In Memoriam: The Amazing Randi

 By now, most of you probably know that James Randi, known during his career as a stage illusionist as "The Amazing Randi", died yesterday at Tuesday at the age of 92. Since 1972, he had devoted much of his time to investigating and debunking psychics, mediums, and other pretenders to have extraordinary powers, by demonstrating how they were using tricks and strategems well known in the world of stage magic to pull off their "feats".

My best memories of Randi were his appearances on the New York local kids show Wonderama, hosted by Sonny Fox and aired on then-WNEW, Channel 5. I especially remember the time he was chained inside a burlap bag and suspended on a crane over the street outside Channel 5's studios in midtown Manhattan. Wonderama was a three-hour show (broadcast from 9-12 on Sunday mornings) and the cameras went outside at various points through the show to follow Randi's attempt to escape his "predicament". (The show was actually taped in mid-week, but they worked "live on tape" with no editing.) I don't recall exactly how the trick ended, but I do know they lowered the bag to the street and found it empty. (I dimly remember that Randi emerged from the crowd of spectators, but I'm not sure if that's true.) Anyone else have a better memory of this?

At any rate, another childhood icon and, admittedly, a hero of my adult years, has passed on.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi?fbclid=IwAR2XmwbVkCNdwyBoY09gckzTZK9CS1zZU8hkndQfXANkMKwpO0BLU6J1wpc