Backstage, A Journal for Magicians was a monthly newsletter published by Charles Windley for other magicians, both hobbyist and professional. Patterned after the old Jinx and Phoenix magical newsletters of the 1940's, it informed, instructed and occasionally raised a little hell. First issue was January 1982 after which it ran as a monthly for ten years; then becoming an 'occasional' and, like many magic rags, became a 'what happened to?'. Frequent contributors included Mike Bornstein, Bob McAllister, Billy McComb and many others. Backstage published its 118th and last issue in 1999. We were offering the compete set for $99 but we have run out. We are presently making a professional CD containing all issues. This will be available soon for $48.00. We are taking advance orders now for $36.00. Your credit card will not be charged until the item is shipped which is expected to be towards the end of 2008. You can use this order form or email windley@prodigy.net
A sample print issue is available free if you e-mail us your name and postal address.
Meanwhile, here are some sample articles from various issues:
(Please note that all artwork, photos and secrets to the effects have been omited from the wesite)
The Amazing Masters of Magic and Illusion
(A review of Richardi)
We pulled into New York Sunday, Dec. 6th, just in time to catch the last performance of Richiardi's 'AMAZING MASTERS OF MAGIC ILLUSION' show at the Felt Forum in Madison Square Garden (the new square garden is now round which is typical of New York). While backstage, we learned that the sixteen day run had been spotty and in fact, almost closed but was bailed out at the last minute by Chams De Baron, a designer jeans company. This meant inserting a 20 minute fashion show in the middle of the program which the audience didn't appreciate but there was no choice.
The 2 1\2 hour show (including the 20 minute commercial and a 15 minute intermission) opened with a young man billed only as 'Joseph'. A discovery of Richiardi, he is the perfect opening act combining excellent dove productions ( I stopped counting the birds after the first dozen!) with card and ball productions. He stopped the show with a floating dove that was about the bravest piece of magic this scribe has ever seen. This Polish-born magi is only 22 and a real credit to our profession.
Next was Alain Caboote with his creation, Ioni, which is supposed to be a reproduction of Robert-Houdini's automaton known as " The Trapeze Vaulter" which they claimed had vanished. ( They should look in the Houdini Museum in Niagara Falls, Ontario where the original little puppet still sits upon his perch and works as well today as when he was invented over a hundred years ago ). This new version broke half way into his routine and was unceremoniously carried off stage.
Emcee Mike Caveney now filled with a bit of hand juggling ( yes, he actually juggled hands ) and a knife through coat that was a knock out. Although mike would be great at a magic convention, his humor here was a bit over the audience's head.
The first half closed with Richiardi's son, Ricardo, presenting his new black art act. Not yet quite up to the standards of Omar, who originated the act, but damn close and a kind of theatre not seen too often these days. Timing is most critical for this most complex of acts and the troupe had obviously done their homework. It was flawless.
After the intermission and the 20 minute fashion show, it was time for The Master. Richiardi was better than ever, if that's possible, and had the crowd completely under his spell. Nowhere in the world have I ever seen an artist work with such complete concentration and dedication to his craft. This was his third visit to Madison Square Garden ( he was here in 1971 and 1973 ) as well as recently having done a long run here at the Village Gate. He closed his thirty minutes with his now familiar buzz saw illusion complete with all the blood and guts that this mystery entails. The entire audience was invited on stage to view at close range the remains of the girl ( his daughter ) who is never restored.
The show moves to Miami, then on to Germany. Because of the poor box office, it may be a while before he tries the U.S. again.
Doug Henning
I flew to New York for a week in September to see the taping of Doug Henning's next TV special. It will be shown in December to help promote his new Broadway show. The special is called, appropriately enough, DOUG HENNING ON BROADWAY and each illusion is themed to an area of the Big Apple.
The actual taping was done at the Ed Sullivan Theatre with a live audience. They taped two hours and will edit it down to the best 48 minutes.
First night of actual taping was Sunday, 12 September. After a great dress rehearsal, the cast went for a quick bite to eat and came back to find the fire department had sprayed the stage with a fire retarding material which made it too slippery to work on. After a couple dancers fell during the opening number, the show was stopped while the stage crew spent two hours trying to get the stuff off. Solution, finally, was to pour Coke all over the stage. Ricky Jay entertained the studio audience with card tricks during the two hour wait and the show began again.
