This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/26/2022
Blackstone, Harry (Henry Boughton). Blackstone. The Man Who Controls Spooks in the Light. Long Island City: National Printing and Engraving, ca. 1929. One sheet three-color poster bearing an image of the dancing handkerchief that was one of the trademark tricks in Blackstone’s show. Framed to 43 x 31”. Fold lines visible; not examined out of frame. Scarce. Surely one of the three feats most associated with Harry Blackstone, the Dancing Handkerchief featured in this poster was, in his hands, far more than the sum of its burlesque roots and simple secret. In fact, the very existence of this image demonstrates how the force of personality that was a Blackstone trademark could transform a borrowed cotton pocket square into a memorable magical routine that justified its own line of specialized advertising. (Most magic posters of the “golden age” promote stage-filling illusions, not personality pieces.) Presented under the guise of “catching a ghost” in a borrowed handkerchief (with tongue planted firmly in cheek), Blackstone used this framework as a lens through which to showcase his humor and humanity, in addition to several minutes of pure, strong magic. The borrowed cloth bounced and danced across the stage, interacted with the performer by both obeying and disobeying his commands, and was eventually returned to its owner in the audience, who was none the wiser as to the method behind the miracle.