West Virginia, from 1957 until 1970.

Mr. Cartoon was a television program for children that aired for over thirty years on WSAZ-TV, the local NBC affiliate in Huntington, West Virginia. The show was hosted by George A. Lewis until 1969. and by Jule Huffman until 1995. The show aired at four on weekday afternoons for one hour.

Lewis hosted a similar show, Captain Pitt on WPTT (channel 22) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Lewis also acted as "Ghost Host" on WBFF's late night horror movie show, and did news on WBFF prior to 1988.

EARLY GHOST HOST INTRO (Click Me)

LATER GHOST HOST INTRO (Late 80's)

WBFF 45 COMMERCIAL BREAK with GHOST HOST

A recreation of the original painting used in the GHOST HOST introduction.(1994)

George A. Lewis retired in 1990 and spent his last years amongst friends and loved ones. He passed away December 18, 2000 in Lutherville, Maryland. Captain Chesapeake had captured the hearts and imaginations of a generation in Baltimore with his gentle grace and respect towards America's youth. 
He was a good man. 
The best of men. 
He made the world a better place. 
God Bless you, Mr. Lewis.

"UNTIL NEXT TIME... SO LOOO-ONG CREW MEMBERS!"
SHOWS AIRED FOLLOWING CAPTAIN CHESAPEAKE...

INSIDE THE DEMONS CLUBHOUSE 1916 with Howard Thurston

Seated to the left of Thurston is Demon's Club President Frank P. Knight. Louis Shilling (Demon's Secretary) is standing on the very left. Club vice president Charles Zeigler is directly behind Thurston. Club founders Arthur D. Gans & Thomas C. Worthington III are on the right.

Earl Canapp as The Senile Sorcerer

The Snallygaster

The snallygaster is a mythical dragon-like beast said to inhabit the hills surrounding Washington and Frederick Counties Maryland.The area was settled by German immigrants beginning in the 1730s. Early accounts describe the community being terrorized by a monster called a Schneller Geist, meaning "quick spirit" in German. The earliest incarnations mixed the half-bird features of a siren with the nightmarish features of demons and ghouls. The Snallygaster was described as half-reptile, half-bird with a metallic beak lined with razor-sharp teeth, occasionally with octopus-like tentacles. It swoops silently from the sky to pick up and carry off its victims. The earliest stories claim that this monster sucked the blood of its victims. Seven-pointed stars, which reputedly kept the Snallygaster at bay, can still be seen painted on local barns.
It has been suggested the legend was resurrected in the 19th century to frighten freed slaves.
Newspaper accounts throughout February and March 1909 describe encounters between local residents and a beast with "enormous wings, a long pointed bill, claws like steel hooks, and an eye in the center of its forehead." It was described as making screeches "like a locomotive whistle." A great deal of publicity surrounded this string of appearances, with the Smithsonian Institution offering a reward for the hide. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt reportedly considered postponing an African safari to personally hunt the beast.
In 2008, author Patrick Boyton published a book about the history of the Snallygaster entitled Snallygaster: the Lost Legend of Frederick County.
The Snallygaster has one widely known enemy, called Dewayo. The Dewayo is reported to be a mammalian biped with features similar to a wolf, but the stance and stature of a human. The sightings of Dewayo are primarily reported in West Middletown, Maryland, but sightings have also been reported in the Wolfsville, Maryland region. The Dewayo and the Snallygaster have reportedly had vicious encounters dating back to early settlement of the Middletown valley

Don Driver at Harry Houdini's grave!

Don Driver at Machpelah Cemetery in Glendale, Queens NY

Baltimore Nighthawk Magicians

(left to right) Thomas C. Worthington III, Arthur Gans, Earl Canapp, Bob McAllister, Dantini, Lou Walston, Hen Fetsch, Bob Tilford, Ernest B. Marx, Milbourne Christopher, Phil Thomas, Charles Fulton Oursler, John Eck, Vin Carry, Mike Schirmer, Paul Trattner and Frank Thompson...

Charles Fulton Oursler

Charles Fulton Oursler 

(January 22, 1893 Baltimore, Maryland - May 24, 1952 New York City)

   Fulton was an American journalist, playwright, editor and writer. Writing as Anthony Abbot, he was a notable author of mysteries and detective fiction.
   Oursler grew up in Baltimore, the poor son of a city transit worker. His childhood passions were reading and stage magic.

   In the 1920s Oursler aided Harry Houdini in his crusade against fraudulent mediumship. He even crusaded himself, under the pseudonym Samri Frikell.He was the author of the book Spirit Mediums Exposed (1930) which revealed the techniques of fraud mediums. John Mulholland wrote that Samri Frikell, was the pen name of Oursler when writing on the subject of magic and spiritualism. He made it by combining the names of two magicians, Samri Baldwin and Wiljalba Frikell.

"Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the past and fear of the future." - Oursler


Read more at... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_Oursler

The Great Marco

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