A Thurston Artifact from the Goulet Collection

Special Postscript - hours after this post first appeared on October 8, I learned the terrible news that Ray Goulet had passed away only the day before.  The timing was coincidental -- indeed, I had written this draft months ago, intending to post it on Howard Thurston's birthday.  I first had the pleasure of meeting Ray Goulet a little over a year ago.  In that time, I twice visited his shop and fabulous museum, and had the pleasure of attending the NEMCA conference in 2016 at his kind invitation.   That conference led to the creation of this blog, as Tom Ewing, Gary Frank and I, all attendees at the event, crafted the idea for creating this site shortly after thereafter.   And perhaps this post can serve as an early tribute to Mr. Goulet, who brought this treasure into my life, as he brought so much magic to countless others. 

Readers interested in learning more about Mr. Goulet's extraordinary life and career may wish to seek out a copy of Ray Goulet Recollections of a Renaissance Man by Frank Dudgeon and Ann Goulet. 

In this post, we examine a special memento of the career of the great Howard Thurston.  On a visit to Ray Goulet’s Magic Art Studio in January 2017, I was able to persuade him to part with this curious treasure -- a Steamboat playing card bearing the following hand inscription:

"This Card Was Used By Howard Thurston in connection With the Back and Front Palm, Boston, 1931, Tremont Theater." 

Being particularly interested in Thurston memorabilia, it was exciting to obtain this item for my collection.  

Of course, the provenance of such an item always presents a question.   That someone took a playing card and wrote this upon it does not necessarily make it so.   But there are several factors that can provide a high level of confidence about the bona fides of this particular piece.

Even Wildor

This dramatic throwout card features "Wildor" on an Ace of Spades design.   Once a complete man of mystery, I have been able to unearth some information about this relatively obscure performer and magic book author.   In 1924, the Sphinx explained that "Wildor," was the the stage name for Wilfrid O.J. Morel:

"who resides at  22 Avenue Mozart, Paris, France, is one of the cleverest as well as busiest club entertainers in that beautiful city. Mr. Morel requests all magicians to please mail him their photos as he intends to open a picture gallery of conjurers in the near future."

Harry Houdini

Harry Houdini (Erik Weisz and later Ehrich Weis) born March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American illusionist, stunt performer, and noted for his sensational escape acts. So much has been written about Houdini’s life from articles to books. The life he lived and the secrets he took with him over ninety years ago are still being researched and found today. There still seems to be an endless source of material around the world.

Over the past handful of years alone, anything from scrapbooks, posters, and letters seem to appear, and it doesn’t seem there will be any end in sight. The name Houdini will continue to live on as a goal setter. Whether it was his method of publicity, his public recognition, or just good timing; the name Harry Houdini has been the bar to reach for in magic.

Harry scaled playing cards with accuracy and he could cut a card in mid-air with a pair of scissors. Thanks to Jay Hunter for solving one part of the Houdini throw out card mystery. Jay found the following in "The Sphinx" for June, 1936. Included in John Mulholland's "Editor's Page", he included the following from Harry's brother, Theo Hardeen.  "...Hardeen wrote the following interesting letter to me: 'The very beautiful story about the card throwing of Herrmann and Thurston in the May issue interested me very much. However I think that it is a little incomplete in not mentioning the name of Houdini. In 1894, when Houdini and I were performing as the Houdini Brothers, Houdini threw out steamboat cards with his picture on the front. These were the regular cards, no thicker. Then when Houdini joined the Welsh Brothers tent show, after his marriage, and worked the act under the name of Harry and Bessie Houdini, Jim Bard of the famous Bard Brothers (Jim and Eddy) taught him how to do a back somersault. After that Houdini would scale out the cards and the last card, he would throw out, turn a back somersault and catch as it returned to the ring." 
        If it wasn't for one particular publication by someone who has surpassed Houdini in his prowess of handling cards, we wouldn't be able to enjoy the image below what appears to be the Houdini throw out card. Here is an image of the front of the card published in the 1977 book by Ricky Jay titled, Cards as Weapons. I want to make an open request, please. If you own this throw out card, it would really be nice to know what is on the back. What is the actual size and would you be so kind as to allow us to post a perfect image? One wonders, what happened to all of these cards? 

             To honor the man whose name continues to be brought up almost daily around the world, here is another image in the form of advertisement that nearly coincides with our site.

This 7.62cm x 11.43cm card was used to promote soap.

