Joseph Dunninger

Joseph Dunninger (April 28, 1892 March

9, 1975), known as "The Amazing
Dunninger", was one of the most famous
and procient mentalists of all time. He
was one of the pioneer performers of
magic on radio and television.[1]
 Joseph Dunninger

Born April 28, 1892

New York City, New York

Died March 9, 1975 (aged82)

Cliffside Park, New Jersey

Occupation Magician, escapologist, mentalist.

Biography
Dunninger was born in New York City. He
headlined throughout the Keith-Orpheum
Circuit, and was much in demand for
private entertainment. At the age of
seventeen he was invited to perform at the
home of Theodore Roosevelt in Oyster
Bay and at the home of the inventor
Thomas Edison, both of whom were avid
admirers of Dunninger. President Franklin
D. Roosevelt invited Dunninger to the
White House on a number of occasions to
demonstrate his mentalist skills.[2]

Dunninger was a debunker of fraudulent

mediums.[2] He claimed to replicate
through trickery all spiritualist
phenomena.[3] He wrote the book Inside
the Medium's Cabinet (1935) which
exposed the tricks of mediumship. He
also exposed how the indian rope trick
could be performed by camera trickery.[4]
In 1935, Dunninger attended a sance of
the fraudulent medium Emerson Gilbert.
His testimony was used in court against
the medium.[2]

Dunninger had a standing offer of $10,000

to anyone who could prove that he used
confederates or "stooges."[2] Through
Scientic American magazine and his own
organization the Universal Council for
Psychic Research he also made an offer
to any medium who could produce by
psychic or supernatural means any
physical phenomena that he could not
duplicate or explain by natural means. No
medium ever won the reward.[2][5][6]
According to Dunninger "through all these
long years, I have sought good honest
ghosts, phantoms, spirits, astral beings,
banshees, fays, wee folk, apparitions,
fetchesthe whole pack and passel of the
unsubstantial worldand I have always
been able to prove them frauds."[2]

He was a good friend to many notables in

the magic community including Harry
Houdini, Francis Martinka and Tony
Slydini.[7] He maintained a lifelong
friendship with author of The Shadow,
Walter B. Gibson, who guest wrote or
cowrote a number of books for Dunninger
on magic, psychic phenomena and
spiritualism.[8] In the 1937, Max Holden
considered "Dunninger the foremost
magician and showman of the present
day".[9]

Dunninger appeared on radio starting in

1943. In 1948, Dunninger and Paul
Winchell were featured on Floor Show on
NBC TV. Recorded via kinescope and
replayed on WNBQ-TV in Chicago, Illinois,
the 8:30-9 p.m. Central Time show on
Thursdays was the station's rst mid-week
program.[10] He was featured on television
frequently in the 1950s and 60s. During
the 1950s and 1960s his name was used
as the basis for two recurring comedic
characters, "The Amazing Dillinger" played
by Johnny Carson on The Johnny Carson
Show in 1955; and "Gunninger the
Mentalist" on a television show hosted by
the comedian Soupy Sales. On the I Love
Lucy episode "Ricky's European Booking"
(Season 5, episode 10) after Fred Mertz
accurately predicts Lucy's excited reaction
to Ricky's new booking, he gets a big
laugh when he brags to Ricky "Just call
me Dunninger."
He died of Parkinson's Disease at his
home in Cliffside Park, New Jersey.[11][12]

Works
Dunninger self-published many of his
works, and others were published by
inventor Hugo Gernsback. He also wrote
articles in Science and Invention, Mechanix
Illustrated, Popular Mechanics, Fate, Atlantic
Monthly, and other magazines. Many of
these articles were ghostwritten by Walter
B. Gibson.

Articles
 Popular Magic . Modern Mechanix (May,
1938)
Spiritualism A Psychic Investigator
Exposes Mediums Frauds . Life (June,
1941)

Books

Dunninger's Tricks De Luxe (1918)

Dunninger's Tricks Unique (1918)
Dunninger's Master Methods of
Hypnotism (1923)
Popular Magic (1926)
Universal Second Sight Mysteries (1927)
Houdini's Spirit Exposes and Dunninger's
Psychical Investigations (1928)
 Popular Magic Vol. II (1929)
Popular Magic and Card Tricks (1929)
Dunninger on Hypnotism (1930s)
Inside the Medium's Cabinet (1935)
How to Make a Ghost Walk (1936)
"Here's fun for young and old!
Dunningers magic tricks" (1940)
What's On Your Mind (1944)
100 Houdini Tricks You Can Do (1954)
The Art of Thought Reading (1956)
Magic and Mystery: The Incredible
Psychic Investigations of Houdini and
Dunninger (1967)
 Dunninger's Complete Encyclopedia of
Magic (1967)
Dunninger's Secrets as told to Walter
Gibson (1974)
Dunninger's Monument to Magic (1974)
Dunninger's Book of Magic (1979)

Gallery


A young Dunninger

Dunninger exposing slate writing trickery



Dunninger demonstrating a table-tilting trick

Dunninger with equipment used to duplicate

the tricks of spiritualist mediums. A portable
wireless set is strapped to his back


Dunninger making fake "spirit" hand molds

Dunninger in 1956

References
1. DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). Radio Stars:
An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953
Performers, 1920 Through 1960. McFarland.
p. 84. ISBN 978-0786428342
2. Samuel, Lawrence R. (2011). Supernatural
America: A Cultural History. ABC-CLIO. pp.
48-51. ISBN 978-0-313-39899-5
3. Drury, Nevill. (2004). The Dictionary of the
Esoteric: Over 3000 Entries on the Mystical
and Occult. Watkins Publishing. p. 81. ISBN
978-1842931080
4. Life Magazine. (1941). India's Rope Trick
is Faked in Pictures . 16 June. pp. 80-81
5. Life Magazine. (1941). Spiritualism: A
Psychic Investigator Exposes Mediums'
Frauds . 16 June. pp. 75-76
6. Life Magazine. (1944) Dunninger . 13
March. p. 106
7. The Magical World of Slydini (text), Fulves,
Karl; Lou Tannen, Inc., New York, NY, 1979
pp. 1-17
8. Shimeld, Thomas (2003). Walter B. Gibson
and the Shadow . McFarland & Company.
pp.110116.
9. Holden, Max. (1937). Programmes Of
Famous Magicians . New York City. p. 17
10. "NBC Chicago Adds Three TV Shows"
(PDF). Broadcasting. November 15, 1948.
Retrieved 5 February 2015.
11. Staff. "Milestones, Mar. 24, 1975" , Time
(magazine), March 24, 1975, accessed
March 22, 2011. "Died. Joseph Dunninger,
82, magician and mentalist; of Parkinson's
disease; in Cliffside Park, N.J."
12. Staff. "DUNNINGER DIES; MAGICIAN
WAS 82; Billed Himself as 'Master Mind of
Mental Mystery'" , The New York Times,
March 10, 1975. Accessed March 22, 2011.
"Joseph Dunninger, who mystied millions
as a magician and mind-reader for more than
half a century, died yesterday of Parkinson's
disease at his home in Cliffside Park, N.J."

External links
Joseph Dunninger (1892-1975)
 Digital Deli Too on 'The Dunninger the
Mentalist Radio Programs'
Two audio streams, via noonco.com
old lm, 'Spirit Swindles' on YouTube
itricks article , including (unsourced)
list of surviving shows
How Magician Tricks The Fake
Mediums
Joseph Dunninger posters , held by the
Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York
Public Library for the Performing Arts

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