Magician Fred Keating

Today is the birthday of magician Fred Keating (1897-1961). When he was eight years old he saw Buatier de Kolta perform, and this is what gave him the idea he wanted to go into magic. Years later Keating would include De Kolta’s Vanishing Birdcage routine in his act. He apprenticed with Howard Thurston and went off on his own in 1915. He performed in vaudeville through the 1920s. From 1934 through 1940 he worked as an actor in 15 Hollywood movies as an actor (and sometimes as a magician) in addition to his magic career. Here he is with Joe E. Brown and  Edgar Kennedy in the 1937 film When’s Your Birthday?

To learn more history about the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

And don’t missmy new bookChain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, just released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc