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Draft:Preston the Magician

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Draft:Preston Slusher)
Preston
Window card for "Preston the Hypnotist"
Born
William Preston Slusher Jr.

(1915-05-06)May 6, 1915
Straight Creek, Pineville, Kentucky, U.S.
DiedApril 17, 1994(1994-04-17) (aged 78)
Sarasota, Florida, U.S.
Resting place
Pineville, Kentucky
Other namePreston the Magician
OccupationsMagician, stage hypnotist
Years activec. 1937–1991
Known forInternational President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians (1975–1976)
Spouses
  • Mildred Fuson (died 1987)
  • Jean Wild
Children3
Awards

William Preston Slusher Jr. (May 6, 1915 – April 17, 1994), known professionally as Preston and billed as Preston the Magician and Hypnotist, was an American stage magician and hypnotist from Pineville, Kentucky. His career of more than 50 years included stage, radio and television work and world tours;[1] he was performing as "Preston the Magician" by 1937[2] and retired in 1991,[3] toured widely on the school and college circuit in the southeastern United States,[4][5] and served as International President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians for 1975–1976.[6][7]

Early life

[edit]

Slusher was born on May 6, 1915, on Straight Creek near Pineville, Kentucky,[5][8] the only child of William Preston Slusher Sr., a merchant, lay minister and newspaper columnist, and Fannie Bell Bingham Slusher.[3][5] He later said that seeing the illusionist Harry Blackstone perform in Pineville made him want to become a magician.[3][4] He ordered magic courses and equipment, built a stage show, and while still young was performing in theaters around Eastern Kentucky; he later taught himself hypnotism.[5] By his freshman year of high school he was already giving shows,[1] and by the age of 20 he had made his professional debut.[9] He attended Union College in Barbourville, where he was president of the journalism club, but left before completing his degree to perform on the road.[3][1][9]

Career

[edit]

Early career and war service

[edit]
Slusher's World War II draft registration card, October 1940

By April 1937 The Billboard was reporting on "W. P. Slusher, Jr., known professionally as Preston the Magician", who was preparing to launch a magic show under a tent seating 2,000.[2] Later accounts date the start of his full-time professional career to 1940.[3] In 1942 he managed the Fryemont Theatre in Bryson City, North Carolina.[4] During World War II he served two years in the United States Army.[3] He was inducted as a private on May 4, 1943, at Cincinnati, Ohio, with his civilian occupation recorded as actor.[10] Later, as a sergeant, he was director of entertainment at Fort Meade, Maryland, where he booked and worked with performers including Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Zero Mostel and his friend Tex Ritter.[5] Ritter had visited Preston in Pineville in August 1939, shortly after Preston had been his guest in Hollywood.[11][12] Harry Blackstone awarded him the Blackstone Cup, given each year to the most promising young magician.[5][9] After the war he was the featured entertainer at a reception in Washington for General Henry "Hap" Arnold, marking Arnold's receipt of his fifth star.[3][1]

Touring

[edit]
Window card for a week at the Springhurst Nite Club, Lexington, Kentucky (1940s), with photos of Tex Ritter and Babe Ruth

After the war Preston returned to touring, adding schools to his schedule and performing at colleges and universities including Duke, Clemson, the University of Kentucky and the University of Tennessee.[5] On May 6, 1948, his 33rd birthday, Union College held a "Homecoming for Preston" and conferred on him a newly devised honorary degree, Doctor of Prestidigitation.[13][14] That month Governor Earle C. Clements also commissioned him a Kentucky colonel.[15][3] He was listed in Who's Who on the American Stage.[5][16] In June 1949 Parade ran a photo feature on his levitation illusion, in which an assistant floated on a platform with no visible supports; the magazine noted he had been performing for 13 years.[17] His touring show was often billed as the "Wonderful World of Fun".[18] In the Southeast he made frequent stops at Brevard College, played to an audience of about 6,000 at Clemson, and in September 1953 performed in Sylva, North Carolina, in a show organized by the local Lions Club.[4] He returned repeatedly to Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport, where Orlin Corey called him "without peer" as a performer; the student newspaper reported in 1963 that he had lectured on hypnotism to doctors and medical students at medical schools around the country.[16][19] Brevard College billed him in 1979 as "Preston the Miracle-ist"; his show combined a first half of magic with a second half of stage hypnosis using audience volunteers.[20]

Preston (right) receiving his honorary doctorate from Union College president Conway Boatman

At the request of researchers at Duke University, including the parapsychologist J. B. Rhine, Preston studied the effects of hypnosis on polygraph tests, and concluded that the polygraph could be fooled.[5][9] According to the Harrodsburg Herald, he also hosted a weekly live Sunday-evening television show on the Gulf South Network, originating in Augusta, Georgia.[5]

Pine Mountain and The Book of Job

[edit]
Postcard of The Book of Job at Laurel Cove, Pine Mountain State Park (1960s)

In the mid-to-late 1950s Preston and his wife Mildred managed Pine Mountain State Park in Pineville.[3][1] Noting that the park's natural amphitheater was used only once a year, for the Mountain Laurel Festival, he obtained the rights to The Book of Job, a biblical drama, for performance there, helped form the Kentucky Mountain Theatre Association, and served as the production's general manager for about two decades.[5][9] In 1962, as producer of The Book of Job, he was named to the newly formed Kentucky Council of Performing Arts.[21] He promoted tourism in the region, including the development of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.[3][18]

European tour

[edit]

In November 1963 Centenary College's student newspaper reported that Preston would leave on a world tour of Europe, Africa and Asia after his engagement there.[19] In the mid-1960s he made a nearly year-long tour of Europe, performing mostly at U.S. military bases.[5][22]

Morehead State University

[edit]
Preston performing at Morehead State University in 1981, his 25th annual appearance there

Preston appeared annually at Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky, usually in Button Auditorium. The university's 1981 yearbook described his spring performance as his 25th annual appearance on campus,[23] and noted a fall-semester show as his 24th.[24] In a 1990 interview with The Courier-Journal he cited 25 consecutive annual performances at Morehead State, and said there were few schools or colleges in Kentucky where he had not performed.[1] A 1979 newspaper report counted 23 Morehead State performances in 23 years, a record among the colleges that booked him.[20] The 1974 yearbook described a show in which seven volunteers, chosen from 35, were hypnotized on stage and "swatted mosquitoes, sang, and succeeded in making complete fools of themselves."[25] The 1982 yearbook recorded his "annual campus appearance" during Residence Hall Week in October 1981.[26] The university photographed his Button Auditorium shows on September 28, 1971; November 4, 1975; and October 16, 1980.[27]

International Brotherhood of Magicians

[edit]

Preston was a longtime member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. At its 1963 international convention in Knoxville he led a symposium for magicians and received the organization's 25-year membership pin.[28] By 1972 he sat on its board of directors and had been named International Ring Coordinator, a post the Sarasota Herald-Tribune described as second in responsibility only to the presidency.[29] He was International President for the 1975–1976 term, succeeding Charles Lantz and followed by Walter F. Williams Jr.[6][9][7] He and Mildred spent the year of his presidency on a world tour visiting the organization's local chapters ("Rings") in many countries.[5]

Other honors

[edit]

Governor Bert Combs named Preston a Kentucky Ambassador of Goodwill, and Sarasota, Florida, his second home, also named him a goodwill ambassador.[5][3] He entertained President Richard Nixon at a re-election rally and later performed for President Gerald Ford;[9] the Harrodsburg Herald adds Ronald Reagan.[5]

In 2009 he was posthumously given a Kentucky Star Award, which honors people who have made significant artistic contributions to Kentucky; his son accepted it at the Lexington Arts Center on April 9, 2009.[5][22]

Later life and death

[edit]

