of the magician from being made public. getting the description through and generous in helping the mdgician KIINETY per cent of the audience that bother ^ ThUr fs not,a Reactionary measure. No the Patent Office. In short, patenting a keep the mystery of magic. Many edi- crowded, the house for Mr. Powell’s for and it I believe that their readers are one realy wants to know how ,he has trick releases It publication, tors, find, performance was made up of practic^ig been fooled. His amusement comes from then becomes valueless for the stage. annoyed to discover the means by which magicians. Slany who, in Order to at- mystification, and once he knows the they are fooled, just as they are annoyed tend, had had to cancel their own per- OMETIMES of time and thou- mechanism he is no longer amused. C years when a critic discloses a feeling of hatred formances, came on the evening trains ^ for a trick The society includes also ardent stu- sands of dollars are spent between the hero and the heroine of a and returned to Boston, Chicago, Balti- a moment to dents of magic who are amateurs. Many which takes but perform. successful romantic play. Audiences en- more and a hundred other places on the It to and a star of the theater can tell of having has be designed redesigned, joy their illusions and feel disgruntled midnight. made and unmade. The must when the illusions are shattered. run away from home as a boy to travel magician When the lights went out and the be with the “master of mystery,” the “pro- not fail and a trick must mystifying The safeguarding of illusions is thus house grew quiet, Dean Powell walked The trick of one fessor of thaumaturgy,” or the “world’s to every observer. making part of the work of the Society of out on the stage, and, during the wel- a float in cost Kellar and his suc- greatest magician,” who happened to girl air American Magicians. There are other, coming applause, threw his gloves into to play two nights in his town. These men cessor, Thurston, some $50,000 perfect. more entertaining parts. Frequently, so the air where they turned into doves. A little trick in own which that the look back on the years they spent van- my program, younger showmen may know All over the house could be heard a hum takes two minutes a the work of other ishing twice a day, precisely at 3 and during performance, times, arrangements as the magicians in the audience turned has cost me in material and seven are made the have 8:30, or acting as nurses to the rabbits $2,000 by society to perform- to the girls on their right, who get sawed of seems all now, ances men that come out of hats. There is another years effort. It right given by who have been on in half, or those on their left, who float next year I shall the 50 years or in and done.” group who are college graduates, and though probably by stage more. air, murmured, “Perfectly whose memories of the less interesting scrap it and build it again. One of these was held in New York, Dean Powell next produced enough flow- Jack and I were and Frederick courses are confused with card and coin My colleague, Gwynne, Eugene Powell was invited ers to All a large-size basket. During a and a to an tricks, which they practiced during class. together short time ago layman give entire evening of his art. It? this trick, as if in response to a leader, The national conferences, which are friend, who had seen Gwynne’s perform- was arranged so that the performance the entire audience burst into applause was introduced. “I have seen took on the held once a year, are extraordinarily in- ance, your place evening his 73d birth- over a pretty piece of technique, which We meet behind closed doors, act, Mr. Gwynne,” the friend said, “and day, and at the culmination of 53 years only a magician would detect—and then teresting. ” on for inside are traded the secrets of the I think it is perfect the stage. Fifty-three years of trav- later gave the trick itself half that much “I’m magic craft. Addresses are given which "Thank you,” Gwynne replied; eling over this country and Mexico and applause. It was clear by the end of this second would make a sales manager sit up and effect that these men had trav- take notice, because certain reactions— eled so far in order to see the beautiful universal and reliable—are talked about craftsmanship of a master, rather than that would make selling radios or real the tricks themselves. estate child’s play. Models of apparatus The performance went on. Money are shown and described with respect to was discovered where it always is during their scientific construction, their trans- a magic show and never is at any other portability and their appearance. Au- time; coins were plucked from the air, thorities on the humorous talk, which and picked out of hats, and snatched off flows so glibly from the lips of the magi- the top of a very bald pate. Many other cian, give demonstrations of how it feats of magic, such as shooting a bullet should be done. No one who has not at- through a girl who smiled the while, were tended one of these meetings has any performed. An outsider would never idea of the number of angles to the pro- have known, except by bursts of applause fession of mystifier. at unexpected times, that this was not an ordinary audience. CEVERAL of the sessions are perform- Intermission found the lobby crowded ^ with business rivals and ances, where one magician after an- close friends, glad that like it. I feel that it has all Latin America! of whom other perform feats—tricks from the you throughout Fifty- many had been kept apart by many flaws, but, after all, it should run three of and their travels for 10 or 20 past, specialties of their own, importa- years delighting children, years. When for it takes 12 minutes to of their of the call came for tions or novelties. At these shows we smoothly, only