Bob Hale Passes – East Texas LegendInside MagicMagic News Updated Daily for the Professional Magician

Bob Hale

Bob Hale was remembered by his daughter, Gwen Samples, as a “father who was always there” and an excellent magician.

Mr. Hale was one of the few African-American entertainers permitted to perform in East Texas during the 1950s and 1960s. He worked East Texas, the rest of the state, as well as Oklahoma, and Louisiana for forty to fifty years

He passed away in the Houston Hospice on Monday, February 28th at the age of 80.

He called himself “Hale-O, the Most Colorful Magician in the World.” “It was a pun on being a colored person – a black person,” said Ms. Samples. “You have to think, at that time that’s what he was considered.”

Last year, Mr. Hale was awarded membership in the Order of Merlin for recognition of 25 years of faithful service and continuing support of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. He was recognized last summer as one of the oldest members of a magicians association. He couldn’t attend because he was sick.

His daughter recalled her father telling of how highway patrolmen would take money from him on his way home from shows, particularly East Texas. “He never was angry about it,” she said. “It was just a way of life.”

Mr. Hale was a veteran of World War II, a member of several boards and president of the Texas Lions Club. “He did a lot of close-up tricks that the audience couldn’t detect,” Ms. Samples said. “It took hours and hours of practice.”

He also liked illusion stunts like the guillotine and levitation. His daughters felt differently. “My sister and I really hated those because we were the guinea pigs,” she said, laughing.”