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Ernie Heldman
| Ernie Heldman | |
| Born | Enest Herldman 1915 |
|---|---|
| Died | November 8, 1977 New Orleans |
Earnie Heldman was one of St. Louis' outstanding magicians from 1947 until 1962.
Prior to World War II, Heldman worked as a part time magician until he was drafted into the army. After the war, he took a sales job, continuing magic as a hobby.
In September 1947, an advertising-agency executive saw him perform and suggested that he do TV commercial (television was very new at the time). He did a one minute ad for Sunrise Meats in which he produced a string hot dogs out of a newspaper while talked about Sunrise Meats. This was so successful that it led to a six-month contract doing live one-minute spots doing a different trick each time.
Heldman eventually quit his job to perform magic professionally full time. By 1949, the one minute spots had become a live 15-minute magic show called "Parade of Magic", sponsored by Pepsi Cola. It ran until 1962.
In 1961, Ernie opened a night club called Psycho House in St. Louis' Gaslight Square which lasted only a few years.
Heldman wrote Linking Ring articles about working on early television [1]
He served as President of IBM Ring One in St. Louis and IBM Ring 27 in New Orleans. He was also one of the founders of the Midwest Magic Jubilee.[2]
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