NOTHING UP MY SLEEVE ! For fifty years Mr. Beaufort has been as familiar as an inherited toy to succeeding generations of British Royal children. He has appeared ten times before Edward VII, and also before George V, Queen Mary, Edward VIII, George VI, and royalties of Germany, Austria, France, Persia, Belgium, Greece, Russia, Norway, Spain, Portugal, and Sweden. He was sent down from Cambridge and went half round the world on a windjammer. He made love to a murderess, and kept a secret assignation with an Empress. He was sent by the British Foreign Office on a Government mission to frighten a Sultan with his magic. He has seen a queen whipped, and taught magic to an heir to the British Throne. He has been suspected as a spy by Scotland Yard, taught Eastern magic by an Indian officer, and told to write his life-story by Lord Northcliffe. His piquant memories of royalties, celebrities and nobles include adventures with Charles Peace, Neville Chamberlain, Dan Leno, Oscar Wilde, Cecil Rhodes, George VI, Crippen, the unhappy Archduke Francis Ferdinand, Bottomley, and Edward VIII, and take the reader all over the world. Nor is he a back number. He is still performing, in famous houses, at mayoral receptions, and at all our great public schools. He was at Roedean last May and Repton last Christmas. This is the best magic book for years !
Mr. Douglas Beaufort, society magician for fifty years.
NOTHING UP MY SLEEVE ! By DOUGLAS BEAUFORT (FIFTY YEARS SOCIETY MAGICIAN)
With iy half-tone illustrations
LONDON
STANLEY PAUL & CO. LTD.
Made and Printed in Great Britain at Thi Mayflower Press, Plymouth. William Brendon & Son, Ltd. 1933
The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance given by Mr. F. S. Stuart in the preparation of this book.
CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE
Cambridge in the '70's—The Black Lewis and the holly bushes— Sent down—Starting in a London bank—A young man about town—A glimpse of Charles Peace—I vanish from the bank— Out to South America—Gaieties of Rio de Janeiro—The naughty signora—Pistols for two . . . . .
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CHAPTER II Rolling round Rio—A skating gala—The Empress of Brazil rebukes us—Invading a Royal residence—Was I extradited ?—The lady of the rose—I go to Australia and study for the Church— Fleecing the card-sharps—Meeting Melba at a charity concert —I decide to be a sailor . . . . . . .
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CHAPTER III My home on the ocean wave—Life on a windjammer—I fall foul of the mate—Back to Rio—Dirty work—Doubling Cape Horn— Up the west coast of South America—At the sack of Pisagua— I challenge the Chilean army—Useless intervention—More trouble with the mate . . . . . . - 3 8 CHAPTER IV Trouble with the police—Choking an officer—Fog—Storm off Cape Horn—Man overboard—I give up sailoring—Looking for a job in Liverpool—A girl I'd left behind me—Working on the railway—I go on the stage with Professor Weber—A Saturday night show in the '8o's—Learning magic . . . . CHAPTER V Private-house magic with Professor Weber—A show at a Young Ladies' Seminary—A magician who shot his son—Learning my job—England's sporting renaissance—Magic at Midland 7
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wedding-breakfasts—We perform before a future Prime Minister—I strike out on my own—Welshed by a theatrical agent . . . . . . . . • •
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CHAPTER VI Sharing a turn with Dan Leno—My father joins my audience— Barnstorming through England—The Lester Buffalo Minstrels —Off to Australia—Pirating Gilbert and Sullivan in Melbourne —Minstrel shows in Queensland—Outdoor performances for the miners—When the audience threw gold nuggets—Farewell, Jimmy Lester . . . . . . . . .
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CHAPTER VII London in the '8o's—A show before Oscar Wilde and his aesthetes— The First Lord of the Admiralty helps me with a trick—I appear before the Duke of Teck—At a stag-party—I receive a note from a crowned head—The men who smoked the Prince of Wales's cigars—Memories of G. R. Sims and Augustus Sala —Winston Churchill hears strange voices . . . . 80 CHAPTER VIII My playground in Mayfair—The Duke of Teck sets my feet on the Royal road—A memory of Queen Mary—I earn 200 guineas for impersonating a ghost to frighten a Duke—Lady Cathrine puts moral turpitude to rights—The naughty actress who became a Peeress—Threatened with death by a near-royal madman—The Duchess of Northumberland changes her mind about cards . . . . . . . . .
