From: RealtoReelRecording [mailto:gjohnson@cham-cor.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2001 8:21 AM
To: Michaels, Gary
Cc: Kathy Scarbury; Dave Dowds; cgolla1@netzero.net; Dave Bell; Kenna Thompson; Mark McMullen;Harold Whipps;Ed Solomon
Subject: Loss of a friend

I'm saddened to announce the passing of our friend George Kirkendall II. He went peacefully yesterday after being hospitalized for pneumonia and ulcers. I sent an earlier message that didn't show going through. Services and showing hours to be made later today. He will be at Deyo-Davis Funeral Home, 1578 West First Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43212, (614) 486-2445. I'll let you know of final arrangements later on. Gaylord

And with that brief and simple email my entire world changed.

My eldest magical friend had left this world and moved on to whatever plane awaits us all. I'd just returned from a wedding in Florida and had to re-pack my bag and hop right into the car in order to make it on time to Columbus and the aforementioned viewing from the Detroit-area suburbs.

I didn't think I was ready to write this eulogy but I'll say this: during the 28 years I had the honor of knowing him, George was the single finest magical craftsman I ever saw. His reels, coins, locks, boxes and one of a kind pieces are the stuff of which many in our craft can only dream. George was an expert teacher whom I met when I was just 18. He took me under his wing immediately and equally quickly introduced me to my best friend in or out of magic, Tim Moore. During said teachings, GK was just as likely to thwap you on the back of the hand as he was to kiss your forehead -- but it was all with love. He was easily among the greatest performers magic has ever known, meticulous to a fault, fiery red hair blazing and eyes gleaming with that tiny hint of a grin just playing about his lips while he raped you with one of his small miracles.

George's passing was thankfully as quick as his wit.

Kirk was likely the only man or woman EVER blackballed from joining an IBM Ring (although I can think of several dozen who deserved that fate). He blamed my other mentor, the equally-late Jim Wheeler, for the deed. While Jim had nothing but disdain for GK's brash, aloof demeanor, his legendary womanizing or his ballsy -- I *dare* you to catch me, you little worm! -- magic, he always denied blackballing George. I'm not so sure. Wheeler was probably the most honorable man in magic I've ever known well. Best friend to U.F. (Gen) Grant. Confidante of Dai Vernon, Blackstone and most of the greats from the '30s on. The consummate gentleman performer. The Columbus organization (Ring 7) even named their group after him and his pal BJ McGory.

Sorry. Just had to get that in. But back to George ;)

The viewing was eventful: GK was in white tie and tails, Gaylord had brought a top hat, wand, crystal ball and a deck of Fox Lake-backed cards for the display next to Kirk's casket. I added one of my decks of Tally-Ho #9s, from which all were invited to select a card at random, sign it with a Sharpie and return it to the pack. The magicians present then shuffled the pack together before placing the deck next to George.



The coolest aspect from all of this was that I'd arrived at George's house from the Detroit suburbs and approached Gaylord with an idea. Gaylord, who'd handled all of the garbage surrounding GK's past two years (read on, McFluff), suggested that we short-corner the 5 of Diamonds in the Tally~Ho deck... this was George's signature short -- the dude could work for more than an hour for hard-core magicians with a short 5D and leave them gasping: I've witnessed this on at least two dozen occasions. So we did.

The viewing, which was well-attended by notables like Howard Flint's brother, Haines' House of Cards' Bill Winzig and our old Magic Hobby Club-mates Tim Moore, Carroll Baker, Al Thatcher, Harry Zavitz, Ken Crosby, Nick LaPolla, Mark McMullen and a few fellows whose names escape me as we'd just met. Notable absences included very old Kirk pals Jack Gould, Nick Trost & Jamie Kurtz. None of us thought to call Kenny Klosterman (or "Klosterphobe," as Kirk affectionately called him), Kenna Thompson, Gertner (GK made all of his reels) or others. Time was too tight.

George's family was quite amazing, very cool folks who'd come in from California and who really respected Kirk's craft and those of us he'd taught in those long sessions.

Late in the viewing, the Masons held a beautiful service (GK was a 32nd Degree Mason, which he accomplished -- astonishingly -- in ONE YEAR)... following the Masonic service, we magicians gathered and worked out arrangements for a Broken Wand service for George, which his family had wanted and which Tim and I had discussed when Kirk initially fell gravely ill in 2000.

When the funeral home closed, we dropped by George's favorite watering hole: Columbus' Red Door Tavern, where much magic was performed in Kirk's honor. Toasts appropriately abounded as well.

Tim and I stayed up late reworking the Broken Wand ceremony downloaded from the IBM's site; the next morning, before the actual funeral service, we performed the Broken Wand ceremony, with Tim doing the reading and Ken (who'd made the wand the previous night, as none of us had thought to bring an inexpensive wand to the funeral) doing the breaking.

I did the crying.

Then it was off to the burial which was emotional but very fast. After that, Kirk's family invited the few remaining magicians retired back to George's home for eats, drinks and more reminiscing about the master.

They also let each of us select a few items of what was left of George's reels, drum tubes, small gimmicks he'd manufactured during those incredibly long hours in his basement workshop and other items for our own collections.

Thank you George. Special thanks to George's family for the magic they allowed me to take home, which Kirk had wanted me to have as previously specified... INCLUDING the 10" Rings 'n Things rings I've been looking for for more than a year. And George's RnT Mini-Monti Combo Cups. And his multiplying billiard balls & House of Fakini tournament golf balls with loads (the latter two of which were passed on to Tim Moore), all of those REELS (including a mint GK Double Reel), the two 100-foot Silk King Studios silk streamers -- I was with Kirk when he bought them at a convention from Harold Rice himself, the few P&L, Frakson & other small gimmicks & fekes which he used so well, and did I mention the RINGS? It will be my deepest honor to use and display these beautiful props for the remainder of my life.

This next part gets a little -- no, the word is REALLY -- weird.

After all of us had left, including the family, some (there's really no other way to put this, so skip to the next paragraph if vulgarity offends you) complete asshole backed his vehicle up to Kirk's door, loading it a few times with GK's remaining items -- making at least two trips to do so -- and driving away.

Initially I was told by a neighbor that it was Ken Crosby, whom I'd never met before that weekend and to to whom I owe a huge apology, because I'd blamed him for the deed on this page since I first wrote all of this up several years ago.

But when I look back, it seemed odd that virtually all of George's "important" things were missing, and I was among the first ones there so I saw this firsthand. His prized beat-up close-up case, with all of his signature props (including the tiny mouse which I've been asked about dozens of times over the years), most of his library -- which was unrivaled in the Columbus area at the time -- including the Harbin book, all of the first-edition Greater Magic & Hoffman books and other tomes on apparatus of that era, first-edition books on or by Erdnase, Ramsay, Vernon, Bertram and all of the giants. An automaton he'd been repairing for Ken Klosterman, worth tens of thousands of dollars. The last existing finished copies of his now-nearly legendary "Philosopher's Stone." It just made no sense.

George had helped conceive the Magic Hobby Club with early superstar mentalist Bob Nelson in the early '60s. Following Nelson's death, I believe Kirk continued it as sort of an anti-Ring 7 option for Columbus magicians. Members in the early '70s included myself, Tim, FFFF favorite Del Copley, Bill Krech, most of the younger IBM guys and more than a few of the older ones.

And while Kirk was a lifetime member of the IBM, he was, to the best of anyone's knowledge, the only person EVER blackballed from membership to any local Ring in history! This is a long story which I will one day write, but suffice to say that George and his MHC brought Del Ray, Earl Ray Wilcox, Danny Tong, Shimada, Bob Downey, Rick Johnsson, Dai Vernon and others to town, while the Ring (of which I was also a member) did picnics and hospital appearances.

The reason I mention this is because GK's magic library was to become part of the MHC's permanent library.

I've since come to believe that George's friend -- literally his lifelong buddy, who sat next to him all those hours, threading reels as fast as Kirk could put them together -- was the one responsible for the disappearance of his entire library, the completed Philosopher's Stone illusions, his close-up case, cups, die box, Zombie, "good" silks and pretty much everything else of value.

