Broken Wand - Tom Owen

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Broken Wand - Tom Owen

Postby Mandrake » Dec 8th, '12, 16:08



Regulars to the Blackpool Dealer Hall will have known Tom very well indeed - another sad loss to magic.

Courtesy of http://www.magicweek.co.uk:

    Derek Lever, President Blackpool Magicians Club, writes: I am very sorry to inform you that Tom Owen passed away on Sunday after a short illness which created severe breathing difficulties. Tom joined Blackpool Magicians Club in 1954 and was a Past President and Honorary Life Vice President. He was a Joint Convention Organiser for many years and received the prestigious 'Murray Award For Services To Magic'. He was a Past President of the British Ring of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and held the degree of 'Member of The Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star'. He will be greatly missed by the magical fraternity.



    Mel Harvey writes: I went up to see Tom about two weeks ago and even then he was struggling for breath and on a nebuliser. I have many happy memories of Tom from the time he booked Presto the Magic Rabbit and myself to promote the Blackpool Convention in the Seventies to stunts we pulled together over the years both in this country and America. I started my magic dealing career with Tom as his assistant at various conventions until one day he tripped over a large bag of my puppets and he "suggested" (he was from the North) that I had a stand of my own! On one occasion we were at The Kennedy Hotel on one of Ron's Days and I said I was going home and Tom insisted I stayed and we ended up dragging a mattress from another room to his in the middle of the night! On another occasion at Southport we were seen to be enjoying the "sun" (from the arc lights) outside the Prince of Wales Hotel in deckchairs complete with knotted handkerchiefs at about 1.30 in the morning. Tom was one of my mentors for comedy magic and he gave me the opening gag of my act which I have used to good effect on many cruises. Tom will be surely missed, magic has lost one of its characters.


    Elizabeth Warlock writes: When Tom Owen died after a long illness, magic lost one of its most colourful characters. A dealer, comedy performer on stage and in close-up, and past president of both the British Ring and Blackpool Magicians Club, his association with the latter going back to the late 1950s when with Bill Lamb and Harry Dewhirst, he helped to organise the annual convention when it was still in its infancy. Later Tom and Bill would take over as joint organisers of the convention bringing in big magic stars from around the world, and they continued until 1994 when the mantle was passed to Derek Lever and Steve Eastham. It was at the 1962 convention that Tom first appeared as a dealer under the name of Universal Magic. He was a popular performer not only in his home town of Preston, but nationally and in Europe particularly in Malta where he was a regular visitor. His wife Margaret predeceased him, but to his surviving family we offer our condolences in their great loss. He will be sadly missed.



    The funeral will take place this Wednesday, 12th December, at 11.15am at Preston Crematorium, Longridge Road, Preston, Lancashire PR2 5BP, and afterwards at The Barton Grange Hotel, 746-768 Garstang Road, Barton, Preston, Lancashire PR3 5AA.


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