Earll R. Muddiman – Engineering the Magic Within!

You may not know it, but this performer designed one of the largest, most complete steel making facility in his time. It didn't take magic, but if you asked his bosses, they would disagree. His name was Earll R. Muddiman. He was born on July 17, 1896. He graduated Carnegie Tech in Pennsylvania with a BS degree in Engineering in 1923. It was the same year he started working for one of U.S. Steel's subsidiaries. How did his interest in magic begin? It was a local undertaker who gave him his first push. When Muddiman was only twelve, a local undertaker thought since young Muddiman said he was interested in magic, the undertaker's extra top hat would perfect gift since it was used in both professions. That one special offering opened up the door for Muddiman. With hat in hand, Earll started to create a magic act that was eventually enjoyed by audiences of all ages. 

As his knowledge grew, Muddiman thought he should include an escape act. Considering escapes were still popular at that time, it seemed to be the perfect idea. Unfortunately, he found fairly quickly his newly added act may have been better left to those with more show experience. As the story goes, Muddiman devised a mailbag escape where a self-created locking device would seal him in a canvas covered mail-type oversized bag. As he attempted to escape the confines of the bag, an announcement that refreshments were being served to all. His audience was easily more interested in the refreshments being served than watching the possible escape by Muddiman.  So, unbeknownst to Muddiman, they left him, struggling to liberate himself on stage. When Muddiman finally made his amazing escape, he found himself alone. Even the stagehands had gone. After that one performance, he dropped the idea of becoming the "next" escape artist. As a side note to those collectors out there, that same mailbag escape creation of Muddiman's was sold at auction not that long ago. There's a good chance the new owner may not have an idea why it was the only one of its kind (well, until now). 

For those who are reading this who might be old enough to remember the original weekly Sunday television show called, "Candid Camera", Muddiman came up with an idea for creator Alan Funt to use on one of the shows. The idea was titled, "Squashed Car" and it showed people trying to open their car doors when parked cars have blocked them from getting into their car. Muddiman even received a check from Funt for fifty dollars (Who knows, maybe you can find the clip on YouTube).

As an engineer, Muddiman was able to come up with his on creations as well as replicate those ideas he saw in the magic catalogs. His repertoire expanded as well as his performance record. He lived in Levittown, Pennsylvania. He performed for clubs, small groups, schools, and hospitals. He held to patents that he submitted in 1942 and 1943. In 1957, he went so far as to copyright one of his idea for his business card. 

In 1961, Earll created another great card that included a trick great optical illusion effect that instructed the holder to place their nose on a drawn “x” on the middle of the card and it would look like the drawing of the cartoon man holding a cigar on one end of the card was not able to smoke the cigar on the opposite side of the card. Earll Muddiman passed away on July 1, 1966 and is buried next to his wife, Dorothy (who passed away in 1989) at The Homewood Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.