the magic

DYNAMO
Magician Impossible
 THE MAGAZINE OF THE MAGIC CIRCLE Issue 1152 Volume 106 July 2012

Features
196 The 43rd Magic Collectors’ Weekend –
There is a Way
ell it has
204
216
Will Houstoun
Dynamo: Magician Impossible – Will Houstoun
FFFF Close-up Magic Convention – Will Houstoun
W certainly been
a busy few
weeks! Amongst other
things, I attended
Fechter’s Finger Flicking
Regulars Frolic and The Magic
Collector’s Weekend in America. Both
194 President’s View
these conventions had some fantastic
194 Circular News moments, as well as a prominent
198 Clever Devil Corner – Harold Cataquet connection to our Members, so
200 Conjurers Collect – Tim Reed I thought that I would report on
202 Circular Mentalism – Ian Rowland them in this issue.
208 A Rich Cabinet of Magical Curiosities – By way of a reminder, one of the
Edwin A. Dawes things that I am always trying to find
for the magazine are good, novel tricks
212 Club Night Events –
Mandy Davis Convenor of Reports and routines. As an added bonus there
is also a annual prize, The Cecil Lyle
214 Cartoon Magic – Fist
Award, that is presented annually to
218 In Review the Member who has contributed the
221 Magic Circle Cares – David Hatch best trick in the past year. So if you
222 Council Minutes have been thinking about publishing
224 Forthcoming Club Events – that great idea you had a year or two
Noel Britten, James Freedman and Mandy Davis ago, I would love to hear from you. My
Contact details can be found to the left
of this column.
EDITORIAL 07507 275 285 PHOTOGRAPHERS
John Ward
Just a few weeks after you read this
EDITOR Will Houstoun
Editor@TheMagicCircle.co.uk ADVERTISING 07767 336882 the World Championships of Magic, or
40 Derby Road, London, SW14 7DP BUSINESS AND ADVERTISING MANAGER FISM, will take place in Blackpool.
ASSISTANT EDITOR Tim Reed Scott Penrose
Advertising@TheMagicCircle.co.uk
I will be there and, if you see me
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Anthony Brahams, Dr Edwin Dawes, 17 Berkeley Drive, around, I would love to try and meet
Scott Penrose, Ian Rowland, Billericay any Members who will be there,
David Tomkins Essex CM12 0YP
CONVENOR OF REPORTS MISSING AND BACK ISSUES especially those who I don’t get the
Mandy Davis 01923 267 057 chance to see at our regular Monday
Cover Michael Candy
Mandy@TheMagicCircle.co.uk Night meetings. One of the biggest
Dynamo Sound of Music, Harthall Lane,
PROOFREADERS
Paul Bromley, Julie Carpenter, Hemel Hempstead, parts of this convention is the
Barry Cooper, Tim Reed, Lionel Russell, Herts HP3 8SE competition which I know, from
Mary Stupple, Rob James PRINTED BY
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ART DIRECTOR 2006, is a nerve racking event for all
John Hawkins the competitors. I am sure that all our
john.hawkins.7@btinternet.com
104d Grove Road
Members will join me in wishing the
Walthamstow E17 9BY very best of luck to any Circle Members
Published by The Magic Circle
Copyright © 2012 by The Magic Circle. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
who are competing.
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President’s view Circular news
Summer Season
he Magic Circle is like a shuffled pack of involved in the world of fashion advertising, of Sorcery

T cards; a random selection of totally

different characters. Instead of
performing like a barrack room lawyer, for a
and listed all the many reasons put forward by
companies for refusing to buy space in one’s
magazine. He then listed all the answers that
The Magic Circle’s Season of
Summer Sorcery was kick
started last week with the ever
change, I’m going to become a clubroom you should have in your locker in order to popular Steve Allen’s Magic
psychiatrist. prove their objections had no foundation. Circle Mysteries. If you missed
I suppose it is not really surprising that, It took several hours of concentrated work it though don’t worry as there
being in the entertainment game, the majority to go through all the possible objections and are still several events left in the
of the cards are in the suit marked ‘egos’. In a how they could be overcome. On the very last programme. Michael Vincent
perfect world I guess there is no room for too day we were told that a really good salesman and Julian James are teaming
much egotism. Even The Magic Circle, would be so involved in the fashion business up to perform their Evening of
although brilliant, would not be so egotistical that not only would they know what questions Mysteries, Dave Andrews is
as to claim to be perfect. were likely to be raised and how to answer

Photo: Chris Christodoulou

But there are so many different types that them, they could avoid all the confrontation
fall into this suit. There are those who have by pre-empting every single objection before
superiority complexes, and those with they are uttered. If only we were told that on
inferiority complexes. These can be divided up the first day we could have saved ourselves
even further. Some are truly superior, while hours in the classroom and our company
others only think they are superior. Some would have saved loads of cash.
suffer the delusion that they are inferior, and Ken Brooke said to me there are talkers and Steve Allen
some actually are inferior. there are doers. When I was first thinking of targeting a completely different
The biggest question that faces each one of becoming a pro I asked an experienced variety audience with a kids’ show and
us is ‘where do I fit in?’ It is complicated still artiste if she thought I was good enough to there will also be a special extra
further by how others see us. There can be survive in that world. She said I have no idea, show in the popular Close-up at
cases where the individual concerned has got nobody has until they do it. The Magic Circle series of shows.
an inferiority complex but tries so hard to It is essential that you go on that stage, or
cover it up that to everybody else they appear up to that table, fully confident that you have The Magic Circle
to act with great superiority. put together the best collection of effects that Christmas Show
Oh dear! In the middle of all this you get you can. That they suit your personality, and Tickets for The Magic Circle’s
some fellow magician writing a book on how that you can perform subconsciously, totally 2012 Christmas Show have
we should perform our magic. Are they without fear. Once you have achieved that you just been made available as
writing from knowledge achieved from many can start learning how to entertain. All the advertised elsewhere in this
years of working at the top of the game – hard work has to be done prior to the issue. The show will run from
a veritable king of magic – or are they a performance so that you can enjoy your act 27 – 30 December and is
pipsqueak with very few pips to boast about? just as much as those watching. The more you always a sell out so, if you are
Worse still, are they just a bit of a knave who do it the more experience you will gain. The thinking of attending, now is
is only doing it for the money? more experience you gain the more successful the time to make your plans
In addition to studying magic in all its forms, you will be. and book your tickets.
I have been known to look into the realm of Undoubtedly I am not the best but boy, do I
marketing. I well remember a series of lectures enjoy doing my shows! I wonder where that Henry Lewis at
I attended on salesmanship. The tutor was puts me in the ego stakes? The Cabot Theatre
Member Henry Lewis recently
performed at The Cabot
Theatre in honour of his friend
and Magic Circle Member
Cesareo Pelaz. Days before the
show Henry and the Mayor of
Jack Delvin MIMC Beverly sealed a prediction in a
President@TheMagicCircle.co.uk capsule surrounded with ink to

194 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR JULY 2012 www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk

prevent tampering. The Mayor
brought the prediction with U.S. Magicians Visit North Korea
him to the show and when it In April a delegation of prominent American magicians visited
was opened it was seen to North Korea, the first group of U.S. performers invited to that
correctly predict the score of country since the New York Philharmonic performed in
a recent baseball game! Pyongyang, the capital, in January, 2008
Led by Dale Salwak MIMC of Southern California, the
Ian Adair Honoured delegation included Member Rich Bloch of Washington DC,
Since 1991, the Jim Craig Danny Cole of Southern California, and their assistants Ryan
Quaich has been awarded to Salwak and Stacey Cole. The group departed from Beijing on
magicians who have given 10 April and arrived in Pyongyang the same day for
outstanding service to Scottish performances in North Korea’s capital over the following week.
Magic. Past winners include The groundwork for this visit was laid by Salwak during
Eddie Dawes, Pat Page, Roy organisation is the fictional two previous visits to North Korea: In 2009 when he was the
Walton, Peter Duffie, Johnny ‘Illusionists’ Guild’ in only American magician to perform at the national birthday
Geddes and Tom Owen, to Illusionology based on?” And celebration for the country’s revered founder, Kim il-Sung,
name but a few. This year’s the answer is our very own and in 2011 when he was invited to view and meet North
award was presented to Magic Magic Circle! The competition Korea’s leading magicians for their spectacular Grand Magic
Circle Member Ian Adair, who winners are Sarah Campbell show in the 150,000 seat Rungrado May Day Stadium.
first performed at early Scottish and Darren Tossell and their
Association of Magical Societies copies of the book will be on
conventions in the 1950s and the way to them now.
developed, over the years, as
a well known magical dealer, Punch Turns 350!
author and lecturer. Several of our Members,
Ian said: “It was a great who are also Punch & Judy
honour to receive this special Professors, attended the
award and also to feature at recent Big Grin Party in
London’s Covent Garden.
The get-together, on Saturday
12 May, celebrated Mr. Punch’s
three-hundred and fiftieth Rich Bloch, Danny Cole, Stacey Cole, Jae Hwe Ku,
birthday. It was three-hundred Ryan Salwak, Dale Salwak
and fifty years since a
performance of the old rascal The Essential Magic such as Bill Malone, Chris
was seen by Samuel Pepys and Conference 2012 Kenner David Williamson, Danis
noted in his diary. Now is your last chance to Behr, Graham Jolley, Guy
Our Members and their register for The Essential Magic Hollingworth, Paul Harris, Tom
puppets joined over a hundred 2012 conference that will run Stone and Yann Frisch. This is
Punch and Judy workers in the from 27– 29 July. The last two the last planned Essential Magic
giant booth built in Covent have been fantastic and the line Conference so now is the time
Garden. After the group photo up for this one is no different, to join in if you have been
Ian Adair
was taken everyone followed already featuring performers putting it off.
this convention which was the brass band in a walk
held in my home town of around the piazza. Members The Magic Circular Online
KIlmarnock. It has been fifty taking part included John The popularity of The Magic
years since I have visited my Alexander, Alan and Barbara Circular is as strong as ever,
home base where my magical Astra, Mel Harvey, Terry indeed Members are
interest was first aroused.” Herbert, Dennis Patten and increasingly requesting a
John Styles. digital copy. Back issues in
Illusionology pdf format are already
In the April issue of The available in the Members’
Magic Circular there was a Area of The Magic Circle service will commence with
competition to win copies of website and to promote this the August 2012 edition of
Illusionology, the new magic an email will be sent to all the magazine. The facility to
book aimed at the general Members informing them opt out of receiving a physical
public. Amongst the entrants when the latest copy is copy of the magazine will
only a few managed to answer available on-line together also be made available
the question correctly. The with a link to access it. This should you wish to do so.
question was: “What Dennis Patten and Mel Harvey

www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk JULY 2012 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR 195

 THE 43RD MAGIC
COLLECTORS’
WEEKEND
By Will Houstoun AIMC

ithin the magic world there are many different

W sub-groups, each united by their common

interests in a niche aspect of conjuring. There are
card-guys, illusionists, children’s magicians and collectors.
Outsiders might think that the last group, collectors,
consists of elderly wealthy magicians, interested only in
buying and selling items and perhaps, occasionally
discussing the date on which some obscure magic event
happened. In fact, as a group, collectors represent a more
diverse, interesting cross section of magic than any other
group I have encountered – something that was clearly
evident at the Magic Collectors’ Weekend that took place
in Chicago on the second weekend of May.
Each weekend features a guest or guests of honour and
this year Members James Hagy and Richard Kaufman
were being honoured. The first major event of the
weekend was an on stage conversation between James
and Richard, as they simultaneously interviewed one
another. Despite running for over an hour, the
conversation seemed to fly by with so much more it
would have been interesting to hear about!
The official programming for the weekend featured a
number of themed groups of talks – prominent amongst
which were several presentations on previously little
known Houdini items. The first of these was a talk by
John Cox, who had obtained a copy of the guestbook
from Houdini’s home which continued to be filled in after
his death. For a collector of magicians’ autographs this
book is a dream item, featuring the signatures of many of
magic’s greats. It also raises a number of intriguing
questions and areas for further research as it becomes
apparent exactly who did and who did not visit Houdini
or Bess at various points in Houdini’s career and after his
death. The second major Houdini revelation was
presented by Arthur Moses in a keenly anticipated talk
titled ‘Have You Heard it All?’ Circle Members who have
visited The Magic Circle Headquarters will have heard the
recording of Houdini’s voice that can be played in The
Devant Room and another recording is easily accessible
on YouTube. This well known recording is about one

196 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR JULY 2012 www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk

 doomsday cult, and a plastic Lota Vase produced by the Top
Hat Magic Company is, the Diego had the answer!
The weekend ended with variety style show. David
Charvet compered the show and performed a selection of
Jarrow material uncovered in the course of his research.
Second on, David Ben performed routines inspired by pieces
from Bertram, Miller and Malini’s repertoires. Following
David, Mark Wilson and Nani Darnell gave a special
performance as surprise guests. To close the show, Max
Maven performed a selection of very deceptive mentalism.
So, what sort of magic was represented over the
weekend? Of course there were books, posters and props
for collectors to see and trade – but there was also material
for comedy performers, new insights into the publicity and
Mark Wilson and Nani Darnell career of a successful, high-end society magician, a chance
to listen to some of the best magicians in the world talk
minute and twenty seconds long but it turns out that it is candidly about one of the twentieth century’s greatest
not actually the complete picture. Arthur played the full magicians, the opportunity to listen to Houdini talk for
recording of Houdini’s introduction for the Water Torture nearly five minutes and, last but not least, the chance to see
Cell, that was nearly four minutes long, and then showed some fantastic magic. Anyone who dismisses the world of
that the well known recording appears to be a shortened the magic collector is really missing out, probably on much
edit of this full recording! more than they could even imagine!