confounding parents, chang- the curtain, the man do and I have worked 12 years on that white into doves and with the work for our own amusement and the ing gloves making magician’s correspondence act.” fade in the air! Years marked with school course instruction of one another. Many things girls stood talking to the smil- A year’s rehearsal for every minute’s the greatest success, and the ing, quick-motioned who never which a lay audience would regard as greatest Belgian, And it is not unusual for One of his shows was burned bothers to “vanish’’ a tricks of the trade are not even men- performance. hardships. canary bird with- a magician to practice a new trick five to ashes, another was out its tioned. Not a single rabbit has been swept away by sending cage along. years before it is added to his perform- flood, and a third was ruined in a train pulled from a high silk hat in the last The performance continued, and mys- ance. wreck. Another all of his three conferences, although the trick is time, property tery after mystery was unfolded. Things When the cost and time and effort and was taken a war in Mexico. still a favorite. away during were shown that had not been done in money are considered, it does not seem But through war, fire and illness, he One of these performances takes place kept New York for 50 yeairs, and other tricks strange that the magician tries to safe- on convincing his audiences, in his north after the dinner, to which the newspaper pleas- that had never been done of Mexico. guard his secrets through his organiza- ant and lovable way. that coins men are invited. The magicians have really And it all ended, as so many magic shows tion. Magazine and newspaper editors in whiskers and that rabbits — belonged abolished after dinner speakers no used to end, by the surprising production, have been astoundingly high-minded might always be found in hats. mean evidence of their power—and in- top upon the report of a pistol, of a girl stead stage a performance of magic. holding a large flag. That was the end, In many ways the group resembles the and yet it was not the end, for Mr. Powell usual men The Heroes was still on the the audi- convention gathering. The Unsung of Industry stage receiving might represent business houses collab- ence when 12 o’clock came—and his 73d to a sales And birthday. orating plan campaign. "THIS hero business is a queer sort of thing. after the first director of the United States as we walk through the corridors of the Bureau of Mines and now allied with Some men respond to the supreme test closely hotel little attention is paid to us until the bureau. This association annually gives ANOTHER time the Society of Ameri- before a cheering throng. Others with the '' some one reads “Society of American its medals and diplomas to those who meet the can Magicians brought the beloved confidence of past performances to lend test in the various mineral industries of the Magicians” on our badges. Then we are master, Harry Kellar, from his retire- them and assurance drive through country. followed in the that courage ment in Los Angeles to show one of his constantly hope There was to their Still others with the support Hast year for instance, the time some occur. It does. goal. acts at a in New magic may usually the issue was put up to Olen Stevenson, coal celebrated performance and encouragement of companions backing Perhaps one magician, having forgotten miner in Utah. Stevenson and three compan- York. At the conclusion, as Kellar stood them make the to check his gloves, will cause them to up grade. ions were caught in a gallery of the mine bowing to the tumultuous applause ct an in when a section of vanish by throwing them into the air. Now and then you have epic triumph the roof fell in on them. the delighted audience, Houdini, who had line Stevenson was pinned down with a crushing Another will eat his cigar stub when he sport as when a Ted Coy rips the Tiger the whole show, took him bv on his a which each arranged last weight legs, weight' finds no convenient ash in which to tatters and snatches victory in the arm and led him even closer to the tray ensuing minute made more painful. For two the to moments of a hopelessly lost. Mr. Kellar’s last place it. During the days of the con- game seemingly hours he lay that way in excruciating agony, footlights. “As this is vention the morale of the hotel guests Or you have a Sam Bice, diving bead fore- but during most of that time his mind was appearance,” he said, “and since we will centered on one of his and employes is usually in a precarious most into a field box to clutch in one last companions, Tally Evans, never again meet him in public, we, the who would have died if he had been unattended. state. desperate grab a ball ticketed for a home run are not going to wait until After the first shock of the accident had magicians, There are some 25 branches of the and while on his head among he has into the beyond be- thereby, standing passed, Stevenson called to his companion. passed great of American with our flowers. Society Magicians in various the raving fans, saving a world series. Evans, nearby, answered. Out of his agony, fore presenting him cities of this country, and the society Those things are the sort that thrill the he told Stevenson that his hand had been May he be with us for a long time, but their is affiliated with similar organizations crowd. The writers oil up typewriters sheared off by the falling roof. The gushing we will give him flowers while he is and out the full measure of their of his lifeblood death throughout the world In addition there pound away would have meant with us.” supply of adjectives. They may even ex- in a short time if Stevenson had been unable to are groups of magicians the A sedan chair was brought out, Mr. throughout aggerate a bit, but nevertheless there It is. transcend his own suffering and come to the United States which are in was in it and some of the no way con- A man with courage has come through. A aid of Evans. That "come," however, is mis- Kellar placed nected with the society. new hero has been crowned or a recognized leading. for Stevenson could not move from leading magicians of the world lifted the Questions of ethics often come before performer has had a new laurel wreath added where his legs were pinned down. Evans, chair and bore him off the stage as other accumulated in the made his over Stevenson and the local meetings of the Society of to the pile he has past. however, way to famous workers of magic spread a path- This struggle with a personal foe. whether the latter, recalling the first aid instruction American Magicians. Our ethical stand- way of flowers. in sport or in war, is always spectacular. The he had received, applied the necessary pressure ards are as of other are very high, higher, a matter zest of combat lends strength and courage. at the proper points and stopped the bleeding Men professions always of fact, than in many other walks of The cheers of the onlookers or the strength from Evans’ arm. For nearly two hours he astonished by the hospitality that the life. The magician cannot safeguard his derived from his companions’ presence raises a fought off the faintness his own pain brought magicians of one land offer those of an- in him to meet in order to secrets by copyright or patent, but must man who has the right stuff keep that vital pressure applied other. If you announce to a man of his test. The heroes of this type are known. and when rescuers finally reached them they rely on the integrity of the other magi- magic in a foreign country that you also You can tell off a list of them offhand and were in time to save the lives of both of the cians. Some has been are a he will almost immediate- apparatus patented, recall their exploits. Their praises have been men. That is “fortitude under trying circum- magician but are if need if have a very little in which the secret is sung, and rightly so, until their names stances.” ly ask you money, you essential. honored throughout the land. Take another case of underground heroism, place to stay, if you will not have your that The effect of a trick is really all that These heroes, great as they are, do not cover involving the rescue of a Kentucky coal next meal with him. I have found, even the whole field of however. Your miner named Napier, who, like the foregoing matters to an audience A vanishing girl heroism, in countries as far off as India, that dictionary will tell you that a hero 1s also one pair, was caught by the fall of roof material. illusion is a no when I asked for my hotel bill it already vanishing girl illusion, who shows great fortitude under trying circum- The collapse of the section which pinned had been a local matter whether the girl be a blonde, a stances. That definition in itself doesn’t have Napier down was the beginning of a collapse paid by magician. over a no has use brunette or a Titian. Whether the magi- exactly a thrilling sound. It is hard to picture wide area, a collapse which the horri- When one magician longer fied men in the see In cian merely says “Go!” or shoots off a a crowd standing around cheering in exaltation gallery could actually for a trick he probably will permit others over the of a man who undergoes progress pistol, makes no difference to those who courage to use it. Certain effects have been com- torturing pain without complaint hour after Prudence called for flight, but meant the watch, and leaves no mark in their mon property for centuries, and when it hour while at the same time, throwring his death of Napier, and She thought of abandoning memories. It makes as little differ- is realized that thousands of magicians just own suffering aside, he saves the life of a a companion apparently never occurred to ence whether she is put in a trunk, in a companion. Jesse Engle and Henry Oouch, two other min- have known these secrets and yet they little red box, or in a curtained cabinet, The presence of onlookers to speak a word ers. These two sped under the slowly settling are still mysteries to the layman, it may of In circumstances rock and worked frantically until they had prior to her disappearance. To the au- encouragement might help be seen how carefully everything is such as those. But consider the courage of a freed Napier and carried him to safety. It dience It is just that a girl vanishes. guarded. man who goes through hours of agony in the takes courage to do things like that, to save if a were to Watching the impossible has always Therefore, magician patent pitch dark, uncertain when or if his life will a man's life while a crushing weight slowly We shall his trick it would be possible to contrive be saved and yet rising above his own suffer- presses downward ready to trap the men and intrigued people. magicians to an entirely different mechanism that ing to save the life of another who would slowly squeeze them into oblivion. continue to devise newr ways amaze, without the aid he is able to Oases such as these Involve the unsung that we shall do would produce the same effect—and both probably die and we pledge ourselves give him. heroes of industry. Hieirs is the type of hero- from patent and trick would be valueless. As our utmost never to take away your That may seem exaggerated, but consider ism which makes America great, for they are a matter is to amusement by letting you find out >uot of fact, any patent open some of the cases which won the awards of the moved by the spirit of service with no thought the is the press or to any (me who cares to Joseph A. Holmes' Safety Association, named to the cheer and plaudits of the crowd. how Impossible accomplished.