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I have got two books, 'blackstone's modern card tricks and secrets of magic by Harry blackstone 1941'

and 'magic as a hobby by Bruce Elliott 1951'

I have found out a little about Harry Blackstone JNR

but that's about it.

Anyone know any info on these gentlemen?

thankyou for your interest

jasper

Blackstone was terribly famous and was one of the great magicians of his day or any day come to that. He was particularly famous for his dancing handkerchief trick and the birdcage vanish even though he had loads of more elaborate illusions in his show. The books you mention were actually ghost written by Walter Gibson.

Bruce Elliot was the editor of the Sphinx magazine and wrote some pretty good books on magic including "Professional Magic Made Easy" "Classic Secrets of Magic" and "Magic-100 New Tricks" (My favourite)

"Magic as a Hobby" is my least favourite book of his. I couldn't do a single trick in it. However it has great significance to me. It started me in Magic. I came across it by pure chance when I was a kid in a public library and got it out. The rest is history and the world of magic hasn't been the same since. Those of you that shudder at my very name can blame Bruce Elliot for my magical existence.

I will start before the mighty Craig arrives. Blackstone and his son are both legends in magic.

http://www.magicwebchannel.com/hall_blackstoneJR.htm

I used to love his floating lightbulb, seeing that shown on an old magic show when i was a child was amazing.

On Blackstone CHECK out The Blackstone Legend by Gay Blackstone ( Harry Jnr's wife & chief assistant) 40 pages price £12:50. There's a lot on both in Milbourne Christopher's 'Illustrated History Of Magic' Revised & re issued this year. Amazon are the cheapest at about £12.
There is also a book published for the General Public, by Newmarket Press, New York in 1985 and was available in UK. It is The Blackstone Book Of Magic & Illusion. Written by Harry B Jnr. with Charles & Regina Reynolds.ISBN No. 0-937858-45-5, it has 230 pages with about 100 devoted to The Great Blackstone & Harry Jnr. There are 250 pics & drawings, dozens of them of the Blackstone Show from it's beginning upwards. Probably the best collection, in one book of The Blackstones.There are some colour pics of Harry's Broadway Show & Senior's Posters and about 72 pages of trcks from the Cups & Balls to coins to most things.
Mine came from Magic Books By Post but it's not in their current list. However as it was on sale to the Public, you should be able to trace a copy possibly with book search people.
Finally there is The Great Blackstone Souvenir book by Abbotts. 45 pages of pics from Senior's show.
Bruce Elliotts work I love. Magic As A Hobby brought me several new routines as a young magician and his Classic Secrets Of Magic( on the Classics) is brilliant. Professional Magic Made Easy will provide you with plenty of Close Up stuff. You can usually pick up 2nd hand copies of these from Russell Hall( Magick Enterprises in Sheffield)
And didn't he edit & collate the PHoenix (6 vols still available) and The New PhoenixI think
Allen Tipton

Uncle Harry (Blackstone, Sr.) was considered the premier magician of the world from approximate 1934 (date of Howard's Thurston's immobilizing stroke) until his death in 1965. He was known for a number of illusions including lightbulbs through the girl, Floating Lightbulb, buzz saw, vanishing horse, just to name a few. He was born Henry Boughton, son of Alfred and Barbara Boughton, in the late 1800's. He with his brother Pete began doing magic in vaudiville under numerous names such Including Harry Boughton, The DeFranchesco Brothers, Harry Bouton (in our family the spelling of the name both ways goes back quite a ways, often both spellings were used by the same person over thier lifetime) which he chose to prounounce like the French Boo tahn, probably because foreign names were popular for magicians. He was able to purchase a great number of 4 color posters from a retiring magician with the name Fredrick the Great on them and proceeded to perform under that name until a huge anti-German sentiment rose in the U.S. at the beginning of WWI. Kaiser Wilhelm's father had been Fredrick the Great, and he found his audiences shrinking and bookings becoming impossible. There are many stories told by Harry Sr., Harry, Jr., and Uncle Pete on exactly how the name Blackstone was chosen, but Uncle Harry became Harry Blackstone, or The Great Blackstone, and his career began to arise. He played basically the second tier of theaters with Thurston getting the first tiers until Thurstons disabling stroke in 1934, after that he was hailed as the primer magician of the time. After a first retirement following WWII he attempted to go out again in the early 50's with his show of 1001 wonders but bad health brought that it an end. Retiring to Los Angeles he spent a lot of time at the Magic Castle when it opened, after the death of Percy Abbot in the early 1960's Uncle Harry returned to Colon, Mich., once is home, for the Abbots Magic Get together. He died in California in 1965, his remains are now in Colon, Michigan, as are Uncle Pete's as well.
Having legally changed his name to Harry Blackstone, his Son, Harry, Jr. inherited the Blackstone rather than the Boughton/Bouton name. Harry, Jr. actually began his career as a magician after years as a producer in radio and television. Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers helped Harry Jr. finance his first big Illusion show and Harry, Jr. began his career log after his Father's retirement. Harry Jr. was seen my almost infinitely more people than his father was due to Television. He was not cheap rip off of his dad, he was a top magician in his own right. He and wife, Gay, earned about every award and acolade magic has to offer. Harry, Jr. died in the late 90's of Pancreatic cancer. His wife Gay and daughter Belleme carry on the Blackstone tradition.
I still have a set of hand and foot stocks built by Uncle Pete and used by Uncle Harry in his show in my collection, as well as a signed copy of Modern Card Magic which he gave me as a child (my first magic book), and several other signed artiles by Uncle Harry. I only met Harry, Jr. once, many years ago, a chance meeting in a hotel, never having seen him at that time I was staring at him because he bore a striking resemblance to my Father (I call Blackstone, Sr. "uncle" harry because that is what I was taught to call him, he was actually my grandfather's first cousin. My great grandfather and Harry Sr.'s father were brothers). I didn't meet the lovely Gay until last year at WMS. A very charming and warm lady. (Bouton men have a knack for picking beautiful and charming women to marry).