Happy Holidays from Al Munroe, "The Man Who Muddles Magic"

Regular readers may recall that, last year, we featured a holiday-themed throwing card from Bill Wagner.  Well, the season is upon us, again and, frankly, there doesn't seem to be many Christmas throwing cards.   But don't despair, as I'm able to offer you something quite close -- a 1939 holiday postcard from Albert Foster Munroe.   And it comes with quite a story.  

In 1944, The Linking Ring described him as a "newspaper­man, magician, magical editor, col­lector of conjuring memorabilia, historian, an expert chef, and a grand friend and companion."  He was born in Fall River, Massachusetts on  January 24, 1893.  His father was a watchmaker an avid amateur magician, exposing Munroe to numerous top professional performers -- like Kellar and Leon Herrmann -- throughout his childhood.   After he became an award-winning newspapers writer and manager of the Detroit Times, he regularly rubbed elbows with the leading magicians of his day, and built a huge collection of programs, letters, and related memorabilia, covering all periods of conjuring history, along with a tremendous magic library.

Combining his talents, passions and collection, he produced what has been called "magic's most un­usual magazine" known as Al Munroe's Magi­cal Miscellany.  In terms of production value, it was a sorry affair: a dittoed publication with a limited mailing list.   But for its recipients, it was a prized possession because of its remarkable content, and would become most sought-after by collectors in the decades to follow.  It was issued irregularly (seven to ten times per year) at no charge to approximately 100 magic enthusiasts.  In 1949, the Sphinx described the Miscellany as "perhaps the most unique (and subscriber-prized) publication to emerge from a basement composing room," noting that its  "reader also must bear with sporadic outbursts of bad verse, comments on world affairs and illustrations that argue well for compulsory art education." 

So what was the attraction?  According to Robert Lund in The Sphinx:

The self-styled "Man Who Muddles Magic" began his publishing venture "as a joke" in the spring of 1943. The "joke" has since become a treasury of fact and lore on the lives of lesser-known wand wavers. Munroe's interest in things magical is all inclusive, but his greatest delight is in searching out the history of the hundreds of little-publicized performers who never quite reached the top of the bill. A Boswell of the unsung, his pioneer research along this avenue has attracled national recognition. 

Thinking about it, Munroe's Miscellany was a free publication penned by an amateur historian obsessed with extracting obscure details about little-known figures in the history of magic from his collection of magic memorabilia.  Hmmm.... sounds a little like the blog you're reading right now!

The good news, for those who are interested, is that several modern compilations of the Miscellany are available, including one on PDF.   The most recent offering comes from the good people at the Conjuring Arts Research Center, the same folks behind the all-important AskAlexander research tool.   Their compilation, a mammoth, high end production that has been professionally laid out, with a transcription by David Roth, contains:

Almost 600 pages of fascinating stories on a variety of topics including: Harry Kellar's beard, T. Nelson Downs, waffles, The Wrestling Cheese, the intriguing story of the sailor and the baboon, Herrmann, Frikell, Eugene Laurant, Silent Mora, Dr. Elliott, and much more...including some of Al Munroe's favorite recipes!

You may want to put that on your holiday wish list!

Happy Holidays from all of us at Propelled Pasteboards, and best wishes for the New Year.