This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/14/2024
KEATING, Fred (1901 – 61). Collection of Keating Memorabilia. 1930s – 50s. Approximately 30 items, including autographs, 8 x 10” photographs, theater programs (one SIGNED by co-star Nanette Fabray), programs for Keating’s magic show at New York’s Booth Theatre, a SIGNED photographic Christmas card, handbills, programs, a rare pitch book titled 100 Magic Tricks Anyone Can Do, cigarette cards, and a set of lecture notes from the 1958 I.B.M. convention featuring a contribution by Keating. Together with three photographs of Keating’s friend and colleague Roy Benson. From the collection of Max Maven. A very good group.Keating was a successful nightclub and theater performer who had a style akin to that of a stand-up comic; he delivered droll lines and quips while presenting impressive magic tricks, and made a feature of the Vanishing Birdcage. For a time, he eschewed conjuring entirely to work in Hollywood B-movies and the legitimate theater, but came back to the trickery trade later in life. Along with Roy Benson, Judson Cole, Jay Marshall, and George Jason, Keating was among the most accomplished comedy magicians of the post-vaudeville era.