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To view past articles or propose a new feature article for the main page, visit the [[MagicPedia_talk:Today%27s_featured_article|discussion page]].
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Previous featured articles are located in [[:Category:Featured Article]]
  
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Proposed candidates are listed in [[:Category:Featured Article Candidate]]
 
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==Washington, D.C. and Magic==
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{{Infobox person
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[[Washington, D.C.]], formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, [[1790]]. The City of Washington was originally a separate municipality within the Territory of Columbia until an act of Congress in 1871 effectively merged the City and the Territory into a single entity called the District of Columbia.
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| image                    = GeorgeFWright2.jpg
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| name = George F. Wright
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| image_size                = 100px
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| alt                      =  
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| caption                  = Courtesy of granddaughter,<br />Barbara A. Wright
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| birth_name                =
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| birth_day                = July 9,  
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| birth_year                =  1880
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| birth_place              =
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| death_day                =  June 6,  
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| death_year                =  1958
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| death_place              =
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| resting_place            = Washingtonville Cemetery, Ohio
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| nationality              =
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| nationality2              =
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| notable works            =
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| flourished                =
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| website                  =
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}}
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'''George F. Wright''' (1880-1958) was a magic enthusiast who had many ideas  published  in [[Tops]] and [[The Linking Ring]].
  
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== Points of interest ==
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== Biography ==
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* Opened in [[1835]], the [[National Theatre (Washington, D.C.)|National Theatre]] on Pennsylvania Avenue, three blocks from The White House, hosted performances of many magic acts.
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Raised in Salem, Ohio, his love of magic started at the age of nine by a casual passerby doing a coin trick, then again at 12 by a visit to the county fair when he purchased  a  magic book  a  dime. After joining a circus, a side show magician fostered his love of the art.
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* [[Chase's Theater]], opened in [[1912]], hosted many vaudeville magicians.
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* [[Al's Magic Shop]], started by selling gifts and novelties, in [[1936]] then added some magic tricks from [[S.S. Adams Company]]. The store would eventually evolve into a Magic Shop run by [[Al Cohen]]. It closed its doors on April 12, 2004.
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* [[Genii]] magazines headquarters is in Washington D.C.
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* [[Library of Congress]] stores collections from many prominent magicians, including Houdini's.
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* [[Harry Baker]]'s Fun Shop, 924, 17th Street N.W., Washington, D.C. opened in [[1946]]. It so happened that at the time, [[Harry Blackstone]] was appearing with his magnificent show at the National Theater in Washington and one of the first clerks the store had was the Great Blackstone.<ref>Harry Baker's Magic Shop, [[Genii 1952 August]]</ref>. By 1955, the Baker Magic and Novelty Company was located at  1735 "L" Street, N. W.
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* Magic clubs include the [[SAM]] assembly number 23 and [[IBM]] ring 50.
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== Events ==
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A one time assistant to [[Kellar]] (he spent three seasons with him), his magic friends included [[Thomas Yost]], [[Gus Roterberg ]], [[Ed Reno]], [[Maro]], [[Laurant]], [[George E. Closson]] and [[Bill Durbin]]
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* In March, 1879, the Harry Kellar had booked into [[Ford's Theater|Ford's Opera House]] in Washington, D.C., only to find that [[Robert Heller]] had "burned up the spot" with his  show a few weeks before. Kellar, needing to do something to attract people decided to give a Sunday evening lecture on [[spiritualism]] which was a great success <ref> Houdini The Man Who Walked Through Walls by William Lindsay Gresham (1959) </ref>
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Wright lived in the Reading, Ohio area (a Cincinnati suburb), from the late 1930 until the 1950s.
  
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* November 5, 1889 - [[Robert Nickle]] collapsed after a show at the Globe Theater in Washington, D.C. from a combination of heart failure, tuberculosis and alcoholism. He was picked up unconscious in the streets of Washington and carried to a hospital where he died. Nickle was later buried in a potter's field somewhere nearby.  
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He spent a year as national organizer for the [[International Brotherhood of Magicians]], and while active on committees was detailed to conduct an investigation into spiritualism.  
  
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* January 6, 1906 - [[Houdini]] escape from a United States Jail cell in Washington, D. C, where Charles J. Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfleld, was once confined.  He released all the other inmates of murderers' row cells, and transferring each to another cell than the one they were originally in. <ref>Mahatma, February 1906</ref> (The Washington Asylum and Jail was located along the Anacostia River just south of today's D.C. General Hospital.)
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Wright died at the nursing home June 6, 1958 of Bronchopneumonia, arteriosclerotic heart disease, and generalized arteriosclerosis.   
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* September, 1906 - Houdini's series of novel vanishing stunts on the stage began in Washington, D.C. when he spirited himself out of a zinc-lined piano box made by William Knabe and Company. <ref>Houdini His Life-Story by Harold Kellock (1928)</ref>
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[[George F. Wright|Read more about George F. Wright...]]
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* April 20,1916 - about 100,000 people (the single largest assemblage of people in that city's history outside of a presidential inauguration) made their way in front of the Munsey Building in downtown Washington, D.C. on Pennsylvania Avenue between Thirteenth and Fifteenth to watch [[Houdini]] perform his straitjacket escape upside down, one hundred feet in the air.<ref>Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush and Larry Sloman (2006)</ref> (The Munsey Trust Building was a high-rise  building, adjacent to the [[National Theatre (Washington, D.C.)]].  The building rose to 171 feet (52 m) containing 13 floors. It was demolished in 1982 and their now stands a 16-story National Place Building.)
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* May 30,31, and June 1, 1935 - The seventh annual conference of the [[S.A.M.]] was held at the Wardman Park Hotel.
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* 1958 - Blackstone played supplied the magic for and played the part of a magician in "Starward Ark", a two-act comedy-melodrama that opened at the Shubert Theatre in Washington, D.C. the day after Christmas, 1958. It folded after three performances.
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[[Washington, D.C.|Read more about magic and Washington, D.C....]]
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Revision as of 19:18, 27 February 2015

Previous featured articles are located in Category:Featured Article

Proposed candidates are listed in Category:Featured Article Candidate

George F. Wright

Courtesy of granddaughter,
Barbara A. Wright
BornJuly 9, 1880
DiedJune 6, 1958 (age 77)
Resting placeWashingtonville Cemetery, Ohio

George F. Wright (1880-1958) was a magic enthusiast who had many ideas published in Tops and The Linking Ring.

Biography

Raised in Salem, Ohio, his love of magic started at the age of nine by a casual passerby doing a coin trick, then again at 12 by a visit to the county fair when he purchased a magic book a dime. After joining a circus, a side show magician fostered his love of the art.

A one time assistant to Kellar (he spent three seasons with him), his magic friends included Thomas Yost, Gus Roterberg , Ed Reno, Maro, Laurant, George E. Closson and Bill Durbin

Wright lived in the Reading, Ohio area (a Cincinnati suburb), from the late 1930 until the 1950s.

He spent a year as national organizer for the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and while active on committees was detailed to conduct an investigation into spiritualism.

Wright died at the nursing home June 6, 1958 of Bronchopneumonia, arteriosclerotic heart disease, and generalized arteriosclerosis.

Read more about George F. Wright...

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