I suspect many of you remember Harry Albacker (1925-1994), a professional Pittsburgh magician who performed at fairs, schools, malls, etc. I recently uploaded a video of one of his performances at a school in Sewickley, PA (a suburb of Pittsburgh). The show took place in the 1980s, and it was the first time I met him. While Harry and I were not good friends, he invited me to a couple of parties at his house and occasionally mailed me magic magazines and some of his promotional materials, which I still have. I'm sad to say I lost touch with him as the years rolled by until his death, but I have many good memories of the man and think of him every now and then. You can watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjjTjTEkzNM[.

As Charlie Miller would have said, "Harry you are ineffable!) Dick Jarrow would have said, "You just don't see a show like that every day." Or, as Jay Marshall would have said, "I can't remember when I've seen a show like yours!"

Dick Oslund, How about this 'saver': "...I've never seen you better!...." or
" an act like yours comes along once in a lifetime..."

Bye bye

Lou Tannen told me that he kept track of how many shows Harry did each year by the number of soft soap refill boxes he ordered. Loud said that he thought that Harry did more shows than any magician in the country. Hokey? Absolutely, but always busy with shows.

I saw Harry work. He was constantly working shopping centers and malls. He was an expert at getting free newspaper publicity which helped sell the show to the malls. They like the free mentions in the newspapers. His magic was time tested and he knew how to sell it.
He had a niche and filled it. Oh yea, he made a good living doing it.

Richard

I know at least half a dozen Harry Albacker publicity stories. The guy was a legend. He called himself, 'The Deadest Magician Alive' because when he was a kid, he was pronounced dead & woke up in the hospital morgue. He seemed to know everybody. We once worked a state fair together , and Minnie Pearle pulled up to say hello to him. Harry, myself, and kornelly Marionettes did a lot of joint mailings, and would split a booth at the Outdoor Showman's Association meetings in Pittsburgh.
There is a display of his equipment at Carnegie Mellon University. I probably have a dozen of his advertising pieces in my memorabilia collection.

I grew up near Pittsburgh and saw Harry do a few shows, he was performing at a shopping center.

Almost everybody who lived in or near Pittsburgh saw Harry work. He was a phenomenon.
Harry used a piano playing chicken in his act. One day he got a call from a farmer's trade show somewhere near Carlisle. They didn't want to hire him, they wanted the chicken. He really got ticked off.