Clayton Rawson Jr interview

[Bill Mullins]

He talks about his father, Clayton Rawson, and growing up as the son of the magician and mystery writer.

LINK

I also recently found out that Rawson went to college (Ohio State University) with David Maurer, whose writings on con men informed the classic movie "The Sting". Maurer collected the slang and argot of various subcultures (criminals, con men, drug addicts, gamblers, etc.), and his work on circus performers was used by Rawson in his novel The Headless Lady.

[Bob Farmer]

Great article, Bill, thank you. I have a large locked room/impossible crime collection with all the Merlini and Carr books. The reference to Robert Fish is interesting. I think he wrote Bullitt but he also wrote, I recall, a series of books on impossible-looking smuggling schemes. One book starts out with the main character being given an assignment but his predecessor (who failed) is shown as a shrunken head.

[Diego]

Great article/interview by G. Connor Salter. His interviews also pertaining to Rawson's magician/writer friends, John Dickson Carr and William Lindsay Gresham, can be found on his Facebook page, also the William Lindsay Gresham Facebook page.

This interview also tells what happened to Fred Keating's vanishing bird cage, that Gresham later had, who then directed it be given to Rawson.

[Bill Mullins]

It also mentions that Neil Tobin will be annotating the four Merlini novels for Vanishing Inc. Something to look forward to . . . .

[Diego]

In Gresham's Bio of Houdini, the first he acknowledges at the top of the list is Clayton Rawson.
Later in Milbourne Christopher's 1969 bio on Houdini, he notes his book is the result of Clayton Rawson urging him to
put the result of his research into print.