            It should be mentioned, the facts on the back of the card are not all correct (well, they got his name right). Possibly those were the facts they received at the time of the publication. This is one cards advertising Orocrema Almond Soap that was created in the early 1920’s. Each card measured three inches by four and a half inches (7.62cm x 11.43cm).

Loosely translated the card reads:

“A single film has been enough to make this fantastic artist universally known. Son of a wealthy merchant was born in Chicago, in 1887, where he studied the career of an engineer. Since childhood, he has always shown an engaging and decadent character that led him to the realization of his daring plans. He built an armored armor that was the main reason for his only film titled "Houdini and the human tank" that gave him popularity. He is of a nervous temperament, and his numerous prowess has made the stairway of the facade of a "skyscraper" with the sun helping his feet and hands. He is currently retired from cinematography.”
              Houdini's skills were somewhat legendary, as discussed on the sites Wild About Harry and The Great Harry Houdini. According to many sources, he would scale steamboat cards with his autograph on the face. Images of such cards can been seen on Pinterest and here on this site Propelled Pasteboards.

This three sheet poster is currently on display at the famed Winchester House in San Jose, California (Yes, that's me).

              As seen above, there was always one item that really would have made a perfect throw out card, but alas, it was only created as a poster.

J. Harvey Arnold “The Tricky Gabster”

Magicians liked to give themselves handles. There was the “Tricky Trixter”, and the “Mystic Merrymaker”. More than one magician went by “The Talkative Trixter”. This post is about a performer who called himself “The Tricky Gabster”.

J. Harvey Arnold was originally from New Jersey. One source said his home town was the city of Burlington, while another said it was Princeton. He did however live in Princeton, as I found ads that he ran with an address from there. He was inspired by magic in 1903 by a friend named Professor Pugh.

Arnold’s throw-out card had a little bit of a variation on the back of it. As can be seen below, the back is the Roterberg/Stanyon Back with a change to the image in the circle. The image of the cards and pips has been replaced with an alteration of the insignia of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

While in Princeton, it has been stated that he operated the Arnold Magic Company. He started his own magic magazine in 1915, The Impromptu Trixter. It did not however, seem to last long, maybe not even making it past the first issue.

Arnold ran an ad in The Sphinx for May of 1921 for an effect called “Reverso”

J. Harvey also dabbled in selling other things too, as I found ads in Billboard magazine from 1919. In one, the ad said, “Make Your Own Goods – Catalogue of formulas, six manufacturing secrets and Directory of Supply Sources. $1.50 value for 25 cents. J. Harvey Arnold, Princeton, New Jersey”. Another ad stated, “New Method by which anyone can imitate birds, animals, steamboat whistles, musical instruments, etc., with mouth and hands; book of 37 imitations complete, 35 cents. J Harvey Arnold, Princeton, New Jersey”. (Author’s note: In order to lead a full life, I am sure there was a HUGH demand for that book!)

By 1925, Arnold was living in Chicago, and was active in the local magic clubs. He was No. 60 in the I.B.M. In The Linking Ring for May of 1925 he ran this interesting ad. Could these cards be examples similar to his own throw-out and business card? Why was it that Arnold offered printing services?

After Arnold moved to Chicago, he worked as a printer or linotype operator for either The Chicago Tribune or The Chicago Daily News. He more than likely also had his own printing equipment in order to offer customized printing services. Arnold’s own business card had a little ad at the bottom as can be seen at the beginning of this post.

In May of 1943, The Linking Ring ran this little bio and picture of J. Harvey Arnold.

The magazines The Sphinx and The Linking Ring had brief mentions in 1948 that J. Harvey Arnold had passed away on July 25, while vacationing in Michigan. I have as yet been unable to discover his date of birth.

Puzzling Pierson, the Wisdom of Petronius and the Yale Divinity School

Having long ago acquired one of Puzzling Pierson's throwout cards, pictured here, I featured it on ThrowingCard.com, without much information of value.  However, access to increasingly more powerful research tools, as well as some old-fashioned shoe leather, permits me to tell you a great deal more about this charming piece, an unglazed card with square corners and an optical illusion Deland back.  The back bears a copyright date of 1907, making this a century old piece of magicana.  The face bears a Latin phrase, attributed to Petronius, "Mundus Vult Decipi Decipiatur," meaning "The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived" and also graces Martinka magic tokens of this era.   The face design really packs it in: the unique imp-devil character, hand with wand, linking rings, appearing bird cage and fabulous font make for an exquisite example of throwing card art.  (Another variant of this card -- which I've seen but do not own -- features a steamboat back.)