Photos: Wayne Wissner courtesy of Magicana

Another highlight of the weekend was an afternoon of
events titled ‘Modern Masters’. This started with a talk by
David Charvet about Emil Jarrow, the inventor of the
enormously popular bill in lemon. Following the publication
of The Bill in Lemon Book, David discovered a further file of
information that reveals much previously unknown
information about Jarrow and his magic. The second talk in
the session provided a general overview of Max Malini and
his career and was given by David Ben. With an iconic name
like Malini it is amazing to think that much of what we
know is based more on second-hand information than fact
but this turns out to be the case. David explained the
progress of Malini’s private life and and his career as well as
the way in which the two impacted on one another. Along
the way he talked about Malini’s inspirations, his
motivation as a performer and also dispelled common
myths about Malini, such as the idea that he did not
like socialising with other magicians. The final
event of the session was a video recording of an
event from the super exclusive convention 31
Faces North. This was a panel discussion on
Charlie Miller between Johnny Thompson, Jay
Marshall, Herb Zarrow and Harry Riser – all
magicians with whom Charlie had lived for some time.
Other highlights of the convention included a question
and answer session with Mark Wilson and Nani Darnell, the
stars of the television show The Magic Land of Allakazam
first broadcast in the 1960s. Max Maven gave a fascinating
talk titled ‘Magical Jews – by One of Them.’ In this he
explored a number of famous Jewish magicians, their
success and offered some potential explanations for the
higher than expected proportion of successful Jewish
magicians. Diego Domingo gave a whirlwind of a talk, as
only he can, that connected a range of disparate people
and items. If you ever wondered what the connection
between Malcolm X, Jim Jones, a South Carolina David Ben in the
Evening Show

Left: David Ben with Guests of Honour

James Hagy and Richard Kaufman

www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk JULY 2012 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR 197

 Harold Cataquet AIMC

Lost in Translation
year ago today, I was exactly the way, he may suspect that I’ve given one and a black one. The black one has

A where I am now – in sunny

Greece having just finished
writing a translation of a book from
him a trick balloon that is impossible to
inflate. So, I’ll just take it off him, give
him a different one, and immediately
been gimmicked with the iron filings
and rubber cement mix. All six balloons
are tossed in a bag, and one by one
Spanish to English. Last year, it was blow it up and make something. This is an they are removed from the bag. By
Woody Aragon’s A Book in English. incredibly effective heckler stopper, covertly using a magnet, you could tell
This year, it’s Ezra Moreno’s and Willy and I highly recommend it. But, in order who took the black balloon. Obviously,
Monroe’s Mister Balloon: The Shaping of to use it, you have to be able to blow up instead of the iron filings, you could use
Air. Unlike Woody’s book, this wasn’t a a modeling balloon. Incidentally, I learned a very small magnet stuck inside the
new book (it was originally written in from this book that orange balloons are balloon, but I would be worried
1997). It’s aimed at beginner balloon the most difficult to inflate. (perhaps unnecessarily) that the
modellers, but it does have a really good So, how else could I use balloons? Here spectator might feel something in the
mix of models, techniques and theory are some of the ideas that I have thought balloon.
that would appeal to modellers at any of (none of them are in the book, but l An extension of the above is to put
level. I’m not making a sales pitch for please remember that the book was the iron filings and cement mix in
the book, but I really enjoyed working aimed at modellers, not magicians): different locations along the length of
on it, and it is a good book. l You could do a “Six Balloon Repeat” the balloon. So, the red could have
Needless to say, the section that I with them. It’s very easy to put one some at the top, the yellow could have
found most interesting was entitled balloon inside the other, so you would some in the middle, and the green could
Magic With Balloons. I’m not going to not have to make any additional have some at the bottom. Given that
go through all the contents, but this gimmicks, and at the end, everything setup and a concealed magnet, you
section did contain two of my favorites could be examined. could identify the colour of the balloons
effects – Balloon Penetration: where a l Balloons are made of latex, so rubber behind your back.
balloon is put in a tube and three or cement (the white liquid version popular l The application that most appeals to
four needles are inserted into the tube in the US rather than the clear liquid me is incorporating balloons into a cups
penetrating the balloon (and everything version) could be used to create various and balls sequence. The idea is that you
could be examined), and Balloon gimmicks. For example, you could make a would blow a bubble into a balloon,
Swallowing: in which the performer cut and restored balloon, by gluing a strip and then magically take the bubble off
swallows a balloon. Like any good book, of balloon onto an identically coloured the balloon (a slightly more advanced
it made me ask myself questions. balloon. You would then bend the balloon version of this specific effect is in the
Specifically, it made me think “How in half, and pull up on the gimmicked book, if you are not already familiar
could I better incorporate balloons into piece and cut it in half. Then, just pull with the method). You could then use
my act?” the two pieces off, essentially ripping the the bubble as the ball in a cups and balls
Balloons are the ultimate pack small, extra pieces off the balloon, and cast sequence. Remembering the previous
plays big prop. When I need them, them aside. Now inflate the balloon, and application, it’s very easy to create a
which admittedly is only about once a you’re done. I must confess that I don’t magnetic bubble, so you could easily
year, I use them as a heckler stoppers. have any balloons or rubber cement with create a chop cup routine, if that
I ask the heckler if he can help me with me in Greece, so I can’t tell whether there appealed to you. Also, a la Tommy
my next effect, and I ask him to blow would be any tell tale signs on the final Wonder, the balloon could be used as a
up a balloon. While he is trying to balloon, but if there were, I’m sure they final load (or as a set up for a final
blow up the balloon, I will take the could be hidden by making a balloon cupful of balloons). The benefit is that
opportunity to quickly blow one up figure. balloons won’t roll of the table
and make a balloon dog for someone. l Additionally, you could mix some iron (although I suspect that the bubbles
I don’t usually perform for kids, but I do filings with rubber cement and pour would be a bit more hyperactive), and
perform for their parents, so once I start the mixture inside a balloon. You don’t they are cheaper to replace than the
making balloon animals, I am often need very much of either item, but hand stitched baseballs I normally use.
asked to make another balloon model what you’ll have effectively created is a Anyway, it’s time that I get back to
for their son/daughter. Even after I have magnetic balloon. This opens up lots of the tavernas and do my bit to support
inflated and made four or five balloon possibilities. For example, you could begin the Greek economy. If you have any
animals, the heckler is still struggling with five balloons – a pale blue one, a red ideas for magic with balloons then
with his balloon. At some point along one, a yellow one, an orange one, a pink please get in touch!

198 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR JULY 2012 www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk

 Tim Reed

Throw-out Cards
hrow-out cards are, as the name suggests, promotional

T publicity pieces that are traditionally thrown out by the

performer to the far reaches of the theatre. Usually the
size and shape of a playing card, and ephemeral too, vintage
examples are rare and keenly sought after by collectors. They
are very appealing to me because they often include images of
the performer and it is exciting to think that they were handled
by the magician. Frequently they contain ‘Good Luck’
messages.
It is not certain who the first magician was to utilise this
unusual publicity device but one of the most desirable
examples comes from Alexander Herrmann, the legendary
nineteenth century American magician. The card showed
Herrmann, with trade-mark goatee beard, and his signature
underneath, with a playing card back design.
The undisputed king of the throw-out card is Howard
Thurston who, since early in his career as the World Premier
Card Manipulator, would cascade the cards across the theatre.
The Hoffmann
Often, on ebay and other websites, the standard Howard
Memorial Lecture Topic for 2012: Thurston & Jane card is offered for sale. Even though it is the
genuine article from eighty years ago, these particular cards are
plentiful, after a large stash was found, and can be bought for
What is the relationship a few pounds. However, Thurston issued about fifty different
between a trick and its cards, including variants, so there are many to collect. For a full
pictorial reference guide I would recommend Rory Feldman’s
presentation and how can www.ThurstonMasterMagician.com The extent of Mr
Feldman’s Thurston collection is overwhelming. There are many
the presentation be used desirable Thurston cards and those with advertising backs for
to affect the overall Miller Tyres and Wrigley’s Gum, and other product
endorsements, command high sums. I am pleased to have a
performance of a trick? few Thurston throw-out cards in my collection, and one is
signed by his daughter Jane Thurston. Thurston’s brother,
Harry, who toured with the Thurston show after Howard’s
Win a Year’s Subscription for Membership death, had a card too.
of The Magic Circle and a Limited Edition Dozens of magicians had their own cards printed, often with
Hoffmann Print. a Bicycle back design as the joint advertisement benefited both

The closing date for entries is the

31 August, 2012.

For more information please check the

library area of the Members only section
of www.themagiccircle.co.uk or check
the February 2012 issue of
The Magic Circular.

200 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR JULY 2012 www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk

AIMC

about what exactly is a throw-out card ... in other words, when

does a business card become a throw-out card?Normally
anything with a playing card back design would be considered
a throw-out, as it is frequently given out during a show. Also
throw-outs tend to rely on the image of the magician and have
less words and a simple message such as ‘Good Luck’. I have
business cards that are shaped like a playing card, which tend
to be given out to generate future business, rather than used in
performance. These I have filed elsewhere. Either way, I enjoy
collecting the smaller ephemeral pieces and I hope you do too.
Happy Collecting.

parties. Performers such as T. Nelson Downs, Frederick Eugene

Powell, Dante, Edwin Brush, Eugene Laurant, Will Rock, Gerald
Heaney, Maurice Raymond, Nicola, Buatier De Kolta, and others,
all had their own cards issued. I would recommend the museum
section of another website, www.martinka.com, to see another
sampling of rare cards.
Currently, with the trend for magicians having their own packs
of playing cards printed, the throw-out card is seeing a revival. I
have been at performances of Jeff McBride and caught one of his
cards. Ricky Jay is known for throwing cards as his book Cards As
Weapons testifies. Often the stage manipulators leave examples
of their cards discarded on the stage. One good way of building a
collection cheaply is to buy the souvenir packs and trade the
individual cards with other like-minded collectors. Other modern
examples, that have a traditional appearance, include Paul
Potassy, Alexandra Duvivier, William Rauscher and Wittus Witt.
There has been some discussion in the magical collecting press

www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk JULY 2012 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR 201

 Ian Rowland MIMC
MIMC

Lady In Red
ast week was rather good fun. It involved a performers: Jasper Blakeley and Romany, Diva

L lady in red, a Top Secret project and the

distinct possibility that I’ll be in prison by the
time you read this. Sound interesting? Grab a
of Magic.
Jasper hosted the show in the guise of
Kockov, his deranged east European alter-ego
coffee, pull up a chair and I’ll tell you about it. with the worst hairstyle in history. Jasper
The week got off to a good start with the hosted the show perfectly, was
Bristol Day of Magic, still the largest one-day laugh-out-loud funny and also performed
convention in the country and still not held in several excellent routines from his own
Bristol (it actually takes place in nearby cabaret repertoire.
Weston-super-Mare). I won’t say this Convention Romany looked one million percent
is the most fun you can have in one day, but it’s stunning as always and delivered a wonderful
pretty close. They got about 400 people this year, set of first-class magical entertainment. There
which I think is a great turnout, although is a section of Romany’s act where she gets a
apparently it’s slightly down on previous years. couple of men from the audience to help her
More of you should think about giving it a whirl with two routines: Coins Across followed by
next year. the Gypsy Rope Tie. In my opinion, this
I’d like to mention just three highlights of the segment of Romany’s act is simply as good as
Convention, the first of which was an item of magic gets. It’s all there: the economical
clothing. Amanda Farrell is one of the principal scripting (not a single word is wasted), the
organisers of the event as well as being one of Romany
the nicest people in the whole wide world. Amanda introduced larger-than-life
several of the shows and lectures while wearing a glorious red persona, the
dress of the kind that – to quote Raymond Chandler – “could incredible spectator
make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window.” To be management, the
honest, I expect I’ll remember the dress longer than I’ll fun, the mystery
remember the acts that Amanda introduced, excellent though and the tireless
they were. energy. It’s a
My second highlight of the day was the lecture presented by curious fact that

