...And, Poof, Went The Christmas Bunny
Back in Cincinnati in the early 1900's my Uncle Ed used to work at the newspaper and frequently got my sister and I passes to some of the big theaters. I can still remember seeing Uncle Tom's Cabin, Black Beauty, and Mutt and Jeff. But the evening I will never forget is the evening I went up on stage and assisted the great Magician Thurston.
It was during the week before Christmas. I remember having to walk through the snow to get to the theater. About halfway through the magic show, Thurston walked to the edge of the stage and called my sister, who was about 10 at the time, out of the audience to assist him. After she got up on the stage, he asked her who she came to the show with. She said my older brother. He then called me on the stage and took a rabbit out of my coat.
He asked my sister if she would like the rabbit and naturally she said she would. Thurston said he did not want the rabbit to get cold while we were taking it home so he got out a sheet of newspaper and went to a small table to wrap it. He gave her the package and when we got back to our seats and my sister unwrapped it, it turned out she was carrying a box of chocolates.
Well, I didn't mind helping my sister eat the chocolates that Christmas vacation but darn, I sure missed having that Christmas bunny to play with.
*****
This is one of Dad's more interesting articles. It confirms that Uncle Ed (or Edward Herd) was involved with the White family before Dad was 13, Dad having had his thirteenth birthday on December 13, 1913. At that time he says his only sister (Allene) was about 10 years old. It would be practically impossible to absolutely verify the year of the show since Thurston may have performed quite often in Cincinnati, having been born in Columbus, Ohio. And Dad could not think of the name of the theater where the show took place.
Another interesting thing is his being on stage with Howard Thurston, probably the most popular magician of his time who lived from July 20, 1869 to April 13, 1936, ten years past Houdini who died on Halloween in 1926. My Ex had never heard of Thurston, who has approximately 135 thousand mentions on Google as compared with Houdini who has approximately 662 thousand.
Why is Harry Houdini's name common today while Howard Thurston has been practically forgotten except by magic historians? I think it was because Houdini switched from being a magician to becoming an escape artist in 1900. Houdini promoted the dangers of his escapes and performed many of his most famous escapes in jail cells, locked trunks, and while suspended and secured in straitjackets. In other words, of the two, Houdini was the better salesman.
After giving the documents more thought, my Ex believes that on the 1920 census in Cincinnati, Lizzie had been asked how long she had been married and she said four years.
Ed died before my parents were married December 18, 1935. The only time I met Grandma White (as Dad referred to Lizzie), I vaguely remember her as an elderly white-haired German lady who visited us for a short time in Denver. I think I was about seven at the time and that she died a year or two after that.
Dad had me incorporate a rabbit into my magic act. We kept the first rabbit I used. I named the rabbit Thumper and he got along with our two dogs, often playing with them during the day. He lived in a backyard rabbit hutch at night and managed to lived long enough to celebrate his sixth birthday.