Burgette had
an interesting “Good Luck” card, with his portrait on the front, and on the
back he refers to his show as “Weird Wonders”. It also lists three of the
effects that he was doing at the time, as well as his contact information.
William L.
Burgette was born on May 24, 1911 in Elyria, Ohio. It is said that he gave his
first magic show when he was eight years old. From there, he continued to
perform for many years. Besides doing magic, Burgette also did escapes. He
lived in several cities in Ohio during his lifetime. In 1940, The Billboard
stated “Burgette the Magician, assisted by Mrs. Burgette and Rena Azzar, with
A. C. Spitler on the advance, brings his season to an end at the Paramount
Theater, Fremont, O., May 11. Operating within a radius of 150 miles of
Fremont, Burgette played 42 dates on the season.”
Burgette was
a long-time member of the I.B.M. and had these three mentions in The Linking
Ring early in his magic career. He was “heralded as ‘Ohio’s Favorite
Magician’”.
 |
| The Linking Ring from February 1930, March 1931, and June 1940. |
Burgette got
his share of press coverage too. The following three clippings are from The
Sandusky Register for January 27, 1931, the Kingsport Tennessee Times for
December 3, 1940, and the New Castle Pennsylvania News for March 6, of 1942.
William
Burgette was a charter member of I.B.M Ring 189 in Galion, Ohio. He was very
active in the Ring over the years and was named “Knight of the Year in 1974”.
His obituary in the Mansfield News-Journal on January 23, 1976, mentioned his
Broken Wand ceremony at his funeral services. The obituary also mentioned that
William Burgette had also been a former shoe store manager, besides being a
professional magician.
I will end
this post with a nice review of Bill Burgette in The Linking Ring back in May
of 1968. It was written by the late Terry Harris who was Secretary of Ring 189
at the time.
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