Monday night presented a different set of problems. Doug was to produce a million dollars in cash for the Wall Street segment and the Brink's truck was an hour late showing up with the 10,000 $100 bills. (This was real money and not from Ed Sparrow's printing press!!)
Seven real New York City cops lined the stage guarding the money and the taping began. A red headed actress from CATS had one line in the routine "Doug, I understand you are coming back to Broadway to do a magical musical review" and she blew it. The illusion was reset and started over. She blew the line again. The illusion was reset again. On the eighth try, she got through the line correctly and the illusion proceeded.
Suddenly a nut from the audience jumps on stage and shouts to the camera that there is going to be a nuclear war. He became very violent and the floor director quickly ushered Doug off the stage in case the guy was armed.
It took all seven cops to hold the fella and carry him away. While they were gone, we realized that suddenly no one was guarding the million bucks! Everyone was on edge until the police finally returned. The taping began again and again the girl fluffed her line. The taping was to be over at 8:15. It was now 9:30 and the things hadn't even started.
This time the line was said correctly, the money was produced and Doug set about to make the cash vanish. He was to stick a torch into the box. He did. The stage hands, however, forgot to do their thing and one of the cops politely pointed out that the money was on fire. It was quickly put out and the taping started again. This time it went well.
When the show is aired in Dec., local magicians across the country will see the finished product and think how easy it all is. They just don't know.
Meanwhile, to follow up on the adventures of the Statue of Liberty. Copperfield vanished it on Sept. 13th when no one was looking. It was recorded on tape by CBS, however, and will be the feature of his next special set to be aired in the spring of 1983. There was no trick photography used although I don't think CBS will be able to convince the audience of that fact.
New Lamps for Old
NOTHING can be more dangerous than a little knowledge. There is a group of tricks that, although miracles in their day, have come down to being little more than novelties to be found in almost every child's magic set. I refer to the Imp Bottle, Ball in Vase, King Tut, etc. Tricks which began most of us on our way to becoming wand wavers.
Although still fun, their secrets have become pretty much common knowledge today and there is usually a wise guy in the group that possessed these minor miracles as a child and, unfortunately for the magician, has a good memory. This is the jerk that offers to tell everyone how it was done.
Back in the early Sixties I worked for Al Stevenson* at a little magic shop he had in the Times Square Subway Arcade called ' The Wizard Shop'. I say ' at ' and not ' in ' because the place was only five foot wide and four foot deep. The customers would stand in front of the store and watch the demonstrations. Weird customers.
Anyway, I demonstrated and sold thousands of Imp Bottles, etc. and in the process, put up with many wise guys that delighted in busting my tip. The result of all this was that I came up with different ways t do the tricks. Dig into your old magic set and let's get to work!
=BALL IN VASE
Discard the shell. To perform, pick up the top, show empty and place on the table to the right of vase. Show ball and place in left hand via the French Drop. Ball is now secretly in right hand in finger palm position. With attention on extended closed left hand, right hand picks up top with thumb and index finger and loads ball in top as it is being replaced on vase. Ball now vanishes from left hand and spectator can lift top to find ball has returned.
= IMP BOTTLE
Discard the little metal genii and place a small bit of magician's wax on lip of bottle. Bottle will now lay down because it sticks to table. Rub off wax as you hand bottle to spectator.
=CRAZY CUBE
This is almost mean. Line inside of lids with masking tape so 'trick' doesn't work. Instead of having spectator remember top number on die, have him note top AND bottom, add two numbers together and remember the total ( always six ). Now let 'wise' spectator try to perform the trick.
The Coney Island Fakir
At fourteen, I was playing Hubert's Museum in New York. On my first day off - a Tuesday - I hurried over to 304 West 34th Street where I was looking forward to meeting a legend..the great Al Flosso. I climbed the long flight of stairs leading to " Martinka-Hornmann's Magic Emporium " ( Although Al had owned the store for over twenty years, he had never bothered to change the name on the door ) and entered the dirtiest, most cluttered room I had ever seen. The glass in the showcases were so dusty that you couldn't make out their contents.
At first I thought the place was deserted but that was only because I couldn't see Al standing behind the pile of books and papers on the counter.
" Sit down, kid, and rest your mind, " said a little voice from nowhere "But do be careful. That was once Houdini's chair. "
" I don't think he's still using it, " I replied.
" You never know...you just never know, " stated the little man as he rounded the counter and sat across from me.
" Mr. Flosso, my name is Windley and I've been looking forward to meeting you for a long time, " I began.
Hell kid, you ain't been around for a long time yet, " he shot back; then, " How you like working Hubert's? Charlie Lucas been treating you all right? "
" How did you know I was playing hubert's? I just opened there two days ago."
" Think you're my only customer? Some of the guys were up here talking about you yesterday."
Thus began a conversation that continued...in chapters...for over twenty years. I became part of a group of magicians that could never be in New York without spending at least one day with the little man. Al knew magic. He knew magicians. He had been personal friends with Thurston and Leon Mandrake and Houdini. He and Dunninger had grown up together. When the phone would ring, it was usually Kuda Bux or Cardini or any of a hundred others just calling to say hello...or ask a favor...or seek advice.
The last time I saw Al was April 1976. We both knew it was the very last time we would see each other. We waited until after the last customer had left and then we quietly said goodbye. He died a month later. I understand I'm not the only one that can tell this story.
The shop is still there. It's run by Al's son, Jackie. The phone still rings. But there is no Kuda Bux or Cardini on the other end. Just me or vince Carmen or Stu Miller. The kids still come up on Saturday. It's another time.
ALWYN and the DEMON
"Dedicated to the great magicians of the future...while they are still young."
Al Stevenson 75 Tricks With A WIZARD DECK, 1962
Al Stevenson was one of the most prolific magicians I ever met.
I was performing at Hubert's Museum in New York and would pass through the 42nd Street subway arcade on my way to work. One afternoon I noticed a crowd gathered around a stairwell and realized that one of the street entrances had been replaced by a magic shop. The Transit Authority had re-routed the exit and boarded up the area leaving a 10 x 8 foot alcove. An enterprising pitchman - quick to realize an opportunity - had rented the small space from the TRANSIT AURTHORY for $60 a week and turned it into a little store. He peg boarded the three walls and placed and eight foot showcase across the front. Four feet above the counter was a long mirror hung at a 45 angle so those in the back could have a bird's eye view of the demonstrations. Above this was a roll-down door so that the place could be locked at night.
Hung across the back wall was a sign that proclaimed " THE WIZARD SHOP ". The area was well lit. During both the morning and evening rush hours, hundreds of stripper decks passed across the counter along with dozens of other small pocket tricks. As the weeks went by, The Wizard Shop grew in popularity and more expensive tricks were added although the stripper deck always remained the chief rent-payer.
I voluntarily shilled his tip a couple of times and Al, the owner, and I soon became good friends. Suddenly I found myself working behind the counter every Tuesday (my only day off at Hubert's) for 10% of the days gross. This not only paid MY rent but also gave Al a needed break for other projects with which he was involved. It turned out that he was not just another pitchman but was quite knowledgeable about magic.
He didn't like the term 'stripper deck' as he felt it gave away the secret so he re-named it ' The Wizard Deck '(after the shop) and designed a green wrapper with a drawing of a huge demon. I didn't know then that the demon was real. The name became so widely used that it was eventually adopted by Haine's House of Cards, the manufacturer, and the name and green wrapper with the demon is still in use today.
Al then wrote 75 Tricks with a Wizard Deck which he published and sold at the shop. This little $1.50 pamphlet has become a standard magic shop item and today is sold around the world in five languages. The demon also appears on the cover of the book. Al then wrote 75 Tricks with a Svengali Deck which enjoys the popularity. His 3rd book, 75 Tricks with a Mene-Tekel Deck, was never completed.
In addition to his books, Al took over as editor of Hugard's Magic Monthly upon Hugard's death and invented over 30 magic effects which he manufactured and sold at his little shop. He created many professional tricks including a Card On Ceiling with the cards IN their case so that the magician doesn't have to play 51 pick up after the trick; a complete black art act that could be performed anywhere under almost any conditions and a chemical method of lighting cigarettes that was a boom to the cigarette manipulator. He was also the first to use foam rubber for sponge balls. At first he cut the balls by hand but later developed a special heat process which is the method still used today. He made foam balls, wands, fish, Coke bottles, carrots and an ice cream cone.
Al Seldom discussed his past, especially the demon, but once in a while I would get him wound up and he would tell stories of his days as manager of Dell O'Dell's Magic Studio in Hollywood or his adventures as a professional soldier in the Spanish Civil War. He was involved at one time with the C.I.A. developing methods of smuggling papers and microfilm across international borders, he had spent time as a hypnotist with U.S. Army Intelligence. Between all this, he had traveled most of the world as a magician and/or pitchman.
I learned two important lessons from Al. he taught me that the method is of very little consequence; the end result - a pleased audience - is what counts. He also said, "Always Be a magician...don't just do tricks!"
When not involved with magic, Al spent his time battling his demon. He put up a strong fight but finally lost. One cold November night in 1964 as he was leaving the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the monkey bit too hard and he quietly fell down and rolled over in the snow.
Magic lost a prize that night, that it never really knew it had.
Ashes to ASHES
It was in Olde New Orleans, the city of death; where MAGIC is not a wonder but an accepted fact! A place where evil flourishes and voodoo shops are tucked into every alley. Where the I.B.M. chose to have their next convention !
Here! Shuffle these 52 cards while I speak and I will attempt to show you from where their magic comes! On my last visit, I was presented with this small vial of dust. Its powers are beyond belief. Let me hold the cards for a moment for we must first remove the Joker...God forbid it would become the chosen card. Good, it has already been removed. Now while you cut the deck, I'll roll up my sleeves and we'll go to work. Remember, I NEVER said voodoo was easy.
Now if you would take your right hand, and hold my left hand tightly. Now with your free hand, pick up the card that you have just cut to and concentrate on it. Please be careful that I don't see it as this would influence the spell.
Now bury your card somewhere in the deck with the others and the magic is done! You may let go of my hand now. I'll slowly open the lid to this vial but I caution you to only observe as the dust has never been touched by humans. Were I still a mere mortal I, too, would be forbidden to attempt what you are about to see. I will remove a small amount of the dust and place it on my arm and slowly rub. Although I still do not know which card you selected, my blood knows and...Look!...it slowly rises to the skin and...and...YES! I see it...a form is appearing...it is...it must be...the death card...the Ace of Spades!! I must say, you made an appropriate selection. Thank you.
(Secreat has been omitted from web site)
Le Grand David
What's all the excitement about? It's really not that great of a show. It tries. The costuming is out of this world. The many props are clean and well decorated. The old Cabot Theatre has been restored to the point that it is, indeed, a real show place. The actors, from Marco down th the ushers, are well rehearsed and exact. What then is the problem?
The simple fact of the matter is that the show is just plain boring. This writer remembers the Fu Manchu Show that Marco is trying to imitate. True that the costumes and sets and props are all there. What is lacking is the suspense. David Bamberg kept his audience on the edge of their seats with one surprise after another. One didn't leave the theatre remembering the costumes; they remembered the twinkle in his eye and the way the corners of his mouth would suppress a grin at the successful conclusion of one of the many mysteries.
Marco, on the other hand, prefers to hit us in the face with spectacle. The curtain doesn't just rise in the beginning; a half dozen curtains part....slowly....one at a time. A dozen or more assistants slowly descend down a long flight of steps center stage. It reminds this writer of a funeral procession recently seen on the streets of La Paz.
Like others in the magic fraternity, I applaud Marco's success. His efforts and his contribution to the magic art are to be commended. After all, the show is in its fifth year. I suspect, however, that the success is due not so much to using eleven assistants for the linking rings or the broom suspension ( what a great way to hid the inevitable 'click' ) as to an aggressive front office that knows how to book group sales. The real MAGIC of this show is the long line of chartered buses waiting at the door to take the audience back to their respective condominiums.
There are few tricks in the Abbott Catalogue that are not paraded across the stage in this two and a half hour production. The Super Needle Balloon, the Zombie, Where Do The Ducks Go?...they are all there.
David Bamberg, Chang, and many other "Oriental" South American wizards probably dreamed of the miracles they could have done if only they had their own theatre. The DaKolta Chair, Okito's Floating Ball, the Kellar Levitation...one wonders why Marco hasn't taken advantage? He prefers instead to offer us 86 costume changes.
We realize that the afternoon is about to come to an end when Marco steps forward and instructs us on the art of applause. "It would be nice, he adds; if you did it while standing." The audience obliges.
STOOGES
Bill Neff used to brag that he NEVER used confederates. (That is because most of his shows were performed in the North!) The ending of his show always had a member of the audience sneaking a peek inside the Spirit Cabinet and having his trousers vanish. That gentleman from the audience was always Bob Sherms. It was Bob's only job on the show.
I made the mistake of asking Bill about that one time. His reply was that Bob wasn't a confederate, he was on the payroll. Hmmm.
Most magicians claim that they don't use stooges. They are either lying or else they are missing out on a vast source of possible miracles. I used to daydream about what it would be like to perform before 500 people ...one paying customer and 499 stooges. The cost of the show would be prohibitive but boy, would that one ticket-holder be amazed!!!
Ten years ago I had the chance to pull it off. It worked. My customer would leave the performance talking to himself. Here's how it came about:
One morning I woke up and found myself the owner of a magic bar in Miami beach. That, in itself, was a strange story. I had ended a tour in Miami and was waiting around for the next adventure. I waited a long time as nothing was happening and I couldn't seem to get a booking anywhere. The days were turning into weeks and funds were getting low. My assistant, Barbara, had grabbed a job at a McDonald's to keep us in groceries and I was spending the days on the phone with agents trying to line something up. Anyway, it got down to scanning the Help Wanted section of the Miami Harold and I noticed that the Luzern Hotel needed a bartender. I had never been a bartender but I had sure observed enough and it didn't seem too hard. You just sloshed a few shots of this and that into a glass along with a few ice cubes and collected money. I went down to apply for the job.
I went to the desk and told the clerk I had an appointment to see about the bar. Actually, I didn't have an appointment at all but it is always nicer to start that way as it often saves time waiting. The guy usually figures he screwed up his appointment schedule and starts the interview apologizing.
Frank DuPree was no exception. He immediately came out of his office and apologized. "As I'm sure you already know," he explained," We've just bought this hotel and things are not too organized."
I forgave him. He suggested that we talk in the bar so that he could show me around at the same time. It was a beautiful club. It had a dance floor, seated about 85 and there was a small bar off to the side. It had been closed since the hotel was sold but was completely stocked right down to the glasses. The only thing missing was the liquor. Frank wanted the place open for his hotel guests but didn't want to get involved in its operation. He wanted to lease the place. I had been highly recommended. (Obviously, he had me confused with someone else.) He wanted to know what I thought I could do with the place?
I told him that I was thinking of turning it into a magic-themed lounge with a small trio for dancing and two floor shows nightly. There would also be magic performed at the tables and at the bar between shows. I don't know why I said that. It just made sense. Anyway, he loved the idea. He offered to turn the place over to me. He would charge me 10% of the gross. Otherwise, the expense and profits were mine. I told him that he would also have to include a suite in the deal as I felt it would be necessary for me to live in the hotel. He agreed and handed me the key. I also told him he could take the ad out of the paper for a bartender as I already had one. "Oh, that's not us," he replied. "That's for the hotel next door!"
I went home and told Barbara to quit her job at McDonnalds. I also asked her if she knew how to mix drinks? She did.
Anyway, back to the trick with the stooges. (Remember??) Between the two nightly floor shows, I would do small magic behind the bar while Barbara made drinks. Half of our customers were locals that hung around nightly while the other half were guests at the hotel.
Over the months, I had clued the regulars in on this one trick. It would start when a tourist would wonder aloud about how the magic was done? I would explain that it was all very simple and based on intuition. "First thoughts and impressions!" I would exclaim. "That's a magician's real secret!"
I would demonstrate by having the person select a card. He was instructed not to let anyone else see it and to return it to the deck. He would. I would then bring it to the bottom of the deck.
The spectator was asked to point to anyone at the bar. They would usually select someone at the opposite end not paying any attention to the miracles in progress. I would call over to the selected person and ask them to please yell out the name of the first card that came to their mind. I would, of course, hold the deck so that they could see the bottom card and this is the one they would name. The spectator would always be amazed. That miracle was just the beginning. This was everyone's cue to cease their conversations and become interested in the experiment.
The spectator was invited to select another card and to point to someone else. Again the card was named correctly. This was repeated half a dozen times until the victim was complete dumbfounded. Each time, all my stooges had to do was glance at the bottom card as I pointed to them. A piece of cake! Now for the clincher. I would have someone else take a card and show it around the bar. They would return it to the deck and point to the victim. I would ask him to name the first card that came to his mind. No matter what card he would name, everyone would act amazed and pretend that it was correct.
Eventually the spectator would leave believing that he could perform this card trick. I often wondered what happened when he got home and tried to do it for his friends?
Years later, I found myself the owner of a bar in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. It was called the King's Head. I still own it. (Never mind how THAT came about!) I sat up the same trick with the regular customers. It was here that I came up with an improvement that made the thing more convincing. After I had milked the routine as much as I could, I would end by selecting a card myself except that I would not return it to the deck. Instead, I would place it in my pocket. After the spectator named a card, I would act surprised and remove it from my pocket and show it to him. This made a cleaner finish.
My method was having a card index in my pocket. I would leave the selected card in the pocket and remove whatever card he named from the index.
By the way, a nice side advantage to this closing was that I ended up with a deck containing a duplicate card. There are many card effects needing this and this was the perfect time to do them. Such as...
Scarne's Beer Mug
(This article not available on our Web site as it involves a secret. )
VOLTA
During the spring of 1969 I was driving from New York to Miami to do a one-niter at the Boca Raton Hotel. I love the term 'one-niter'. The date was costing me a week just in travel time.
I was only a few hours away and over a day early so it was with interest that I noticed the huge green and white highway sign announcing that the next exit would take me to Deland, Florida. I turned almost on impulse. Bill Neff, Bob Sherms, Richard Himber, Al Flosso and the rest of the older magicians that I had hung around with when I was a kid used to frequently mention Burling Hull. They had always said that I should meet him if I ever had the chance. I only knew that he lived in Deland. Sherms and the rest had long since passed away but here was my chance ...if he were still alive.
I drove into the small, sleepy Florida town and located a phone book. Deland was inland between orange groves. Not very interesting. It was the home of Stetson university. That was about it. The way people stared at me told me that strangers seldom stopped here.
Burling Hull was listed in the white pages at 109 West Beresford Road. As the phone rang, I began wondering what I was going to say? After all, I was calling a complete stranger.
After a few rings, Burling answered the phone. I introduced myself. "Windley!", he exclaimed. "I was wondering when you would call. Come right over."
He lived in a small, run down house in the center of town. There was no sidewalk. The driveway was paved with mud. He was standing at the door waiting when I drove up and began talking as I was getting out of the car. It was like two old friends meeting after a long absence. He looked nothing like his old publicity photos that I had seen. His walking cane and baggy pants reminded me a bit of Chaplin. Although in his eighties, his smooth skin made me wonder if he ever needed to shave. His hair was pure white complimenting the sparkle in his blue eyes. His chin was held high, a trait of all ex-vaudeville magicians. We stepped over piles of papers and books in his living room and he cleared a space on an easy chair across from the gas heater. The tea kettle whistled that the water was ready to be poured. he never stopped talking unless it was to ask a question and then he listened intently for my reply.
Somehow he knew as much about me as I did of him. I had the feeling that everyone who visited experienced the same reaction. It was a nice, warm conversation. We talked for what seemed to be an hour. I excused myself to leave and realized it was three A.M. I had been there since noon.
He wanted to take me to the shed behind the house before I left. He had a few things he said had been saving for me. I believed him. One was Thurston's bathing Beauty Illusion. He felt it would fit in my show between the Nama and my Chinese routine. I had not told him about my show. He also gave me the props for Thurston's Obedient Ball Illusion. (Burling was, after all, a good friend of Thurston's.) The third gift was in his office. It was an innocent-looking tray used to switch a deck of cards. I offered to pay him. He was offended. I felt bad about making the gesture.
The bathing beauty is still in my show today ...between the Noma and the Chinese. I loaned the Obedient ball to Robert Lund for his American Museum of magic in Marshall, Michigan. The tray was lost in a fire a couple years ago.
On another visit, he gave me an old loose-leaf binder that he said contained some misc. notes and illusion plans. It was locked with a 29 cent padlock. I wasn't to open it while he was still alive, he requested. I kept my word. For some reason, I wasn't even remotely curious about its contents.
That first day began a correspondence that continued until this past November. When I was in South America, he wrote me in Spanish. When I was playing Martinique, he wrote in French. He was a brilliant man. The old timers in New York had nicknamed him 'Hurling Bull'. They didn't understand him. He claimed to have invented the Svengali Deck. They said the Svengali Deck was around before even he was born. They were right. It was only a toy. He added roughing fluid and invented over 50 tricks with the deck. He was right, also.
After that first meeting, I would stop and visit whenever I passed through Florida which wasn't too often. Once I was open for a week and gave my show free to the Deland Sheraton just so I could be near him. Whatever assistants were with me at the time would clean his house while he and I sat and talked over tea; sometimes about tricks or other magicians. Mostly about theory. He recited his acts to me word for word. Sometimes I would stop him with a question and he would patiently explain in detail why a particular word was used. He had thought about each syllable and pause in great detail. When it came to HIS act, he wasn't talking about theory but years and years of experience. He had toured a 'think-a-drink' act long before Hoffman. Hoffman magically poured different drinks from the same pitcher. Burling has pretty girls serve the drinks while dressed in the appropriate costumes ...a different outfit for each drink. He played the act during prohibition. Drove the Feds nuts! He wanted to teach me the act. I didn't have time. I'm sorry now.
As time went on, he lost his sight but it didn't get in his way. From my side, his eyes continued to twinkle. He didn't let his blindness show. He used it. He dusted off his old mental act and made new brochures advertising the fact. "How can a blind mentalist cheat?" he chuckled.
Lisa was with me on one of our visits. During the evening he complimented her on her dress even mentioning that beige was a becoming color to her. He also commented on her pretty long, black hair. "You must be Filipino," he had said.
She later asked me how he had known those things if he was blind. I didn't know. He had also told Lisa about how Hollywood had discovered one of the assistants in his show and made her a movie star. The assistant's name was Carol baker. He walked over to one of his huge filing cabinets, thumbed through a pile of 8x10's and produced a photo of Carol baker working with him. Lisa also wanted to know how he knew which photo to get? I didn't know that either.
Eventually Volta's age and lack of sight became too much. His good friend, Bev Bergeron, helped him sell the house and move into a nursing home. He wrote me that is was only temporary. His letters were now written by his nurse. She would always add a P. S. that he was doing fine.
When he died last November, he was working on his 53rd book. "I've published 52 so far," he wrote. "That's almost a full deck. Now I'm working on the Joker. Then it will be time to quit and I shall retire."
At 93, he quit too soon. There was still the yellowed notebook, however. The other night I finally brought myself to pulling it off the shelf. I realized that he had not given me the key. It didn't matter. For the first time, I noticed that the padlock was not pushed shut. As I began to read,, I realized that I was holding the Joker ...his 53rd book. Magicians did not listen to Burling when he was alive. They will not listen to him now that he is dead. I will print its contents in BACKSTAGE anyway. After all, who among us was ever more backstage for so long?
Around the World by Bill Tadlock
I think of Bill Tadlock as being a hundred years old. That's because I knew him when I was a kid. I forget that he was a kid then, also. Anyway, he has been in magic a long time. He has a good background and tremendous knowledge on the subject. He has an amazing ability to take basic ingredients and blend them into a fine recipe. Here is one of his miracles:
Bill showed me five of his business cards. Written on the backs were the names of different countries. "What's the first thing you do when you travel out of the country?" he asked.
"Find a girl," I replied.
Bill didn't think that was funny. "Most people say 'get a passport'," he continued.
"I already have a passport."
"Anyway, that's what normal people would say." he went on, ignoring my remarks. "The second thing you do is change your money."
Bill had placed the business cards on the table face up so I couldn't read the countries. He was casually tossing a half dollar from hand to hand. Finally he asked me to point to a card. I did. he invited me to turn it over and I learned that I had selected China.
Bill smiled (He has a very sneaky smile) and slowly opened his hand. The half buck had changed into a Chinese coin! He slowly turned the coin over and asked me if I knew what the Chinese characters meant? I didn't.
"They say Have A Nice Trip," he said with a grin. I didn't grin at all. I turned over the other four cards. They read "England...Japan...India...France".
My next line was one that I have come to use often when I witness a miracle. "Can I give that to the readers of BACKSTAGE?, I asked.
"Sure," he replied. Bill is a nice guy.
(The secret has been omitted from this website)