Photos: Mandy Davis

Pat Fallon. Pat began by saying he wouldn’t feature any despite winning
finger-flinging or supposedly ‘cutting edge’ theoretical stuff. every award in
Instead, he said he’d teach several simple, practical routines sight, including
that you can use in the real world. True to his word, Pat the World Magic
proceeded to deliver what I have to say was one of the most Seminar Golden Kockov
pleasant, intelligent and useful lectures I’ve ever seen. Lion Award in Las Vegas last year, Romany is seldom invited to
My favourite item in the lecture was a fairly straightforward lecture at conventions here in the UK, and has never been invited
Just Chance routine that Pat calls The Raffle. It involves four to either lecture or perform at any convention in the States.
party bags containing prizes, one of which is a substantial These are both serious oversights that enterprising souls would
bundle of money. A spectator is given a free choice, doesn’t do well to correct.
end up with the money but does end up with some other prizes.
The basic elements of this routine are as old as the hills, as Ideas Bunny
Pat would be the first to admit. The brilliant part is the specific As soon as I returned from the Bristol convention I began
way he has put these elements together, and how the routine working as a writer and all-purpose ideas bunny for a new TV
is structured and scripted. The routine successfully gets around magic show. Working on this project required me to actually get
some of the thorny issues that can plague this kind of material, up each morning and travel to a London production office during
such as how to put a happy, positive spin on a spectator not crush hour. This felt horribly reminiscent of the bad old days
winning the money. It’s easy to do, as practical as they come when I had a proper job and used to commute every day, fool
and highly entertaining. If you’re interested in The Raffle, drop that I was. The bad memories made me feel nauseous, and I
Pat an email at patfallonmagic@gmail.com could only get through the journey using deep meditation, whale
My third highlight of the Bristol convention was the evening song and horse tranquillisers.
gala show. It was an impressive line-up by any standards, but I I can’t say much about the TV show because I signed a
was particularly pleased because it included two of my favourite Non-Disclosure Agreement and sundry other legal bits of paper

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that I couldn’t be bothered to read. I’m pretty sure there was a by itself plus 1. You get 4 x 5, which of course equals 20. This
clause in there to the effect that if I so much as whisper the name is the first part of your answer. Then just multiply the 3 and the
of the show or its star, I get locked away in a Guatemalan prison 7 together (21) and stick this on the end. You get 2021, which
for eternity and a day with nothing to eat but cat food and is the right answer.
whatever I can scrounge off the rat traps. This works with any pair of two-digit numbers if the first
What I can say, having been involved in a few telly projects over digits are the same (in this example 4) and the second digits
the years, is that it’s always fascinating to witness the very add up to 10 (in this example 3 and 7). Try it with other
delicate process by which a new show is patiently brought to life. numbers that fit the same pattern, such as 24 x 26 or 61 x 69.
Imagine a hundred people all with one hand on a large net. In Now consider 49 x 69. Here’s the shortcut. Multiply the first
the middle of the net is a very fragile egg, and everyone is trying digits together (in this case 4 x 6 which equals 24). Add the
to carry the egg ten miles over a mountain range and hoping the digit common to both numbers, which in this case is 9. You get
egg will still be in good shape at the end. Sometimes, lots of 24 + 9 = 33. Now multiply the second digits together (9 x 9 =
talented and well-intentioned people put in a lot of hard work 81) and stick this on the end: 3381. This is the right answer.
but the egg gets dropped anyway. When this happens, you end This works with any pair of two-digit numbers if the first
up with a mess like the first series of The Magicians. digits add up to 10 (in this example 4 and 6) and the second
I just hope the particular show I’m working on, despite the digits are the same (in this example 9). Try it with other
significant drawback of my involvement, turns into the great numbers that fit the same pattern, such as 28 x 88 or 17 x 97.
piece of television that I know it could be. The script as it stands Teach these two shortcuts to a friend, and make sure he or
contains at least two audacious ideas that have never before she practises them thoroughly. Next time you are both hanging
been tried on a TV magic show. I would dearly love to see these out with friends, offer to demonstrate some more of your
ideas realised, so I hope we don’t drop the egg. More on this phenomenal mind skills.
later, as and when I can share details without waking up to find Ask anyone present for a two digit number. Let’s say they
myself languishing in a distant jail. suggest 47. Say this is to be multiplied by another number.
Supply the second number using either of the two patterns
Experiment given above i.e. either the first digits are the same and the
From November until the end of March I ran an interesting second digits add up to 10 or vice-versa. In this case the second
experiment: I offered a new set of lecture notes to the magic number would be either 43 or 67. You can scribble this sum on
world free of charge in return for a donation to any charity or a bit of paper or tap it into a calculator. Ask everyone if they
good cause (as mentioned back in the January issue). I didn’t can figure out the answer using mental arithmetic. Most
make any money doing this. The intention was just to encourage people will consider this impossible.
people to perform acts of kindness. Turn to your stooge and pretend to go through some brief
I burned a lot of time and energy publicising this offer as mind-enhancing hypnotic ritual granting temporary powers of
widely as I could, via the Magic Circle, personal contacts and phenomenal calculation. Your stooge can now solve the
several of the most popular magic forums. I also asked everyone calculation problem immediately, using the formulae they have
who took me up on the offer to spread the word and encourage secretly rehearsed. Repeat this several times, each time
others to do the same. allowing anyone to name the first number while you then add
I concluded the experiment at the end of March. All in all, 562 the second part of the multiplication sum. You have two
magicians from around the world supported the idea. Whether different patterns to play with.
the lecture notes were worth having is obviously a matter of Even if the others guess you have taught your friend how to do
opinion, although the comments I received suggest they had this, they will still find it hard to figure out how he or she is
some merit. Whether 562 magicians is a good total is also a getting the sums right every time. It’s not the mystery of the
matter of opinion. I had hoped for 1000. To all those who took century, but it’s a nice little puzzler for odd occasions.
part, thank you for joining in.

QUICK TRICK Invitation

This is a half-stooge effect, by which I mean that even if people If you have items, stories, jokes or vicious rumours of
suspect some prior collusion they will still be puzzled by what’s interest to mentalists, please drop me a line
going on. (ian@ianrowland.com). If you can’t afford Derren and want
First, let me teach you two mathematical shortcuts. to hire a fairly good also-ran mentalist, or you just have
Consider 43 x 47. Here’s how to multiply these numbers time to kill, please visit www.ianrowland.com.
together in your head. Think of the first digit (4) and multiply it

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 DYNAMO
Dynamo has been known to magicians
for a number of years but has recently
exploded into the public eye with his
popular TV series Magician Impossible.
Two more series of the show are in
development but Dynamo still found the
time to sit down and discuss his career
and magic. Magician Impossible in

Will: The popularity of Magician that people just don’t know about.
Impossible is a huge accomplishment! Unless they experience it themselves,
Can you tell me a bit about how you or hear it from the horse’s mouth, they
managed to get to this position? never know. It is like a really great
performance on stage that looks
Dynamo: In the last year, through effortless. What you don’t see are the
Magician Impossible and the social weeks leading up to the show, where
media networks, everything has come the performer stays up till six in the
together. Now I have over a million morning rehearsing to make sure
people following what I am doing on everything goes right!
Facebook and on Twitter and the TV
show hit nearly two million viewers on W You mentioned that your current
the first night. We have had about TV show was picked up by Watch.
eighteen million viewers now, Presumably they saw you somewhere
including the repeats, and that is the because of the profile you have built
kind of number you would hope for over the last few years?
on a terrestrial channel!
D That is what I was talking about
W Wow. So how did that happen? when I mentioned the social media. I
jumped onto the YouTube craze right
D I think, first and foremost, I had a at the beginning and went from
vision for a show. I had an idea for the getting hundreds of views on my
way I wanted to approach the magic videos to getting millions. It wasn’t
that hadn’t really been done on always that way though! I remember it
television in this country. It then took a used to take me months to get a their friends if they do. Because of that
long time to convince people of my hundred views and that it was super I am more of a perfectionist over what
vision and to get them to trust that exciting when it happened! The last I release. I know that if I fall below a
the idea would work. Watch gave me video I put out had 250,000 views in certain level I will hear about it ... and
the platform, they weren’t the biggest the first day! Things have changed a if I hear about it through Facebook or
channel, but they got behind me and little bit and, over the years I have Twitter millions of other people will
believed in what I could do. spent a lot of time developing too!
We were also allowed to do the strategies to drive traffic to my videos For me it has been a learning
magic the way we thought it had to be and engage the audience. The main experience as well. I used to go to
done. A lot of shows are restricted to a thing you need to do as a performer is magic conventions and, if you do that
stereotype of how a magic show to communicate and I have just tried too much, you get stuck in the magic
should be made – they choose to work out how to do that using way of thinking. You start to judge
everything from the material you YouTube and other similar sites. magic as a magician rather than as a
perform to the cameras you can use. layperson. Getting direct feedback
When I started putting videos out it W With older forms of media, like from laypeople via social media really
was on YouTube and it was just me television and print, there is a very one made me streamline my magic,
and my friends going out and filming way process – you send out especially on sites like YouTube where
magic without any of the red tape. It is information and the user receives it. you want your videos to go viral.
hard enough just performing the With the internet that is changing, Routines can’t be long and convoluted
magic well, let alone trying to have you tried to exploit that? so you pick things that are incredibly
overcome the hurdles that TV puts up. direct – things people can describe to
A lot of performers don’t really D You sort of touched on it there. their friends the next day in one
understand it. They watch a show and The thing about Facebook and Twitter sentence: “Dynamo took an iPhone and
think: “I can do that trick, why aren’t I is whatever you put out, you will get put it inside a bottle.” Longer routines
on TV?” The reality is that there is so direct feedback on. They will slag you are amazing to watch live, when it is
much more that goes into a TV show off if they don’t like it or send it to happening to you and you have the

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nterview by Will Houstoun AIMC

the cigarette that went through the

coin, or the chosen card the wrong
way round in the deck. We remember
the simple visual of the magic itself.
successful and it all makes sense. It is
not about the tricks you are doing, it is W Television is notorious for using
all about injecting yourself into the huge quantities of material.
performance.
D Tell me about it!
W So you have really seen both sides
of the coin? W How do you choose and generate
material for your shows?
D Yes. People can say: “Dynamo
doesn’t have any personality in his D I always look at other things. I try
performances.” I would say that I do, it to watch a new film every night before
is just not a traditional performance I go to bed and I see the special effects
personality. I don’t start telling a story and think about how I can recreate
about a watch that my grandfather them live. I get a lot of ideas from
gave me ten years ago ... I don’t create superhero films. When someone is
a story to go with my magic. I prefer to writing a story about a superhero they
tell stories that naturally occur in my automatically give their hero powers
magic, or just to present the magic as that a normal human would want to
investment to sit through it, but it it is. I think magicians, sometimes, are have. So I watch a lot of those films
doesn’t really translate on TV. People scared and don’t believe that magic and read a lot of superhero comic
just start swiching over. itself can be entertaining ... they feel books. You know what it is like being
When I was a kid and I watched that you have to add a story or into magic. You look at anything and
other magicians, like David Blaine or comedy or something else. But the you automatically start to think about
David Copperfield, I would sit there reason we all got into magic is it in terms of magic!
thinking: “I can do this, I do better probably just a moment when we saw I also collaborate a lot with my
flourishes than him!” Over the years I something that was amazing. We friends and consultants, people like
have studied Blaine’s approach to don’t remember the story that went Daniel Garcia, Doug McKenzie and
s

magic and why he has become with it, or the jokes, we just remember Luke Jermay. As a group we are

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 Dynamo walks on the River Thames

always looking for great pieces of magic, everything I do better and helps me to methods, just the effects. Then the team
ideas that could come from anywhere. share it with other people in the best goes away and works on the ideas before
For example, about six years ago I made a possible way. coming back together to create the best
note that I wanted to walk across the method, script it, workshop it and then
Thames – I wanted to walk on water and W Most magicians seem to be one-man eventually film it. At some point it will all
if I was going to do that effect I should operations, trying to do everything fall into place and we get the finished
do it on the most Iconic river in the themselves. What advantage do you get result. Every time we do it the process
country. I came back to the idea now from working with others? changes but the end goal is to create
and then and recently got the platform something brand new – so that anyone
to do it. Obviously without a platform... D When I first started, I didn’t trust who watches will be amazed and it will
just walking on water! anyone to do anything for me. I thought ignite their imagination.
I could just do it all myself but that was
W So you have a consultancy team, and I just taking my focus away – I was trying to W And do you ever use stock methods?
think that ever since I first met you you be a jack of all trades so I was spreading
have been with your manager, Dan. How myself too thin. Now there are people D Obviously we start from a stock
long have you worked together? who are better designers than me who method sometimes but we always try to
can do design, there are people who are develop it and improve it from there. We
D We have been working together for better at marketing who can do that, and try to give it that Dynamo feel. Like when I
about ten years. I was performing, doing I can focus on my magic and my do your trick, FREAK, which is one of my
events and filming videos for YouTube and presentations because that is what I am, most used tricks and my go-to effect if
a DVD thanks to a Princess Trust business a magician. Every single success story someone stops me and asks to see
start-up loan. I had managed to arrange involves a collaborative process, and it is something. The way I do it is a million
to film at an event because I knew the how you can use that collaborative miles away from the way you do it, apart
security guards and Dan turned out to be process that determines how successful from the method. I don’t do all the phases
the event’s main organiser! He was so you can be. If you want to succeed at and I probably do it a lot quicker. Finding
impressed with what I was doing that he anything it is all about getting the best myself in the magic is what has given me
invited me to join them for the rest of the group of people around you and then that edge.
events in the tour and he started to get working out how to make them work
me a few bookings. He also became together. You have to stop thinking that W You mentioned the Dynamo feel.
interested in magic, not to perform but using other people takes anything away Something you have done very well is to
from a creativity point of view. Now he is for you, it empowers you when you do brand yourself as a contemporary
the first person I speak to whenever that. magician, tying yourself into popular
I have a new idea. He probably knows culture. Did you do that for your career or
more about magic than most magicians I W So when you have a new idea how was it a personal choice that happened to
know yet he can’t shuffle a deck of cards! does the process work? work commercially?
He has the understanding of a layperson
and at the same time knows about how D Lots of different ways really. Ideally I D It was never a conscious decision to try
magic works and how to use it to make come to a project with a list of things I to be cool. I was just trying to combine all
good television. He helps me to make want to be able to do, not necessarily the things I like with one another ... my

