Tim Drake sent out an e-mail request for all magicians to take note and take action. Doug Henning is being considered for the Canadian Walk of Fame and you don't have to be Canadian to nominate him. After all, they are wanting tourists from all over the world to come to the Walk of Fame. Here is a link to learn what is going on:
http://www.ibmring49.homestead.com/henningwalkoffame.html

You can cast your ballot by going to this URL:
http://www.canadaswalkoffame.com/inductees/nominations.xml

He may not have won in his bid for the parliment, but you can vote for to see his star on the Walk of Fame.

yours,
Scott Wells

I only had the opportunity to meet Doug three times. Those three time, though, are among my most treasured magical moments.

Did you know that Doug’s first stage name was Hendo the magician. Doug took the “Hen” from Henning and the “do” from Doug and came up with Hendo.

A side note to Pete Biro's story: It is said that Doug’s escaped Tiger also chased Arthur Godfrey into the men’s bathroom. I believe that this incident is also the reason that all subsequent Henning shows were taped.

Did you know that the person who fronted the $40,000 for the Spellbound show did so because he wanted to lose the investment money as a tax write off.

The first venue for Spellbound apparently was also a bit of an accident. A large show that was scheduled for the Royal Alexandra Theatre was cancelled. Even though Spellbound did not have a track record (no reviews) it was booked. Mostly because over half of the tickets had already been sold.

During Doug’s stage debut he fell into the orchestra pit because he was blinded by the stage lights. His fall was broken by the drums which possibly saved his life.

I have a few more Henning stories but it is past midnight and my coach just turned into a pumpkin. I will try to post the other stories later this week.

Take care and take cards
Antony Gerard

Guys, I never met Doug Henning or got to attend one of his shows in person, but thanks for a great thread on someone that totally left me in awe as a child.
It sounds like not only did his magic inspire a lot of magicians, but that he was simply an inspiration in life to those around him just with his presence and great attitude. That is one of he most important contributions anyone can make to life in general.
MXRay

Does anybody have any information on why a bio of Doug hasn't been undertaken?
Rather than let this resource diminish with time, I wonder if anybody is considering an unauthorized biography.
It's always preferable to have the family involved, especially when the major assistant of the career is his wife.

I know many people may not feel that Doug's yogic inclinations later in life would bode well in his overall history, but I think that for those who bother to research Doug in detail, his Natural Law and theme park pursuits make Doug even more interesting and worthy of a fine book on his life.

Doug re-wrote the book on magic and magicians, I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to know how that happened. Most who study Doug in depth know about the Canada Council grant, and his spending the money on the trip to sit at the feet of Dai Vernon, but there's so much more to the story that this simple anecdote.

How exciting would it be if Jim Steinmeyer were to undertake this tome, his writing is some of the best on magic anywhere, and he knew Doug very well.

One can only hope!
Cheers,

If it is of interest to you The Magic Show is on DVD. I got mine a couple of years ago at Amazon.Its worth having if you are a fan of his work.

Wow. Thanks to everyone who posted Doug Henning stories. I never met Doug but did get a letter from him when I was a teen. I also saw his show everytime he came to the area. I still fondly remember seeing him do the Rising/Floating Card on stage, so cool. And I remember seeing Doug do the first Origami Box routine. Doug didn't do routine silent to music and with swords like everyone seems to do today. His was a talking routine and it knocked me for a loop. That show also had Walking Thru a Mirror and the Pole Levitation. I also vaguely recall a routine with giant puppets which I think was later sold to Melinda.

A few years ago I rented all the Doug Henning specials through the SAM Film and Tape Library. It brought back a lot of memories and was so great watching Doug perform. I was so excited when I heard he might be coming back to magic and so devastated when he passed on. Yes, he is missed.

I'm afraid that the 2006 list of inductees to the Canadian Walk of Fame didn't include Doug Henning.

It's tempting to call the selection committee a bunch of Toronto hacks who don't know what they're doing, but I won't do that.......oops, I just did.
I will say that they clearly don't understand the impact Doug Henning had on magic (or Dai Vernon for that matter).

That Doug Henning and Dai Vernon aren't on the walk is probably enough to gall most magicians, but pretty typical of a tourist focused undertaking like the walk of fame, who would rather select Alex Trebek in place of Doug.

All in all, a pretty crappy outcome for those who supported Doug Henning.

The only inductee with a conection to Doug was Paul Shaffer from the David Letterman show, who played piano in the orchestra pit at the Cort Theatre, for.....Doug Henning in "The Magic Show".

The announcement featuring the lovely Pam Anderson, but no Doug Henning:
http://www.canadaswalkoffame.com/

not entirely true.

magicalaurie,
Could you elaborate on that, sounds like it may be an interesting story.
Rennie

I would elaborate but I don't think the Café has any duck smilies.

Lost a few ducks to a tiger with an appetite huh ?
Rennie

See Pete Biro's Jan. 24/05 post on page 1, Rennie.

This is an old post that hopefully we can keep alive...I remember the first time I saw Henning was in 1980 or 1981, I can't remember off the top of my head. It was at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. My dad got great seats! We were 11 or 12 rows on the main floor. I remember sitting directly behind a very lovely young woman. As the audience was filing in she would occasionally glance around and I overheard her saying "Look at all of these people!" It ended up that I was sitting behind Debby Douillard, soon to be Debby Henning. I guess my seats were better than I had originally thought!

I agree!

I started 3 or 4 posts about nominating Doug but no one ever really responded!

There's so much unexplored info about Doug - hopefully we can keep this thread alive. Anyone have any news or magazine articles scanned? An email trade or network could be interesting.

Let's not just sit on our duffs flapping our jaws!! let's DO something!

Jim Steinmeyer's a pretty sharp guy. With the history he and Doug have, I'm sure he's working on it.

Amos McCormick

A "loin tamer?" I used to date a girl like that.

Perhaps this is a more appropriate forum for this post.
I think even the most glowing of the tributes here fail to do Doug Henning justice. For some decades before his Broadway appearance in The Magic Show, the magician was a novelty act, often a well paid one who worked the very finest venues. I'm talking about Cardini, Jay Marshall, Channing Pollack, etc. They were great performers but not true stars in the public's mind. Henning changed the atmosphere and attitude of show business, paving the way for Copperfield, Sigfried and Roy, Burton and many other who now have entire shows built around them.

Don't forget that Mark Wilson paved the way for Doug Henning.

Some former Henning fans still hold his rather abrupt dismissal of his crew and management against him.