Joseph Dunninger

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

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Magician

Joseph Dunninger learned the art of magic at an early age and was so successful at the age of 16 that he deceived Houdini and Howard Thurston himself . In the following years he traveled with an elaborate stage show and, like Houdini, positioned himself as a critic and revelator of spiritualists who pretended to be able to conjure up spirits. He spoke an artificial accent and ended up calling himself "Dunninger" (without a first name).

Mentalist

One of Dunninger's specialties was the convincing pretense of telepathic abilities. Since these performances were in particular demand, Dunninger distanced himself from conventional magic and staged himself more or less seriously as a mind reader. He is considered the first to use the word "mentalist" for his art. For misleading the public, he was attacked by colleagues in the 1950s, until he again confessed to magic. However, he still left it open in his performances whether they represented real paranormal abilities.

Radio and television pioneer

As early as 1923, Dunninger made headlines as a mentalist on the radio by pretending to hypnotize a person using radio waves. In 1943 he got a regular nationwide radio show in which he demonstrated his psychic abilities in front of a jury of celebrities. According to a poll, his voice is said to have been better known than that of the president. In 1948 he appeared on television as a co-host of the regular "The Bigelow Show". In 1955 he moved the concept of his radio mental show to television and presented "The Dunninger" show every week with great success, which was followed by a special in 1956 and 1957. He is considered one of the most famous American magicians of his time.

Others

Dunninger's personality was used by his friend and ghostwriter Walter Brown Gibson as a model for the person of the popular novel hero The Shadow , who also had mental powers. In addition to numerous books on necromancers, magic and mental magic, Dunninger published the standard work Dunninger's Complete Encyclopedia of Magic in 1964 . Dunninger made a substantial fortune with his shows, which he u. a. invested in building one of the most important collections of Tibetan art. It also housed part of the legendary Houdini collection, which he bequeathed to a museum. The later founder of the skeptic movement James Randi saw Dunninger at the age of 15 and later was one of the closest friends of the militant mentalist, whose originally enlightening role Randi adapted.