Bobby Baxter back in the day?

[David Regal]

Bobby Baxter once told me that there was video of him as a young man performing on TV floating around. Does anyone out there have it? I'd love to see it. Bobby is an original.

[Richard Kaufman]

There's a videotape of him performing on Ed Sullivan.

[David Regal]

Where can I see it, Mr. Partial Answer?

[Richard Kaufman]

Uh .... Bobby Baxter's apartment?

[Matthew Field]

I have such great memories of Bobby Baxter, whom I befriended in New York. I was talking about him a few days ago with Pat Page and we agreed he had (and probably still has) one of the funniest acts ever.

Bobby's "Standing Ovation Act" is a thing of beauty -- funny and magical.

Bobby used to call me up when I was at work and we'd spend some time either reminiscing or I'd listen to him complain about something or someone. I'd always call him "Professor Baxter" or simply "Professor", and I think he liked that.

If anyone on the Forum sees him, please send him my best regards from England.

Matt Field

[Kevin Connolly]

Was he the MC for the World's Festival of Magic and The Occult?

[John Smetana]

I recall that he was the MC for one of the shows Kevin..

[Kevin Connolly]

I thought so. When I worked at Tannen's, Irv gave me tickets to the show. Bobby was asking everyone that he needed a ticket for the show for someone, so I gave it to him. Irv flipped! His face was red as his hair. :mad: He knew Bobby had comp tickets and couldn't believe he would take them from me. Needless to say, Irv had a couple of more for me. I did get a good finger beating though. :blush:

[MaxNY]

I've got him doing something...somewhere. If I recall, it was on some Comedy Club type show during the Mid 80's...interested?

[Jim Maloney]

Random encounter: About a year ago my aunt was visiting some friends in the city. Her friends were giving her a tour of the rooftop garden in their apartment complex. As they were finishing up and getting on the elevator to go down, an elderly man asked if he could get into the elevator with them, as he was nearly blind. Under his arm was a copy of Magic magazine. He explained that there was an article on him in the magazine and that he had won an award out in Hollywood. He did a few card tricks for them and talked to them for a while. My aunt said that he seemed to enjoy the company and if they hadn't had anything else to do, they probably would have stayed with him for a while.

Turns out that it was Bobby Baxter.

David, if you need to get in touch with him, I have his contact info somewhere. I had spoken to him a couple of years ago in relation to my work on Leipzig, since there was some contention about the thimble routine published in the Vernon book. Like my aunt, I got the feeling that he enjoyed having someone to talk to, and our conversation meandered in and out of main subject. Seemed like a very nice guy -- I've unfortunately never seen him perform, though I have only heard good things about him.

-Jim

[Adrian Kuiper]

In the late 70's, maybe early 80's, Ricciardi Jr had a show running in the Village. I don't recall the venue. Anyhow, one Sunday afternoon I stopped in to see it. Also on the bill was the aforementioned Bobby Baxter. I remember his act as being very, very entertaining....lots of laughs....and the audience enjoyed it. For me, however, it was a somewhat different thing. I had happened to sit in the first row and so was asked to assist. I don't recall the routine, but I stood at the side of the stage and held a hat outstretched for what seemed like 3 hours. It wasn't but that's what it felt like. I laughed also.
A funny bit that I enjoyed, but can't remember. (Like this mornings breakfast!!!)

Adrian

[Pete Biro]

I saw him work the Village Gate in NYC many moons ago and he was fantastic, and very funny.

[David Regal]

What I'd be most interested in seeing are his old B&W appearances on TV, but everything's good.

[IngridSpangler]

Hi all,

I have the good fortune to be a neighbor and best friend to Professor Bobby Baxter. I met him about a year ago and have seen or talked to him almost every day since.

He's doing great, although is pretty much completely blind at this point. He still works, doing close up in restaurants and night clubs.

Feel free to send me any messages you'd like conveyed, I can put you in touch with Bobby, he's always happy to talk magic with anyone. Also, he has lots of tapes of his act, if you can wrangle an invitation to his apartment, he'll show you. Actually he'll make you watch them. ;)

Ingrid