A fine and much-loved magician, Tom Mullica, died earlier today at the age of 67. For a long time, Tom's specialty — which you'll see in the video embedded below — was cigarette magic. He'd smoke twenty at a time, take them all inside his mouth, seemingly swallow them all and other items, etc. It was really an amazing act — one he did all over the world and on TV shows including appearances with David Letterman and Penn & Teller.
Before you ask: No, he did not die from a smoking-related disease. He had gone into a hospital for what was described as a fairly-routine hernia operation. There were unexpected complications due to blood clots leading to multiple strokes.
Tom had actually given up the smoking routine many years ago, focusing instead on other kinds of magic, a ventriloquist act and his main source of income during the last decade…his Red Skelton tribute show.
Once upon a time, Tom did his magic (cigarette and otherwise) at a nightclub he owned in Atlanta called Tom-Foolery. He was often more comedian than magician, sometimes taking 20-30 minutes to locate a spectator's chosen card and keeping the crowd in hysterics as he snuck up on it. Red Skelton, who often played a local concert hall, was occasionally in that audience, which led to Red and Tom becoming good friends.
When Tom talked about doing a little Skelton impersonation in his act, Skelton encouraged him and gave him permission to use some of his material. In recent years, Tom was very proud to proclaim that of all the Red Skelton impersonators out there — there are several — he was the only one to be personally endorsed by Skelton and to have received permission from the great clown's estate. The act played all over the continent with a long residence in Branson, MO.
I was privileged to see Tom on several occasions. He was quite entertaining and in performance, joyously mad — as this video of his old cigarette act will prove. And yes, I posted this here before, long ago…