Remembering and Honoring the Greats of Magic

• Posted on 1 March 2021
• By Peter Albertson
• Posted in Daryl, Daryl Easton, Daryl Martinez, David Roth, Harry Anderson, Johnny Thompson, Mark Wilson, Roy Horn, Siegfried, The Great Tomsoni
• 0

We have had to say goodbye to several legends of magicians in such recent times. We decided to make a little memorial for them and will update this in the future. We really do miss them all. R.I.P.

The image you see is the March 2021 cover of IBMs MUM Magazine.
Depicted left to right : Mark Wilson, Siegfried Fischbacher and David Roth

Daryl Martinez was also known as Daryl Easton, just Daryl and Daryl The Magician’s Magician. He was a magic inventor, performer, lecturer and also a friend. Over the years Daryl lectured for us 4 times. We have spent time with him at several magic conventions. On Feb 27^th 2017 Daryl was found dead in his dressing room at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, before his performance that evening. He left his wife Alison Easton and two daughters.

Harry Anderson was a magician, comedian, con artist, author, magic inventor and actor. He was a semi regular in the early days of SNL, he portrayed his con-artist character, Harry The Hat on Cheers, and had his own HBO Special. He was most known for his portray of Judge Harry T. Stone on NBC’s Night Court. Later he had another show entitled Dave’s World. He died in his sleep on April 16^th 2018 due to a stroke due from influenza and heart disease.

Johnny Thompson was magic inventor and performer and a featured regular on Criss Angel Mindfreak, he was also a producer of the Penn & Teller’s Fool Us. He spent much of his later years behind the scenes as a creator for Mindfreak and Penn & Teller endeavors. Thompson has lectured at Ronjo’s in the past. Thompson collapsed on the set of Fool Us a few days later on March 9^th 2019, he died in the hospital from respiratory failure. He is survived by his wife Pamela Hayes Thompson who was also his assistant in their comedy act Tomsoni and Company.

Siegfried & Roy were a teaachm of illusionists and entertainers. They have appeared on cruise ships, toured the world, been on TV and were mainstays in Vegas for decades. Their show at the Mirage in Las Vegas ran from Feb 1^st 1990 through October 3^rd 2003. It was the most attended show in Vegas’ history. The show would have continued its run had it not been for Roy Horn’s injury. During a performance, one of his tigers got spooked, bit and dragged Roy. This was not an attack but rather the tiger was trying to protect Roy and bring him to safety. Horn died on May 8^th  2020 due to complications of Covid-19. Siegfried Fischbacher announced in January 11^th 2021 that he had pancreatic cancer. He died two days later. During a visit to Vegas a few years ago, Ronjo had a private tour of Siegfried and Roy’s home and zoo inside the Mirage.

David Roth was one of the best coin magicians who ever lived. He performed and lectured for decades. He contributed much of the material for Richard Kaufman’s Coin Magic book, and his work was published in David’s Roth’s Expert Coin Magic by Richard Kaufman. He released many instructional magic videos. He toured with Darwin Ortiz to perform in theaters all around the USA. Ronjo’s was commissioned to created custom close-up mats for their show. Roth has lectured for us in the past. He died on January 15^th 2021

Mark Wilson was a magic author and producer and performer. He is credited for being the first magician to perform live illusions on a television format.

He has created Time For Magic, Magic Land of Allakazam, The Funny Face Magic Show, Magic Circus and The Of Mark Wilson. He has worked on many television shows including, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Magician, Columbo, Circus of the Stars and more.Wilson passed away on January 19^th 2021. He is survived by his wife Nani Darnel and his son Greg who have performed as a family through the years.