Firstly – I’ve been persuaded to record many memories and sometimes hitherto unknown facts and magic ideas about many of my colleagues of earlier days. Friends like Alex Elmsley, Jack Avis, John Ramsay, Cy Enfield, Al Koran, Hugh Scott and many others with whom I mixed over fifty years ago. In relating these tales it was pointed out that when I’m gone much of this intruiging information will be lost forever. Consequently I’m writing a series of 2,500 word essays  called “Yesterday” about these magicians many of whom fashioned some of the magic we treasure today. These will be available as a pdf downloaded from your computer, with the added bonus of a magic effect or item from the subject of the essay. The first of these will be Alex Elmsley and watch this site for details. If you love the romance of magic and magicians of the past, you’ll love this new series – “Yesterday”

Did you know for example Alex Elmsley’s nick name? Did any one ever tell you that Jack Avis, a most polite and modest man publicly stormed out of a convention in a rage? Did you know that Cy Endfield, a most creative man in all directions once made a chess set that fitted inside a magic wand? And off stage Al Koran stuttered very badly, struggling with words and screwing up his eyes as he tried to speak – there was a reason for this.These and many other interesting stories, magic ideas and tips will be the subject of this new series on this site, to be announced shortly.

And secondly – and I’m really excited about this. I’m shortly putting out an effect I’ve used that truthfully is a blinder. Not for the method necessarily (although it’s quite ingenious) but for the effect on an audience, particularly at a wedding reception. It’s called “Welded Bliss”. In one hand you show a ladies diamond wedding ring. In the other a gentleman’s gold signet ring. You speak about your own personal and successful marriage happiness and openly drop the two rings into a wine glass. Nothing in the hands. Continuing the dialogue you tip the rings into a spectator’s hands – and the two rings are seen to be permanently linked together. And everything can be examined. I’ve done this at weddings and cocktail receptions, sometimes dropping the rings into a half empty flute of champagne, drunk the champagne and then tipped out the joined rings. The audience impact has been amazing.

I’m just working out final details as to how I am going to distribute this but check this site for future announcement. That’s all for rhe moment. Play your cards right!

He was quite mischievous both with magicians and lay people in his magic. He kept a grocery shop in Ayr in Scotland and the story goes that a provisions salesman called on him to take an order not knowing that Johnny was a magician. The salesman said “Oh Mr Ramsay I’ve got a wee magic trick you might like to see” and then proceeded to show the cap and pence effect. Johnny played along and said “Oh no, that’s very good, I don’t know how you did that, it’s very clever”

A month later the same salesman called on Johnny who said “I think I’ve worked out that wee trick you showed me last time you were here” and then proceeded to perform the cap and pence on the back of his hand. But when he lifted the brass cap at the end of the trick – a pile of rice tumbled out! The salesman’s face was typical of the many people both in  and out of magic who were fooled by Ramsay’s unique subtleties.

But in my half century plus of magic there are not one but three magicians who impressed me the most -Dai Vernon, Fred Kaps and John Ramsay, particularly the latter. I saw Dai Vernon when I was in my twenties and whilst I was nowhere in that league I was impressed with the sheer breadth of his knowledge and ability and particularly with the fact that he was not just a specialist in one faction of magic technique. He was as adept at doing a bottom deal as he was in using a hook coin, a faked card or a pull to achieve the miracles that he presented. All credit to Harry Stanley who first brought him over to this country.

Then Fred Kaps. His perfection in thinking and handling was superb and whatever he turned to was the result of outstanding natural ability and technique at which he practised much more than most. To present the floating cork on television with Michael Parkinson, so casual, so natural and then hand the cork to Parkinson was masterly and made you believe in magic. And if you see his tapes note his facial expressions both on and off stage. He showed real surprise and enjoyment in what he was doing and that emotion was conveyed to the audience who joined in. He was magic.

And lastly Johnny Ramsay. I was privileged to see this Scottish grocer and amateur magician in many private sessions in our hotel bedroom at conventions along with other Ramsay fans Jack Avis, Roy Walton and Bobby Bernard.An event that was photographed and published by the national press. But it was Johnny’s naturalness, timing and misdirection that would beat you, long before such strategies blossomed in the USA. Vernon praised Ramsay as the finest close-up magician he had seen and many overseas magicians travelled to his little town on the West coast of Scotland just to witness first-hand his unique and very personal magic. I could write reams about Johnny Ramsay (and probably will) for he was well ahead of his time with outstanding magic that was disguised with his Scottish mannerisms and quaint ways. There are a few (very few) films of him working around today but if you want to get a very good idea of his magic and his way of working get hold of a tape of his magic performed by Scottish magician Andy Galloway (available from International Magic U.K.) who was a protege of Johnny and who was taught his methods and presentations for over a period of seven years. You’ll be fooled (as you always were with Ramsay) and its the nearest thing you’ll see to the original. Or if you fancy diving into the very special world of Johnny Ramsay and his routines, Galloway has published many of his original  effects in several books available from Andy Galloway and dealers.

You’ll probably gather from the above wordage that I am a great fan of Ramsay but I also would count as great close-up workers Vernon and Kaps. There aren’t so many around like that today. They had a very special charisma. They were something special that made them stand out in the crowd. More about Ramsay later and a few routines perhaps that I published based on his style.

He has now lived there for the past forty something years, in a delightful Victorian House in Helensburgh just outside of Glasgow, bringing up his two daughters, Sarah and Julia who now work in that famous little magic shop on Queen Street. He has also been the fountainhead of inspiration of some of Scotland’s finest card magicians – Peter Duffie, Gordon Bruce, Jerry Sadowitz and many others.