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 passion for music, television, film and changed about ten years ago and, if you
magic. I am an Eighties kid so I am in tune look at my style today, it is a million miles
with popular culture at the moment and I away from what it used to be. It is not
like to keep on top of that sort of thing. about it being hip-hop or being popular
Going to school I was always pressured to culture, it is just about it being good. To
conform but when I left I found the begin with I was using all that stuff to try
freedom to approach things the way I to become popular. Now I have enough
wanted. I stuck with my personal taste belief in myself – that I know what my
and it turns out that some of it was right. audiences like – so I don’t need it so
Now when I look at a new routine I can much. Now it is really about just doing the
instantly envision how it should be for me. best magic possible. I haven’t worn a
baseball cap for years but some magician’s
W So you never sat down and planned it? still see me as the kid with a baseball cap
at the magic convention!
D I’m not that clever to be honest! I love
hip-hop, I love rock music and I like all W So how would you like the magic
sorts of other stuff as well. Growing up I community to view you?
would watch MTV and wanted to be part
of that world. So instinctively my magic D I would like them to be proud that I

Andrew Parsons
and performance have developed to fit am one of the performers that the public
into that style. see as a magic leader. I am not putting
When I started to perform I was going myself up with the greats, but in the
Dynamo on stage at The Magic Circle
to hip-hop clubs with my friends and that public’s eye at the moment I am the hot
was where I really started to show people new magic kid. direction they are given for their magic
magic. Hip-hop has a very macho feel so if does not really help them out and so they
the audience spot something they W Right. If someone today tells me they don’t do stuff for their friends and it
shouldn’t they want to be the one to saw a magician on TV the odds are pretty becomes very hard to work out how to
boast about it! That really helped me high it was you! put more of themselves into the magic. If
make sure that my routines and sleights we could fix that I think magic would
were tight. D Yeah – and I want to make sure I am become a lot more creative because kids
doing right by magic and right by the have the most amazing minds. They view
W Because your image and magic are people who I respect. But I think to do the world differently to anyone else so if
hooked into popular culture they will go that, sometimes, you have to try to do you can encourage them, without creating
out of fashion at some point as tastes things a bit differently. too many boundaries, then they could
move on. Do you have a plan for how you develop some great stuff and everyone
will develop your persona and character to W A lot of the time magic has a rather would learn something.
deal with that? old fashioned image; what do you think
the biggest benefit from doing things W And how do you think young people
D In my eyes the hip-hop influence differently is? can be encouraged in the right way?

D I think that, first and foremost, there D They should have the classic books and
needs to be a re-think on the idea of what learn about all the magic legends but I
a magician is. Recently I have become a think it is also important for them to have
Member of The Magic Circle and I am very younger role models. If their role models
glad to be one but, back in the day, there are all older people then the kids are just
was a thing where you could only visit if going to emulate them which is good but
you fit in to the dress code. That would it doesn’t help them work out how to
stop someone like me from ever going make the magic fit themselves. They need
because I only really own one suit and the to see that young people can be
last thing I want to do is put it on to visit themselves in their magic and I think there
the magic club ... It just doesn’t feel is some stuffiness in magic that stops that.
comfortable! Sometimes, because we try to protect
I don’t think that young magicians are magic, we don’t let it grow.
nurtured in the right way. They are being
taught about magic by legends but the W So it has been quite a journey. Are you
legends are not in tune with popular are pleased with where you are now?
culture. There is a danger that the young
Photo: Mandy Davis

magicians perform magic that doesn’t D With Magician Impossible, for the first
really suit them. I know a few kids who time in 29 years, I felt accepted just for
get bullied at school because the other being me. When I was in school, I got into
kids think they are geeks for doing magic. magic because I didn’t have any acceptance
Dynamo performs during an interview They have so much potential but the – now I feel that I finally do.

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 Edwin A. Dawes

404. PAUL CLIVE AND WITCHCRAFT MAGIC

4 October 1906 in London, the youngest son of John and
Imogene Frances Craggs. He had been exposed to magic
from infancy as his eldest brother, Douglas, nine years his
senior, was already in thrall of the wonders of conjuring
and ventriloquism, as related in the previous articles in this
series (Dawes, 2012). Little is known of his earliest
excursions into magic nor precisely when he first used the
name Paul Clive. The reason for forsaking Craggs might
have been that by 1928 his brother had already appeared
before royalty and he did want to appear to be trading on
his brother’s fame. Having said that, in later life and after
Paul Clive & Company, the magic dealer, was well
established, he commented that it was his business name.
Following in his brother’s footsteps, on 3 February 1931
at the age of 24 and under the name of Paul Clive, he
was elected to membership of The Magic Circle, at which
time he was living at 204 Byron Avenue, Manor Park.
Doubtless the creativity and superb lip control which were
winning such acclaim for Douglas Craggs’s ventriloquial
skills would be a deterrent to Philip taking up that art in a
serious way and so he concentrated on the related art of
mimicry to augment his conjuring. Consequently, when he
made his first appearance on a Circle stage at the April
Social of the following year, it was with some clever
mimicry, including a crying baby, a train, repairing a shoe,
birds, a lion, a monkey, a cat and kitten, sawing wood and
an aeroplane. He repeated this act for Let’s Be Foolish, a
Circle Social held appropriately on 1 April 1937.
There was a change of address to Accra
House, Fernbrook Drive, North Harrow in
1935 and the first hints of the type of
business activity he was involved with are
found in May 1936. At the Ideal Homes
Paul Clive Exhibition in Bristol Patrick Coleman,
representing Paul Clive & Co., was
aul Clive is perhaps best remembered demonstrating a pocket trick called The

P today by virtue of the splendid

introduction to card magic that he
published in 1946, Card Tricks Without
Mystery of the Fourth Dimension (the soft
felt puzzle purse). Later, he also offered to
supply packets of toys at trade price for
Skill. This book, together with the Faber & The Magic Circle’s Children’s Christmas
Faber edition of Hugard and Braué’s The Entertainment in 1936.
Royal Road to Card Magic (1949), The decision to move into serious magic
represented the primer of choice for many dealing was taken in 1937 when Paul
young aspiring British conjurers in the late founded Witchcraft Magic and took a full
1940s and also brought pleasure to many -page advertisement on the rear cover of
of their elders. But those aspirants and the June-September issue of The Magic
veterans would have also recognised Paul Wand. It asked “Do you know the name?
Clive as the founder of a flourishing magic Paul Clive & Co. A name to remember.
dealing business operating under the title We have not previously advertised our
of Witchcraft Magic. goods to conjurers as we have mainly
Paul Clive was born Philip Craggs on Paul Clive’s First Leaflet dealt only in small effects. However, we

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MIMC

are now completing a good selection of the aforementioned Ghost Tubes (Dawes,
the type appealing both to the 2004)!
professional and amateur performer. If In the midst of these busy times, on 12 June
you will drop us a line we shall be 1937, the marriage of Philip Craggs to Muriel
happy to send you our catalogue of Nicholls took place. The couple went on to have
Conjuring Effects – gratis when two daughters, the first being Gloria Craggs
completed, also the circulars of new born on 30 December 1938 in Hendon.
lines, as and when introduced.” This Interestingly, the second daughter’s birth,
first advertisement featured Wilfrid registered in the third quarter of 1941 at
Jonson’s Paddle Trick, A Story of Two Blackpool, where the family had moved, was
Twin Beds, Silver Spots to produce under the name of Frances P. Clive. Years later
miniature explosions, and Paul told Goodliffe Neale, who was mystified by
Copper-Oxydised [sic] Ghost Tubes. In Douglas Craggs being his sibling, that he had
November of that year Paul Clive & Co. changed the name by deed poll after the
was one of four dealers participating in outbreak of war in 1939. At that time suspicion
a Magic Circle evening devoted to of the activity of spies was rife, so to avoid
Magic for Children. They were possible problems of being known as Paul Clive
represented by Wilfrid Jonson who through his business, yet carrying an Identity
demonstrated a Ghost Tube, a Card for Philip Craggs, he decided to change his
Chocolate Box changing box, John name legally in 1940.
Brearley’s Miraculous Following the outbreak of war the Company opened a
Assembly, and Jonson’s warehouse at Andover in Hampshire, advertising the new
own Jack in the Box. address at the end of 1939. It proved a timely precaution.
It was in 1937 too that In the blitz on London, which commenced at the end of
Will Goldston proposed September 1940 after the German Luftwaffe was repulsed
Paul Clive for in the Battle of Britain during the late summer months, one of
membership of The the many buildings destroyed was Paul Clive’s Aldersgate
Magicians’ Club, which premises. The move to Andover was short-lived as the building
brought him into contact was requisitioned by the Government.
with those Club He then made his next move, this
members who were not time north, and an advertisement in
also Members of The The World’s Fair on 30 November
Magic Circle. 1940 advised customers that his
About this time Clive’s new address was Back 68 Cocker
first magic catalogue was Street, Blackpool.
issued containing almost Clive’s arrival in Lancashire led to
200 lines, and an the foundation, in 1941, of a new
advertisement for Paul magic club, the North-West
Clive & Co. appeared in December’s The World’s Fair announcing Magicians’ Club, a forerunner of
“Jokes!! Conjuring Tricks!! Write for our free Joke Catalogue today’s Blackpool Magicians’
and Wholesale List. Separate Conjuring Catalogue. 150 Club. They were soon in action
Aldersgate Street, London, EC1.” At these premises, termed entertaining at a Forces
‘The Home of Sir Pryzes’, two large floors were devoted to Convalescent Camp in the area
magic, jokes and tricks. in February 1942, with Paul
During the next twelve months the firm issued Witchcraft Clive giving his well-known
Magic pamphlets detailing latest additions to the range, but Impressions. In March, Paul
then, in November, they launched in style with an attractive 91- was a guest of the long-
page catalogue listing well over 400 items, and advertised it in established Modern Mystic
America in The Sphinx and Genii. It is a publication dear to the League (MML) of Blackburn when he
heart of the present writer as it was his first dedicated magic demonstrated a number of new effects. The North-West
catalogue and yielded up his Christmas present for 1938, one of Club reciprocated in May at Blackpool and Paul contributed to
s

