George McAthy – “Mandroop the Magician”

How many times have you heard the phrase, “It’s a small world”? Well, it really is true. Recently my wife was walking with her friend Kay, and Kay was talking about a lunch with some longtime friends of hers. She related that she had just found out for the first time that the husband’s father had been a magician and ventriloquist. There are so many magicians, that the chances of my having ever heard of him were very slim. However, the fact he was also a ventriloquist told me he was much more than just a dabbler in the hobby as a ventriloquial figure is an expensive investment. I asked my wife to find out his name. When I read the email and saw the name “McAthy”, I thought to myself, “Mandroop”!

George "Mandroop" McAthy's Throw-Out Card

From the time I got involved in magic at the age of twelve, I had seen the name George McAthy mentioned in the magic magazines and in magic shop catalogs. I told Kay that he was very well known during his years in magic. How well known? Well, when I typed in the name McAthy on the Ask Alexander search engine, I got 1,119 matches in 521 documents! That’s well known.

George “Mandroop” McAthy was born on May 24, 1910 in Oswego, New York. His interest in magic started after witnessing a magic show of Howard Thurston, America’s most famous magician. Edgar Bergen was the inspiration for his interest in ventriloquism. McAthy lived in several towns growing up in New York, and had several mentors such as Gene Gordon, and Elmer Eckam who helped him and encouraged his interest in the art.

His first big break was working as an assistant on the show of Cliff Lesta. Lesta let McAthy have a spot in the show doing a ventriloquist act. George relocated to Pennsylvania and while attending an I.B.M. convention in Beaver Falls, he met a girl whose parents had an interest in magic, Harry and Zola Pavey. Her name was Mary Lou, and a short time later, Mary Lou became Mrs. George McAthy. After a few years, the McAthy’s moved to California. George and Mary Lou had two sons, Gary and Greg.

While George McAthy worked outside of magic for a time, he went on to become very active as a magician and ventriloquist in many different aspects of those arts; he wrote numerous books on magic and ventriloquism, as well as developing many magic effects. George also constructed, refurbished, and repaired ventriloquial figures. His main figure that he used was named “Corny”. Corny went on to some measure of fame as a movie star according to this article from The Linking Ring for September 1957.

George also worked for several magic shops in California including Thayer’s Studio, Abbott’s in Hollywood, and Merv Taylor’s store. This ad ran in The Linking Ring for December of 1945.

McAthy formed a partnership with Tommy Windsor in the 1940’s. Tommy marketed the tricks, tips, and ideas that George came up with. George had great ideas for doing comedy magic. (Did I also mention he performed as Hokey the Clown?) The great TV comedy and gag-writer Robert Orben said “It was McAthy’s early books on magic patter that persuaded him to take up a writing career”. George McAthy was the founder of “The Deceptive Order of Prestidigitatorial Entertainers Society", or "The D.O.P.E.S.". George and Tommy published a magazine called the Dope Sheet.

McAthy as "Hokey the Clown" and an issue of the Dope Sheet.

George McAthy was considered by his peers as one of the nicest people in magic. While everyone who met him expected to meet a man full of jokes and wise-cracks, on the contrary, George was a quiet and retiring individual. The late Eric Lewis, in writing about McAthy said, “My original mental image had been of a man who might be difficult to make friends with; the truth was a man who it was impossible NOT to be friendly with”. The Linking Ring for September 1947 had great things to say about George.

When I sent Kay some images and information that I had on George McAthy, she sent them on to her friend, George’s son Gary. He was really interested and amazed that anyone would remember his father. George McAthy had passed away on September 7, 1971. It had been a long time. Gary and Kay made arrangements for him and his wife Sally to come to my home to see my collection and to talk more about his father.

Ventriloquists including George McAthy and his son Gary from The Linking Ring for October, 1949.

We spent several enjoyable hours going over the items I had on his dad, and he talked about his memories of his father.  We talked about his dad’s connection with Tommy Windsor, and I showed him my magic collection devoted to Tommy, as I had seen him perform when I was a kid.

From the left: Sally and Gary McAthy, Jay Hunter, and Kay Chave.

One final thing I would like to mention. Kay had said Gary looked a lot like his father after she had seen pictures of George that I had shown her.  Boy, was that an understatement!

George McAthy in the left photo, and his son Gary McAthy standing next to the guy in the Hawaiian shirt.

My wife Susan and I would like to thank Gary and Sally McAthy for coming to our home and making it such a memorable day. Also, a REALLY big thank you to our friend and neighbor Kay Chave for making that day possible.