Overview

"When radio broadcasting began in the early 1920s, the radio was a magic box aglow with the future, drawing humanity into a new age. Some thought it would dissolve the distance between time and place, others that human minds would become transparent, one tuned to another. Performers claiming psychic powers turned radio broadcasting into a fabulous money machine. These ""mentalists,"" born from vaudeville, circuses, sideshows, and the Spiritualist and New Thought movements of the mid-late 19th century, used the language of wireless technology to explain their ability to see the past, present, and future. Casting their mystical knowledge as a scientifically honed craft, these mentalists persuaded millions to pay for dubious advice until governmental and public pressures forced them off the air. This book is a history of over 25 performers who practiced their art behind studio microphones during the early years of radio broadcasting, from about 1920 to 1940. Here, laid out for the first time, is the tale of how they made cash rain from the heavens and harnessed the sensation of the radio in search of wealth, health, love, and success."

Full Product Details

Author:   John Benedict Buescher
Publisher:   McFarland & Co Inc
Imprint:   McFarland & Co Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 17.80cm , Height: 2.20cm , Length: 25.40cm
Weight:   0.744kg
ISBN:  

9781476684659

ISBN 10:   1476684650
Pages:   432
Publication Date:   02 September 2021
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Acknowledgments Preface Introduction: Broadcasts from the Borderland The Mentalist Performance 7 delete• deleteMagicians, Mediums, Magnetists and Astrologers 9 delete• deleteWireless Millennium 23 delete• deleteHuman Radios 36 delete• delete Transmitting Secrets 42 delete• deleteThe Rise and Fall of Radio Mentalism 45 1. First on the Air Hope Eden 49 delete• deleteJulius Zancig 63 delete• deletePaul Kara 68 2. Front Yard Burial Leona Lamar 78 delete• deleteHamid Bey 86 3. Sex Secrets Revealed Signa Serene 93 4. Who Am We? Princess Wahletka 103 delete• deleteJoveddah De Rajah 113 5. Hypnotized by Radio Vishnu and Zinnia 119 delete• deleteCharles Harad 124 6. The Long Blindfold Drive Francill 133 7. Persuaded by Shadows Norman Baker 154 delete• deleteGayle Norman II 168 delete• deletePhenomena 172 8. Spirits of the Air Ethel Duncan 177 delete• deleteAlma and Zandra 183 9. Across the Border ­­Mel-Roy 197 delete• deleteRalph Richards 206 delete• deleteMarjah 216 10. Bank on Belief Koran and Rose Dawn 221 11. A Family of Troupers Alburtus 244 12. Wizards’ War Rajah Raboid 267 delete• deletePrincess Yvonne and Doc Irving 286 delete• delete Bob and Larry Nelson 298 13. What the Audience Will Bear Gene Dennis 320 delete• deleteJoseph Dunninger 339 Coda Appendix: Some Other Mentalists in Early Radio Chapter Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

Includes details of how powerful radio stations along the border helped former vaudeville actors...some of the most popular radio programs in the United States featured radio psychics...author John Buescher dove deep into this history --Texas Standard, The National Daily News Show of Texas

Author Information

John Benedict Buescher is the former chief of the Tibetan Broadcast Service of the Voice of America. He has authored articles on radio broadcasting to Tibet and books on the history of Buddhism and on the history of 19-century American Spiritualism. He is a co-director of the International Association for the Preservation of Spiritualist and Occult Periodicals. He lives in Georgetown, Texas.

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