 It was an excellent meeting that revealed our joint  realisation and gratitude at what we have both witnessed and been part of for the last half century. In terms of card work he reveres natural card handling, the philosophy of his idols Johnny Ramsay and Dai Vernon and he is dismissive of what he terms “card juggling”

He believes that a card should be simply selected, placed back in the pack, handed to the spectator to shuffle and then returned, the magician having the selection totally under is control throughout the whole procedure. Roy does exactly that and it is sheer poetry to see his work and style that has sixty years of study, research and practice behind it. The world acknowledges Roy Walton as one of the greats of close-quarter work and I am honoured to have been his friend.

It was a wonderful afternoon of reverie and nostalgia recalling the time we were all part of a group of six young magicians of which sadly three have passed on. Jean too, looking the image of her father George “Gilly” Davenport has many memories of magic having been brought up in one of the leading magic families of the land although her chosen career was in nursing.

Both now retired, both looking well although Roy now has impaired hearing but  still enjoying their business, their family and keeping connections with the magic world.

Roy is now sought as a world figure, author and skilled card  technician notably for his effect “Card Warp” which has put food on the table of magicians the world over. Not a vindictive man but he is saddened at the way that the effect is now sold shamelessly all over the world with little or no credit as to it origin. He shrugs his shoulders and says it’s the way the world is today. Roy told me that at one time a magician came into the shop with some tricks to sell. When he opened his case it was full of “Cascade” – a trick that was originated by Roy years ago! Another who feels the same is Angelo Carbone whose effect “Out of Order” is on sale at dealers all over the world with no acknowledgement or permission from the originator. Angelo at FISM in Stockholm complained to the organisers at the effect being offered for sale in the dealer’s hall. The organisers then asked him to prove he was the originator of the effect! A man who is very adept with computers he pulled up a mass of documentation  proving his claim which only resulted in the effect being removed from the stands despite the trading rules stating that anyone selling unofficial magic items would be ejected from the convention.

Despite all this Roy is still upbeat about magic, doesn’t worry too much about exposure, has a strong belief in the genesis of magic and the work of the early masters – Vernon, Marlo, Paul Le Paul, Leipzig, Malini and many others.

It was an afternoon I will long remember and I am very proud  to have enjoyed his friendship for over half a century.

It would have been invaluable to see Nate Leipzig actually performing  and Max Malini whereas we have the descriptions that were written by some of their contemporaries, but the nuances of performance, subtleties and misdirection really had to be seen.

 I knew Johnny Ramsay quite well and other than a few clips of amateur 8mm film showing him throwing a thimble into the air and making vanish and his legendary four coins hung in the air, I don’t think there is any other evidence. His protege Andy Galloway who studied with Ramsay for seven years has some of these clips and Andy’s own performance of Ramsay’s routine closely echo the masters style and luckily have been recorded for future generations courtesy of Martin MacMillan

We have had a few scattered clips turning up around the world. I’ve seen Roy Benson’s TV act with the Chinese Sticks and the Salt Pour also his stunning Billiard Ball routine (taught to him by Leipzig!) but it’s his unique personality and style that is so valuable in studying magic presentation. And his voice and style of humour isn’t a bit like I imagined before seeing the film.It’s better.

I never saw Al Flosso but someone sold me a clip of his famous act and his wonderful Miser’s Dream and then you realise why he was so unique and good. Don Alan, another idol of mine appeared on TV and fortunately there are some recordings available notably the Magic Ranch TV series where he had many  guests of the 50’s and 60’s. Clarke Crandall, Richard Himber, Johnny Platt and many other names of that period.

If you pull up You Tube on the Internet and insert Cardini you can see a clip of his act – cigarettes, cards, billiard balls and realise why he was so good and everyone raved about him. And to back up your interest in this icon of the last century somehow get a copy of John Fisher’s fabulous book “Cardini – the Suave Deceiver”. It’s worth every penny of the near £100.00  it’ll  cost you to secure a copy in the U.K.

With the mainstream of magic performance today being close-up, I think that the study of the performance style of some of the greats of the last century is valuable and could lift some close-up performers to much higher levels of entertainment. Pat Page once said to me that some of our best close-up workers are magicians who have worked on stage. He said it shows in presentation.

For a long time I begged Jack Avis, one of Britain’s top card and close-up magicians,  who was not a performer, to let me privately  film some of his unique work on a camcorder but self-effacing man that he was he never said no but never got round to it before he died four years ago. This saddens me.

Fortunately Alex Elmsley was not so shy and his unique work has been recorded by L&L Publishing in the U.S. by The Magic Circle during their centenary celebrations and by Colin Rose of Five of Hearts Productions who has two discs of Alex in session in their studio. Effects and casual talk and demonstrations to a private group of magicians at Colin Rose’s studio. It’s priceless and preserves the legacy of one of the last century’s greatest magician’s.

And lastly the third member of the great triumvirate – Jack Avis and Alex Elmsley is famed card magician hiding in Scotland - Roy Walton. I’ve known Roy since we were teenagers and again I’ve implored him to put some of his work on film or tape perhaps in the company of his close magic friends Gordon Bruce and Peter Duffie. Again a slightly self-effacing individual and whilst I have pestered him many times fearing that we would lose a permanent record of his magic, he told me recently that it is being done within the Davenport family and will be available through that source at some time in the future.

I am delighted and relieved at this news as I am passionate about preserving the performances of some of the greatest magicians of our time.

( Steps down from the soap box).