Joseph Dunninger

Joseph Dunninger ( born April 28, 1892 in New York City; † 9 March 1975) was an American magician and mentalist.

Magician

Joseph Dunninger already learned in early childhood, the magic and was so successful that he even fooled Houdini and Howard Thurston at the age of 16 years. He traveled in the following years with an elaborate stage show and positioned itself as Houdini as a critic and revealer of spiritualists who claimed to be able to summon spirits. He said an artificial accent and finally called himself only " Dunninger " ( no first name ).

Mentalist

To Dunningers specialties was the convincing pretending telepathic abilities. In particular, since these performances were requested to Dunninger distanced from conventional magic and directed more or less seriously as a mind reader. He is considered the first of the word " Mentalist " used for his art. For misleading the public, he was attacked in the 50s by colleagues until he confessed again to magic. However, he still had it open with his performances, whether these genuine paranormal abilities represented.

Radio and television pioneer

As early as 1923 made ​​Dunninger Mentalist as the radio headlines by pretending to hypnotize a person via radio waves. In 1943 he was a regular and nationwide transmitted radio show, in which he demonstrated his psychic abilities to a jury of celebrities. According to a survey his voice was said to be known as that of the President. In 1948, he appeared as co-host of the regular "The Bigelow Show" on TV. In 1955 he transferred the concept of his radio show to television Mental and presented weekly with great success "The Dunninger " show, in 1956 and 1957 respectively followed by a Special. He is considered the most famous American magician of his time.

Others

Dunningers personality was used by his friend and ghostwriter Walter Gibson as the model for the person of the popular fictional hero The Shadow, who also had mental powers. In addition to numerous books about necromancers, magic and mentalism published Dunninger 1964, the standard work Dunninger 's Complete Encyclopedia of Magic. Dunninger made ​​with its shows a considerable fortune, which he, inter alia, invested in the development of one of the most important collections of Tibetan Art. He also hosted a part of the legendary Houdini Collection, which he bequeathed to a museum. The late founder of the skeptics movement James Randi looked Dunninger at the age of 15 years and was one of the closest friends of Militant mentalists whose role originally Enlightenment Randi adapted later.

  • Magician
  • Americans
  • Born in 1892
  • Died in 1975
  • Man
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