Foodini The Great
1244. FOODINI THE GREAT (Autumn, 1951-USA). ABC-TV net. TV pioneers HOPE and MOREY BUNIN first brought their Bunin puppets to network TV in 1946 with a 15 minute 5-day-per-week series called “Lucky Pup.” The two most popular characters. Foodini and his bumbling assistant Pinhead, switched to a filmed weekly half-hour format in August 1951 for a brief run. Foodini was a magician-cum-swami who also was a hypnotist, mind reader, escape artist, monologist, and expert at card tricks. Sending Pinhead out to “borrow a cup of money,” Foodini runs afoul of Phineas T. Pitch, a conman who really wants to book Pinhead for his “fork flinging” act. A juvenile favorite in the days when television itself was juvenile, Foodini actually did magic on camera (not easy for puppets!) and fascinates young and old alike even today. Watch as a rabbit pulls Pinhead out of a hat! Caution: our print has a noisy soundtrack. 22 minutes. Television- Puppets