A MAGICIAN'S SWAN SONG
WILL l-'niittf,/iir{f)
COLDSTON
A MAGICIAN'S SWAN SONG By
WILL
GOLDSTON
(Founder of the Magicians' Club) Author of "Secrets of Famous Illusionists"
Profusely Illustrated
London John Long, L i m i t e d 34, 35 & 36 Paternoster Row, E.C.4
MADE AND PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN 4T GAINSBOROUGH PRESS, ST. ALBANS »V FISHER, KNIGHT A^D CO., LTD.
CONTENTS PAGE
F O R E W O R D
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9
CHAPTER
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T H E H I S T O R Y OF M A G I C — ANCIENT MAGIC
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V V I
E A S T E R N
VIII
M O R E
XI X I I
MAGIC
M A G I C
M I N D - R E A D I N G S O M E
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F A M O U S F A M O U S
T R I C K S T H E
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I L L U S I O N S
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I L L U S I O N S
A N D
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OF
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ILLUSIONS
M Y O W N T R I C K S
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MISCELLANY
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OF M A G I C
ILLUSIONISTS MAGICAL FURNITURE
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BY F A M O U S .
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PERFORMED
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SOME EXPERIMENTS IN G H O S T H U N T I N G . A
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XVII
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TRICKS OF BOGUS M E D I U M S
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M A G I C
E S C A P E
F L O T S A M
O P T I C A L
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XV
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S O M E S P E C I M E N S OF M O D E R N M A G I C
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T H E H I S T O R Y OF M A G I C — MODERN
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T H E H I S T O R Y OF M A G I C — MEDIEVAL M A G I C
III
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SEVEN LESSONS IN MAGIC FOR THE BEGINNER
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Frontispiece CARDINI, the great Welsh sleight-of-hand magician, created an honorary member of the Magicians' Club. President Louis Gautier is seen attaching the Club's jewel to Fp"ÂŁf Cardini's lapel . . . . . . . 32 A lithograph of the author performing the Black A r t illusions under his professional name of Carl Devo. Year 1907 . . . . . . . . 44 HORACE G O L D I N , the world's leading illusionist and inventor with the goat and assistants . . . . . 78 CHEFALO, Italy's greatest illusionist . . . . . 100 MURRAY, the Australian escapologist . . . . 1 1 0 BERNARD M . L. ERNST, a noted attorney, author, President of the Society of American Magicians, and Vice-President of the Magicians' Club . . . . . . 1 2 6 JOHN MULHOLLAND, a noted American Society conjurer a n d author . . . . . . . . . 1 3 2 T H E AUTHOR, created an honorary Indian Chief. The ceremony was performed by Big Chief W h i t e Horse Eagle. T h e title bestowed on the author was Bar-BuRat-A (Great White Magician and M a n of Light) . 150 Louis GAUTIER, President of the Magicians' Club, an amateur magician of extraordinary skill a n d a leading expert on old china . . . . . . 1 7 4 A R T H U R PRINCE, the famous ventriloquist, occupying the Chair at the Magicians' C l u b Cabaret . . . 1 9 4 CHARLES BERTRAM, the conjurer w h o taught magic to King Edward . . . . . . . . 200 T H E MAGICIANS' CLUB'S first premises (reading-room and W I L L GOLDSTON
bar),
1911
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J. O ' N E I L L F I S H E R , t h e h o n o r a r y secretary of t h e M a g i c i a n s ' Club A R T H U R S H E R W O O D , t h e w i n n e r of t h e gold m e d a l of m e r i t presented by t h e M a g i c i a n s ' C l u b . . . . D A V Y BURNABY, a favourite c o m e d i a n , late of t h e C o O p t i m i s t s . B u r n a b y is a n expert conjurer, a n d often p e r f o r m s tricks in p r o d u c t i o n s . . . . .
