Uncle Ed Reno – “It’s all in the Stick”

I recently acquired this throw-out card for magician Ed Reno. It has as its back, one of the ads for the Tarbell Magic Course that is seen on a number of throw-out cards here on this site. Because it was glued into a scrapbook at one time, it has a fair amount of paper loss, and looks a little shabby. As you will learn in this post, the look of this card fits Reno rather well.

 

Reno was born Edward Munn Burdick on August 23, 1861 in Baldwinsville, New York. Like so many others, he got his start in magic while young by apprenticing to a magician. Reno was paid about a dime a day, and learned the ropes of being a magician. By the time he was fifteen, he was on his own as a performer, and even did tours of Australia and England, with a prestigious stop at London’s famed “Egyptian Hall” magic theatre.

Chautauqua brochures for Ed Reno
 

In time Reno decided to go into the Chautauqua and Lyceum field. Chautauqua was known as “Culture under Canvas”. It was a form of entertainment that traveled from town to town, setting up under a tent, presenting a week’s worth of lectures, concerts, plays, and vaudeville type entertainers. There was a different presentation each night. Lyceum was essentially the same thing, but was done in theatres in the winter. Reno went into this field and remained in it for many years.

A Chautauqua poster for Ed Reno (Author's collection)

Life on the Chautauqua circuit was not easy, as you were constantly travelling to the next town, setting up and tearing down your show, and always on the move. While many magicians excelled at this life, it would seem that it was a little tougher for Reno. While everything I have read says Reno’s magic shows were excellent, they were not without their issues. It was said that Ed Reno’s personal appearance and his apparatus were somewhat shabby. His clothes were often unclean and unkempt, and his props were beat up and looked like he made them himself. Instead of a magic wand, Reno used a rung from a chair and called it his stick. When asked how he did his wonders, he replied, “It’s all in the stick”. One report said that at the end of his performance, he would set his suitcase under his table and sweep his props into it with his arm!

All indications though, seem to reflect highly on his ability to give a good show, and he was well respected by his peers in magic. Magicians liked him so much, that he was fondly referred to as “Uncle Ed Reno”. One of his featured tricks was the “Egg Bag” trick in which an egg mysteriously appears and disappears in a cloth bag. Reno’s egg bag exists to this day, as I was able to purchase it at a magic auction several years ago.

Ed Reno's Egg Bag

Ed Reno died on April 2, 1949 in Kankakee, Illinois where he had lived for many years. He was 87. I am indebted to magic author David Meyer who wrote a fine article on Ed Reno in July 2013 in the pages of Magic magazine. I learned a great deal about Reno from his story.

I feel that the beaten and worn throw-out card above is a fitting remembrance of the rough and tumble career of the man who had such a long and strenuous journey as a professional magician…. “Uncle Ed Reno”.