The Sphinx - Golden Jubilee Book of Magic.pdf

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Golden Jubilee Book-Cover
Golden Jubilee Book-Cover
THE SPHINX
GOLDEN JUBILEE BOOK OF MAGIC
A Selection of Tricks from the Pages of the Magazine
Compiled by MILBOURNE CHRISTOPHER
Illustrated by SID LORRAINE
Dedicated to the memory of William J. Hilliar who founded
The Sphinx and A. M. Wilson, M. D., who so ably established the magazine in the world of magic
And
JOHN MULHOLLAND
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Golden Jubilee Book-Cover
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Golden Jubilee Book-Preface
The Sphinx Golden Jubilee Book of Magic
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Preface
W HEN, one warm day this past summer, John Mulholland suggested the
editing of this book I agreed with little hesitancy, thinking it would be a
pleasant task to re-read the early volumes of "The Sphinx," a simple matter
to prepare the best tricks for publication. Two weeks or so, I thought, would
see the work through.
So I started through the 49 years. I had planned to read only the tricks, but
the articles and pictures and news notes kept distracting me. Reports on the
shows of Kellar and Herrmann intrigued me: the rise of young performers
such as Thurston and Houdini, not to mention Dante and Blackstone; and
most of my contemporaries kept sidetracking my attention from the matter
in hand. Then the tricks themselves! Multiply one issue by more than five
hundred and you begin to appreciate the problem of combining the best feats
into a single book. It would have been far easier to compile five volumes
than one. So many choice bits of conjuring had to be put aside. It would
astonish you to check in current dealers' catalogues the many tricks which
first appeared in "The Sphinx."
A large and excellent group of tricks had to be by-passed because they were
already so firmly established as the standard feats of today's sorcerers.
Another batch of bafflers had to be put aside because, though the trap doors
and special stage mechanisms on which they depended are just as practical
today as they were several decades ago, there are few modern wizards who
could put them to use. The decline of the theatre and the rise of television,
hotel and intimate entertainment has made a special yardstick necessary to
measure the value of a feat today. The estimated two weeks stretched into
months, but the manuscript began to take shape.
This book is far more than a collection of tricks; it's a procession of the
outstanding performers, inventors and writers of magic from 1900 down to
today. No one man could possibly have explored so many avenues with so
many unusual results. Here then are not only outstanding tricks, but the
outstanding men who are responsible for them telling you how to do them.
Here is magic for all tastes, all purposes.
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Golden Jubilee Book-Preface
Milbourne Christopher
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Golden Jubilee Book-Introduction
The Sphinx Golden Jubilee Book of Magic
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Introduction
I T WAS "The Sphinx" which told me what went on inside magic when, as
a very young magician, I could see only the outside. If was "The Sphinx"
which brought me advice, from the very top people of magic, on how to
better my performances. It was "The Sphinx" which gave me many of the
feats of magic my audiences most enjoy. Therefore, as a performer, and one
greatly interested in all phases of magic, the magazine has meant a great
deal to me. I am not unique in my feeling for, during the half century that
"The Sphinx" has been published, magicians everywhere have looked on the
magazine as their key to the secret door of the world of magic. Just a few
weeks ago William R. Walsh, America's number 1 amateur magician, wrote
to me: "Well do I remember the thrill experienced when, as a young man, I
found my first issue of 'The Sphinx'--how I accumulated at first single
copies, and then, later, volumes-the many, many evenings I pored over each
article and advertisement-how it opened up an entirely new world for me,
one of intrigue and deeply rooted interest. This all began about 1915. A few
years before this I had been casually interested in magic, but this was the
beginning of a real and consuming hobby which has been very close to my
heart ever since. Now I am the possessor of a complete file of 'The Sphinx'."
In all the fifty years of publication of the magazine, there have been but
three editors, and I feel that I was very fortunate to have known well both
the first, Bill Hilliar, and Doc Wilson, the second. In 1912 I was pleased and
honored when Doc asked me to work for his paper. I enjoyed working for
Doc Wilson for eighteen years. It, also, has been a privilege and a pleasure
to edit "The Sphinx" these past twenty-one years. The mechanical headaches
of any given month are forgotten with the enthusiasm of working on the next
issue.
When it was decided to publish a book to commemorate the 50th
Anniversary Issue of "The Sphinx," to include some of the outstanding
magical effects which first had appeared in the magazine, I was in a
quandary. To quote the old proverb. "I could not see the forest for the trees."
To me the vast majority of the tricks published in "The Sphinx" were well
worth republishing. However, to publish so large a number was an utter
impossibility. Therefore, I felt that the selection of a reasonable number
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