THE KATS REPORT: LANCE BURTON REAPPEARS WITH THE FILM ‘BILLY TOPIT’
For two weeks after he attended the Frito-Lay company Christmas party in Louisville, Kentucky, 5-year-old Lance Burton incessantly checked his hair and ears for silver dollars. Maybe we need a backstory here.
Burton’s mother made potato chips at the plant in the family’s hometown. During this particular Christmas party, a guy named Harry Collins got up to entertain the employees and their guests. Collins was sales manager at the plant, but on this night he was a headlining magician. “He was an excellent magician,” says Burton, who for decades in Las Vegas has been aptly known as “Master Magician.”
Collins asked for a volunteer, and little Lance hustled to the stage. Collins then reached behind the child’s ear and produced a silver dollar. Then another, from the opposite ear. Then from his arms and elbows. The kid who would one day star on the Las Vegas Strip had become a little slot machine. Read more..