This unique biography details the life of magician Marshall Brodien, most remembered for his long-running career as television’s Wizzo the Wizard on WGN-TV’s Bozo’s Circus and The Bozo Show. Coverage begins in the late 1940s, when Brodien was a young magician in his first job as a Chicago magic shop demonstrator, then recounts Brodien’s steady rise to show-business success, including details of his work as a performer at the Magic Lounge in Cicero and, as a nightclub hypnotist in Chicago’s posh Cairo Supper Club. The work concludes with an examination of Brodien’s current career as one of the most successful marketers of magic sets in the U.S.

Magazine editor John Moehring lives in Henderson, Nevada.

John Moehring

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 271
Bibliographic Info: 57 photos, index
Copyright Date: 2007
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3182-3
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8395-2
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      v
Preface      1

1. Whatever Happened to Wizzo?      3
2. Sellers of the Secrets      9
3. Riverview Park      20
4. First Pitch on the Tube      31
5. Odd Fellows and a Tall Tale      34
6. Cicero, the Mob, and Beyond      38
7. Trouping with an Alligator      50
8. Carnival Knowledge      56
9. Abracadabra, You’re Drafted      63
10. A Spell of Hypnosis      68
11. Straitjackets and Shenanigans      74
12. Nightclub Necromancer      88
13. The Cairo      98
14. Bozo’s Circus      108
15. New Girlfriend and a Prize Fight      113
16. Pass on the Playboy      120
17. Presto! Less Hypno      123
18. Taking on Trade Shows      130
19. The Mike Douglas Show      136
20. A Movie and a Trip to the Moon      141
21. Doody, Doody, Do      144
22. TV Magic Cards      150
23. Eicoff Enters the Scene      162
24. Friends in the Biz      167
25. The Best Partner Is No Partner      173
26. Old Chicago      178
27. The Restaurateur      181
28. Visit from the FBI      188
29. DBA Marshall Brodien Magic Co.      192
30. Circus Daze Over      196
31. Home Shopping      200
32. Ships Ahoy      203
33. Mansion for Sale      205
34. A New Bozo      207
35. Check, Please!      210
36. ToTo’s      214
37. Ventures in Toyland      217
38. Viva Las Vegas      225
39. A Shot at Producing      230
40. Marshall Meets his Match      234
41. Magic Boom of the ’90s      239
42. Farewell to 40 Years of Fun      245
43. Sh-h-h-h… It’s a Secret      250
44. Pressing On      254

Index      259