In 1976 or so there was advertised an auction of the magical effects of Tampa the Magician.  Tampa was the successor to Howard Thurston the Magician, who was one of the great national roadshow magicians who did shows in all the great cities.  One of his--Thurston's--greatest tricks was the hat trick.  Tampa inherited Thurston's show so that is one of Howard Thurston's hats from his famous effect, which was producing hats.  I saw that the auction was being advertised in a suburb of Pittsburgh, and I was on a Wabash trip and  worked it out to stop at Pittsburgh.  I went to the auction which was one of the most interesting experiences I've ever had.  I wanted to have something to take back from it so I bought that, and in fact bought quite a bit of other stuff, smaller things, which when we moved here we realized we needed to get rid of.  I found a guy in Arizona who bought antique magic stuff so I sent it to him and he never paid me.  One of them I was just heartbroken to lose and even offered to buy back from him, was a thing for the Luxor Mummy, because the Luxor Mummy was one of the things that made Thurston famous.  He had a mummy in the lobby when he would do a show and he had a wireless radio in it--this was before radio had really been developed--and you could go up and whisper a question and the Luxor Mummy would answer you.  Thurston's  version of the Talking Frog.

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Thaddeus 5/11/18