George Martin (comedian) of the day. He wrote for the first TV series of Irish comedian Dave Allen; "Tonight with Dave Allen", as well as material for artistes such as Rolf Harris, Jimmy Tarbuck, Paul Daniels, Harry Worth and Tommy Cooper. He became the main writer and ideas man, as well as script and production associate, for renowned magician David Nixon. When the then unknown legendary fox puppet, Basil Brush, appeared as a weekly guest on "The Nixon Line", Martin helped develop the character and subsequently was the sole writer of every Basil Brush show for many years, (throughout the 1960s and 70s).
Mandrake the Magician to New York and checked himself into the Chelsea Hotel to work on the rewrite. Three weeks later, he emerged with new draft in hand, but by then the studio had changed heads, and in as little time as his revision took, the project was dropped. NBC made a pilot for a "Mandrake the Magician" TV series in 1954, but no other episodes were made. Stage magician Coe Norton starred as Mandrake and Woody Strode as Lothar. Mandrake and Lothar first appeared in animated form with the Phantom, Flash Gordon, and Steve Canyon in the 1972 television special, "The Man