Volume XLV
Number Three
May, 1946
From the Article "Cartooning and Magic"
By William Tefft Schwarz
Illustrations are also by W.T. Schwarz.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Looking Back
"The Sphinx"
Volume XLV
Number Three
May, 1946
From the Article "Cartooning and Magic"
By William Tefft Schwarz
Illustrations are also by W.T. Schwarz.
Volume XLV
Number Three
May, 1946
From the Article "Cartooning and Magic"
By William Tefft Schwarz
Illustrations are also by W.T. Schwarz.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Max Andrews on The Future of Magic
Max Andrews was the editor of "The Magic Magazine" published in England. he wrote these words:
----
Recent travels to Holland, Switzerland and various English cities have given me added proof that the newer generation of magicians is dead keen to make our art more lively and keep it in line with the modern outlook. Everywhere I have been, I have seen evidence of the move to give old tricks a new angle and to introduce "the latest".
Why not? nothing has done so much to keep magic a subsidiary entertainment than a lack of enterprise, which leads to audiences saying (if only to themselves) "the usual tricks, you know". Yet it is astonishing, how the most "usual" things can be given a new appeal; either by way of presentation or by adroit twists that lift a show on to a new plane.
That is one of the things we try to keep in mind in connection with MAGIC MAGAZINE. Not all brand new tricks surpass the old ones; and it is a fact that many of the standard ones are still superb. ALthough, for example, the secret of the Chinese Rings has been given away, even in the cheap-price stores, only an experienced performer can do the trick with finesse. Further the performer who presents this and other famous magical feats with polish or in a freshened form, still completely confounds the people who have only a superficial knowledge of the modus operandi.
----
(Emphasis as per original)
These words reflect the recent trends in magic, but the words were written in 1952 (September, 1952 Vol. 1 No. 6).
According to MagicPedia: The Magic Magazine was published from 1952 to 1956 and had 54 issues.
----
Recent travels to Holland, Switzerland and various English cities have given me added proof that the newer generation of magicians is dead keen to make our art more lively and keep it in line with the modern outlook. Everywhere I have been, I have seen evidence of the move to give old tricks a new angle and to introduce "the latest".
Why not? nothing has done so much to keep magic a subsidiary entertainment than a lack of enterprise, which leads to audiences saying (if only to themselves) "the usual tricks, you know". Yet it is astonishing, how the most "usual" things can be given a new appeal; either by way of presentation or by adroit twists that lift a show on to a new plane.
That is one of the things we try to keep in mind in connection with MAGIC MAGAZINE. Not all brand new tricks surpass the old ones; and it is a fact that many of the standard ones are still superb. ALthough, for example, the secret of the Chinese Rings has been given away, even in the cheap-price stores, only an experienced performer can do the trick with finesse. Further the performer who presents this and other famous magical feats with polish or in a freshened form, still completely confounds the people who have only a superficial knowledge of the modus operandi.
----
(Emphasis as per original)
These words reflect the recent trends in magic, but the words were written in 1952 (September, 1952 Vol. 1 No. 6).
According to MagicPedia: The Magic Magazine was published from 1952 to 1956 and had 54 issues.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Looking Back
The year is 1928, London.
Number 3, Volume 2 of Edward Bagshawe's Magical Journal.
Included:
Adverts for:
"Radiana" (A mentally selected card vanishes from a full deck, and reappears to be examined) "Four Shillings, Post Free
"Cigarette Magic & Manipulation" By Dev. Deveen. Price 4s. 6d., postage 2d.
"Original Spiritualistic Effects" By Edward Bagshawe. Part Four.- "Novel MYsteries." Price 3s., postage 2d.
"The Super Self Shifting Pack" (A selected card is placed in the middle of the deck, without any movement the card is found on the top of the pack) Two Shillings and Sixpence, post free.
"Syko, The Insolvable" Price 6s. 6d., post paid.
Tricks:
"The Sympathetic Number." By F.R. Squire
"Simplified Psychic Writing" By S.H. Sharpe
"A Card Sleight" By F. Edward Cook.
Jottings:
"A lot of people talk to themselves, but the ventriloquist is the only man who can make a living that way."
"To-day's biscuit goes to- the magical author who said if his first publication: "Undoubtedly the best book I have ever written.""
"The Great Bunco cables us that he has just had a very interesting chat with the Prince of Wales. Up to the present, the Prince of Wales has not cabled that he has had an interesting chat with the Great Bunco."
(All text Copyright original author, reproduced for posterity.)
Number 3, Volume 2 of Edward Bagshawe's Magical Journal.
Included:
Adverts for:
"Radiana" (A mentally selected card vanishes from a full deck, and reappears to be examined) "Four Shillings, Post Free
"Cigarette Magic & Manipulation" By Dev. Deveen. Price 4s. 6d., postage 2d.
"Original Spiritualistic Effects" By Edward Bagshawe. Part Four.- "Novel MYsteries." Price 3s., postage 2d.
"The Super Self Shifting Pack" (A selected card is placed in the middle of the deck, without any movement the card is found on the top of the pack) Two Shillings and Sixpence, post free.
"Syko, The Insolvable" Price 6s. 6d., post paid.
Tricks:
"The Sympathetic Number." By F.R. Squire
"Simplified Psychic Writing" By S.H. Sharpe
"A Card Sleight" By F. Edward Cook.
Jottings:
"A lot of people talk to themselves, but the ventriloquist is the only man who can make a living that way."
"To-day's biscuit goes to- the magical author who said if his first publication: "Undoubtedly the best book I have ever written.""
"The Great Bunco cables us that he has just had a very interesting chat with the Prince of Wales. Up to the present, the Prince of Wales has not cabled that he has had an interesting chat with the Great Bunco."
(All text Copyright original author, reproduced for posterity.)
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