Frazier Thomas - Magic and Broadcasting

Magic and Broadcasting

Thomas began performing as a magician at age 12 in his home town of Rushville; he was just a teenager when he wrote a book about magic. As "Thomas the Magician and Company" he performed "the Mystic Revue, a full evening of magic, mirth, music and mystery" throughout the US. By 1935, he was writing a weekly syndicated newspaper column for children about magic, at first as "Thomas the Magician" and later as Frazier Thomas. The tips and tricks Thomas covered in his column were simple enough for young readers to perform successfully. His column appeared in newspapers from 1935 to 1940. Thomas was a member of the Society of American Magicians and attended their national conferences. By 1936, Thomas had an additional interest: radio; he became the host of a summer replacement show about movies for Cincinnati radio station WLW. A year later, he interviewed Edgar Bergen and became interested enough in ventriloquilism and dummies to visit the Chicago workshop of the man who produced Charlie McCarthy.

He continued working at WLW, writing and creating his own shows: I Cover the Movies and Inside Radio and as a disk jockey for others, such as BC Battle of the Bands. He was then teamed with Ruth Lyons for Collect Calls From Lowenthal. Still at WLW, the pair moved to a morning radio show, Morning Matinee (later called The 50 Club), which Thomas co-hosted with Lyons for eight years. During this time he also did personal appearances with other WLW air personalities, serving as the announcer and as a magician. In 1949, he announced he would leave Morning Matinee to establish his own radio and television production firm. He married Ann Deeds, a commercial artist for WLW-TV, and together the couple hosted one of the station's first television shows: Shopper's Special. Thomas then moved to Cincinnati's WKRC-TV, where he hosted his first children's program, Meet the Little People. In 1950, Frazier and Anne Thomas were among the top local television personalities in Cincinnati. Garfield Goose made his first television appearance in Cincinnati.