Claude Kirchner, former host of the successful 1948 series Super Circus returned to network television as the ringmaster of this Saturday morning circus extravaganza for NBC.
Accompanying him were baton-twirling majorette Bonnie Lee, magician Douglas “Mr Pocus” Anderson, and circus performers Bill “Boom Boom” Bailey and Phil “Coo-Coo” Kiley.
Music was supplied by the jazz band of Lou Stein and the Circus Seven.
Kirchner was originally a radio personality and had been a spokesperson for Marx Toys since 1958. Magic Midway was conceived as a vehicle to promote their toys and Marx was the sole sponsor for the first 13 weeks.
The company executives grew to dislike the format, though, clearing the way for open advertising until the show’s cancellation in March 1963.
Kirchner returned to radio in Chicago, eventually retiring to Greenwich, Connecticut. He died from cancer on 8 March 1993 at a hospice in Hawthorne, New York. He was 77.
Kirchner was originally a radio personality and had been a spokesperson for Marx Toys since 1958. Magic Midway was conceived as a vehicle to promote their toys and Marx was the sole sponsor for the first 13 weeks.
