Senator Clarke Crandall

Clarke Crandall was born on April 23, 1907. In 1947, Clarke participated in the Society of American Magicians convention in Chicago. This was one of the first times audiences had the opportunity to enjoy his dead-pan expressions, droll patter, comic thoughts, and his whole act fit nicely in his banjo case (oh, there was no banjo). At one point of his life while he was living in Chicago, he was working as a stock hand possibly as a buyer of cattle. It was said magician Johnny Paul approached Clarke in the 1950’s and offered Clarke a job as a bartender/entertainer.
If the tale is true, Clark didn’t waste a beat and walked away from his current position into a job where he didn’t have to look down before he stepped.

These were the backs of two of cards "The Sentaor" used with the same front as seen above in the 1950's.

             In 1954, "The Senator" Crandall was doing magic at George Banning's Magic Lounge on Cermak Road, which at time was one of the many bars featuring magic around Chicago. He also performed at Ray Duberville’s Cocktail Lounge where customers would come to enjoy the libations as well as being entertained by Duberville’s magical night manager. Another feather in Clarke’s “fez” was that he had appeared on the popular television show The Garry Moore Show four times.

 

            To make a little more money, Clarke bought Al Sharpe’s “Studio of Magic” for two years. Over the next years, Clarke appeared at magic conventions, club gatherings, and nearly anywhere where they would book him. He would pal around with friends in the field of magic like Don Lawton, Joe Berg, Okito, Burling Hull, Ralph W. Hull, Theodore Deland, and Francis Carlyle.

Clarke was always writing for the magazines. He published his Senator's Pink Sheet that ran from April 1957 to June 1959.  In 1959, Clarke found was accompanied by a little friend. At three pounds, Suzee, the longhaired Chihuahua was important to Clark who stood six foot, one and a half inches. “She keeps people away from my props backstage, and away from me too if I don’t watch here.” Clark found her in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. He carried around in a camera bag.

             

In 1967, Clarke had been having dizzy spells, so he went to the Veterans Administra­tion to a check up. He found himself set up for surgery at Hines Hospital for a brain operation. After several hours, a tumor was removed that later was found benign. In January of 1970 Milt Larsen met with Clarke and offered him an opportunity to leave Chicago and move out west to Hollywood. Milt’s idea was to have Clarke become the Magic Castle’s official host. Clarke and his wife Ruth packed their bags and in short order, they found themselves enjoying their life in sunny California.

The back design of the card is Fox Lake (Aviator).

If you were visiting the Magic Castle in Hollywood, you may have had one of these pinned on you (the pin measures 2 1/4").

Throughout his career, the "Senator" was known for his humor, his patter, and numerous effects he would present. He was a prolific writer from everything from short articles his "It's a Mystery to Me" in the New Tops that ran from 1963 to March 1974 to "It's Only My Opinion But..." was Crandall's column in Genii magazine from November 1972 to May 1975. Sadly, on June 19, 1975, Clarke Crandall passed away. Scores of his friends knew the likes of “The Senator” would never pass their way again.