GK
Joined: Jul 31, 2006
Posts: 189
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GK
An excerpt from an older article in the Dallas Morning News which does not clear up the date issue with specifics, but I also have seen a notice in the Ft. Worth paper of the Hotel being auctioned/sold in 1964. The "35 years" ago in the article would put the date of Clark's ownership in the early 1950s, though still no proof in that of the opening date of the PV.
I especially like the description of the rainstorms - the Tonga Room all over again.
GK
Perhaps one of the most notable accomplishments of Clark's life as a magician was the Sunken Galleon club in the Western Hills Hotel that Clark owned about 35 years ago.The Fort Worth hotel and its mystical nightclubs were written about in Time magazine, Clark said.
The Sunken Galleon featured an aquarium in which, every hour on the hour, a gong would signal the appearance of a nude woman swimming inside the tank.
Of course, it was all an illusion, but the woman, Clark said, was real. Clark would not reveal his secret for magically projecting the woman's image into the aquarium.
Guests were doubly mystified when they discovered that they could speak to the woman and she would speak back, Clark said.
"They just couldn't understand that,' Clark said. "And she would go through the motions as though she were swimming. It really attracted a lot of people.'
To enter this magical club, guests had to pass through a ship's hatch door and into a diving bell. At the push of a button, the guests would feel the sensation of motion as though they were descending into the sea. By looking out of the portholes, they would see marine life -- colored pictures of sharks, barracudas and an octupus that caused many to scream when it would appear to lunge at the porthole.
The club itself was built with materials brought back by Clark from an actual West Coast shipyard. It was built in a way to give guests the sensation that the ship was lying on the bottom of the ocean.
Another club in Clark's hotel was painstakingly made to resemble a Polynesian village, complete with a tropical storm. The sounds of thunder and flashes of lightning would become louder and more frequent until rain would eventually start to fall around the room. Then the lights would go out.
"It was very realistic,' Clark said. "Because of my magic, people would really talk about the place. I really outdid Trader Vic's and Don the Beachcomber.'
The Dallas Morning News
Fort Worth magician recalls lifetime of illusion
At 83, he still enjoys parlor tricks
Kathy Jackson The Dallas Morning News
Published: May 22, 1986
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