Many of these items have been seen in Gaylord's home in the intervening years so there's really little doubt. It makes sense, as the idiot nephew Clayton would have no use for this stuff and more importantly, wouldn't know how to get rid of it.

In 2001, at Gaylord's request, I helped him get in touch with my friend Jon LeClair (at the time, the foremost worker with invisible thread), as both were interested in assembling the components of the thousands of unfinished reels which were still in George's basement and selling them under the "GK Reels" banner. LeClair actually went so far as to take out really cool, very basic (black line-art with the GK hallmark in a circle on an otherwise blank background) FULL PAGE ADS in Genii & MAGIC, along with setting up a "coming soon" gkreels.com web site -- all of this with his own money. I don't know if you've priced full page ads in these publications but be assured that they weren't cheap.

A few months later, Jon called and asked me if I'd heard from Gaylord as he'd been unable to reach him. Being in MI, I hadn't. Needless to say, the whole deal fell through (sounds sort of like my involvement as co-founder of RnT II but that's a story I'll have to write a book about).

I'm not sure that Gaylord's even alive anymore, as he had to have been in his '80s last time I saw him and was in very poor health -- at the 2002 MagiFest, where he was sitting at a table in the lobby with maybe a dozen or so reels. I didn't notice any buyers.

The whole point of this is that it wouldn't shock me in the least if Gaylord was the culprit in all of this -- friend or no friend. Strange indeed. Money, or at least the possibility of it, changes people. Particularly if the victim can't do anything about it, as he's rotting away in a Columbus grave. And once again, my sincere apologies for having blamed you, Ken.

Sorry for that little detour, but it needed clearing up.

Back to George's passing: more than a little improbably, master manipulator Earl Ray Wilcox, with whom Kirkendall had worked many a magic convention, died the very same day (!) that Kirk did. Unreal. Then Irv Tannen passed away two days later...

I love you George. Rest in whichever piece or, knowing you, pieces you select (at random, no doubt and yes, that's quite an inside joke).

The GK quote which keeps coming back to me is simply this:

"When kids come up to me at magic conventions and ask what's cool and new, I turn the tables and ask them 'what can you show me that's cool and old?'"

This nice obit was from the Magic Times' Headline News, October 6, 2001: "George W. Kirkendall, who manufactured the finest Reels in magic, died on Sep. 29 at the age of 69. Kirkendall was best known in the Bizarre Magick circles for a routine he used to perform where the skin would apparently melt off his face until only a skeleton would remain (note from me: this was called The Philosopher's Stone). He performed this at a number of magic conventions and later marketed the routine on an exclusive basis. Often while attending a magic convention he would hold private demonstrations in his hotel room for prospective purchasers. Kirkendall also wrote "Magic You Like To See" and the "The Care And Feeding Of A Reel." Services were held on Tuesday Oct. 2 and a Graveside service took place on Wednesday at Glen Rest Cemetery in Columbus, OH.(10/6)"

I'm guessing that George's good friend and Bizarre Magick compadre Eugene Burger penned this (I'd left a message for Eugene, telling him the sad news the night I found out).

What follows is a series of updates on George I wrote in 2000 while he was sick: Late in 1999 one of Trudy's (his widow's) greedy nephews -- named Clayton Miller -- essentially put him under house arrest in a retirement home in an effort to acquire Kirkendall's money, magic, workshop and whatever else he could wedge his chubby fingers into. This is essentially what, and who, eventually killed GK.

Only George would appreciate my calling his late wife Trudy "his widow." If you know Kirk and would like to wish him well, please click here to drop him a line or three. From the moment I first heard of all of this, I've been speaking with him regularly and can assure you that he's as lucid as ever and yearns to get back to the profession.

GK's lifelong friend Gaylord Johnson, who led the charge for George's total freedom and continues to pull all the legal strings available to have George's possessions returned to him, has gone so far to yank George out of this odd situation that we really have to give sincere thanks to him.

