Hale comes out of retirement for great-grandson

By Editor | November 20, 2013 |

Wayne Hale, who began performing magic at age 14, has mystified audiences for 80 years, and is still being requested to perform.

But, of all the performances for special events and notable occasions in the past, probably the most important and undoubtedly the most precious request was made just recently. That was when his great-grandson Charlie invited him to his first-grade class and introduced him as “the important person in my life.”
Anyone who knows Wayne Hale – a most pleasant, kind, gentle and generous gentleman – will also recognize that he is well qualified for the honor.
The Assignment
Wayne Hale, well-known in the area for his magic tricks, said that he had been reluctant about performing for the public lately because of arthritis in his hands, making the sleight of hand tricks more difficult to perform properly.
However, when he was honored with the special request from his great-grandson, he decided to come out of “retirement.”
The first-grade students at Lettie Brown Elementary School in Morton were given the assignment to bring an important thing in their life to school. That could be a toy, a pet or a person.
Wayne’s daughter, Lynn Manley, said that her grandson announced that he wanted to take Grandpa to school.
Wayne, feeling that the young children would not be interested in stories of the “old days,” decided to perform magic tricks for them. Although he admitted he was apprehensive about performing magic tricks, because of his arthritic hands, everything went well.
And one of Charlie’s classmates said, “Your grandpa is sure cool.” Wayne chuckled, saying, “I’ve never been called ‘cool’ before.”
Charlie, himself, is special, as he read four of the Harry Potter books while still in kindergarten, and is now reading biographies in the first grade.
A Little Bit of Wayne Hale’s history
Wayne and his late wife, Lydia, once were a popular professional roller skating team, and Wayne still has publicity photographs of them in costume.
He explained how his interest in magic tricks came about.
“My mother had a brother who was the assistant to the famous magician Howard Thurston. Thurston traveled the Orpheum Theatre Circuit, performing during the movie breaks. The Orpheum Theatres were the fanciest in those days.”
He said his uncle showed him some tricks, and Wayne became more and more interested in them as time went on.
He has performed his magic through many years and, he said, chuckling, “I’ve had two more requests to perform as a result of this,” requests that he plans to fulfill.
His children and grandchildren cherish him as the “most important” person in their lives, and that, in itself, is most important to Wayne Hale.