The Tall Tales of Eddie "Tex" McGuire

When researching magicians, it's always hard to know what to believe, But the subject of this post - Eddie "Tex" McGuire -- is in a league of his own when it comes to tall tales.


Here's what I can assemble from a number of magic publications:
He was born in or around 1891, and by 1910, persuaded his father to use money that had been saved for college to study magic, eventually performing under the names The Great Gilland, Don Cortex and Tex McGuire. His favorite trick consisted of driving a Cadillac, with seven passengers, on stage and making the car and its occupants disappear. By age 19, he began traveling with a show headed by Mrs. Tom Thumb. He served in WWI, wounded and subject to gas attacks. In the 1920s, he returned to Europe. And here's where the legends begin.

According to various sources -- principally McGuire -- he created a "mathematical system" whichpermitted him to "break the bank" at Monte Carlo on three occasions. While that's an exciting thing to say, it's more interesting once one knows what it means. According to Wikipedia:

The expression "breaking the bank" is used when a gambler wins more money than the reserve held at that particular table in the casino. At the start of each day, every table was funded with a cash reserve of 100,000 francs – known as "the bank". If this reserve was insufficient to pay the winnings, play at that table was suspended while extra funds were brought out from the casino's vaults.



The list of bank breakers -- though admittedly incomplete, does not include McGuire's name. Another myth swirling around McGuire was whether he (like so many others) was the author of The Phantom of the Card Table. That McGuire might be Erdnase is further undermined by a second rumor associating him with Walter Scott, an individual who is claimed by some to be that elusive writer.

Fuel was poured on the tall tale fire by the release of a five dollar book about McGuire authored by Edward S. Cannon and produced by Lee Jacobs in 1953. The ad copy consisted of a series of provocative questions about McGuire, including whether he broke the bank, was actually Erdnase, was the subject of superlative quotes by Houdini and Thurston, and was a star of the Roy Rogers Rodeo. The ad copy concludes that "Tex McGuire was all of these and much, much more." So maybe it wasn't the most accurate historical portrait....

One of McGuire's most important contributions to magic occurred, in a sense, posthumously. Beginning in 1922, he entered into a long, detailed correspondence with the famed T. Nelson Downs. The two men wrote a series of letter that were meticulously cataloged over several years, exchanging trick ideas, moves, handlings and stories. In 1971, John Braun compiled these ideas into a special Linking Ring parade which is quite interesting.


I originally picked up this oversized, two-color, single-sided business card because I knew of McGuire as Max Malini's manager (and I have a copy of what seemed to be McGuire's manager card). After researching this subject, though, I no longer know what to believe.

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.