“Mysterious” Brown

I recently acquired two throw-out cards for a magician who called himself “Mysterious” Brown. When I started to research his past, I came up with a lot of interesting facts, and even a tie in to a previous post I did. Of the two cards below, the one on the left has a blue Bicycle Nautic back, and the one on the right has a blue cross-hatch pattern of unknown origin.

I have a pretty good idea as to when these cards were produced. I found a couple of newspaper references that used the same image as on the cards. They are both from The Star Press in Muncie, Indiana. The one on the left is from 1932 and on the right from 1934.

Mysterious Brown was born Dota Claudius Brown on March 3, 1913. In his early years he lived in the state of Indiana. He would have been about 19 when that photo on the throw-out cards was taken, so he, like so many others, got interested in magic at an early age. According to all the newspaper articles I found on him, he performed magic on a steady basis.

Image by Heritage Auctions.

During World War II, he was a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. During his time of service, Lieutenant Brown was awarded a Purple Heart and a Silver Star Medal for his “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action” against the enemy. I found his Silver Star Citation on the internet, and also newspaper accounts.

From the Angola Herald for August 8, 1947 and the Steuben Republican for September 26, 1945.

Brown met his first wife Lillian when both were in the service, she being enlisted in the Marines. When the war was over, Dota and Lillian were students and graduates of the Chavez School of Magic.

They settled in California, and were very active on the magic scene. Besides magic, Brown was an art teacher and an accomplished artist in his own right. I even found some of his paintings for sale online. Here is one of them.

In exchange for teaching old time movie actor Max Terhune magic, Terhune taught Brown ventriloquism. Here is where the link comes in on an earlier post I did on this site. Brown’s ventriloquist figure was named Harley, and Harley was the first figure ever made by George “Mandroop” McAthy, whom you can read about here. There is even a group photo on McAthy’s post showing the Browns along with George McAthy and his son Gary.

From The Linking Ring for October 1954.

Dota C. “Mysterious” Brown had a long, varied, and interesting life. Unfortunately, he outlived his wife Lillian, and his second wife Erika. When he passed away on October 10, 1996 at the age of 83, he was survived by his wife Aini. Mysterious Brown was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.

Photo by Anne Cady.

Harry McDaniel – He was in Hot Water!

Many magicians would have advertisements on the back of their throw-out cards that had nothing to do with magic. In many cases, the product being advertised would be well known,  such as soda pop, Cracker Jacks, candy, typewriters, and car tires. Usually these sponsors helped to subsidize, or even completely cover the cost of the card for the performer on the front of the card. Harry McDaniel, a Dallas, Texas based magician decided to go this same route, however in this case he owned the company advertising the hot water heaters on the back of his card!

Harry Henry McDaniel was born in Ellis County, Texas on August 15, 1896. As a child growing up in the town of Venus, Texas, the town marshal showed Harry a trick and the art of magic gained another devotee for life.

McDaniel was a veteran of World War I and performed magic for his comrades using small items such as coins and cards which would fit in his “quicky pack”.  After the war, he returned to Texas, got married, and settled in Dallas. Over the years, he became somewhat of a force on the Dallas magic scene.

From The Linking Ring for June, 1944

McDaniel was a charter member of the Dallas Magic Circle and helped to organize it in 1924, and when it was brought into the Society of American Magicians by Houdini while Houdini was in Texas. McDaniel also served as President of the Dallas Magic Circle at one time. McDaniel also was a member of the I.B.M. and in The Linking Ring for December, 1928 they wrote this about McDaniel.

 

Whether this referred to Harry McDaniel’s throw-out card shown above or a different one, it illustrates that McDaniel had the idea of using a card to advertise himself early on.

McDaniel was also known for inventing some magic and he had “a magical emporium and factory, and announces that he is equipped to take care of anything in this line. At surprisingly reasonable prices, he will repair or rebuild your illusions, or equip a complete show” so said The Linking Ring in 1934. McDaniel ran this ad in The Linking Ring for January of 1929.

 

When speaking of a McDaniel performance in The Sphinx for January 20, 1931 it was said, “Topping off the evening’s entertainment, Harry McDaniel, perhaps Dallas’ best-known magician, kept the audience gaping with The Root of All Evil, The Elusive Ball, Restoring the Napkin, Silver Thimbles Among the Gold, Miser’s Dream, The Hella Fez, and The Hindu Rooster. Mr. McDaniel is a manufacturer of hot water heaters when not otherwise occupied with magic”.

While living in Highland Park, Texas with his family, McDaniel constructed a fifty seat theatre that he called “Mack’s Magic Theatre”. It was built over a two-car garage and was well equipped with a stage, and all the lights and sound equipment anyone could ask for.

From The Linking Ring for June, 1944.

A Who’s Who of known magicians performed in this theatre such as “Blackstone, Dorny, Chas. H, Larson, Max Terhune, John Snyder, Jr., the Thayers, and many others” according to The Linking Ring for June of 1944. Here is a photo of Blackstone and McDaniel from that issue.

 

Harry H. McDaniel passed away on December 19, 1962 at the age of 66 in Dallas. His lifelong interest in magic was so strong that it is commemorated on his family cemetery marker with the word “Magician”, along with emblems of the magic societies he belonged to.

Photo taken by VA CURR for Find A Grave.

 

Holding Even More Good Bicycle Cards

Elsewhere, we have written about the United States Playing Card Company's promotional campaign for Bicycle cards, often employing the catch phrase "When You Play with Bicycle, You Hold Good Cards."  The campaign proved a boon for vaudeville-era magicians seeking free or subsidized promotion for their acts, and more indirectly, to modern-day collectors of these pasteboards.  Well, our good friend Jay Hunter, inspired by this historical effort, assembled this stunning array of such cards, representing a broad assembly of Bicycle card backs.

And, another buddy, Lee Asher, offered his considerable knowledge to identify the backs designs. According to Lee, they are as follows:

ROW 1 (Left to Right) - Lotus Back, Racer Back, Cyclist No. 2 Back

ROW 2 (Left to Right) - All Wheel Back, Acorn Back, Cupid Back

ROW 3 (Left to Right) - Sprocket No. 2 Back, Wheel No. 2 Back, New Fan Back.

Additionally, Lee advises, several of the backs are uncommon specimens, in particular the Cyclist No. 2 and the Sprocket No. 2.

Of course, the fronts are equally engaging, if not as colorful, depicting advertisements from nine different magicians, none of which have yet been covered here at Propelled Pasteboards.  You can see the faces below.  While the individual performers may be worthy of further comment (by way of example, I have assembled several other pieces and some information about De Jeu, Max Terhune and Professor Lindhorst), several of these are little-known performers about whom no information may exist other than that depicted on these fine collectibles.

However, these images are worthy of further examination.   The assemblage tells us a little more about the Bicycle promotional campaign, not only by the backs depicted, but also the ad copy on the faces.  Most of them bear some variation of the "hold good cards" theme.  Yet take a look at the detailed description on the Harry Kane card, which is very different than that usually encountered on these pieces.  Moreover, the Bicycle promotional text runs vertically along the side of the Hiestand card, while the normal positioning of this text is usually horizontally along the top of the card.  Finally, the Max Terhune card features a more specific endorsement relating to his use of Steamboat and Bicycle cards, along with the standard text.  Each of these differences are likely clues to the date the cards were printed, and may provide further insights.

Many thanks to Jay for sharing this wonderful assortment with us.

And before leaving the world of Bicycle throwing cards, here's an image of the 1905 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents in which USPCC first registered the "hold good cards" slogan, along with some others: