It made us quite happy to get a year’s subscription the other day along with a note that the writer figured that he was buying from two to five books and manuscripts every couple of months at $1 or $2 each and that 8 copies of The Jinx over that period resulted in a $1 buy that, when looked over in entirety, showed up as exceedingly worth while. Another letter said that its writer liked the weekly idea because it kept him continually pepped up on tricks and didn’t let his interest flag. Another said the “damn thing comes in before I get a chance to read the last one and try the stuff”.
One person gave us an idea to pass on when he said that he was glad we didn’t run Assembly or Ring news columns because, to him at least, the interest to an outsider was not there. So here’s a suggestion for what it’s worth to the mags who specialize in such columns. Have each Ring or Assembly send in one hint, tip or trick each month, supplied by someone at each meeting, and incorporated in the column, say at the end of the meeting and news notes. At each meeting the sec’y digs out such an h, t or t, and I’m sure the columns and the mag, too, will take on renewed interest. There are hundred of such items floating around even if it isn’t more than how to restore circulation after wearing a tight thumb tip for several hours.
“Ouch ! dept.” – 24 hours after issue #67 went to the printer the Nov. Linking Ring slithered in containing Stewart James’ Took Best Book Test. Bells rung, whistles blew, memos were passed around to the staff with wild abandon, and a thorough shake-up of the promotion dept. was under way. Why pretend to be a magician or mindreader if you can’t foresee at least 36 hours ahead ? Our Whim of Tituba was “whammed” for idiosyncranatic Stewart had based his effect on the same “missing page” idea as ours. Anyhow, despite the irony of our having plugged his forthcoming trick solely because of the title, we smile inwardly at having caught up with the source of some of his material. At least we gave full credit for each part, even if Stewart didn’t mention that the torn newspaper corner dodge in his version came from that very perfect newspaper test back in Jinx #4, just short two months of being 5 years ago. So, Stewart, we’ll consider ourselves scooped if you’ll consider yourself spanked, but lightly. Otherwise it’s interesting to note how two people, working independently upon a basic idea, can come forth with quite different presentations.
TRUE for December, and now on the stands, features an article Houdini In Stripes. It relates continuous escapes of a young fellow many times incarcerated. However, close reading shows no ability at lock picking, but a clever and subtle brain for eluding the officers at the opportune moment. The same issue also has Animal Einsteins exploiting dogs of the past and present who could read the minds of their owners and trainers, giving their (the dog’s) canine views about things by barking or pawing. Of interest is this paragraph, “The famous magicians, Thurston and Blackstone, studied Bozo’s gifts, and declared his accomplishments to be authentic phenomena. Not content with this alone, his master took the dog to a recent meeting of magicians at Atlanta, Georgia, where Bozo went through his routine and received not only congratulations, but a letter signed by the president declaring : “We have studied this dog. No collusion exists between Bozo and Captain Lower except that of mental telepathy.” I wonder if this article is a prophetic note as to where magic is going ?
Bill Larsen takes umbrage at our mention of LePaul’s being feted by Los Magicos. Two issues ago we were glad to publish Caryl Fleming’s viewpoint of the whole thing. Making it clear that LePaul quite possibly couldn’t have had a thing to say about the exposing in Eternally Yours, Caryl also brought out that no one seemed to know what he was doing in town for “he was strangely silent about his activities”. Bill says, “I’ve never seen any magical society (and I’ve known a lot of them) who didn’t welcome any and every professional magician with open arms, even where he is an exposer”. Even that well known fact doesn’t make for improvement in matters. No one yet has beaten our “silent treatment” in the estimation of a lot of friends, not so good friends, and correspondents. In an article the other day by a girl who was describing activities in a militant girl’s camp, she described the two brands of punishment : “One was ——-. This was a penalty that cut deep into a girl’s heart. The other was even worse. It consisted of an edict forbidding fellow members of the group to have anything whatever to do with the erring girl. This was ostracism with a vengeance”. So much for that. And when Bill says, “Quit panning Los Magicos, Ted, and write to Joe Breen. It’ll do more good”, I can but say that I already have. But if I can’t raise queries about west coast magic club activities Bill will have to stop saying things about the east coast clubs and societies. Gabbatha !
