Timeline

From Doug Henning

1 Doug Henning Timeline
- 1.1 1947
- 1.2 1953
- 1.3 1961
- 1.4 1963
- 1.5 1967
- 1.6 1970
- 1.7 1971
- 1.8 1972
- 1.9 1973
- 1.10 1974
- 1.11 1975
- 1.12 1976
- 1.13 1977
- 1.14 1978
- 1.15 1979
- 1.16 1980
- 1.17 1981
- 1.18 1982
- 1.19 1983
- 1.20 1984
- 1.21 1985
- 1.22 1987
- 1.23 1999
- 1.24 2000

Doug Henning Timeline

1947

May 3 - Douglas James Henning born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. His father, an airline pilot, receives a promotion and the family moves to Oakville, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto.[1]

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1953

Finds the usual library books on magic. Makes props from cardboard, tin cans, and construction paper. Talks parents into buying a magic kit. [2]

At six years old, he watches a magician on The Ed Sullivan Show float a young lady in mid-air. When he asks his mother how it's done, she tells him, "That's magic." Doug is hooked. [3]

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1961

Does first paid show for a friend's birthday party. At 14, has "The Great Hendoo" business cards printed. Places an ad in the local paper: "Magician, Have Rabbit, Will Travel." As a teenager, Doug attends meetings of Toronto's famed Hat and Rabbit Club, is seen at Abbott's Get-Togethers and Wisconsin's Houdini Club Conventions, and for a year, edits "The Zombie" youth-magicians section of the Hade-E-Gram. [4]

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1963

High school-assembly show was promoted with a publicity shot of Doug levitating his younger sister Nancy.[5]

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1967

Enrolls at McMaster University in Toronto with plans to get a degree in psychology and intentions to continue studies at medical school. Doug books his "Magc-A-Go-Go," a show taken to Barbados during spring break, into the Yorkville coffe houses of Toronto. "During college, I was making as much as $5,000 a year, " Doug would later tell a New York Times reporter. "In addition to night clubs, I did Rotary Club stag stuff in a tuxedo. You know, they'd have a belly dancer, a bad pianist, a terible comedian - and me." [6]

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1970

During a semester break, Henning and Mars are booked for the 7th anniversary week of the Magic Castle. [7]

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1971

After an invitation from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to perform Christmas shows for troops stationed "400 miles from the North Pole," Doug returns home and abandons plans for medical school. He desires to create on artistic magic act. The Henning Formula: magic + theater = art With this thesis, Doug applies for a Canadian Council Grant, govermental funding traditionally awarded to musicians, singers, dancers, painters, and playwrights. upon receiving a rejection letter stating "Magic is not a fine art," he travels to Montreal, where he performs, thus convincing a skeptical panel of the Canadian Council to grant him $4,000 to pursue the study of magic as an art. [8]

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1972

The 24-year-old college "dropout" travels to New York to learn sleight of hand from Tony Slydini, then to the West Coast to study with Dai Vernon essay writing service. After Henning completes his apprenticieship with The Professor, in his March 1972 column in Genii, Vernon writes: "I predict that if he keeps up with his present schedule of study and dedication, Doug Henning will be a great success in magic, and he will help magic itself consequently." [9]

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1973

Impressed with the success of the rock musical Hair, Doug convinces college friend Ivan Reitman to co-produce a "rock concert of illusion" ...to be called Spellbound. Doug borrows $5,000 from his mother to buy the mostly-used illusions. Ivan gets a starving musician friend to write the songs. They stage a backer's audition and raise $40,000. After eight months of rehearsal, a last-minute show cancellation allows them to open at the Royal Alexandra Theater in Toronto. Spellbound wins critical acclaim, audiences love Doug, and the two-week run breaks all box-office records for the theater, including Hair and Godspelll. New York producers Edgar Lansbury and Joe Berun see the show, and negotiations begin for Braodway. [10]paper writing

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