Eddie "E.J." McLaughlin - Magician and Gentleman

Among the hidden gems of the Swedish Magic Archive was this unusual and unexpected piece.  The adjective "unexpected" applies here because, though Christer Nilsson's collection focused largely on European performers, this card features a distinctly American performer with a Bicycle promotional back.   And the back has a particularly distinctive feature: unlike many of the Bicycle-backed throwing cards, this one identifies the back pattern, a Lotus 808, with an indication that the back is available in red or blue, making the card more akin to a salesman's sample.

Turning to the performer featured, Eddie "E.J." McLaughlin was born in Clinton, Iowa in 1897.    According to Frances Ireland, McLaughlin was

"a life-long follower of the art. Although never a full time performer, he was a good semi-pro, and developed into an ardent collector of books and memorabilia. People like Eddie keep magic alive. He thought about magic or did something about it every day of his life. His wide circle of friends included an inner group with which he corresponded or visited at frequent intervals, always with magic as the basis of the friendship. These men were all brilliant followers of magic themselves, men like Charles Maly, Fawcett Ross, the late Tom Bowyer, and Sid Lorraine, and they, together with Eddie, tossed the magic ball back and forth, improving, suggesting, defining, furthering, all of them very sincere in their interest, and none more sincere than Eddie."

McLaughlin became, somewhat famously, a close friend and frequent traveling companion of T. Nelson Downs.  As a result of this friendship, McLaughlin assembled a collection of Downs's correspondence that would later prove important to magic historians.   He was also a friend of Dai Vernon and Max Holden, the latter of whom referred to McLaughlin as "a keen magician and a gentleman of the finest brand."

Eddie McGuire, manager of the famed Max Malini, raved about genuine gold coin routine developed by McLaughlin.  McGuire was so inspired by McLaughlin's routine that he developed a gold coin routine of his own (undescribed in the literature but used the fact that a shell penny fit over a $2 1/2 dollar gold piece), which later became a part of Malini's performances.

McLaughlin held various jobs in business, industry and Government, most notably as an auditor for the Federal Housing Administration.  Magic periodicals document his involvement in the art over a half century, beginning with references in the early part of the 20th Century until his death in 1965.

McLaughlin was a quiet enthusiast who had an oversized role in the progress of the art of magic.  His name was never in lights, and it would be unlikely to find a poster trumpeting his performances.   All of which makes it so very nice to have this throwing card to memorialize his magic career.

Cards by Martin

Meandering through the “M’s” in my scaling card collection, I came upon two colorful examples produced by a master magic card maker identified as Neil Lester. I knew I had to find out more about this gentleman and so, I did. 

The front of one features “Martin the Magician” while the other promotes his “Cards By Martin” business. The reverse of these cards incorporate four different back designs – two U.S. Playing Card and two Tallyho. The upper left corner shows the Red Rider back while the upper right shows the New Fan. The lower left features the Tallyho Fan back while next to it is the Tallyho Circle back. 

Checking on the Internet revealed that Lester had died at the age of 79 on September 16, 2009 at his home in Lancaster, California. He was a retired U.S. Army/Air Force Korean War veteran who had been fascinated by magic since the age of nine or ten. He even performed magic and hypnotism in the service and he told one friend this interesting story. In the early 1960’s he was stationed in the Korean Demilitarized Zone and was performing magic inside the canteen. During the performance his C.O. busted into the place and ordered everyone to report immediately to the 38th Parallel. Everyone rushed out and later, he and two friends turned up at the checkpoint but were held there because they had arrived fully armed but still wearing their dress tuxedos. Eventually they were cleared to proceed and, we must assume, allowed to get back into uniform.

Neil Lester splitting cards

After he retired from the service he opened the Cactus Rabbit Magic shop at 509 West Avenue in Lancaster, which he ran until 1981. He opened another shop at 24261 San Fernando Rd. in Newhall, California where Jack Hurlbut (1928-1982) served as manager. Hurlbut billed himself as the “World’s Greatest Magic Fan.” He was totally devoted to magic and eventually served as the host, manager and performer at the Magic Castle. 

