We "Will Rock" You!

Will Rock (William George Rakauskas) - Rock was born April 25, 1907 in Auburn, Massachsetts. He first became interested in magic after witnessing Eugene Laurant. Rock played mostly small towns and Chautauqua at first but eventually joined The Great Raymond show. In 1938, he learned that some of the late Howard Thurston's illusions were for sale. He eventually purchased them and was trained by Thurston's assistant George White. He then learned that some of Harry Thurston's illusions were for sale and he purchased those as well. The "Rock Presents Thurston's Mysteries" show opened in Ottowa, Illinois September 25, 1938. World War II put an end to the Rock show when he was inducted into the Army, After the war people expected him to carry on with the show but this never materialized. Here is his scaling card with his photo on the front and another of Howard Thurston on the back.

And here are some additional unusual scaling cards issued by Rock from the Gary Frank collection. Gary notes that the two cards shown below - front (left) and back (right) were among the very first cards Rock used when he obtained the Thurston illusions.