Preston retired in 1991.[3] Preston and Mildred settled in Sarasota, Florida, in the 1960s, dividing their time between Sarasota and Pineville.[29][9] He performed at Sarasota's Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, including as the opening act for Ray Bolger in January 1980; a local reviewer called him "a satisfying, and thoroughly mystifying, opening act".[30][31] In his later years he made many unpaid appearances at hospitals and nursing homes in the Sarasota area.[5] His first wife, Mildred, whom he married during World War II, died in 1987; he later married Jean Wild.[5][1] He died in Sarasota on April 17, 1994, at the age of 78, several days after suffering a stroke. He was survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. His funeral was held at Bighamtown Baptist Church in Middlesboro, and he was buried in Pineville.[1] A memorial service was held in the grand foyer of the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.[9]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "[Obituary of William Preston Slusher Jr.]". The Courier-Journal. Louisville, Kentucky. April 20, 1994.
  2. 1 2 "[Magic column]". The Billboard. Vol. 49, no. 15. April 10, 1937.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Baker, William (October 17, 2017). "Pineville's Preston: A memorable magician". Middlesboro Daily News. Retrieved September 25, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Buchanan, Jim (September 13, 2023). "Vanishing acts: Tale of the traveling magician/hypnotist". The Sylva Herald. Retrieved September 25, 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 "Local man to accept father's Star Award". The Harrodsburg Herald. Harrodsburg, Kentucky. March 19, 2009. p. 2C.
  6. 1 2 "Past International Presidents". International Brotherhood of Magicians. Retrieved September 25, 2026.
  7. 1 2 "International Brotherhood of Magicians". Magicpedia. Genii Magazine. Retrieved September 25, 2026.
  8. ↑ "William P. Slusher, draft registration card, October 16, 1940". World War II Draft Registration Cards for Kentucky, 1940–1947. National Archives at St. Louis. Record Group 147, box 589 – via Ancestry.com.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Ferrara, Katherine (April 21, 1994). "Preston Slusher's career had magical overtones". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Sarasota, Florida. p. 4B – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "William P. Slusher Jr., serial number 35800643". World War II Army Enlistment Records (Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938–1946). National Archives and Records Administration. NAID 1263923 – via Ancestry.com.
  11. ↑ "Tex Ritter Visits Preston". Three States. Middlesboro, Kentucky. August 10, 1939. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Tex Ritter Visits City". The Mountain Advocate. Barbourville, Kentucky. August 11, 1939. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Preston To Receive Honorary Degree". The Corbin Daily Tribune. Corbin, Kentucky. April 26, 1948. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ Ladd, Bill (May 5, 1948). "Bill Ladd's Almanac". The Courier-Journal. Louisville, Kentucky. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "More Kentucky Colonels Named". The Kentucky Post. Covington, Kentucky. May 4, 1948. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. 1 2 "Jongleurs To Present Famous Hypnotist". Centenary Conglomerate. Shreveport, Louisiana. October 28, 1963. p. 4.
  17. ↑ "[Photo feature on Preston the Magician]". Parade. June 19, 1949. p. 5.
  18. 1 2 Baker, William (November 4, 2017). "Preston the magician". Claiborne Progress. Retrieved September 25, 2026.
  19. 1 2 "Preston the Hypnotist to Appear Nov. 7, 8 and 9". Centenary Conglomerate. Shreveport, Louisiana. November 4, 1963. p. 4.
  20. 1 2 "Famed Magician To Perform At Brevard College". The Transylvania Times. Brevard, North Carolina. September 27, 1979. p. 6.
  21. ↑ "Extension of remarks of Hon. Frank Thompson Jr". Congressional Record. 108. Appendix. March 26, 1962.
  22. 1 2 "Slusher to receive Kentucky Star Award". The Advocate-Messenger. Danville, Kentucky. March 22, 2009. p. C1 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ Raconteur. Morehead State University. 1981. p. 49.
  24. ↑ Raconteur. Morehead State University. 1981. p. 288.
  25. ↑ Raconteur. Morehead State University. 1974. p. 34.
  26. ↑ Raconteur. Morehead State University. 1982. p. 32.
  27. ↑ "Morehead State Concert and Lecture Series Image Collection". Morehead State University, Office of Communications & Marketing. Retrieved September 25, 2026.
  28. ↑ "Preston Slusher Conducts Symposium For Magicians". Pineville Sun. Pineville, Kentucky. July 11, 1963. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. 1 2 Griffith, Helen (September 22, 1972). "Preston Slusher Often Honored Magician". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Sarasota, Florida. p. 4B – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ↑ "[Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall advertisement: Ray Bolger, also on the program Preston the Magician]". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Sarasota, Florida. January 13, 1980. p. 9A – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ↑ Stockbridge, Dorothy (January 18, 1980). "'Scarecrow' charms fans of all ages". Sarasota Journal. Sarasota, Florida. p. 3B – via Newspapers.com.
[edit]

Category:1915 births Category:1994 deaths Category:American magicians Category:American hypnotists Category:People from Pineville, Kentucky Category:Union College (Kentucky) alumni Category:United States Army personnel of World War II Category:United States Army non-commissioned officers Category:Kentucky colonels

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