George Boston Question

[Kevin Connolly]

I picked up a photo of Tony Curtis doing a card trick with another person. I think it may be George Boston. Does anyone here know for sure? The link is below.

Tony Curtis & The Mystery Man

Thanks,

Kevin

[Guest]

Not George Boston, don't know who it is though...

[Guest]

This is, mind, just a guess. A "Mike Milton" served, in addition to Dunninger, on the Tony Curtis version of HOUDINI as a magic consultant.

While this could be Mr. Curtis showing a card trick to virtually anyone, my guess, given the surrounding paraphernalia, is that this might just be Mr. Milton.

At present, I've been unable to locate any additional photos of Milton to confirm or deny this.

Greg Edmonds

[Kevin Connolly]

I knew of Dunninger, Boston and Larsen working on the film, but I never read of a "Milton" being mentioned. Unless you meant "Milton The Mysterious". ;)

[Guest]

Not to hijack your thread, Kevin, but does anyone know if George Boston's son is still among the corporeal? If so, how about contact info (privately, of course!)

[Guest]

Kevin. I found one obscure reference to Milton, but can't back it up anywhere else, so it appears my previous post was in error. A Mark Milton acted as actor / magic coach on at least one other more modern film (Billy Bathgate, maybe?). In any event, I think the other reference I found had him mixed up with the Curtis Houdini movie.

Greg

[Guest]

Kevin, I think the man in the photograph with Tony Curtis is the great film maker Stanley Kubrick who directed him in Spartacus. The photo looks as if it was taken during the making of the movie in which Curtis did some magic.

[Kevin Connolly]

Andy,

I just looked at some Kubrick photos and they don't look similar to me. From the hair to glasses, I can't see the similarities. Maybe it's just me.

Thanks for reviving this thread........Kevin

[Guest]

Kevin, Kubrick was 32 when he made Spartacus and as he got older grew a beard and wore glasses. If you can look up The Internet Movie Database you can see several photos of him as a young man including one of him with Kirk Douglas on the set of Spartacus.

[Kevin Connolly]

Andy,

You may be right. I just didn't think he would have aged so poorly. I know I haven't. :o

Kevin

[Pete Biro]

Don't know who it is (definitely not Boston), but this reminded me of a visit by Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh to San Francisco to promote the Houdini film.

They came into the Golden Gate Magic shop and with them was Tony's pal Sammy Davis Jr. Curtis didn't do any magic, but Sammy was eager to handle and learn card tricks, so I showed him some stuff and we had a great little session. He picked up on things FAST and had great hands.

[Kevin Connolly]

And great feet! :D

[Pete Biro]

Not to mention his voice. First time I saw him was as an opening act for Bob Hope. It was the Will Mastin Trio, featuring Sammy Davis Jr. He must have been about 20 or younger and KILLED.

You know when he checked into hotels he used to ship his own decor, paintings, etc. ahead.

[Guest]

Since we're WAY off thread, I'll continue that journey.
Sammy Davis Jr could also do great impersonations. Check out his 1950's release of "Because Of You", the Tony Bennett classic.

Joey Bishop told a great Sammy Davis Jr story. Davis was driving (speeding) with Bishop in the front seat and they were pulled over by troopers.

Trooper approached, Bishop asks "Do you know who that is?" Trooper responds, "Yes, Sammy Davis Jr."

Bishop says "You know he has only one eye don't you?"

Trooper responded affirmatively.

Bishop says: "So...do you want him to keep his eye on the road or on the speedometer?"

No ticket!!

[Ian Kendall]

RE: Sammy Davis Jr; I have a DVD of a Rat Pack show (introduced my Johnny Carson) which has Davis singing a song in the style of several contemporary crooners. When he gets to Dean Martin the moment is pure genius.

Definitely the highlight of the show (but damn, he looks _small_!)

Take care, Ian

[Guest]

"Definitely the highlight of the show (but damn, he looks _small_!)"

Ian:

He was 5' 3" tall. (1.6M). But it gave him a low center of gravity for his acrobatic dancing!

[Richard Kaufman]

I saw Sammy Davis live on Broadway when I was a kid. He appeared with the Nicholas Brothers. He was a superlative performer of astounding talent. His impressions got gasps from the audience.

[Guest]

When he was working with the Jack Benny Review in 1940, young Sam was exposed to one of the best magicians in the world. On tour with the Benny show was Frakson, who got excellent write-ups for his turn in the review.

[Ian Kendall]

To be honest, pretty much anyone under six feet looks small to me, but it wasn't just his height - he looked really slight, as if there was an oversized head on a child's body.

But you could see he was a consummate entertainer. I would have loved to have seen him live.

Side note: a few years back I was working in a banquet with a Sinatra look-a-like singing at the same time. The guy was fantastic, he looked exactly like a late period Sinatra and sounded perfect. It was a very surreal gig...

Take care, Ian

[Guest]

Another sidenote - a fact I learned from Gabe Fajuri and just added to Throwingcard.com -- the boy magician stage named "Merlin" featured on a throwing card by Harlan Tarbell is actually George Boston.

Gary