On June 19, 2000, this great news came in from Gaylord:

From: "gjohnson@cham-cor.com
To: "GARY MICHAELS"
Subject: George is home!
Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2000 16:10:28 -0400

George is home! He doing just fine and is glad to be out of the nursing home. The gal staying with him name is Suzy. He doesn't have his home phone in as yet but I got him a cell phone for emergencies. His new phone will be (614) 486-1925 it will be installed this coming Friday (note from me: the phone is now installed ~ I encourage you to use it). I'll pass on his cell number later on today. It's been a long hard battle to win his independence, and there's a lot more to do. His nephew hasn't paid his bills, and hasn't returned his car or anything else! I guess he just wants to dig his hole a little deeper. George has come a long way but still needs help, hopefully not forever, but only time will tell. Suzy is going to do all his driving for a while, (I hated to ride with George when he had all his wits about him) he's listening to me and his helper. She's had nursing home care experience. She is big enough to kick his ass if he doesn't behave! It would be nice of you to give him a call, or stop in and visit. He needs encouragement, friendship, guidance to help him find direction in his life. I'm trying to get him interested in magic, his shop, or anything to occupy his mind. He's coherent, sharp as ever but with no place to go. I believe being home and among friends will aid in getting him firing on all eight cylinders. So do your best to keep in contact with him and help him make the trip into his golden years, golden.

Your friend in Magic, Gaylord.

So George finally got the rare "another chance." We all really need to jump in and help the red~head get back into the groove. He seems to really want to be prodded. Must be that new home health care nurse ;)

(8/18/01 Update) As I've noted, I've been in frequent contact with Kirk since his "release" and while he was doing ok for a time, he's fading fast; Suzy's keeping him alive and Gaylord's trying to get the Kirkendall line back up and running on his own. We shall see, but it doesn't look good for Kirk -- Laura and I visited him on August 12 and found a 100 year old man who recognized me only with that Kirkendall twinkling wink. His fiery red hair now pure white, his strong build now literally skin and bones, his quick wit totally gone: George was barely able to utter a word.

Two weeks later he was *much* better, talking nearly normally on the phone, taking a trip to Taft, CA, etc. So it's off and on; he'd LOVE to hear from any magicians by phone: 614-486-1925... GIVE HIM A CALL!

Prayers to you my friend. George, I owe you so much. You brought me to Fechter's. You invited me into the inner circle. You introduced me to Tim. You taught me Andrus' linking pins, then built me a Kirkendall set of them. You made my reels (and more than a few for Gertner, Henning and others). You stamped a few amazing things with your perfectly~duplicated P&L stamp ;) ~ You created the only set of GK aluminum dice (including the load) on the planet for me, with that GK stamp... You are, in short, the man. Now FIGHT THIS THING! Get off your ass, move said ass back into your workshop, break out the milling tools and start putting together that new Okito coin box for me.

Here's one of Kirk's mid~'60s publicity flyers and the back (the autograph bled through)...

Here's one of his reels:



A comparison of George's utility reel with that of P&L:



All three of his most common reels: the vest reel, the double reel and the utility reel (from the front/top):



And the same three from the back/bottom:



George's "The Care and Feeding of a Reel"...







These are the killer solid aluminum dice (with final load) he made for me, all are GK stamped -- the scan blows but these are gorgeous (his GK stamp is on each "2"):



And the Linking Pins with the unheard-of finale -- even Andrus loved it:





Here's George's set list from his final "parlour" performance (he was 67 at the time):



In order, the tricks were (in case you can't read the above):

01. Flash Silk Production
02. Squircle (GK's lingo for "square circle," of course)
03. Firebowl
04. Die Box
05. Bongoloonie
06. Miracle Glasses and Gizmo Glass
07. Cigarette Manipulations
08. Billiard Balls/Golf Balls Manipulations
09. Needled Balloon
10. Grandma's Beads & Wrist Tie
11. Dr. Faust's Lock (this is the one-of-a-kind original Germaine Lock that Kenny Klosterman's been begging to acquire, which was willed to Tim Moore -- Tim performed it at our wedding rehearsal dinner)
12. Silk to Egg
13. Cut & Restored Rope
14. Burnt Bank Nite & Fogel's Method
15. Out of My Hat
16. Jumbo Rising (cards)
17. KO Vanish (?)
18. Newspaper Vanish
19. Chinese Gong Production (we never found this prop)
20. Temple Screen (venerable Gen Grant item)
21. Spot Card
22. Lemore's Stop & Go Trick
23. Floral Growth (Ho Marshall's -- never found this either)
24. Zombie




Here comes the spooky (Philosopher's Stone-type) stuff: I just unfolded the above set list (2/25/03) and found the below on the back:



What's above is the monthly letter George used to send us, notifying the members of the Magic Hobby Club of the happenings coming up. I must have dozens of these in my magic room but I've not yet found them. By the way, the Desert Inn, where we held our meetings, was the short-lived residence of the Columbus Playboy Club.

There are a few reasons the above are creepy:

A. It's from February, 1978 -- as you just read (presuming you bothered to do so), that was just after the infamous "Blizzard of '78" in Columbus; for me, that meant doing a 360-degree donut on a busy freeway on the way home without incident or accident (this was of course when I lived there). As mentioned, attendance at MagiFest that weekend, when Don Tanner used to run it, was perhaps 250 total -- that compares with 1,000+ this year (2003) and the latter figure may be plus spouses -- or "spice," as Kirk called the wives.

B. It mentions the late Bob Downey as the featured entertainer at our upcoming Ladies' Night -- Bob was about as great as they came back then (although the incredible Del Ray was the headliner a year earlier: ever lug *that* table of his into his station wagon? It took FOUR of us manly men to pull it off): Downey was hilarious, skilled, and a cool guy. Another who died way too young. I still have one of his table-tents, with a pic of "the girl who has something extra" -- ummm... a third breast (before Ahh-nold used it in the film, "Total Recall").

C. The newsletter announces the wedding of one Del Copley to Jayne Gebert. Here come the ghouls.

Del was among my best magical friends at the time -- a premier cardman who could slash magicians. I'm only finding out now that Copley was being published in the underground periodicals of the time, as I'm finally re~perusing the history of our craft (Del's the one who taught me Sachs' "14 the Hard Way," and whose instructions and diagrams I still have jotted down on the back of a paper bag, from all those years ago); Del, Bill Krech (now one of the "redcoats" at MagiFest) and I used to leave magic meetings (either Ring 7 or MHC), head to the nearest bar and slay patrons for tips or drinks. I was 23, Bill was 21 and Del was 26. This was pretty much before the age of table-hopping.

At any rate, Del never told us that he was engaged (let alone invited us to the wedding). So I walk into my day job one day -- and my boss, who was (likely still *is*) Scottish, asks me if I know a magician named Del Copley." "Indeed I do," say I -- "We see one another each Friday, working on new effects and whatnot." "Well, we attended his wedding on Saturday," says the boss. "Very nice it was." Turns out that the boss's wife was a close friend of the bride's mother, so they were invited and not we.

Del and Jayne's marriage lasted a year or so (were the circumstances of said wedding above a foreboding of this?); one hopes not, but there it is.

Del lasted only a few more. He died (of leukemia, if memory serves, and if not, I do recall it being a terrible death, laying alone in a hospital bed, unable to move but still talking about Marlo, Vernon and the greats) a few years later. I didn't leave Columbus until 1983 so it had to have been before then. Krech, Tim and I visited him in the hospital when we could. As always, it was never enough. Jayne didn't attend Del's funeral. Del was one of magic's true greats: low-key, never seeking the limelight, could perform any move you'd ever even heard of, without fanfare. A serious student of the craft but, more importantly, an active participant. He would've been Ron Bauer today, had he lived.

So Kirk, even in death, yanks me back to reality, and the ways of the world. Odd, how that happens.



Here's my little tribute to my friend, in a corner of my magic room:





I love you and miss you, dude. Keep working that short, and enjoy eternity with your good friend Duke. And say hi to Karrel for me ;)

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