Magicdom has yet to fully recover from the shock it received last
month when The Jinx came out on schedule. As copy after copy passed
by in review on its way to the local Uncle Sam tabernacle, well-
wishers cheered, enemies made noises of a discordant character and
competitors looked sour as they hurried back to their belated copy.
Rising card windlasses whirred, flash paper was set off without regard to human
safety, paper rolls littered the streets as they were produced unsparingly from all
manner of hats, thumb tip after thumb tip was crushed under foot, and feather
bouquets were thrown with utter abandon. With the parade over, a few who had
remained to scavenge reaped rich rewards in double backed cards, palming coins,
broken thimble holders and torn off pulls. One fish bowl was found so I presume
friend Charley Nagle was on hand. Charley always produces two of these after
sitting around all evening and saying he came unprepared.
Dinner that night was an event without precedent. It was only right that I should
have a party in honor of the great surprise so it was small but select. Cocktails
were shaken and poured without end from Hindu Lota Jars, while the service and
food came from an old set of Organ Pipes which hadn’t seen use since the days
of Hermann. The place cards were sealed in envelopes to which were attached
alcohol sponges and during dinner wine was served from an inexhaustible bottle.
Afterwards I passed a Jinx around for all to peruse, thus saving various dealers
that much bother for the month. I was getting tired so I asked one of those present
to do the napkin trick. He was all in favor of it and started to tear away without
reserve. That provided the incentive so the rest of us went home during the
explanation and let him close up.
Humdrum The Mystic says
“The fellow smart enough to
learn everything in that Five Foot Shelf of Magic on the
back page this month will at least be able to boast about
his being a shelf made magician.”
Carl Jones, the genial and magic loving publisher of the Minneapolis
Journal has written to me that John Northern Hilliard’s book will positively
be in print before many moons have passed. This is good news because I for
one, and in my small corner, know how much John planned on it. He showed
me material from every section of the country and over a period of years he had
culled out only the best. I’ve included this untitled as yet work in the Five Foot
Shelf, not for sentimental reasons and not because the book will contain many
tricks. The Art of Magic by Downs was written by Hilliard in 1907. It contained
several principles at that time unknown, as well as many revolutionary sleights
and effects.
This coming book has thus been planned for 28 years. It goes back to that date
and covers those principles through their development to the present time. The
history of many basic principles and fekes is woven into descriptive matter as
only John Hilliard could pen it. Therefore if I put the first book on the Shelf I
must remain consistent enough to include the one to come. Mr Jones will publish
it and I have a hunch that Thurston will do the Foreword. He should. He couldn’t
pay too high a tribute, either.
Eighty-four names are on the list with vows etc., to support a bi-monthly
Jinx. No doubt most of the present purchasers would continue to buy but just at
this time can’t find a postcard. A card on hand this morning however makes me
pause and think.
“Yes, The Jinx would receive my support if it could be put out twice a month at
its present quality. (But I don’t believe it can be done.) Don’t you think that a few
good tricks will be more thoroughly appreciated when the reader doesn’t have
to sort them out from a bunch of other tricks and news items ? Besides there
are already a couple of magazines which cover the news items quite completely,
and none which cover the Jinx’s present field. I’m not trying to discourage, but I
believe that a publication which concentrates on giving four good tricks a month,
will succeed on that alone.”
Coming from a person who gets his copy without any cost makes the above a
sincere opinion. It won’t happen until early fall anyway so perhaps I’ll have all
the angles covered by then and can make a sensible decision.
Usually I find myself in the ‘dog house’ because of aberrations of character but
for once I am on a literal spot and it isn’t my fault. The February Sphinx carried
a full page ad by Martin Sunshine regarding a so-called streamlined mental
knockout entitled Miracle Tho’t. My endorsement (?) was carried as one of
three. I’ve received three ‘kicks’ about this lately and want to make clear that I
sanctioned no endorsement because I was never given the secret and do not even
know it at this writing (April 15th). Martin described the effect to me a month
before the ad broke and naturally I was skeptical but enthusiastic. My last words
as I left him were “I’ll loose sleep over this one. It’s impossible.” Martin saw fit
to use this as an endorsement when he wrote the ad and it may be well that he
did because the latest letter on hand reads “Regarding what you said about the
trick – you’re damned right !”
If Martin will send me a copy as he promised but didn’t I’ll say what I think
about it and not mince words. Martin has been a good personal friend of mine
and I know the amity will continue but I don’t relish situations like this one.
On hand is the March issue of The Dragon and I read all about how to do
the age and money trick that was in Jinx #4 for January. It is nice to know these
lines are being read somewhere and I suppose credit shouldn’t be grudged one who
had the temerity to copy and submit it under his own name. Mr Bech, however,
should be more careful with his editing. He receives The Jinx but evidently files
it without perusal. Original effects and new angles have kept the circulation of
this sheet mounting monthly and it isn’t a bad policy. I hereby give permission
and sanction to anybody who wishes to ‘lift’ and copy material contained in The
Jinx. Sooner or later the misled customer will find out the source, and switching
to our side of the fence will secure the same material that much sooner.
One of those things that irk me no whit is to receive a subscription and not have
a definite issue with which to start. When you send in a subscription, please give
the number of the issue you want first and everybody on the staff will wear a
smile at being able to fill the order correctly.
Very irksome too is a newspaper notice on hand with a statement by Thurston
that he will finish John Northern Hilliard’s book. If he means finish it by writing
a Foreword all well and good, but otherwise there isn’t a man living who could
finish it without complete distortion. If I had any say (and I haven’t) I’d publish
it as written to the breaking off point, leave the rest of the pages blank up to the
planned size, and let the reader realize who and what has been lost to the world
of magic.