Dead Lines

Go, now, and reserve a copy of his coming book, Obit, due out June 1. Made me sob on the flight home last night. Here's one slice, for your inspiration: The advertisements shout with vaudevillian verve from yellowed newspapers and posters, in words that still sound like Bob Schmidt.

'LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS,' they blare, 'SEE the 20th CENTURY ALADDIN. A MAN OF MAGIC AND MYSTERY.'



In the sepia-tone promotional photos, a dapper man in a tuxedo stands beside a levitating woman. In another photo he lies in a box, chained impossibly tight.



'CAN he ESCAPE? See THIS and MANY OTHER TRICKS.'

Inside Schmidt's Denver home, nearly nine decades of magic pours through the living…