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 He placed adverts in Abra in 1947 for demonstrators and
asking “Coming to Blackpool? Look us up at our shop on North
Pier.” In January of this same year he launched a monthly Bulletin
the programme by demming tricks and jokes. for his newly-founded Witchcraft Conjurers’ League for boys
Meanwhile, in 1941 Paul had advanced to AIMC with Silver Star. aged between 12 and 20, with a planned junior section for those
The war gradually, but quite seriously, affected all British magic aged between 8 and 12. The first 12 issues were mimeographed
dealers as shortage of materials and rationing limited their but from No.13 (January 1948) it was printed. Robert Harbin
supplies. For cloth items such as egg bags and sack escapes became a Deputy Organiser of the League, joined by Lionel King
customers had to surrender precious clothing coupons. However, and then Voltaire. In issue 14 it was reported that Harbin had
Paul Clive & Co. held a meeting in London for League members with the hope of
weathered the war founding a Branch in the capital but this idea came to naught.
years and in 1946 was After four years and 48 issues the Bulletin ended in December
in good shape and 1950 (Alfredson & Daily, 1986), coinciding, as we shall see, with
about to hit a jackpot Clive’s departure for America.
with the publication In January 1948 when the North-West Magicians’ Club held a
Card Tricks Without Night of Magic at the Jubilee Theatre in Blackpool, Paul displayed
Skill. The big news in his versatility with an act of Hand Shadows, and Paul Clive & Co.
British magic advertised a new line with a Liquid Just Chance effect.
publishing for 1946 Later in 1948 he must have taken a trip to America for a note
had been the launch in the Linking Ring relates that Paul Clive from Blackpool spent
in February of “quite some time” in the Golden Gate Magic Studio, San
Abracadabra, “The Francisco, and the hope was expressed that he would spend days
World’s Only Magical in the Studio on his next visit. That hope was probably realised
Weekly” by Goodliffe within a couple of years as, in 1950, Clive took a momentous
Neale. Paul took decision to relocate with his family in America, heralded by the
advantage of this news that he was about to make a series of appearances on
outlet for Television in San Francisco.
advertisements, There followed a period of eight years when little was heard of
announcing his new him in the magical press. His address in Magic Circle Membership
book, which he Lists for 1953 and
dedicated “To my wife, mother of my children”. A montage of 1955 was 2235
their portraits comprised the frontispiece. Carleton Street,
After an excellent 32-page opening chapter devoted to Berkeley,
Conjurers’ Terms and Artifices, 95 tricks were described and then California, and it
details of Paul Clive’s Identity Pack followed, a stacked deck he seems likely that
had first published about a year previously, admitting that it was most of his
not of the high standard of the Nikola System but that it required activities during
less memory work. For the final chapter Paul had called upon the American
contributions from a group of nine of his good friends, including sojourn were on
George Braund, Col Ling Soo, his brother Douglas Craggs, Lionel the West Coast.
King, Jack Kinson, Victor Peacock, Stanley Stephenson, Edward The only mention
Victor and Peter Warlock. As expected from such a distinguished traced in the
group, they provided some excellent tricks, bringing the total in literature relates to
the book to 117, and together with a detailed index it was a note in Tops by
remarkably good value for five shillings and sixpence. It was also Palhina in 1956 in
to provide an item for Jack Potter’s Did You Know That? column a column titled
in Abra in 1977, namely that “The Recurring or Homing Card first Magic in
appeared in Paul Clive’s Card Tricks Without Skill (1946), page California: Paul
113, under the title of ‘The Stained Glass Window’ ”. Clive from England
The book was an instant success, receiving excellent reviews in “pitching his bird
both Britain and America, and the print run of 5000 copies was calls and vent
exhausted by the following year, necessitating a second, slightly whistles” at
revised edition of 3000 copies published in 1947. Nor did the Alameda County Fair. So perhaps much of his time was spent in
story end there for, as with Douglas Craggs’s ABC of similar activities around the State. We know from his
Ventriloquism, the title was picked up by Faber & Faber and in demonstrations at exhibitions in Britain and in his own shops that
1959 they published a completely revised (with some new he was a first-rate pitcher. However, John Pellatt (see later)
material) third edition in hardback selling for fifteen shillings. indicated that he also had a magic shop in America.
Nine years later a fourth, paperback, edition was published by During this period in the United States his marriage to Muriel
Faber for nine shillings, and from its publication on 18 September broke down and they divorced. Paul married Dorothy, who
to the year end it sold over 2500 copies. No doubt the returned with him to Blackpool in 1958 whilst Muriel and his two
acclamation greeting the appearance of this book played no little daughters remained in their adopted country. His sister-in-law by
part in Paul Clive’s elevation to MIMC on 4 March 1947. this second marriage had apparently worked as Demos, The

210 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR JULY 2012 www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk

Masked Magnetic Wizard, in the 1920s. became clear there was a need for a book of easy non-skilled or
In October 1958 Goodliffe reported in Abra that Paul Clive had long practice required card tricks. Thus he wrote Card Tricks
returned after ten [sic] years in the US and intended to restart his Without Skill, which remains a classic among card books and
Blackpool business. In the meantime he was in Birmingham at the which many of today’s card enthusiasts must have cut their
Ideal Homes Exhibition and then proceeded to London for magical teeth. The book sold quite cheaply, as there was no
Selfridge’s Christmas season. He was back at the same exhibition question of making a fortune”. Indeed, he divulged in 1948 that
in 1959 selling Punch swazzles, independently joined by Joe he made two-pence per copy.
Stuthard with the mouse novelty, and again in 1960 with In 1982 Paul started to thin out his library and advertised
additional attendance at the Homes & Gardens Exhibition, selling “Collectors Books on Magic – Notable works by Great Authors.
tricks and novelties. “He’s a nice chap, always good company, SAE for list. No Callers please until you have seen the list”.
and welcome back any time” wrote Goodliffe. And Paul was Paul Clive suffered a stroke soon after and was confined to a
back many times for the exhibition circuit was now an important wheel chair for the rest of his life. In the autumn of 1987 he
outreach for his firm. He was hailed by Goodliffe as “one of the suffered another stroke and died a few weeks later on 1
most long-lasting demmers”, recalling that Edwin Hooper as a December in Victoria Hospital, Blackpool. He was survived by his
schoolboy bought a lot of standard tricks from him. second wife Dorothy, and by his elder brother Douglas Craggs,
It appears that in 1961 Paul sold the title of his Witchcraft who outlived him by thirteen months.
Magic, as this advert in Abra appeared: “Special Notice. As from
this announcement the magical business known as ‘Witchcraft REFERENCES
Magic’ will be known as The Premier Magic Company. We wish Abracadabra (1946-1988).
to state that we have no connection with Mr Paul Clive or any of Dawes, E.A. (2004). The Yankee Collector No.14, pp.119-129.
his associates … Brandon Place, Cambridge.” Magic Circular (1930-1988)..
Paul Clive & Co. Ltd advertised their magic shop on North Pier, Magic Wand (1936-1957).
and for a period another shop on Waterloo Road, Blackpool, and World’s Fair (1936-1972).
some of their wares fairly regularly in Abra during the 1960s and
1970s, occasionally with new exclusives such as the Silk-Blowing ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Colour Change at 30 shillings (without silks). I am very grateful to Peter Lane for providing images of the
In February 1971 Bayard Grimshaw visited the Clives at their Witchcraft Conjurers’ League Bulletins, Michael Dawes for
sea-front apartment and found them preparing for a month’s genealogy and to Bill Kalush for the Ask Alexander resources of
holiday in the Austrian Alps and the Canary Islands. He came The Conjuring Arts Research Center.
away with Paul’s latest lists and noted that some of the items
were familiar ones from the pre-war days. Later that year Paul
was stricken by a bout of shingles and his wife was also unwell,
necessitating hospital treatment.
There is an interesting (undated) article by John Pellatt titled IT PAYS TO
Around Britain Magically in the Sid Lorraine Files
(Correspondence H, Doug Henning, accessible through the Ask
Alexander site of the Conjuring Arts Research Center) recording a
ADVERTISE
visit to the UK. In Blackpool he found the Paul Clive Magic Shop
on North Pier “a small, crowded and well-stocked shop …
catering mainly to the joke-buying tourists … he had a
IN THE
surprisingly adequate selection of traditional magic fare. Paul
Clive, a very nice, interesting and apparently modest person with
a sense of humour. When I met him (and talked to him
subsequently for a few hours) he had a knife through his head …
Apart from being a knowledgeable person on magic, a darn
good showman and interesting talker, he is a very good business
man. He is managing director of his own importing and To reach 1500 magicians
distributing firm (the third largest in the country) dealing, I around the world costs
assume, strictly with jokes and magical effects. He had just been
less then you think
over to the West Coast of the USA earlier in the year where he
has relatives. He used to have a second magical shop there years
Full page from £100.00
back, which he closed up before returning to England. He visited
Half Page £55.00
the Magic Castle (Bill Larsen’s creation) while in the USA. The
Quarter page £30.00
magic business, on the whole, was doing quite well in Britain, he
all prices subject to VAT
told me ... Humorous or close-up magic seemed to be prevailing,
and Geller was in the news quite often.” This last statement
For full details contact
enables us to date the piece as no earlier than 1973 when Geller
the Business and Advertising Manager
first arrived in Britain.
Scott Penrose
In the pages of Abra in 1981 the topic of ‘magic writing for the
on 07767 336882
public’ was debated and Editor Donald Bevan allowed Paul Clive
or email advertising@TheMagicCircle.co.uk
the final words, writing thus: “After selling small tricks and jokes
from a kiosk on Blackpool Pier throughout World War 2, it

www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk JULY 2011 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR 211

 Mandy Davis MIMC Convenor of Reports. Photographed by John

Roy Marsh Alan Shaxon Richard Pinner

Monday 16 April 2012 hilarious solutions to stop this habit. It if you could make someone’s head
Room 101 hosted by went straight in to Room 101. disappear why would you need to stick
Roy Marsh Richard Pinner was the next guest and knives through it in the first place? It was
suggested that jumbo coin manipulation no surprise when that went in. Richard’s
Reported by Jacob Banfield wasn’t fooling anyone and was simply eye final offering was The Web – the trick
There was a great sense in the clubroom candy, like juggling. Everyone agreed and where a spectator is startled to find a fake
that Room 101 was going to exceed it went in. The Head Dagger Chest was spider on the back of their hand at the
everyone’s expectations and, I’m pleased Richard’s next entry, in his opinion an climax. It again went to Room 101
to report, it did! For those of you utterly pointless trick, on the grounds that following the theme of unnecessarily
unfamiliar with the Room 101 concept, scaring the spectator.
adapted from George Orwell’s novel Our final guest was none other than
1984, guests are invited to banish their Paul Zenon. His expose of Psychic Sally had
pet peeves of magic to Room 101. the audience in stitches and started a
Roy Marsh hosted the evening and great discussion on ways of debunking
began by greeting Alan Shaxon to the such fraudsters. Sally went straight into
stage. Each of the guest’s offerings was Room 101. Next on Paul’s list was tacky
accompanied by a video projection illusion choreography. It went in based on
which, hopefully, illustrated the the fact that most illusionists do a lot of
annoyance. Alan’s first submission was pointless dancing around just to present a
the Knife through Arm illusion – which visual puzzle. Finally, following a similar
was not banished to Room 101 as the theme to Richard’s head dagger chest,
audience felt that it does have its place, Paul suggested that illogical magic
in certain macabre performances, as production props were useless – citing
demonstrated by Amazing Jonathan. Appearing Umbrellas as an example. These
Smash & Stab, however, did not fare so however did not make it in as
well as it runs the risk of scaring the Roy defended the dove pan.
spectator involved and potentially All in all, Room 101 was a fantastic
injuring them. Alan’s final entry was evening and everyone will be looking
‘finger licking’ during performances; he forward to it next year!
admitted to being one of the biggest [The Hands On Pre-Show in The
culprits and put forward a number of Paul Zenon Devant Room featured Tony Hanscombe.]

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Ward MMC

Monday 23 April 2012 Bongo who “knew about as much about

The Ali Bongo Memorial magic as anybody on the planet”. Ali was
Lecture 2012 by Paul Daniels a developer and inventor who loved and
was proud of the props he designed and
Reported by John Fells made for Paul. “If Ali didn’t suggest it, it
There have been a few live-streamed wasn’t a very good idea.” Among the
transmissions from our Headquarters, with items Paul discussed was the production
various degrees of success. On this night, of two small white mice from a matchbox
once again, a team of dedicated with a one camera close-up shot – a trick
volunteers brought Paul Daniels, and his which led Lance Burton to exclaim “Who
memories of Ali Bongo, into our homes needs Tigers!”.
via the internet. The transmission was Ali was nationally known by the people
flawless and without the buffering as a performer. He created characters
experienced during previous streaming. such as The Shriek of Araby and Alistair.
So first a word of thanks to all those that As well as being a performer he was
made this a reality. How gracious of Paul called upon by others for advice and
Daniels to lecture on his good friend and craftsmanship. “He was the master of
companion in magic, and share his glue, paper and rubber bands” with which
memories with both the live audience he could create workable props which
and those of us at home who were would often stand the test of time. Ali’s Rafael Benatar
unable to attend! home was “a world of wonder, totally Monday 30 April 2012
I grew up in magic first with David Nixon awash with magic.” Paul showed us some Rafael Benatar
and then later Paul Daniels. Paul told us props made by Ali and also commented
about the magicians around him who on how beautifully wrapped the presents Reported by Jacob Banfield
helped him develop Ali took to Paul’s home when he spent Rafael, originally from Venezuela but
his props and Christmas with the Daniels family were. now residing in Spain, presented a
presentations Ali Bongo was an elegant, shy, captivating lecture to the Monday night
for his kind, caring, energetic, talented crowd. His magic is charming and it was
television man. He was elected President of evident that his smooth performance
shows. The Magic Circle in 2008 and has been honed through a lifetime of
Specifically, passed away in March 2009. experience in magic. He captured
he talked Paul’s lecture provided a everyone’s attention at the beginning of
about Ali fitting tribute to him. the lecture by producing a giant contact
lens and mentioned that this trick
always brings a smile to even the most
callous spectator’s face.
Rafael then performed and explained
Paul Daniels
a series of highly baffling, and
entertaining, card tricks. He began with
a Do as I Do effect based on an old
Patrick Page trick, followed by a strong
mental sandwich effect, a prediction
effect and his version of Gemini Twins,
utilising Larry Jennings’s rhythm count.
Rafael then stated that the main goal of
his lecture was to explain the structure
of good, solid magic effects and how to
go about creating them. This idea was
demonstrated in Rafael’s exquisite
handling of the Cups and Balls which
was beautifully scripted with an
s

