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