Joseph Dunninger :: Radio Brain Busters

"The Amazing Dunninger" (April 28, 1892 – March 9, 1975) started his career specializing in sleight of hand with cards but is best known for reading minds over the radio from the 1930s through the 1950s.

He was featured on television frequently in the 1950s and 1960s. During this time, he became a household name. His name was used as the basis for two recurring comedic characters, "The Amazing Dillinger" played by Johnny Carson on The Johnny Carson Show; and "Gunninger the Mentalist" on a television show hosted by the comedian Soupy Sales. 

On the I Love Lucy episode "Ricky's European Booking" (Season 5, episode 10), after Fred Mertz accurately predicts Lucy's excited reaction to Ricky's new booking, he gets a big laugh when he brags to Ricky, "Just call me Dunninger." 

He was also referenced numerous times on "The Simpsons." In the episode "Homer Bad Man," Homer was watching an episode of "The Ed Sullivan Show" while Moe Szyslak explains that a magician named "Dunninger" cut his assistant in half.

He authored many books and pamphlets for magicians and the general public as well as the subject of two novels: "The Mentalist" by Richard S. Wheeler (1941) and "The Dunninger Dilemma" by Howard Middleton in 1952. A biographical comic book called"The Mentalist" was released in 1975.