Aside to C.T. – Re that “after the funeral” item. O.K. And speaking of mysteries we hark back to the time when Dean Frederick Powell died. Services were held up in Connecticut and again in New York. A wand was placed in the casket for breaking at the N.Y. services, but it was gone ! It turned up later in a local collection. And here’s a tale for the book. Years ago there were two rival conjurors, one specializing in escape work, the other making a feature of it but not in entirety. Around 1907 there was published in Popular Mechanics an escape from a barrel after being submersed in water. By an amateur magician it was the first known (as far as can be found) escape to be made under water. The barrel, its halves held together with bayonet catches, was meant to be practically kicked apart under water and let sink. H.B. then built a metal box with a sliding panel unlocked with a forked pick. He refused to sell this to H.H. so the latter did the “overboard” box with a packing case instead. Later, H.B., seeing the psychological effect of a locally built case over a special iron box, stored the thing away in N.Y. with other illusions. Time marches on. H.B. now stands accused of under water escape larceny by H.H.
We can allow that in regards to the packing case but not in priority to the general effect itself. H.B. needs the iron box to prove his point. It has disappeared ! Time marches on some more. H.H. winds up a spectacular life. Into the picture comes J.D. who acquires some of the H.H. stage properties. In the cellar he finds a large iron box which no one knows anything about. Suspecting a trap, J.D. toils and finally locates a sliding panel. H.B. still has the pick for the box he found gone from the storehouse. J.D. has an iron box he found in the H.H. cellar. We don’t think that H.B. knows this part of the story. So, on the sidelines, we suggest that H.B. and J.D. patch up their feud or declare a three hour truce while they check the finis to a truly rugged individualistic story of magicians at work and play.
There’s a monthly magazine on the newsstands called MYSTERY (Unusual Detective Stories). Of the type whose editor (hello, Dracula !) goes peacefully to sleep while readers lose a hair to every page and get atrophied corpuscle to every chapter, it is of interest to magicians for the “Norgil, The Magician” stories which appear in every issue. A practical and hard working professional, Norgil manages to snare civic malefactors and aid the gendarmes between saw cuts. The stories abound in incidents during the stage performances which actually have happened during the past on magic shows. Fresh on the stands as you read this (dated Jan. 1940) the copy features The Lady and The Lion, etc. are just about as they happened on the Thurston show. After you’ve read a couple of issues you will solder a detective’s badge to the back of your shell half dollar, build up a trick wand that shoots real bullets, finger print your pull to find out if you or your double played that last church show, and even bring to justice the guy who shot the booking agent who offered you that ten dollar date.
Nicola is now on his way home after losing his entire show when his ship was mine sunk as detailed last week. We’d like to see Nicky at the Radio City Music Hall for a while with an illusion or two each week. Now this isn’t the usual pipe and impractical dreaming behind the usual blurbs and impractical hopes that a magician will play somewhere. Nicola is strictly an illusionist, he does no sleight of hand nor close up tricks, and one of the very few left capable of nattily and effectively presenting illusions in that mammoth house. Heretofore, on the other side of the question, the Music Hall has turned down illusion shows mainly because of budget trouble. They quarry a “stock” load which doesn’t allow of the big overhead necessary for a magician’s troupe. But — the Music Hall builds a lot of stuff for a week’s production. Let them work out a few revue routines around a few illusions. Let Nicola be the magician. Nicola, now showless, can for once, afford to work for much less than his usually demanded stipend. To even matters and not in any sense chisel his earning rate the contract calls for the illusions to be built and turned over to Nicky at the finish of his engagement. He’d have a new show for the cost of living, salaries, and effort for a few weeks. He’d have the Music Hall prestige. The Music Hall would have a good novelty program, Nicola’s front page breaks in publicity for being the only American on the mined ship plus the interview publicity when he lands back here, plus the publicity given magic in quite a few moving pictures within the past few months. The budget wouldn’t suffer, and quite a few magi would pass through the portals to see a truly worthwhile presentation of the big stuff.
Rouclere, Jr. presented the bullet trick at the recent S.A.M. Ladies’ Night and garnered much applause. Being an old timer and “goremonger” at that horrific hoodoo trick I wondered at the logic of one action in the effect. The lady suffered herself to be shot at with a musket of doubtful origin while holding a plate against her abdomen. The plate broke. And then the lady sorceress spat the leaden slug from her mouth onto a platter. We actually love the bullet trick. We’ve done it for 7 years under conditions that were more stringent than ever before in the past. We’ve written Rouclere, Jr. offering advice on keeping the stunt within the bounds of possibility while presenting it as an indubitable mystery.
Orville Meyer’s trick in this issue is a Dunninger type of miracle. Incidentally, Dunninger’s program will be offered next week.
