Anyone even remotely interested in the history of conjuring knows the name Floyd Thayer, a magician and craftsman who established The Thayer Magic Company in California. Thayer was born in 1877 and at first made magic wands and for non-magicians, tourist trinkets and souvenirs of out orangewood which he turned on his lathes. Those lathes later turned out some of the most remarkable magic effects, especially his multiplying billiard balls which came in many sizes and colors.
In 1942, Thayer sold his business to the Larsen family and Floyd and wife Jennie moved to the Larsen's home in Pasadena where they remained until they passed away - Jennie in 1951 and Floyd in 1959.
There is a wonderful website which contains not only outstanding examples of Thayer equipment owned and prized by collectors and historians, but also lots of other collectible equipment produced by other manufacturers as well as books, posters, and other magic paper unrelated to the Thayers. The site is run by Phil Schwartz who, with his longtime friend the late Robert Albo, has produced books on Thayer that absolutely cements his place in the history of magic and conjuring. Membership is by invitation only but if you would like to be invited, response to this blog post and either I or one of my partners in this venture will be pleased to sponsor you. The site is Thayermagic.ning.com
Shown above is Thayer's throwing card which included an puzzle on the back created by Philadelphia magician Theodore Deland. The Deland back was quite popular and another example in the coming weeks will show one that includes the S.A.M. emblem. This one shows the damage inflicted when it was removed from a scrapbook. Perhaps Phil can let us know the age of this card as Floyd looks very young. I don't know why the two lower corners have been trimmed. Some magicians clip them this way if they're using them to do card vanishes but I'm not certain about this card. Until then, you need to join the Thayer site. In fact, just recently Jay Hunter, another throwing card collector, posted an image of a Horace Goldin card. Cheers!
Hi Tom, Can you please send me an invitation to Thayer? I grew up growing in a magic family going to magic conventions (even got to do the vanishing dove on stage with Blackstone, Jr.) and would love to join the site. Thank you for your post! Ryan
ReplyDeleteI would love an invitation to the site to view Thayer's work. I recently completed a book which discussed Thayer's magic prop contribution to the film "Broadway Melody of 1936" and I have been very intrigued by his work.
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