Permission
for me to share this article was kindly given
to me by Bev Bergeron. It certainly shows the
showmanship of some performers and how they
can always seen to grab the spotlight.
BLINDFOLD
DRIVE TO DALLAS
The year
was 1959 and the month was September - that
time of year when the Texas Association Of Magicians
hold their annual Convention of over 1,000 amateur
and professional magicians - meeting to view
shows and exchange ideas. That year's conclave
was to be held at the Statler Hotel in Dallas,
Texas. Two hundred and 50 plus miles to the
south is the city of Houston where Bill Siros
and Gene de Jean (McIntosh) where plotting to
pull a major publicity stunt in conjunction
with the convention. Bill Siros was a former
carnival performer who had settled down to own
and operate a successful sign business in the
oil city. Gene was then in his mid-twenties
and had been a student of Bill's since his early
teenage years. Now that Gene was older, his
views of his talents had grown. He considered
his magic ability to be equal to anyone's in
this world. Bill saw where this kind of thinking
was going and often used his older knowledge
and experience to maneuver Gene into funny situations,
funny to others, but many times not so funny
for Gene. The Dallas convention would turn into
one of those times.
Bill had convinced Gene that in order to top a publicity stunt
that Bill had orchestrated in 1957 by floating
a lady down the streets of Houston TX, Gene
would have to drive a convertible automobile,
while blindfolded from Houston to Dallas. At
first Gene was not buying the idea from the
older pro. His thoughts, which were true: it
was too far to drive with a blindfold on and
the Texas heat in September was too much to
be tolerated in a car with the top down. Bill
admitted that was true, if it had to happen
that way. The solution: After the committee
taped the blindfold over Gene's eyes and he
was on his way out of town, it would be a simple
move to just pull over somewhere, remove the
blindfold, raise the convertibles top and turn
on the air conditioning. Then the happy trip
to the outskirts of Dallas where the procedure
would be reversed for the short drive to a hero's
welcome outside the hotel. Gene bought it. However,
it just didn't happen that way. After the committee
did the blindfolding and checked the car out
as OK for the drive, the Houston police stepped
in to help with the traffic control to the city-limits
- there Gene was met by the Harris County Sheriff
department.
And so
it was, all the way to Dallas. As the car passed
from one county to another, a different police
department greeted them and escorted the magician
on his way, thus, making it impossible for Gene
to remove the mask and turn on the air-conditioning.
It was hot! Gene perspired all the way using
his talents to control the car and his temper
to the front of the Statler Hotel. As he pulled
into the driveway he breathed a sigh of relief
as he thought to himself that it was a lot of
trouble doing the driving, but he will bask
in the reward of front page coverage and television
stories of his successful drive. A smile came
on his face as he could hear better than he
could see with the restricted view, that the
trick blindfold offered him, of the cheering
crowd.
As the
car pulled up in front of the hotel, photographers
and television cameramen ran to positions themselves
for a shot of the hero. Gene opened the car
door and with a blindfold still in place, stepped
from the car ready to whip back the mask to
reveal his smiling face. But alas, before he
could remove the cover, Bill Siros stepped up
and placed his hand over the blindfold so that
Gene was caught and said, "Don't anyone attempt
to awaken this man without me doing so. It would
be to dangerous for him. He is under my power
and could not have performed this magnificent
drive if I had not hypnotized him in Houston!"
The cameras ran. But all the stories and pictures
were of Bill Siros hypnotizing someone and causing
him to drive a car from Houston to Dallas blindfolded.
Gene's name was not even mentioned and all the
pictures had his face covered with a black mask
and Bill's hand.
In thoughts
Banachek
1998 & 1999 APCA
Campus Performer of the Year
