Bill Larsen has been putting baby and hand pictures in Genii so you, you and you might see how famous magi looked when mother was the only critic. We have just received a picture of how we must have looked and it is a great pleasure to append it here.
Faith Hope Charity Harding, the 4 1/2 years old seeress and miniature Oracle of Delphi said in a N.Y.C. interview that when she grows up she wants to wear a green silk dress and be a magician. J.B. Rhine is supposed to be interested in her case, but, like the gal with the bouncing bed, we probably won’t hear any more about it. — We also chuckled at a recent Winchell thumb nail review, to wit, “Ann Sothern quells an uprising of jungle savages with a patter act and sleight-of-hand, in the movie Congo Maisie“, which maybe explains what became of vaudeville.
Giovanni, currently at N.Y.’s Hotel New Yorker, has reaped much publicity of late. But the story that wasn’t printed concerned the evening the noted pickpocket worked for a group and found his own pocketbook and keys gone. One of the spectators whom Giovanni was “pocketpicking” had neatly “frisked” the performer. It was Dan Campion, crack pickpocket detective of the New York police ! — We’ll probably be haunted for years by the Freer episode, but at least we can relate a funny story. Winston was doing his levitation in Maine and borrowed a little boy from the audience. When the boy had been picked up and was floating on the gadget, he started to cry. The irate father demanded his son’s return in no uncertain tones but the show had to go on. Papa stalked up onto the boards, took his son off the machine and, according to reports, also took out some of his feelings on Mr. Freer. What price glory.
If you happen to be the guest of Gordon Peck in Glens Falls, N.Y., keep away from his handcuff collection. The good doctor recently had a friend around who wouldn’t believe the cuffs were genuine. You’re way ahead of me. Doc didn’t have a key for the pair the wisey put on himself. It was a late make of restraint and the local gendarmes didn’t have a key either. Until six or seven the next morning the guest (I’ll bet he doesn’t come back for a while !) went from headquarters to headquarters looking like a real desperado. — Clayton Rawson’s publishers recently got a complaint regarding the former’s book Footprints On The Ceiling. It came from an official of the Society of Transcendent Science, in Chicago. “A magically interested customer” saw the Genii ad and ordered it. Then he was upset because the ad said “DO YOU KNOW how a bullet can penetrate steel and concrete leaving no trace ?” Quoth the S.O.T.S. “we cannot find the answer to this, nor neither the purchaser of said book. Kindly let us have this.”
Thank you department : Franklin Geist writes to say “In appreciation : – I used Fresh Fish, Hank the Hermit, Transient Money and Graphology for a 15 minute routine before a very difficult group tonight. The reception was remarkable – especially for the dollar bill feat and Hank. Altho Fresh Fish is not yours, it must be mentioned. Note that 3/4th of the routine was Jinx material, and the entertainment value was better than could be expected.” (The trick will be found in Jinx Summer 1937 Extra, Jinx #8 and Jinx #74, respectively. Ed.)
Chester Morris has just finished a vaude engagement in N.Y. and it was again a pleasure to see an actor do magic. With no warning he eased into a Chinese Tea Chest production effect as half of his p.a. act with a simple and disarming mention about movie stars getting gifts from all parts of the world. It happened that he liked the tea chest above all and would like to show it to them. In short, Morris made the audience practically beg to be shown ! — We’ve read a number of books on “how” to make magic pay. We also knew Russell Swann (currently at N.Y.’s Savoy-Plaza) when his tricks were but a hobby. The true secret of Russell’s success is not in his tricks because he doesn’t know any too many. He’s not a clever manipulator, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t do a good “pass”. He proves, of all the magicians I know and have known, that personality is the trick. Swann is personable to the nth degree. He fits his clothes and is the most affable person you could want to meet. He always knows less than you do and you leave him with thanks ringing in your ears. As far as I know he’s never forgotten a manager, an agent, or an acquaintance wherever he has worked. Once your name and address is on his list you get hotel announcements, Christmas and holiday cards, souvenirs from all around the world, and a steady stream of information regarding Swann. If you’ve met him but once you feel as though you’re a bosom pal. And all of this is a tribute from me to a guy I think is doing magic plenty good.
We still need copies of #62 and 63 Jinx. They’re scarcer than before so we’ll offer two issues in exchange if you have an extra one. — Some of the boys have been asking about a daily Jinx, and we can assure you that it has been given some thought. — The April issue of Esquire will have an article on gambling and gamblers by John Scarne. He gets down to the shoulder rubbing stage with some of the gentry whose names make you shudder. — Walter Gibson, whose Maxwell Grant pen name is known as the confidant of The Shadow, told us one day how he picked that pseudonym. Twenty first names and twenty last names were thrown in separate hats.
Without forcing, and without any subterfuges, he picked a paper from each. Strange as it may seem, he learned later that somewhere in Texas was a parcel of land titled the Maxwell grant. And that disposes of the theory that Maxwell was for Holden and Grant for the diminutive General of Magic.
Mail bag : “I read that tip in The Jinx on how to put curtains on rod using a thumb tip. I put curtains on rods years before you were born – but I used a thimble. Try it – it works !” Mother. — Audley Walsh told us of what seems to be a really funny gag for kid shows. There’s a new Liquid Thread type of cement on the market. The 5 and 10 cent stores have it. It has a rubber cement base but with something new added it is perfect for mending tears and glueing cloth. Coat each of a pair of cheap cotton gloves with the cement. Let them dry. Keep them separate. Get two children up. Make some excuse for having them put on a pair of gloves. Each one gets a prepared right hand glove. Then ask their names and introduce them. When they shake hands you hold them together for a moment and then leave them. Watch them try to get apart. You just about have to tear the material !