Tonight on MeTV- the great Vincent Price portrays a prestidigitator who combines his talents for magic and make-up with mimicry and murder- as the curtain goes up on “The Mad Magician”!
In this 1954 magical mystery movie, Gallico the Great, a master creator of illusions, is prepared to finally step on stage himself, to present a new and wondrous trick- “The Lady and the Buzzsaw”! Gallico enhances his performance by donning make-up and imitating a rival magician headliner, Renaldi- and he’s pulling it off splendidly- but then, suddenly, the curtain abruptly comes down just as he’s about to do the buzzsaw illusion! It turns out to be the doing of his boss at the company where he creates the tricks, one Ross Ormond, who’s accompanied by -the REAL Renaldi! Ormond states that, by Gallico’s contract, anything he creates- even on his own time- belongs to Ormond! This is not the first nasty thing the boss has done to Gallico- it turns out that he also wooed away his wife, who is attracted to money like a moth to a flame!
It’s all heading down hill, with future bookings of Gallico are being withdrawn- which seems like a sneaky coincidence with the situation with his boss Ormond who drives Gallico to his limit- and beyond. The magician has Ormond act as assistant in a cutting-edge trick which brings the curtain down on the evil man’s life! Now- how can he make the evidence disappear?
Things are complicated by the appearance of Gallico’s young assistant from his act, Karen- who just so happens to be dating (ahem) a police lieutenant . Gallico uses his incredible talents of mimicry and disguise to take on the identity of another, while continuing to invent amazing new stage illusions. The crafty rival Renaldi continues to snoop, ready to claim any new trick for himself- while endeavoring to find out the truth about the whereabouts of Gallico’s boss- and then- Gallico’s ex-wife re-appears to add to the mayhem!
This movie was the follow-up to Vincent’s success in “House of Wax”- we’ll tell you a few things these two films have in common- and, though this one is in black and white, Vincent certainly continues to create colorful characters! We’ll introduce you to the cast members, including “Green Acres” favorite Eva Gabor, and give you a full roster of Sven fun- including a visit from Tombstone, who has a magic trick of his own. I play – or TRY to play-“Who Wants to Be a Magician”?! We also have a visit from our friend, noted make-up and effects artist Michael Burnett, who tells how Vincent’s make-ups were created! As always, Gwengoolie comes in to have her say, there’s a song, and we encore our interview with the great Lance Henrikson, as well as a few other blasts from the past.
“The Mad Magician” mysteriously appears on MeTV tonight at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central, or check your local listings, or at www.metv.com for time and channel . The “live-Tweeting” continues every Saturday night during the show on Twitter, with the Sven show trending high nationally- MeTV invites you to join in, using the hashtag #svengoolie . This morning, local Chicago area viewers get a scaly encore of “Cult of The Cobra” at 11 am on The U, previously known as CW26.
Make sure you keep an eye on our store here on our website- the anniversary merchandise will keep on coming! Look for something especially exciting coming this fall!
Tonight- join us for tragic magic with Vincent Price, who makes people disappear- and then reappear- but NOT in the way most magicians do !
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Later she said Adam was always a "perfect gentleman" to her.
DrFish and KodakKid for last night’s nod to Glenn Strange’s Birthday ( just catching up ) ~
He was quite the Cowboy , and Monster , in many films ~ and of course , one fine Barkeep 🤠
