The Little Boy Named Edgar

Although there has been no factual documentation, it has been said that during the transition from novel to stage, Little Boy was given the name Edgar because of Edgar Cayce, "The Sleeping Prophet".

E.L. Doctorow, the author of the novel Ragtime, alludes to Little Boy's psychic powers:

"He could look at the hairbrush on the bureau and it would sometimes slide off the edge and fall to the floor. If he raised the window in his room it might shut itself at the moment he though the room was getting cold."

Little Boy is also heard in the musical exclaiming "Warn the duke!" to Harry Houdini.

It has been said that Cayce made a prediction to Houdini concerning the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Cayce suggested to Houdini that during Houdini's travels to Sarajevo, he should warn the Archduke of someone trying to assassinate him. If Houdini had warned the Archduke and he had not been shot, Cayce says the first world war could have been prevented.

Houdini mentions that he was performing a trick in Times Square when news of the Archduke's assassination was announced.