COE NORTON - MANDRAKE

     Coe starred as Mandrake the Magician in the ill-fated TV show. Woody Strode played Prince Lothar, and Lisa Howard played Princess Narda. It should have been a big hit, but not a single episode was ever broadcast. Only the pilot episode still exists, and the plot is as follows. 

     Mandrake was performing at the Parakeet Club, assisted by Lothar and Narda. Enemy spies kidnap Narda and she was taken to their hideout, where an agent (who’d been tortured) was held prisoner. Mandrake was forced to join them, and use his hypnotic powers on the agent, who revealed their escape plans by submarine. Lothar rescued them, and they raced off to stop the spies . 

Lothar battled some henchmen in the surf. Mandrake threw a knife at the head spy, who dropped his gun, and they defeated the bad guys. “How did you escape?” the spy asked. Mandrake replied with the cliche, "A good magician never reveals his secrets.”

Coe in Mandrake the Magician.

     John Tudor's mini-documentary on the 1954 Mandrake the Magician .

Mandrake mini-documentary