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FOREWORD BY
J. C. CANNELL Vice-President of the Magicians' Club, and author of the "Secrets of Houdini" (8th edition)
O
N the eve of his proposed retirement, Will Goldston, veteran illusionist and personal friend of the most famous magicians, tells in these pages the most intimate secrets of professional wizardry. The exposures he makes range from the most spectacular and elaborate illusions to the smallest pocket trick. His book, indeed, is the alpha and omega of magic. He conceals nothing, hides no secrets. The careful researches which I had to make in order to tell the public exactly how Houdini achieved his escapes and performed illusions which seemed like miracles, led me to think that I had exhausted all the resources of magic. But, after reading the proofs of this fascinating book, I realized how much I had not known. That the public is attracted by this subject is proved by the reception received by my own work, already in its eighth edition. Its sales are still increasing in astonishing measure across the world. I hope that this book of Goldston's will attain even dizzier heights of circulation; and I am sure it will. The name of Will Goldston is respected in the wide fraternity of magic. "A Magician's Swan Song" will, I believe, become a standard work. Press Club, London, E.C.
A MAGICIAN'S SWAN SONG CHAPTER I
THE
HISTORY OF
MAGIC
ANCIENT MAGIC
T
HERE is probably no art in the world so ancient as that of magic. Exactly when, and under what circumstances, magic first made its appearance in mankind's history it is impossible to say; but one thing is certain—that in very early times magic and the practice of religion were very closely associated. Indeed, magic was an essential part of religious ceremonial, and to none but the priests were the jealously-guarded secrets of magic revealed. It is an interesting reflection that this state of affairs still obtains in our present twentieth-century world. The "medicine men" of the primitive peoples of Africa and South America are actually priests, or at any rate, religious leaders. In most cases, their office is hereditary, and the secrets of their craft are handed from father to son. It is held by philologists that the word "magic" is derived from a Sumero-Akkadian root (imga) which signified a priest. The Assyrians borrowed this word, and in the course of time, it became corrupted to maga. The chief priest was known as rabmag. And by the devious route of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome, the word was brought to the English language, slightly altered, and slightly changed in meaning. From an historical viewpoint, it is a pity that magic was for so long an esoteric art. So jealous were the priests of their power, that they dared not commit their secrets to paper, preferring rather to teach their successors by spoken word and practical demonstration. Thus it is that we are afforded but ii
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A MAGICIAN'S SWAN SONG
a hazy idea of the nature of those "miracles" which afforded them such power over their fellow men, and permitted them to sway the destinies of nations. We may take it that most ancient priests were "seers"—i.e., they pretended to foretell the future. They probably "divined" fortunes, and "exorcized" evil spirits. They could read "signs" unintelligible to the masses; they were the only genuine interpreters of dreams. Astronomy is said to have had its beginnings in China, but it is asserted that astrology, or the art of reading the messages of the stars, was born amongst the priests of Babylon. But these gifts, whether genuine or not, do not constitute magic as we understand it to-day. We know magic to be trickery; and the magician is he who affects an apparent miracle by perfectly natural means. There is, in the British Museum, an Egyptian manuscript of the XVIII Dynasty which recounts a magical performance given by a priest named Tchatcha-em-ankh before King Khufu. The date of writing is about B.C. 1550, but the date of the performance is B.C. 3766, so it is difficult to say what degree of accuracy is preserved in this much-quoted papyrus. But for all that, it is a document of very great historical interest, for it is, I believe, the earliest known account of a public performance of magic. According to the writer, Tchatcha-em-ankh was a man of considerable skill. "He knoweth how to bind on a head which has been cut off; he knoweth how to make a lion follow him as if led by a rope; and he knoweth the number of stars of the house of Thoth." Here, for the first time, we see something in the shape of modern magic. The first phrase has reference to what is obviously the decapitation trick. In its simplest form, most modern schoolboys know it. The "victim" is invited to take his seat in a deck chair. His upper portion is hidden momentarily with a cloth—long enough for him to thrust his head through a circular flap which has been cut in the material of the chair. When the cloth is withdrawn an apparently headless body is observed, but the head can be "restored" again in an instant. We are given no clue to the method used by this