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CHAPTER IX My most embarrassing adventure—An historic diamond vanishes —A titled kleptomaniac intervenes—A £1000 diamond ring vanishes from Maskelyne's—I teach magic to an heir to the British Throne—And to the King of Wiirttemburg—His Majesty turns conjuring-instructor—A clever illusion is stolen CHAPTER X Engaged by the Duke of Devonshire—Lost in Bolton Abbey—My most eerie adventure—A queer incident at Princess Christian's —The Duke of Norfolk's Sunday whiskers—The noble who was
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made of money—A tip from Baron Rothschild—I appear before the Prince of Wales—Promised a diplomatic mission . .116 CHAPTER XI A Foreign Office interview—I join Sir Charles Euan Smith's Mission to Morocco—Asked to heal sick Moors—An Eastern ' Royal Command ' performance—Four Queens receive a whipping —Diddling the Devil-doctors—Ventriloquism in Fez—Harry MacLean, Commander-in-Chief of the Faithful—I receive a right Royal gift . . . . . . . -125 CHAPTER XII Advised to leave Fez—Kidnapped by a Sheikh—Making magic for my life—Murder in the audience—I appear again before the Prince of Wales—An unfinished Robey story—Sir Arthur Sullivan tries to scare me—When the conjurer's eggs were boiled at a boys' school—The Harrow boy who showed me some magic I couldn't fathom . . . . . . .
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CHAPTER XIII A South African tour—Appearing before Cecil Rhodes—Planning the Jameson Raid—Jameson gets me an engagement to entertain Kruger—The President who spat—Jimmy Lester again—A diamond merchant with a hareem—Christmas Day in Mafeking —I agree to join the Jameson Raid—At Jameson's trial in London . . . . . . . . . .152 CHAPTER XIV I am offered a partnership by J. N. Maskelyne—Maskelyne and I speculate over the Jubilee—The first ' movies '—Filming the Jubilee processions—Seats I could not sell—Devant becomes a partner instead of myself—An uncanny adventure at Lord Wolseley's—I nearly lose my life—When our present King told me my dolls were very rude . . . . .162 CHAPTER XV My Riviera tour—Attacked by the detectives of a Grand Duke— I refuse to perform for His Imperial Highness—A show before King Edward—The King's superstition—When a naval officer
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CONTENTS PACE
threatened to blow up Monte Carlo—I appear before the King of the Belgians—Exit the girl who sneezed—The King chooses me a shabby carriage—A flutter at Nice—An American who wanted me to join him in a card-sharping business . .
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CHAPTER XVI All Royal—A candle trick that pleased the present King—When Princess Mary wanted one of my dolls—I am rebuked by Queen Mary—The Shah of Persia is angry because I have no naughty pictures—The girl he didn't leave behind him—When he wanted a hanging at Buckingham Palace—I am suspected by the King of Portugal—A skeleton hand beats the Duke of Cambridge at whist—King Edward's bet with Mrs. Willie James—The King of Spain assists me—A show before the Crown Prince of Sweden . . . . . . .187 CHAPTER XVII Lord Mayors and others—An unknown assistant at the Mansion House—When I was refused the door—A hoaxer sends me uninvited to the Duke of Buccleuch—An impromptu show after a railway accident—A magic stomach cure—A mirror falls just before King Edward's death—Lights out during a show before the Duke of Connaught—A Prince's rebuke—The workman who wanted me to magic beer into empty bottles . . 200 CHAPTER XVIII A second Riviera tour—I travel with Crippen—A performance before the Archduke Francis Ferdinand—Appearing before the French Pretender—An actress commits suicide—Adventures at a French school—Set a ghost to lay a ghost!—I appear before Prince Olaf of Norway—He calls one of my turns 'h o r r i b l e ' . . . . . . . . .
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CHAPTER XIX A deferred American tour—I am prevented from travelling on the Titanic—I indulge in a verbal duel with Lord Birkenhead— Sir Edward Carson is called away—An exciting party at Bottomley's—The horse that did not win—I appear before three Queens—Queen Alexandra's dog takes a dislike to me —A German spy's spaniel breaks its heart—At Mr. Arthur Balfour's just before the war 225
CONTENTS
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CHAPTER XX PAGE
Princess Mary becomes ' The Queen of Hearts '—A German spy scare interrupts my performance—I prevent a war-time elopement—If I had played pontoon—An audience of 900 soldiers— A performance at Sir Ian Hamilton's before a group of Indian officers—One of them tells me the secrets of Eastern magic— In a London air-raid . . . . . . .238 CHAPTER XXI I travel 250 miles on a ' death train '—Ventriloquism in a Bedford hospital—I am suspected as a spy in the Jonas case—Making magic during a bad air-raid—Adventures among the ruins— Another visit to the South of France—Performing before wounded soldiers—Magic saves my life from a madman . 251 CHAPTER XXII The man who could go into the past—When my latest tricks were stolen—Lord Northcliffe tells me to write my life-story— Flying in 1921 with a Schneider Trophy winner—I surprise a Dance to Diana—A conjurer's adventures in the General Strike—The millionaire who pawned his sporting cups during the depression . . . . . . . . 364 CHAPTER XXIII Tales out of school—Cow-races in a midnight Rodeo—I meet a man who really chews up glasses—How he rescued a schoolgirl from peril—A repeat performance at Roedean last May— Recognized on my way to Repton last Christmas by a man who knew me nearly sixty years ago—When I kissed a murderess —Schoolboy conjurers—Conjuring as a career to-day—I vanish at last . . . . . . . . . .
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