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I'd love to learn more about the history of magic - more precisely about magicians from different eras and what kinds of magic they performed. I'm a beginner, and except for the most famous contemporary magicians I can hardly name anyone...

Are there any good books or websites? Or could you give me the names of magicians I really should know?

"The Illustrated History of Magic" (Milbourne) is a good place to start.

You'll also find (on the internet) this to be an excellent resource.

Mike.

smoked salmon wrote:I'd love to learn more about the history of magic - more precisely about magicians from different eras and what kinds of magic they performed.

Some names you might want to look into.....

Robert Houdin
Harry Kellar
Alexander Hermin
Max Malini
Nelson Downs
David Devant
Nevil Maskelyne
Dai Vernon
Nate Leipzig

Worlds Greatest Magic from 1976 is filled with all those magicians mentioned above and more. I found mine in a thrift store, but it can be bought here http://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Greatest-Magic-Hyla-Clark/dp/0517528045

I am always delighted when a young magician takes an interest in the History of our Art. usually they are too busy cutting, jogging & shuffling their Bikes to bother.
To extend your knowledge and appreciate the background of any Art you must know and respect what has gone before. For what went before paved the way for what ius happening today.

Look at.
The Great Illusionists by Edwin Dawes. Published by David & Charles.

The Pictorial History Of Conjurers in The Theatre by David Price. You can still find 2nd hand copies of this mammoth, very readable book.

Victorian Magic by Geoffrey Lamb. Routledge & Evans,

Great Magic Shows & Famous Magicians of the World by Arnold Furst. The latter is tricky to find. Collected reviews & many pics from Genii of the
Published by Genii.

Great Masters of Illusion. All their tricks listed.

Panorama Of Magic. Milbourne Christopher's pre Illustrated Magic.

Programmes Of Magicians J Burrows.. Davenports.

Programmes Of Famous Magicians by Max Holden.

Magical Nights In The Theatre. Charles Waller. Australian magic

DVD from Peter Scarlet.. A Cabinet Of Magical Curiosities. This is Eddie Dawes writings , expanded & with numerous illustrations. Hundred of pages.

The Life & Times of the Great Lafeyette. Arthur Setterington

Chung Ling Soo, Chinese Conjuror, The Glorious Deception, The Silence of Chung Ling Soo, A Gift From The Gods, the 2 Gary Frank Books,
CLS's Mechanists.

The biogs by Val Andrews. Goodnight Mr. Dante, Murray, Carmo, Chefalo, Lyle, David Devant & Kalanag
The Great Lyle by Eddie Dawes.

There are many more but these will give you a start, a fascinating look in Mystery & Magic and its Great Masters.
Much bigger thrill than all the triple lifts and in and out jogs!

Steep yourself into the one of the Most Wonderful Stories in the World.
Then there's the BBC series of 6 programmes on The Hisiory Of Magic.
Two dvds put out by Jeff Busby via A & L. The Story of Magic. Here you get to see the greats performing.

Allen Tipton
PS do check Amazon UK for new & second hand copies of some.

Believe it or not. David Blaine's Mysterious Stranger has a lot of stuff on the history of magic.

Michael Jay wrote:You'll also find (on the internet) this to be an excellent resource.

Mike.

I saw this in genii, and now its up and going it looks fantastic!

Ta Mike!

I would also recommend:
The First Psychic by Peter Lamont and Talking to the Dead by Barbara Weisberg, both of which will give you a great insight into the Victorian roots of mentalism.

I'd also recommend The Rise & Fall of the Indian Rope Trick by Peter Lamont (again) for a wonderful insight into the roots of more mainstream magic.

And lastly a novel (ie fiction but really more like "faction") Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold that recounts the Victorian and Edwardian golden age of magic.

Of course taking a lunch or two with Allen, Dale and one or two other old timers on this forum will put you on overload mode

As is usual Allen has given a most excellent list of resources for you as has Mr. Bell in the above. Though a tough one to track down, I'll suggest Ormond McGill's Bio on Lee Grabel as well, in that it does fill in a few "voids" on things

(how do I say this in a kosher manner???)

The Dante & Thurston estates were probably the two most "controversial" tid-bits in magic history AFTER their deaths!

In truth there were three "Thurston" shows; the original inventory of equipment that was put on tour by Howard featuring his brother Harry; the Dante Show and of course Howard's own extravaganza.

Shortly after Howard's death Harry sold his collection to Will Rock but only after some long negotiations that had started when Howard was still alive (in that Harry really didn't enjoy touring with the show). At the same time another "gent" had negotiated the purchase of what was known as "the paper" from the Thurston Office i.e. Posters, notebooks, handbills, etc.

The "true successor" as it were, was Dante... kind of sort of... he just simply continued doing his own show but instead of answering to the Thurston production offices, he'd become his own man... which he kind of was anyway... as with everything associated with Dante, it's a long story

Due to the outbreak of World War II Will Rock closed his tours with the Thurston show and never went back to doing it again. Instead, he negotiated the show's purchase and the "passing of the mantel" (as it's known) to a young man from the Battlecreek, Michigan area he'd watched over the years who'd just returned home form the war, a young man named Charles W. "Kirk" Kirkham who was the first to bring some of the world's most famous illusions to television

At the time Kirk found himself a newly wed and working for Blackstone, Sr. while likewise serving as on off & on consultant/warehouseman for Dante... he was looked upon as one of the "sunshine boys" as they say, taken under the wing of numerous west coast (US) players... including legendary Tv host/comedian Steve Allen (the Hollywood Palace Tv show)

The Actual Thurston Show... was left more or less abandoned, in a barn somewhere in the American Midwest (Wisconsin, I believe it was) until about ten years or so ago, when David Copperfield and a group of about six other collectors stepped in to save it... though much of it is now in the Copperfield museum in Las Vegas several pieces remain in private collections as well. Ironically, as fate took hold of the Kirkhams, much of what they had left of the Harry Thurston collection was sold to the Pierre Houdin Museum in Paris, France -- 18 primary pieces from the collection including the original Sawing Cabinet and the "Spider" Stretching Cabinet (if you see photos of Howard doing the Sielbit Stretching you will see two different ones; the Spider and a Chinese looking one known as the "Tampa" cabinet)

Technically Speaking However, in the early summer of 1986 Charles & Phyllis Kirkham unofficially gave permission to their prodigy (yours truly) to claim succession to the Thurston-Will Rock mantel... trust me, there's much more to that tale


When Dante Passed Away a huge chunk of his estate was actually burnt and destroyed but similarly, Dante had made arrangements, which to this day remain an "uncertainty" that a large chunk of the show would end up in the hands of the Larsen family... I don't recall the whole story but I do know that ultimately it took Bill Larsen, Jr's wife's ex-husband John Daniel to buy out a renowned horse thief and pack-rat (stop laughing Allen ). Interestingly John had an investment partner... the very same Kirk Kirkham for which we spoke previously.

These two men would also chip in to salvage the original Blackstone collection in around the same time, the "gent" who'd ended up with said show, allowing his children to use the props as backyard toys and the once' amazing sets as material to build tents and "forts" -- it was a criminal situation to say the least.


Other Confusion Around the Dante Estate surfaced as northern California's leading personality of magic, Lee Grabel presented letters of correspondence that seemingly allude to the idea that he was to take over the Dante show upon the old man's passing. Though Lee has many standing on his side, no one really can confirm one way or the other. Nonetheless in the early 1990s Lee along side Channing Pollack, passed their side to the Master's Legacy Mantel to Lance Burton, making him the only person aside from myself, directly tied by mention, to said lineage which does in fact go back to Houdin himself... if you want to split some hares that is...


Sadly, when the health of both Kirk and his wife Phyllis became challenged with age in the early 1990s their golden boy wasn't to be found... he'd moved to Las Vegas and found himself with a house filled with kids and the classic reality of show biz... working around the clock and barely making ends meet... In other words, I was not in the financial position to support the equipment's up-keep let alone help their son's in covering growing medical and funerary costs e.g. the collection was disbanded... much of it ending up in the hands of the same rapscallion that had taken advantage of the Larsen's years previous, over the Dante collection; a man that has somehow managed to survive in the collector's world without ever being shot, stabbed or pushed down long flights of stairs... and that's by people just being too nice to him.

I ended up with loads of amazing memories and of course, understanding of the technical elements surrounding some of magic's most famous equipment... to me this is far more valuable than the pile of junk I once loved, served and guarded fervently and to my own parrel. The nice thing is knowing that most of it has been preserved by various collectors and I more or less have an open invitation to come see "my stuff" anytime I'm in Vegas and feel like touring Butch's Bra Factory one more time...

Who's laughing Craig. As if I would

Most fascinating facts re the Greats Have filed them for future use.
A Great Posting.

Allen Tipton
PS You could have added the words slimey & liar to the rat.

Allen Tipton wrote::D Who's laughing Craig. As if I would

Most fascinating facts re the Greats Have filed them for future use.
A Great Posting.

Allen Tipton
PS You could have added the words slimey & liar to the rat.

The dictionary hasn't enough expletives in this case

I rest my case then Craig.

Allen

Thanks a lot for all your tips... This ought to keep me busy for the next 5-10 years!