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 A number of Steve’s routines made use rapt attention through a measured,
s

of figurines from kids’ films and cartoons. storytelling trick. He demonstrated this
These not only look innocuous, but also latter skill with a magical tale about
‘email’ theme and ended with five final tap-into the inherent interest kids will have growing and shrinking diamonds, adding
loads. During his explanation Rafael in familiar toys and TV characters. For a different shade and a change of pace to
explored Ascanio’s theory of transit and instance, we saw a transposition between his performance. Continuing the evening’s
stressed the importance of having a two characters from Thomas the Tank theme of deviating from the generic, he
motivation to achieve a sleight beyond the Engine and Spongebob Squarepants also showed how he had adapted the
sleight itself. magically appeared on a Mutilated Parasol into a refilling candy
Rafael then performed a perplexing card previously-examined white handkerchief. cane tube instead.
trick called The Mystery of Kabbala, which Mickey Mouse also showed up, drawn on Steve commended the Lazy Susan to his
involved a strange cutting and dealing an Etch-A-Sketch which had been shown peers as a utility item for displaying props
process to reveal a merely thought of card. empty moments before. Steve mentioned such as empty boxes to larger audiences;
Rafael was generous with his all of his that his trick where Lego bricks assemble and incorporated one in his final piece,
explanations and ended the lecture by into a stack, after having been dropped which he uses to end the party as parents
performing a collection of his favourite individually into an empty bag, often gets arrive. This was a Russian Roulette style
card tricks, his take on the Coin under singled out for praise after the show. routine with water pistols and included
Watch effect and a final torn and restored Steve discussed how it was easy for any every child, as well as making a special
effect using a ribbon and a tape measure. kids’ entertainer to get the children to fuss over the birthday boy/girl who
Overall this was a fantastic lecture and shout and scream but harder to command brought the trick to a funny conclusion. It
Rafael’s charisma, wit and skill were a was a pleasure to listen to Steve explaining
pleasure to watch. his original and practical ideas.
[The Hands On Pre-Show in The Devant
Tuesday 8 May 2012 Room featured Roy MacKenzie.]
Steve Dimmer
Monday 14 May 2012
Reported by Chris McGeever Pat Fallon
After the early May Bank Holiday a
smaller-than-usual number of Members Reported by Tim Barnes
came to Steve’s presentation on children’s Pat greeted us by asking whether we were
magic. Describing himself as a jobbing enjoying ourselves. The normally timid
magician, Steve stressed the importance of Monday night gathering responded with a
involving every child present at the party in hearty yes! “But I’ve not done anything
the act at some point. His approach is to yet” quipped Pat!
see the kids as creating the magic This set the tone for the evening –
themselves as stars of the show – rather some great magic, a plethora of
than merely being helpers. He was keen to magicians’ lines and an engaging
emphasise the potential of the lecture personality that was going to make it hard
material to play for family audiences – and for us not to enjoy ourselves, whether he
perhaps fool the parents too. This point demonstrated much, or not!
was perhaps best illustrated by the final Pat’s first offering was a lottery-style
item, a James Bond-themed routine for prediction to win money hidden in one of
older kids/teenagers. Steve Dimmer four bags. This was clever magic. Cleverer

CARTOON MAGIC by Fist www.dogslipstick.co.uk

214 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR JULY 2012 www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk

still was the fact that this was a routine offered along the way. If presented close- lock became unlocked, a block freed itself
that engaged the audience, played for up, rather than on stage as it was, I could despite being secured in a tube; and a
some big laughs and meant that no one imagine this creating a really big impact. picture, removed from a frame, magically
really cared, or probably even Pat finished with his favourite routine, returned.
remembered, that the magician ended up and one he’s used within a number of his Pat Fallon is a prolific magician with some
keeping the money. almost one hundred TV appearances. great ideas which are adaptable to almost
A simple but effective drawing Presented through the story of the first every type of show. A fun and, I suspect,
revelation followed, with Pat visualising Halloween following Houdini’s death, a very useful evening was had by all.
the identity of a card secretly drawn on a
clipboard. The fact that the card was
cleverly forced added impact to the
presentation – with the focus, at least for
magicians, being on the sketchpad.
A card prediction followed with a free
choice of a card from those dealt into two
separate piles. The chosen card then
matched a single jumbo prediction card on
view in an envelope. This involved a
diabolical force and an equally clever gaff
on the jumbo card. In my view this was
Pat’s strongest item of the evening. So
simple, yet direct and very baffling.
Next was a prediction effect, based on a
Roy Johnson idea, and centred around a
horse racing card from Goodwood. In
some ways this was perhaps a little too
clever, with many steps and choices Pat Fallon and Jack Delvin

www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk JULY 2012 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR 215

 David Stone

Will Houstoun
Photos: Dale Farris

Bébel performs
for David Stone
John Van Der Put and Paul Gertner

216 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR JULY 2012 www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk

FFFF
Rick Merrill and Steve Bargatze’s hilarious roast of the convention
that closes the final show.
Perhaps my favourite aspect of FFFF is the social side. Regular
attendees and first time guests mix without any of the cliques
found at normal magic conventions. Everywhere you look, right
into the early hours of the morning, groups of magicians are
sitting at the table or on the floor discussing their latest ideas.
Conversation is further encouraged by the inclusion of several
group meals included in the registration for the convention. You
are even provided with free doughnuts and soft drinks in a special

CLOSE-UP MAGIC suite after each evening’s formal events have finished. Running
on into the early hours of the morning, even after the doughnut

CONVENTION
room has closed, small groups of regular attendees book extra
rooms in the hotel so that registrants can eat, drink and talk
magic till dawn! Simply put, FFFF makes you feel that you are
staying with one large group of friends for a long weekend. One
by Will Houstoun AIMC
day, perhaps every convention will attain that feeling. Right now,
FFFF has it more than any other convention I have had the chance
to attend.
very year, in addition to the prestige of their title and cash Of course there is much more that could be said about this

E prize, The Magic Circle’s Close-up Magician of The Year wins

an invitation to the exclusive convention Fechter’s Finger
Flinging Frolic (FFFF). Having performed at three of these get
year’s FFFF convention – a book could be, and recently has been,
written about all forty two get togethers. Now, at least, you have
some idea what goes on at the convention and perhaps, if you
togethers, as well as lecturing at the most recent one, I thought want to attend one year, you have plenty of time to work on your
that our Members might be interested in an insight into the event. close-up act for the next Magic Circle Close-up Magician of The
Near the end of April around two hundred magicians, each Year Competition!
individually chosen and invited by convention head Obie O’Brien,
descendeded on a small hotel in upstate New York for a weekend
of shows, lectures and sessions. Over the course of the
convention a number of performers gave lectures on a variety of
different topics in a selection of different styles. Germany’s Denis
Our Headquarters
Behr gave a fantastic lecture introducing attendees to his free
online database of magic books at www.archive.denisbehr.de As
Conventions
if knowledge of this useful resource was not enough he then
continued by fooling everyone with a selection of his original card
effects before thoroughly explaining them. A totally different
Dress Code
lecture was given by our very own Piff the Magic Dragon aka Smart attire is required at
John Van Der Put. Divided into two parts John first talked about all events in the Headquarters.
the development of his alter ego Piff before concluding by
explaining a selection of routines for the table hopping magician. Mobile Phones
Space does not permit a full review of every lecture but other Please ensure that you switch off your
names who talked include Steve Beam, Soma, Mike Powers and mobile phone before entering the
Mathieu Bich – along with your intrepid Editor! Headquarters. If you must make a phone
As well as the lectures there are also no less than seven shows call, please do so outside the building.
dedicated to close-up magic through the course of the weekend!
FFFF has a unique criteria for attendance – if you go and you are
Photography and Sound Recording
The use of any form of recording equipment,
asked to take part in one of the shows then you must perform or
audio or visual, including cameras and
you will not be asked back. This gives FFFF an almost uniquely mobile phones, is not permitted in any part
strong booking power. The last show, for example, featured of the Headquarters except by special
performers from seven different countries and included no less arrangement.
than seven FISM award winners! It was a particular pleasure to
see the silky smooth French card handler Bébel, the super creative Gum
Francis Menotti, the technically exceptional Akira Fuji and the Please refrain from chewing gum of any sort
baffling Vincent Heden but that list barely begins to scratch the in the Headquarters.
surface with over seventy performances during the convention!
Every year FFFF also features a Guest of Honor. This year Smoking
Smoking is not allowed anywhere in the
David Stone was being honoured and, as a direct result, became
Headquarters.
one of the hardest working people at the convention! David
We all benefit from these conventions, so
presented a special version of his lecture, a masterclass in how to please respect and abide by them to avoid
simultaneously entertain and educate a room full of magicians. being turned away. Thank you for your
David also performed as part of one of the shows and became understanding.
the butt for every joke and jibe of the convention – especially in

www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk JULY 2012 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR 217

 Audio Transposition like cloth bag and the necessary gimmicks including my
by Daryl to perform the routine. Instructions are favourite,
Props and gimmicks with printed provided in printed form and, whilst they ‘Monkey
instructions. $39.95 (£25) from your are clear and the routine is easy to learn, Climbing Mt.
favourite dealer. Dealers contact it might have been nice to have a DVD, Fuji’, in which
Murphy’s Magic supplies, not least so you could see Daryl a bit of folded
www.MurphysMagic.com. performing the routine himself. paper seems
Clearly this trick will not be for to crawl up a
Reviewed by Will Houstoun everyone. The props, as they should, look folded square
I recently had the opportunity to give a childish and might well not fit your style. of paper.
lecture as part of a one day convention Having said that, if you can find the right This is an ideal present for a child aged
in Montreal that also happened to situation to perform it, Audio ten and up (my estimate), but why should
feature Daryl. I saw a collection of tried Transposition is an interesting, fooling it be of interest to Magic Circle Members?
and tested routine that is unique and likely to be I was once at a garden party with twenty
Daryl remembered. adults and one six-year-old child who was
classics going nuts with boredom. I asked for
and then Origami Magic some paper and folded the flapping-wing
he pulled by Steve and Megumi Biddle bird taught in these pages which kept the
out a kids 80 page hardcover book, 6.5 x 6.5 ins., little devil occupied, at least for a bit.
rattle and illustrated. Includes origami papers. Robert Harbin was a magician who
squeaky Published by Eddison Sadd Editions, Ltd, realised the magic inherent in origami, and
ball. London. £9.00 ($14.50) plus p&p from this small-sized book is big on entertainment
Thinking most booksellers, amazon.co.uk and value. The inclusion of the paper needed to
of myself amazon.com. begin folding is a very nice touch. The entire
as a rather production is nothing less than gorgeous.
serious card and coin magician, I sat Reviewed by Matthew Field
back to wait for the next item ... Member Steve Biddle is an expert in both Fooling Houdini
imagine my surprise then when, at the magic and origami, so it is fitting that his by Alex Stone
end of the trick, I was not only latest book with his origami and 301 pgs, 8.5 x 5.5 ins., soft bound.
captivated but also rather badly fooled! silhouette-cutting wife Megumi should be £12.99 from all good book stores.
In performance you remove a child’s devoted to this marriage of the allied art
rattle and a squeaky ball toy from a of origami and the art of magic. It Reviewed by Will Houstoun
small cloth bag and talk about your first contains seventeen relatively easy to A magic book written for the general
magic trick as a kid. You explain that construct items, ranging from a paper public is always going to be a slightly risky
the rattle and squeaker were your version of the Organ Pipe production proposition amongst the magic world. On
favourite toys but that one day you tubes (you produce an origami rabbit, the the one hand you may, as for example
Mum said you couldn’t play with them folding of which is also taught), to a Professor Hoffmann did, attain legendary
because they were noisy and your Dad cube-shaped flexagon, which perplexingly status as the author of a classic,
was trying to sleep. To solve the turns inside out. responsible for a huge boost in interest for
problem you make the rattling sound The book begins with an explanation of the magic world. On the other, you may
vanish from the rattle and the squeak how to interpret origami folding designs alienate the magic community as they cry
disappear from the ball. You explain that (it’s simple) and concludes with an exposure! Perhaps even more difficult,
when your Dad woke up you were excellent list of resources – further books however, is a book that, instead of
allowed to make noise again so you on origami and magic as well as addresses teaching magic secrets tries to introduce
made the sounds come back, but that of the origami societies in the UK and US. its reader into the sub-culture of
you made a mistake and got them the There are items that extend orthodox magicians. This is exactly what Alex Stone
wrong way round. Sure enough the origami with the use of scissors and sticky has tried to write with Fooling Houdini,
squeaky ball now rattles and the rattle tape, a simple Himber-type switching and how successful he is will probably
squeaks! wallet you can construct, an introduction depend on how involved in magic you
When you buy Audio Transposition to Tangrams, how to make an Ali already are.
you receive the rattle, the ball, a child Bongo-type paper tree, and lots more, I first came across Alex Stone at around

