Inez Kitchen: Recalling the Glamour of Magic and Vaudeville

And the days of the Great Blackstone

Inez Kitchen: Recalling the glamour of magic and Vaudeville

By Tom Isham

There is staying in Marshall at this time a most interesting woman, a woman whose life has been, so to speak, “touched by magic.”

Her name is Inez Kitchen, and her story carries more interest than most works of fiction.

For instance, she was the first wife of the famous magician, Harry Blackstone; she was the first woman to organize a magic “ring” and to serve as president of such an organization; she had her own vaudeville show while still a teenager, and by the way, happened to orginate the four-stringed banjo.

Mrs. Kitchen has been in Marshall since attending a recent gathering at the Abbott Manufacturing Company, a firm located in Colon which produces magic tricks and supplies.

She has been staying with the Betty Hagerty family. One of Mrs. Hagerty’s sons, Phil, is a magician.

Mrs. Kitchen’s varied and interesting life began in Fox Lake, Wisconsin, where she was raised and attended school “until they started talking about algebra and geometry.” Not seeing any great need for these subjects, she left school and became a piano player in a movie house.

From there she went on to join a Vaudeville troupe. After a time, she taught herself to play the banjo and began performing on her own as “The Little Banjo Phiend”.

She performed as a “single” for a year before meeting Blackstone in Menominee, Michigan. That was in 1917.

“He was showing in the town where I was and was looking for a musical director. The theatre manager told him I was a good piano player. The salary was less, but the steady employment appealed to me.”

She was married to Blackstone in 1919, “while still in my teens.”

Although the great magician was a relative unknown in their first years together,” Mrs. Kitdchen said, that Blackstone talent was already evident. “He was headed for stardom even then,” she said.

Despite the future glory, there were hard times in those early years.

A stunning sepia photo of Harry's wife, Inez Blackstone with dog from the show. Circa 1920's.

Inscribed at a laterdate by her:"To Willard -Sincerely Yours, Inez Blackstone Kitchen (C.L.W)".

“I didn’t become part of the show (on stage) until the show went broke; after that I did everything,” Mrs. Kitchen said. “I did everything from helping pack and load the show to making the wardrobe and scenery. I also worked as his assistant (on stage), did bookkeeping, and did my “single” (Vaudeville act). We had to make money to move, and that’s about all we made. We put every extra penny into the wardrobe and equipment.”

Her years with Blackstone witnessed the magician’s rise to fame.

“When I joined there were 27 pieces of luggage, and the whole thing could be put on a single hand-pushed truck like they used to have. When I left needed a 70-foot balloon-topped (railroad) car.” Upwards of 20 people were part of the show.

It’s no wonder Blackstone became famous: both his presence on the stage and the nature of his illusions were remarkable. His shows included both a vanishing horse and a vanishing suto. Among his outstanding illusions was the following as described in Hyla M. Clark’s “The world’s Greatest Magic.”

“In one sequence, his roguish assistants succeeded in subduing a struggling Blackstone, tying him up and stuffing him into a sack which was then hoisted high in the air. Within seconds, a horseman thundered on stage and fired a pistol. At the sound of the gunshot the sack dropped, empty, and the rider revealed himself as Blackstone.”

His “dancing handkerchief” always pleased his audience. According to the above source, “He began the effect by borrowing a handkerchief from someone in the audience. As soon as he tied a knot in one corner, the innocuous bit of cloth appeared to become an animated being. It danced in time with music, wriggled when it was tickled, and displayed a personality and a will of its own. The instant the handkerchief was untied, all evidence of enchantment ceased.”

Inez Blackstone in 1930

One might think such a marvelous performer would have had a monumental ego, but that was not the case with Blackstone, according to Mrs. Kitchen.

“He was very casual about everything., very easy to meet. He was very popular with people and loved children. And he loved to entertain. He could never stop doing magic. If he went to pay a bill in a grocery store, he would palm a coin. He was so absorbed in magc; it was all consuming.

I guess you would have called him happy. Nothing ever bothered him, he never worried about things. He let the other fellow get the headaches.”

She recalled that some people were afraid to meet Blackstone. They were frightened of what they thought were his super-natural powers., “and feared that he would put a jinx on them,” Mrs. Kitchen said.

While traveling with the magic show, she came up with the idea “for three or four tricks”. They were my ideas but I had nothing to do with developing them. In one, all the girls were dressed like butterflies, and one would appear from a cocoon. The others just dressed the stage.”

She also said it was her idea to start the Blackstone Manufacturing Company, now known as Abbott Manufacturing Company. After it turned out that Blackstone’s preference for show business was overwhelming, they sold out to an employee, Percy Abbott.

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After parting with Blackstone, Mrs. Kitchen left show business and remarried. For a time she had her own dance band. She presently resides in Sarasota, Florida, but still maintains many ties with the world of magic.

“When I’m at a magic gathering I forget I have any other name than Blackstone,” she said.

In 1949 she founded a “ring” in Sarasota of the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM). Each local club is called a “ring” in recognition of the traditional magic trick which links and unlinks rings. Chapters are located all over the world.

Mrs. Kitchen was the first woman to organize a ring, and the first woman to be president of one. She went on to become the only president to be reelected 24 consecutive years. After 25 years of consecutive membership in the IBM, she became the first woman member of the Order of Merlin.

In addition to her magic activities, Mrs. Kitchen can boast two other unusual accomplishments. When she was in Vaudeville, she “instigated” the four (instead of five) string banjo, which was dubbed the “Tango Banjo” and soon became standard for the manufacturers of the day. She also “instigated” a no-knot tail piece for banjoes. She was too yound and naïve at the time to cash in on these innovations, she said, and she was never rewarded..

What does Mrs. Kitchen think of today’s magicians?

One whom she likes, not surprisingly, is Harry Blackstone, Jr., whom she credits with having “complete mastery of his audience. This is something that only certain people can do. A magician ahs to be a very, very fine dramatic performer.’

She said the young Blackstone returns the affection.

“He admires me,” she said, “I see him as often as possible. We were together on the same program three years ago in San Diego.”

Mrs. Kitchen credits Doug Henning with being the best known of today’s magicians, and concedes he’s a great entertainer. But … “Ny idea of someone (Henning) riding around on an elephant in blue jeans and a sweatshirt, well … there’s just no decorum.”

She has reservations about women magicians, too.

“Too many depend on their femininity instead of their ability to perform magic. I think it’s a man’s field.” However, she said she does know some women magicians who “are excellent at doing magic.”

Ken Robbins and Inez Kitchen at her restaurant.

Memorial Stone for Inez located at Lakeside Cemetery in Colon, Michigan.