Doc Cunningham

[3] In Australia, advertisements for Cunningham's show declared him to be “America's greatest and most popular magician”, assisted by a company of “clever American vaudeville artists”.

Days before Cunningham's tour began, one reviewer had labelled Frank Eliason as the “king of modern magic”, noting that he had been performing before large audiences.

Prior to his botched execution in 1879, convicted murderer Wallace Wilkerson had made a hole in the wall of the Provo Jail, and though he hadn't escaped, it had left a lasting impression on young Cunningham when he'd been allowed to crawl through it.

[10] Numerous times while on tour in the US in the early 1900s, he would urge local police to use their best handcuffs and other devices to secure him, then confound them by setting himself free.

[26] While continuing to perform escape acts, and using the stage name Cunning, from 1909 Cunningham began a transition in emphasis in his shows towards mentalism.

These included making his assistant's body rise horizontally in mid-air with no apparent means of support, and demonstrations of purported “mind reading” and other mental powers.

He toured across several US states, showing movies advertised as being of sex education content to over age 16 audiences strictly divided by gender with “trained nurses in attendance”.

Before the screening, Cunningham would deliver a “lecture”, then audience members would be invited to “ask him anything” about love, courtship, marriage, divorce and even financial matters.

[44] Similar footage of a Caesarian birth was promised when Cunningham toured with “The Confession of a Lost Girl”, promoted as the “first all talking sex picture”.

[45] Advertisements for “Sins of Love” promised that the lecture by “Professor Cunning” would be “augmented with beautiful living human specimens” on the stage.

After stopping touring and settling in California in the mid-1930s, he ran a miniature dog and pony show at schools, community fairs and shopping centres.

[48] Friend and fellow magician, Frank Herman, who worked alongside him in 1939 in Robinson's department store in Los Angeles, reported that Cunningham convinced children he really was Santa by using information relayed via earphones hidden under his cap and wig from a “Princess” who had spoken to them as they signed in.

“Doc is one of magic's greatest characters.”[49] A few months later, the Los Angeles Society of Magicians staged a testimonial dinner for Cunningham attended by about 200 people, including some of the top US performers.