Lester’s forte was creating customized gaffed playing cards for professional magicians. According to his son Curtis Martin, his dad always said, “There are three parts of a playing card – the front, the back and the core and I can use each of them.” Lester took standard cards, split them apart, inserted shims and gimmicks, trimmed them, cut them and even printed up special orders.

One trick that he designed was called “Slippery Spots.” In this effect the magician forces the five of clubs on the spectator. Losing it in the deck and shuffling the cards, the magician slams the end of the deck on the table. Looking through the deck the five of clubs is found but all the pips have slipped to the bottom of the card. Shuffling the cards again, the magician now slams the side of the deck on the table. Looking through the pack the pips on the five of clubs are found to have all congregated on one side of the card. 

Lester was good friends with all the top card men including Dai Vernon. Lester frequented The Magic Castle and while there, hung out with Vernon and also sold gaffed cards and decks from his briefcase.

When Lester was first starting his custom crafted cards he was searching around for a name and Vernon suggested “Cards by Martin.” Lester liked it and that’s what the business was named.

In March 1978, Vernon wrote of Martin in his “The Vernon Touch” column in Genii:

Some of the cleverest tricks in card magic, as far as effect is concerned, are being brought to life by one of the Castle member s under the name of "Cards by MARTIN." He manufacturers absolutely beautiful trick cards including a Marlo effect (I think it's Marlo's) wherein a poker hand (say four aces and an odd card) visibly changes into a Royal Flush. I only wish my friend Arthur Finley were alive to see the beautiful cards that "Martin" manufacturers. He makes all the trick cards used in Bro. Hamman effects, or the Deland tricks, etc., out of ordinary cards. I understand that these are made to order and that you have to prove you bought the trick originally. "Martin" is an expert at ''splitting a card". It is quite remarkable to see him do this, especially if you have ever struggled over the task of splitting a card for a certain trick. 

Lester used to work at Phil Thomas’ Yogi Magic Mart in Baltimore many years ago. According to Lester’s son, Curtis Martin, his father was working on a book about his cards and card magic with a close friend. Apparently the book was done except for taking photographs. Lester never seemed to get around to doing it but perhaps it will happen in the future. Among the tributes on The Magic Café were these messages:

“Neil Lester was a class act and so very helpful to anyone who asked. In addition, a great loss to the magic community.”

“The magic world has lost an important and wonderful person.”

“…a wonderful person to deal with…thank you Neil…you will be missed.”

“He always got me what I needed and always so helpful. Another great one gone…he will be sorely missed.”

“We’ve lost an irreplaceable friend to magic.”

Lester was a member of the Magic Castle from its earliest days and recognized as a master craftsman by all of the insiders of magic as well as enthusiasts worldwide. I am pleased to have examples of his cards in my collection and pleased, as well, to share it with other enthusiasts.

Tom Ewing

"Tricky" Ricky Jay

An early throwout card for the wizard
better known as Ricky Jay

Inspired by my recent post about Ricky Jay et al., Tom Ewing took a deep dive into his collection, emerging with this gem from early in the magician's career.   The "Tricky Ricky" scaling card sports the name "Richard Jay Potash", the legal and original name of the master of card scaling who would eventually become world famous under his stage name Ricky Jay.  Based on my knowledge of his career, buttressed by some recent research I conducted on the use of letters and area codes for telephone numbers (more on that in an upcoming series of posts), I would posit that the card dates to the late 1960s.  The image appears to bear some edge tearing -- whether this is simply from age and handling, or evidence of propulsion by the world record-holding Mr. Jay may have to be left to our imagination.   This piece is likely extremely rare and valuable, as similar ephemera (such as early business cards for the performer known as David Copperfield) often attract the interest of collectors.