Well before his first appearance in magical literature,  George Pierson, a/k/a Guy H. "Puzzling" Pierson (b. circa 1879) is mentioned in the quarterly journal of the Yale University Divinity School, which describes him as a prestidigitator who entertained students on St. Patrick's Day, 1911.  It is in the same publication that we learn of his day job -- for the previous ten years, he had served as assistant superintendent of the Divinity School's buildings.  Less than a week later, the Yale Divinity News reports, a Professor Macintosh offered a sleight of hand demonstration “in imitation of Pierson” as part of a “Faculty Stunt Night.”  By 1917, Pierson began reporting New Haven's magical happenings in the Sphinx with an occasional feature called "Pierson's Paragraph."  In 1923, he helped organize this effort by forming a magic society headquartered at the famed Petrie Lewis company.

In 1947, The Sphinx ran a wonderful autobiographical piece about this performer.   In it, Pierson describes his early influences in magic, including a seminal trip to Martinka's, a friendship with its proprietor, and his acquisition of a copy of Professor Hoffmann's Modern Magic. "In my day we could not buy or hear anything about magic, especially in small towns," he reflected.   "We started with a chair round with a brass tack stuck in the end for a wand and a deck of cards,a few tin cups made by the local plumber and a home-made table with music rack legs. But suddenly the Great Mysto Company sprang up in New Haven and we began to get some good magic."  In 1949, he wrote a reminiscence about traveling medicine shows and the opportunities they offered magicians for The Sphinx, which elicited published comments by Augustus Rapp a few months later, and in 1950, he did a similar reflection on early travelling magic shows.   The last reference I can find about him was a performance mentioned in M*U*M in 1958.



Not satisfied that I had unearthed everything I could about Puzzling Pierson, I packed one of his cards with me on an early 2017 trip to Ray Goulet's Magic Art Studio, figuring that, on a well-attended Saturday, one of the assembled experts on New England's magic history could tell me something more about him. Well, I didn't find a subject matter expert, but among the many treasures there, I found something equally interesting,  Perched near a Spirit Clock, I spotted a cabinet-style card with a photo of Pierson.   In the photo, he's posing next to a small tripod magic table covered with vintage magic equipment, including a large ghostly chronometer. The Clock in the picture appears to be a different one than the one in the shop, unless, as one of the wags present noted, Pierson made the numbers change to Roman numerals from beyond the grave!

A second Pierson variant from Gary Frank's collection.

For anyone who might be interested, I have a duplicate Puzzling Pierson card in my collection which I'd be happy to trade for something of similar vintage.

Jerome E. Cook – Magical Enthusiast

This blog is devoted to a gentleman who by most standards never reached the level of professional or perhaps, even semi-professional. Maybe he was only an amateur, but it is clear he loved magic, performed at club shows and even created a startling little coin trick that even today would amaze.

Cook had a scaling card (below), of course, or we wouldn’t be writing about him. It features his name and contact information over an eight of hearts. His address is given as 47 Sidney Place, Brooklyn, NY and there are contact phone numbers. The reverse side of the card is one of the old Steamboat “999” cards produced by Russell & Morgan, the company that eventually became the U.S. Playing Card Company. The back design was first introduced in 1883 but neither the card, nor Cook, date from that period.

 

He was born June 7, 1901 in Brooklyn to his father Alexander and mother Alice. As a young man, he was briefly enlisted in the Army near the end of World War I. His draft card shows him attending the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and being inducted on Oct. 11, 1918. His rank was private and he was honorably discharged two months later on December 9, the war having ended on November 11th. 

There are many Jerome Cooks, and while I tried to ensure that our subject Jerome E. Cook, was located on the hunt, some likely hits may, in fact, not be him. In 1923, Billboard reported that the New England Conjuror's Association held their big show on October 27. President Paul Noffke opened the show with card tricks and then on the stage show appeared one Jerome Cook who was described as impersonating a, “simon-pure Blue-Jay tramp offering various deceptions in pantomime.” Our guy? Perhaps.

Then at the February 1925 meeting of the S.A.M. Parent Assembly, here comes Jerome Cook again accompanied by Paul Noffke and representing members in Springfield, Mass. Houdini presided at the meeting. Is this our Brooklyn boy? Unlikey, but perhaps.

One thing we do know for certain, is that our Jerome E. Cook was in Pittsfield, Mass. in May 1930, and performed a fascinating coin stunt for U.F. Grant.

