I met him when I heard Sonny Holliday and Gazzo were working Atlantic City and they were on my must meet list. When I got there I saw an older fellah in all black with a fedora walking the boards and pulling a rig. I asked him if he was a magician he said yeah and we got to talking, he said he was a Cellini student, so I asked him if he knew Sonny and I told him about how Sonny was my idol. Toot laughed and said, yeah I'll take you right to him. Anyway that's a different story.
I met him as Riki. He took me under his wing and he told me stories about the old days. He had a brilliant show, Jeff Sheridan-esque. Mixed a animal balloon show with a magic act. Used a warbler (whistling device you keep in your mouth) did the whole show whistling, never spoke but you'd swear you heard him talk through the whole show.
Another thing about Toot was for years he just worked with a small bag over his shoulder. He could stop and work anywhere with that warbler any country. Hes 60 yrs old and I couldn't keep up with him he taught me to be young and live every day.
Cellini was so impressed with him he wrote about him in his Dreamer's Highway book, I was lucky to meet him.
A great teacher.
A good friend.
A genius.
Here's another Atlantic City picture
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| Jimmy Talksalot, Sonny Holliday, Stuartini, Eric Evans, and Toot with his arms open. |
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