218 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR JULY 2012 www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk

the same time the book starts, with his who, unfortunately for Stone was not the magic happens in a spectator’s
entry into the Stockholm FISM in 2006. involved with early trick-photography, hands then it will be more effective than
Unfortunately this was not, as Stone which started before his birth, and was when it takes place in the magician’s
admits in his book, the glorious most definitely not an amateur magician. hands. First Hand is an attempt to apply
experience it should have been. He was, He was a professional who bought and this fundamental idea to a bank note
by some distance, the worst act in the performed in Robert-Houdin’s theatre after changing routine. In effect you show
close-up competition and was, I believe, Robert- Houdin’s retirement! In another a stack of one dollar bills which are
the only act in the close-up to be place Stone mentions: “David Devant was folded in half and then wrapped with
disqualified before he had finished his act. exiled from London’s Magic Circle ... after a rubber band. The stack is placed on a
The second time I came across Stone was he published Our Magic.” Once again this spectator’s outstretched hand and, when
in an article published in Harper’s Magazine is incorrect for a number of reasons. First, you tap the stack with your wallet, the
soon after FISM In which he combined on the technicalities that Devant resigned outer bank note is seen to have changed
gratuitous exposure of magic classics such rather than being expelled from The Circle into one hundred dollars. When the
as Matrix with a rather tenuous justification and that he was a co-author of Our Magic spectator takes the elastic off the stack
of his FISM failure. You can imagine then and not a publisher. More significantly his and checks the remainder of the
that I was rather apprehensive to read a resignation had nothing to do with Our bills they have all changed
full length book written by Stone – he Magic or any of his material published in into hundreds.
didn’t fail to justify my concern. book form. It was caused by the extraction The idea of moving this
The book is based on Stone’s journey of parts of a different book, Secrets of My kind of routine into a
from his shocking performance at FISM Magic, that were published in the Windsor spectator’s hands is certainly
to a later entry into the IBM close-up Magazine. Coming right up to date Stone an interesting one, and not
competition some years later. In the mean again slips when he describes FFFF as a something anyone would
time Stone describes taking part in a club when it is in fact a convention. There question. The thing that you
variety of psychology experiments, his time are several other errors or examples of a would do well to question, however, is
learning from magic legends and the way lack of understanding both historically and whether the compromises that need to
in which magic became more and more technically throughout the book. be made to move the trick into the
significant in his day to day life. The blurb Despite Stone’s questionable spectator’s hands are outweighed by the
on the back of the book describes the qualifications and obvious gaps in his strength of that position – in the case of
overall plot as “a personal quest to reach knowledge, there are places in which First Hand I would suggest that the
the pinnacle of this bizarre world” – Fooling Houdini is an enjoyable read. I compromises are too great. So what are
and there lies the first problem. Stone would imagine that the less you know the compromises? To my mind there are
positions himself as an expert from the about magic, the more enjoyable it would two major ones.
world of magic, a position he simply has become – something that suits a book The first, and by far the biggest, is the
not, and could not, attain in the six year aimed at the general public. In a general way in which the change itself happens.
period in which he could have developed sense, a book that offers an insight into the In the granddaddy of this plot, Patrick
since FISM 2006. world of the magician could be fascinating Page’s Easy Money, the notes change as
Throughout the book this inexperience read, it just needs to be written by they are folded in your hands. Later
shows as Stone makes numerous peculiar someone with a real insight into the world developments, such as Richard Sander’s
statements or mistakes. For example, it describes. That person is not Alex Stone. Extreme Burn, take Pat’s basic idea and
when talking about Robert-Houdin he make the change more flashy and visual.
mentions “an First Hand AKA Freedom In all of these versions, however the
amateur Change notes change in your otherwise empty
magician and by Justin Miller & Paul Harris hands. First Hand, on the other hand,
friend ... invented 100 min instructional DVD with gimmicks. requires you to tap the stack of notes
trick photography $35 (£22) from your favourite dealer. with your wallet at the very moment the
and created the Dealers contact Murphy’s Magic supplies, change happens, adding an extra prop
first special www.MurphysMagic.com. into the routine that serves no purpose
effects films.” other than allowing the method to
Presumably this is Reviewed by Will Houstoun work.
a reference to Since the end of the eighteenth century, if The second is that the stack of notes
Georges Méliès not earlier, magicians have realised that if have to change with a rubber band
s

www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk JULY 2012 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR 219

 position down to the bottom corner of the makes the change easy to perform but
s
phone. At this point the spectator can you should be aware that there will be
clearly see the blank space where the logo some angle restrictions in performance –
used to be and even feel the smooth this is something you would want to use
wrapped around them, something that plastic where the logo used to be. After in a formal situation rather than a walk
presents a few issues. First, you will need the spectator has taken in the effect you around one for example. In addition, the
to justify wrapping the notes with the can move the logo back into its proper gimmicks are made in bicycle card so if
band before the change happens – and position before returning the phone. you prefer a different brand you will ned
the suggested presentation of the band as As well as the basic routine a selection to spend some time carefully inserting the
being a ‘magic rubber band’ seems rather of bonus ideas are explained including a gimmick into your card of choice.
weak. The second is that wrapping the card routine and guest contributions from Second, and more importantly, what is
notes in a band slows the revelation down magicians such as Dave Loosley and Greg the effect like? I would suggest that the
and turns a trick where multiple objects Wilson. In addition it would be very routine in which Sufrate has used his
(four or five separate notes) change into possible, with just a few hours thought, to gimmick is probably not the best use. A
one where effectively a single object (the come up with your greater impact could be had with a regular
wrapped stack) changes. own routines based pack of cards and a top change or double
As well as the main, gaffed handlings, a on the gimmicks lift to transform a wrong card into the
few bonus impromptu handlings are also that are supplied. If selection.
taught. Two of these do get rid of the you have noticed That is not to say that Naked is
rubber band and no longer use the wallet that more and more necessarily a bad idea – just that you will
to effect the change – in fact they are by people you perform probably not want to use it with the
far my favourite items on the DVD! With for seem to have routine provided out of the box. If you
these changes however, even more so iPhones, then iLoGo might be just the trick have a need to change a card, or card type
than with the gimmicked version, it is you have been waiting for. object, whilst it is clipped in your mouth
essential that the different bills are all the then Naked is a great idea that you might
same size. This presents no problem for Naked wind up using. Without that fairly specific
some currencies such as US Dollars but by Salvador Sufrate requirement it is likely to end up in the
would make it impossible, for example to 10 min instructional DVD with gimmicks. bottom of a draw.
change a stack of five pound notes into $35 (£22.50) from your favourite dealer.
twenties. Dealers contact Murphy’s Magic supplies, Haunted
First Hand may well be, as the www.MurphysMagic.com. by Peter Eggink
advertising claims, “the first bill change 40 min instructional DVD with gimmicks.
that happens completely in your Reviewed by Will Houstoun $35 (£22) from your favourite dealer.
spectator’s hand.” To my mind, however, Naked is a variation on a classic card plot Dealers contact Murphy’s Magic supplies,
the compromises that are made to with an interesting methodological twist. www.MurphysMagic.com.
facilitate that mean that the classic Easy In performance you have a spectator
Money, and many of its derivatives, still choose a card which they sign and return Reviewed by Will Houstoun
represent better routines. to the pack. You try to cut to their card Peter Eggink is well known in the magic
but accidentally find a joker. Apologising community as the creator of a number of
iLoGo for your mistake you clip the joker very clever and fooling effects. Haunted,
by Craig Squires between your lips and, with your hands in unsurprisingly, is Peter’s take on the
35 min instructional DVD with gimmicks. view the entire time, turn your back on haunted deck. In effect, a spectator
$44.50 (£30) from your favourite dealer. the audience for a moment. When you chooses a card which they look at and
Dealers contact Murphy’s Magic supplies, turn round, despite the fact that your remember before it is lost, back in the
www.MurphysMagic.com. hands have been nowhere near the card in deck. The cards are then put down on the
your mouth, it has now changed into the floor or on a table and, after a suitable
Reviewed by Will Houstoun signed selection. pause, eerily cut themselves around the
The iPhone is one of the most popular There are two things that you need to centre. The spectator is then invited to lift
gadgets of the last few years and, despite know about Naked to try and decide the top portion of the deck at the point
the fact that a number of different magic whether or not it is a good trick for you. the deck has cut itself and, when they do,
apps have been released for the iPhone, First – what the trick is like one card shoots out of the deck – of
not many magicians have created effects methodologically and what, if any, course it is their selection.
that physically utilise the phone itself. restrictions the method places on your The method for Haunted is clever and
iLoGo, by Craig Squires, changes that performance? Second – even if the features a number of strong elements. For
allowing you to perform impossible magic method is clever, is the trick itself good? example, the deck can be freely handled
with a spectator’s borrowed iPhone. First, the method. When you buy Naked and even examined before and after the
In the basic routine you would ask to you receive two specially gimmicked cards effect, there are no bad angles from which
borrow a spectator’s iPhone that are essential to the performance. to view the deck at any point during the
and then, pushing your These gimmicks allow you to show one routine, and you need to have no
fingers against the apple card clipped between your lips and then, connection to the deck as it spookily cuts
logo on the back, slide the with just a moments cover, have the card itself. An additional strength of Haunted is
logo from its usual change into a different one. The gimmick that the cutting action of the deck is very

220 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR JULY 2012 www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk

very smooth indeed. It does not today has to be compared to edge. If you just want to try a Haunted
cut itself in a sharp, mechanical Nicholas Einhorn’s modern deck routine out for fun then the
way, instead the two halves classic, Spooked. Haunted is convenience and price of Haunted make it
smoothly and organically slide one of the few haunted deck the perfect trick for you.
over one another. routines that compares
The instructional DVD for reasonably well. Haunted has a few The Spiral Principle and Beyond
Haunted is well shot and the teaching is advantages over Spooked in that it is self by Stephen Leathwaite
both thorough and clear. The only slight contained and you need to have no 90 min instructional DVD. $30 (£20) from
niggle is that some of it has been filmed particular connection with the deck when your favourite dealer. Dealers contact
outside and you can occasionally hear the the effect is taking place. Spooked on the Murphy’s Magic supplies,
sound of the wind blowing against the other hand has the massive advantage www.MurphysMagic.com.
microphone, not a big issue but that the entire cutting process and
something that is occasionally irritating. In production of the selection is entirely Reviewed by Will Houstoun
addition to the handling described above, under your control at all times – with Rather than having the longest title in the
Eggink also describes a number of Haunted there is no option to pause the history of magic DVDs The Spiral Principle
handling variations that allow the action once the deck has been put down and Beyond is actually a combination of
spectator to handle the cards in other on the table. If you are a professional two one-trick DVDs. As they are clearly
ways or get rid of additional props. looking for a haunted deck this factor separate products, they are even split from

s
In my opinion, any haunted deck routine probably means that Spooked still has the one another on the DVD menu, I will

David Hatch MMC

I am sorry to have to report that our President, Jack Delvin, provided a Just a thought: “My mother used to say
John Forrest MIMC, also known as fitting climax to a most appropriate send that there are no strangers, only friends
John Klox, died at his London home off for this well-loved man. you haven’t met yet. She’s now in a
in April. He was best known as an maximum security twilight home in
actor, appearing in many British films Members will have read John Fisher’s Australia”. (Dale Carnegie)
in the 1950’s. As a magician he obituary to Cesareo Pelaez MIMC in last
toured extensively in the United States, month’s edition of The Magic Circular. Contact address:
and was invited to appear at Henry Lewis MIMC, who flew the Atlantic (see website for Members’ details):
The Magic Castle. to attend the funeral service, tells me that Hilda Seabrooke (Keith’s mother)
the flags were at half mast in Beverly and 38 Beechcroft Road, Bushey, Watford,
I am also very sorry to report the the town virtually came to a halt for the Herts., WD23 2JU
unexpected death of the late Terry occasion.
Seabrooke’s son, Keith, at the age of 45. If you hear of Members or their families
Although not a Member, he assisted David Ball MIMC is due to finish his who are sick or facing hard times please
Terry on many occasions, and TMC was chemotherapy in mid June, and thankfully contact:
represented at his funeral. Our thoughts has not been troubled with serious
go out to Hilda and the family at this side-effects. He tells me he has even been David Hatch MMC (Welfare Officer)
sad time. able to keep his hair! Mel Moore MMC’S 6 Darnley Road, Woodford Green, Essex
wife has been suffering from a nasty 1G8 9HU
It was good to see such a large number attack of shingles, and we wish her a T. 020 8504 4134
of Members mingling with the Pearly speedy recovery. By the time this column is E. WelfareOfficer@TheMagicCircle.co.uk
Kings and Queens at the memorial printed John Ward MMC, our official Chaplaincy:
service for Larry Barnes MIMC at photographer, should have had a new Revd Peter Liddelow AIMC
St. Paul’s church, Covent Garden knee installed, and we wish him well. 23 Kings Road, Barnet, Herts, EN5 4EF
(the actors’ church) on 16 May. T. 020 8441 2968
Everyone, including the rector, entered We also bear in mind other members of E. Chaplain@ TheMagicCircle.co.uk)
into the spirit of this extraordinary our Magic Circle family mentioned Rabbi Geoffrey Shisler MMC
event, with moving eulogies by Roy previously, including Barry Miller MIMC, 10 St Petersburgh Place, Bayswater,
Hudd and John Fisher interspersed with Bobby Bernard MIMC London W2 4LB
Larry’s favourite music hall songs. The and Diane O’Brien MMC T. 020 7229 6215
Broken Wand ceremony carried out by E. GeoffreyShisler@TheMagicCircle.co.uk

www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk JULY 2012 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR 221

 Council minutes
s

review them separately.

First, The Spiral Principle, something that is
introduced as an entirely new principle in card
magic. Essentially this is a procedure that allows
you to locate a selected card in impossible
conditions – The cards are cut into four piles, the
piles are shuffled into one another by the spectator
and then they look at the top card of the deck. This
card is then buried into the pack and, after a
further shuffle, the magician is able to locate the
card. The basis for The Spiral Principle is an old idea
that restricts a spectator’s choice and it is the
second part, that allows the identification of a
particular card from this limited choice, that is MINUTES OF THE MAGIC 3. MINUTES
described as original. This addition certainly works, CIRCLE COUNCIL MEETING After one amendment and
but seems a rather procedure heavy way to attain a HELD AT THE HEADQUARTERS on a proposal by James
position which can be duplicated, as far as the lay 2 May 2012 6.35 pm Freedman, seconded by Noel
spectator is concerned, much more simply. Britten, the minutes of the
Having said that, if your goal is to PRESENT meeting held on 5 April 2012
fool your magician friends, The Jack DELVIN (6.56pm) were approved with one
Spiral Principle may do the job, Brian SIBLEY (Chairman) abstention,SP. and those who
depending purely on whether Scott PENROSE did not attend the April
they know the basic idea on Alexander CRAWFORD meeting also abstained.
which it is based. (Treasurer) (dep 10.22pm)
Second we have Beyond, a revised Noel BRITTEN 4. MATTERS ARISING
handling of Paul Curry’s classic Out of This Mandy DAVIS A discussion about moving
World. This routine is absolutely fantastic and Kevin DOIG forward with Live-Streaming
suffers only one small flaw, something I will come Andrew EBORN took place.
to later. In effect you show a deck of cards to be Roberto FORZONI ACTION: The Streaming
well mixed and then one spectator is assigned the James FREEDMAN Committee to report, via the
red cards and another the black cards. They take it Alan MASKELL (dep. 10.20pm) Council Mail List, before the
it turns to pick up a card and, if they think it is their Fay PRESTO next planned event.
colour to keep it, or if they think it is not their Katherine RHODES (6.36pm) ACTION: Scott Penrose will
colour to discard it. Of course, when the spectators supply names of those
turn over their cards they are each seen to have Rob PAGE (Deputy Secretary) magicians employed at
located all the cards of their own colour. The effect David WEEKS (Minute corporate events.
is easy to perform, very strong in terms of effect Secretary)
and also very fooling. We now come to the flaw – 5. SECRETARY’S REPORT
On the DVD Craig Petty enthusiastically comments 1. APOLOGIES i New Members (See attached
“For those of you who don’t know, Paul Curry Matthew GARRETT schedule)
created the original Out of This World and it is a Will HOUSTOUN ii Reinstatements. None
classic for a reason...” Unfortunately nobody Richard PINNER iii Resignations. None
associated with the DVD seems to have know that Steve PRICE iv Promotions (See attached
a routine almost identical to Beyond, John James FORTUNE schedule)
Kennedy’s Red and Black, was published in Genii in
1989. Leathwaite does have one display in his In the absence of the Secretary, 6. CORRESPONDENCE
routine that differs to Kennedy’s, but in my opinion the Chair welcomed Rob Page Ruth Dean, the sister of the late
Kennedy’s handling is better. as the co-opted (non-voting) Pete McCahon, having missed
So what do you get if you buy The Spiral Deputy Secretary. the tribute evening, would like
Principle and Beyond? You get a rather convoluted to bring her children to TMC to
variation on an old principle, which might be good 2. DEATHS see the items that had been
to fool your magic friends but which can easily be John Forrest (aka Jon Klox) MIMC donated.
bettered for a lay audience, and a great version of Shan Mason the widow of ACTION Scott Penrose to
Out of This World which essentially was published Eric Mason – arrange a display and James
over twenty years ago. ‘The Great Masoni’ Freedman to liaise with Richard
Members of Council stood in Pinner concerning a date.
silence as a mark of respect. AE request the Awards

222 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR JULY 2012 www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk

 an email to a password for this award, have suggested New members elected on
protected download link when it could go to the winner of the 2 May 2012.
the hard copy is mailed out. YMoTY. The aims of both are to Derek Chow (aka DKC) MMC
Membership cards that are encourage the development of by examination at TMC,
made annually are expensive stage acts and for a young semi-professional magician,
and a move to a barcode on person to improve their magic. Student, London
the card could eventually save The award pays for flights and Daniel Farrant MMC
expense. accommodation to the Jeff by examination at TMC,
ACTION: JF to investigate McBride’s summer school. Alan Semi-professional, Student and
membership card expenditure. was asked to pass this back to Musician, London
Web hosting may also be the Trustees for further ThomasWebb
able to save money. discussion. (aka Tom London) MMC
ACTION Alexander Crawford by examination at TMC,
to discuss with IT committee 11. FILMING AT TMC: Professional magician, Student
Web costs. At the same time Noel Britten presented a Alexander Robertson MMC
who might be the Council detailed set of proposals by examination at TMC,
Committee to revisit the matter representative for this covering eleven topics Amateur, Student,
of a posthumous award to Ali committee. including: conditions of filming, Canterbury, Kent.
Bongo of the Gold Medal. Andrew Eborn was of the permissions, copyright, usage Michael Perovich MMC
Graham Reed is still pursuing opinion that licensing TMC by individuals and by TMC, by examination at TMC,
this. brand should add £4K per year, charges and payments. It was Amateur, Retired Civil Engineer,
going forward. agreed that subject to a few California, USA.
7. ‘DRAWN BY THE FUTURE Whilst these discussions were amendments and refinements,
– OUR VISION FOR TMC’ about saving money, Alexander the proposals were very good Recommendations for
The Chair outlined the need for reiterated that TMC is not in and should be progressed to a membership at AIMC level
a long term vision for TMC and, any fiscal trouble, saying that formal policy. Council and/or promotion to AIMC
as most meetings have to deal the budget was prudent and unanimously thanked Noel for Matthew Pritchard AIMC
with immediate matters should guide us. what was evidently a carefully (with Silver Star)
suggested that Council meet thought through set of by examination at TMC,
outside of these monthly 9. PRO: proposals which had taken time Professional, Birmingham.
meetings in order to AE presented a report showing and care in its preparation. Luca Volpe AIMC
brainstorm, plan, specifically good results had been achieved. (with Silver Star)
and strategically, for a longer The media uses TMC as a source 12. YMC REPORT By examination via Video,
term vision for TMC – both in the for stories so we need to This was warmly received. on-line, Professional,
way the organisation is run and maximise the things that we The trip to USA had been very Napoli, Italy.
what it provides for members. want there. The publicity successful and thanks were John McLaughlin AIMC
committee will discuss what expressed for the participants (with Silver Star)
8. TREASURER’S REPORT: our ‘message’ should be. AE being good ambassadors for By examination in USA,
TMC BUDGET has been consulting with Angelo TMC. Letters of thanks had Amateur, Professor, USA.
Whilst the Circular is the Carbone to find what effects been sent from YMC and TMC Dr. Peter Lamont AIMC
biggest expense it is also what work well on media. Publicity to the many who had helped by Thesis: Magic in Theory, An
is perceived by many to be the committee is compiling a by supplying access and Introduction to the theoretical
main benefit. Whilst there are ‘Notes for Editors’ document. arranging special events. and Psychological Elements of
physical versions required, an AE presented a proposal from Additionally thanks were Conjuring. The Rise of the
electronic version does not save a company that was under way. expressed for the appearance Indian Rope Trick, How a
significant amounts. Postage JF proposed certain restrictions of YMC members on spectacular hoax became
reduction would help especially to be considered for the television’s ‘The One Show’. history. The First Psychic, the
the difference between airmail negotiations, KR suggested it peculiar mystery of a Victorian
and surface costs for overseas should be left to the PRO team 13. ANY OTHER BUSINESS wizard; Genii magazine; BBC
members. Each copy of the to do what they deem best. A Noel Britten announced he will radio series Wizards of the
Circular costs about £4.50 per motion to accept the proposal not be standing for Council North
member. with the restrictions was made next year.
The Circular Management by JF, seconded by AC. Passed
Committee submitted a report with one against: KR Meeting ended 10.25pm
which concluded with a Date of next meeting:
recommendation to move to a 10. YMoTY Thursday 7 June 2012
Digital version of the Magic There was a discussion, at 6.30pm TMC HQ
Circular by offering members initiated by Alan Maskell, about
the option to opt out of the the Irving Schneider award. The
hard copy in favour of receiving trustees, mindful that few apply

www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk JULY 2012 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR 223

 Forthcoming club events
The Headquarters are open on Club Nights from 3:00pm until
10:30pm. Unless otherwise stated, events start promptly at
7:30pm and are scheduled to finish between 8:45pm and 9pm.
Club Nights are principally for Members, so entry is by Membership
Card. A bona fide magician guest may attend any evening that is
not marked ‘Members Only’ on condition that he or she is able to
show membership of a magical society. A non-magician guest
may only attend evenings that are marked as ‘Show’. Guests may
only attend two evenings a year. No guest may attend unless the
CMA is told in advance, so if you wish to bring a guest please do
not contact me but phone (020) 7387 2222. There is a limit of
ten guests per night. All guests must pay a £15 entry fee at the
door and respect our Conventions. Indeed, it is your duty as their
sponsor to ensure that they do. The Magic Circle reserve the right
to refuse entry. See our website for all the latest event details and
to subscribe to a weekly email reminder of upcoming events.

July
MAGICIAN’S CHOICE
l Magic Circle Umbrella. Navy blue with silver The popular Magician’s Choice summer events will be returning
coloured handle and printed silver logo. to Club Nights at The Magic Circle this summer. As with previous
Automatic opening. £14.95 years, each night will feature at least four different, surprise,
events from expert speakers on a wide range of topics. Some of
l Magic Circle Playing Cards. Poker Size with black
the events will be hands-on giving you a chance to try something
backs and gold coloured logo. £3.95 each new, some will look at allied arts giving you a chance to learn
or £6.95 for two something new, and some will be discussion based so that you
l Magic Circle Key Ring. £1.95 get a chance to be fully involved. We look forward to seeing you
l Souvenir Pocket Mirror. £2.95 at what we think will be the best Magician’s Choice yet.
l Postcards. Four styles depicting posters from
Events planned for the season include:
The Circle Collection, namely Soo,
Hands on Card Sessions
Devant, Le Roy and Hertz. £0.50 each
Variety and Vaudeville
l The Magic Circle: Performing Magic Through Magic Psychology
the Ages. Book by Michael Bailey. Special Effects
Hardback. 288 pages. £18.95 Manipulation
l Bob Read's Magical London Map. £2.95 Running a Magic Venue
l Inside The Magic Circle. Souvenir booklet. £1.95 Using The Media
l Fridge Magnets. Four styles depicting posters
Planned speakers include:
from The Circle Collection, namely Soo, Devant,
Mark Bennett
Le Roy and Carter. £2.95 each or £9.95 for four Mike Caveney
MEMBERS ONLY Maria Cork
*please state your Degree when ordering Tina Lenert
Richard McDougall
l Button Badge* £3.95
Steve Price
l Jewel with or without Star* £13.50
Mat Ricardo
l Cufflinks* £11.95 Stephen Rice
l Tie £14.95 John Styles
l Membership Certificate frames £26.95
Magician’s Choice events will be running on:
These items can be purchased from the Showcase at The
Monday 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 July.
Magic Circle Headquarters on a Club Night or can be sent
by post to your address (P&P extra). Credit cards (Visa and
Please note that Magician's Choice events will run
Mastercard) and cheques drawn on a UK bank accepted throughout the evening but will start at 6:30pm.
(cheques payable to “CMA Ltd”).
Change of address? Contact Secretary Steve Price,
For more information Email Secretary@TheMagicCircle.co.uk
ShowcaseSales@TheMagicCircle.co.uk Member in need? Contact Welfare Officer David Hatch,
or telephone 0207 387 2222
WelfareOfficer@TheMagicCircle.co.uk

224 THE MAGIC CIRCULAR JULY 2012 www.TheMagicCircle.co.uk