Grant wrote about it in The Sphinx for that month. He wrote:

"It is certainly a pleasure to be really baffled on a new trick, but when a man calls on you and baffles you on three new ones, one right after the other, why it is a sensation of once in a lifetime, and I was the victim and the gentleman that called on me was a Mr. Jerome Cook of New York City. These are his original tricks which he has worked for some time, but I am the first Magician to witness them. He borrowed a half dollar from me and balanced same on the back of his first two fingers, and holding the balanced coin right under my nose, it suddenly started to revolve while in the upright position, then it stopped and started revolving in the opposite direction; then he returned my half dollar which appeared as good as when I loaned same, and there were no threads used. Really, in my mind, the best coin stunt of late years and very weird looking."

So, what was this fantastic coin stunt? Thanks to the file of instructions on Ask Alexander, we know it was marketed as, “Revolvo - The Hypnotic Half-Dollar.” The instruction sheet with complete descriptions of how it is accomplished is provided below. 

It was accomplished with a nearly invisible, rotating sloted coin holder that is concealed between the two fingers and into which any ordinary half dollar can be inserted. Instructions for concealing the gimmick are provided. It was a great seller in Max Holden’s booth at the Fort Wayne I.B.M. convention in 1930. 

Cook may also have been a member of the International Magic Circle as he is mentioned in an issued of Seven Circles, once again accompanied by Paul Noffke. Our guy? Who knows? I could find no death certificate or notice in any of the magic magazines. I was able to confirm that he was a member of the I.B.M. and so, I close this post with the speculation that he was an enthusiast – a creative one I’ll give you – but yet another conjuror who felt compelled to create a scaling card for himself as he pursued his passion for magic.

Tom Ewing

Adolph Carll - Thurston's Chief Mechanic

You never know what treasure will be discovered when you search for an obscure magician on the Conjuring Arts Research Center’s “Ask Alexander” database. For this posting, it turns out that a scaling card given out by Adolph Carll, revealed an interesting story.

Carll was born in Baltimore July 28, 1882. According to census records, his father was Henry Carll, mother Louisa Ziegler and he had two brothers, Gusdolph and Otto. By the 1910 census, his father must have passed away as he is no longer in the household.

Holding Even More Good Bicycle Cards

Elsewhere, we have written about the United States Playing Card Company's promotional campaign for Bicycle cards, often employing the catch phrase "When You Play with Bicycle, You Hold Good Cards."  The campaign proved a boon for vaudeville-era magicians seeking free or subsidized promotion for their acts, and more indirectly, to modern-day collectors of these pasteboards.  Well, our good friend Jay Hunter, inspired by this historical effort, assembled this stunning array of such cards, representing a broad assembly of Bicycle card backs.

And, another buddy, Lee Asher, offered his considerable knowledge to identify the backs designs. According to Lee, they are as follows:

ROW 1 (Left to Right) - Lotus Back, Racer Back, Cyclist No. 2 Back

ROW 2 (Left to Right) - All Wheel Back, Acorn Back, Cupid Back

ROW 3 (Left to Right) - Sprocket No. 2 Back, Wheel No. 2 Back, New Fan Back.

Additionally, Lee advises, several of the backs are uncommon specimens, in particular the Cyclist No. 2 and the Sprocket No. 2.

Of course, the fronts are equally engaging, if not as colorful, depicting advertisements from nine different magicians, none of which have yet been covered here at Propelled Pasteboards.  You can see the faces below.  While the individual performers may be worthy of further comment (by way of example, I have assembled several other pieces and some information about De Jeu, Max Terhune and Professor Lindhorst), several of these are little-known performers about whom no information may exist other than that depicted on these fine collectibles.

However, these images are worthy of further examination.   The assemblage tells us a little more about the Bicycle promotional campaign, not only by the backs depicted, but also the ad copy on the faces.  Most of them bear some variation of the "hold good cards" theme.  Yet take a look at the detailed description on the Harry Kane card, which is very different than that usually encountered on these pieces.  Moreover, the Bicycle promotional text runs vertically along the side of the Hiestand card, while the normal positioning of this text is usually horizontally along the top of the card.  Finally, the Max Terhune card features a more specific endorsement relating to his use of Steamboat and Bicycle cards, along with the standard text.  Each of these differences are likely clues to the date the cards were printed, and may provide further insights.

Many thanks to Jay for sharing this wonderful assortment with us.

And before leaving the world of Bicycle throwing cards, here's an image of the 1905 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents in which USPCC first registered the "hold good cards" slogan, along with some others: