J. Harvey Arnold “The Tricky Gabster”

Magicians liked to give themselves handles. There was the “Tricky Trixter”, and the “Mystic Merrymaker”. More than one magician went by “The Talkative Trixter”. This post is about a performer who called himself “The Tricky Gabster”.

J. Harvey Arnold was originally from New Jersey. One source said his home town was the city of Burlington, while another said it was Princeton. He did however live in Princeton, as I found ads that he ran with an address from there. He was inspired by magic in 1903 by a friend named Professor Pugh.

Arnold’s throw-out card had a little bit of a variation on the back of it. As can be seen below, the back is the Roterberg/Stanyon Back with a change to the image in the circle. The image of the cards and pips has been replaced with an alteration of the insignia of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

While in Princeton, it has been stated that he operated the Arnold Magic Company. He started his own magic magazine in 1915, The Impromptu Trixter. It did not however, seem to last long, maybe not even making it past the first issue.

Arnold ran an ad in The Sphinx for May of 1921 for an effect called “Reverso”

J. Harvey also dabbled in selling other things too, as I found ads in Billboard magazine from 1919. In one, the ad said, “Make Your Own Goods – Catalogue of formulas, six manufacturing secrets and Directory of Supply Sources. $1.50 value for 25 cents. J. Harvey Arnold, Princeton, New Jersey”. Another ad stated, “New Method by which anyone can imitate birds, animals, steamboat whistles, musical instruments, etc., with mouth and hands; book of 37 imitations complete, 35 cents. J Harvey Arnold, Princeton, New Jersey”. (Author’s note: In order to lead a full life, I am sure there was a HUGH demand for that book!)

By 1925, Arnold was living in Chicago, and was active in the local magic clubs. He was No. 60 in the I.B.M. In The Linking Ring for May of 1925 he ran this interesting ad. Could these cards be examples similar to his own throw-out and business card? Why was it that Arnold offered printing services?

After Arnold moved to Chicago, he worked as a printer or linotype operator for either The Chicago Tribune or The Chicago Daily News. He more than likely also had his own printing equipment in order to offer customized printing services. Arnold’s own business card had a little ad at the bottom as can be seen at the beginning of this post.

In May of 1943, The Linking Ring ran this little bio and picture of J. Harvey Arnold.

The magazines The Sphinx and The Linking Ring had brief mentions in 1948 that J. Harvey Arnold had passed away on July 25, while vacationing in Michigan. I have as yet been unable to discover his date of birth.

George (?) Corregan Jr. – The Magic Changing Initial

Going through my throw-out cards, I found a name and realized I had some additional memorabilia on this particular magician. I really like it when I find something out of the ordinary in my research. In this case George Corregan had a middle name problem, at least “initially”!

George “Duke” Corregan was born on August 20, 1897 in Boston, Massachusetts. As a newsboy, he sent off for a trick and a catalog from the Hornmann Magic Company. He saw their ad in an old New York newspaper. He then discovered the Bailey and Tripp Magic Shop in his hometown of Boston. Sam Bailey took young Corregan under his wing, and taught him magic, gave ideas, and sold him apparatus. The following art work is a pencil drawing that may have led to future advertising.

From the Author's Collection

Duke grew up and became proficient in all types of magic, including sleight-of-hand, escapes, chalk talks, and acting as emcee for magic club shows. He was a very early member of the I.B.M., holding member #41.  He was admitted to the S.A.M in 1922 as #924, under the name of Geo. C. Corregan, Jr. From there in the different magic magazines of the time, that middle initial kept changing like it was some kind of magic trick.

Corregan ran ads in the magazines in the twenties and that middle initial just kept changing. Here are five ads, each one with a different middle initial.

So, which initial was the correct one? We will let his throw-out card decide that question. On the card shown below, George is using the middle initial G. According to Duke’s obituary in M-U-M, his middle name was Gilmore. The back of the card is the Roterberg/Stanyon Back design that is discussed elsewhere on this site.

Besides his interest in magic, Corregan also worked for, and later owned a photography studio in the Boston area. I found a number of photos in the magic magazines attributed to him. Duke was on the cover of M-U-M magazine for the month of April of 1963.

George Gilmore Corregan, Jr. passed away on June 23, 1971. “For nearly fifty years a highly respected and influential member of Boston Assembly No. 9” said the obituary in M-U-M magazine.

Revisiting Rothschild and the "Roterberg" Back: The Appearance of Elias Stanyon

One of the first posts offered on Propelled Pasteboards was a discussion of a stock card back design that I dubbed the Roterberg Back, named due to its availibility in a catalog offered by magic dealer August Roterberg in or around 1927.  That post identified a dozen throwing cards printed on this stock as recently as the 1970s.  In subsequent posts we have examined several additional cards bearing this intriguing and beautiful back design, including posts for Ralph Powell (one of my favorite stories) and Millo the Mystic Our sharp-eyed friend Lee Asher recently spied the following ad from Stanyon's Magic relating to the back design:

It may well be that Stanyon's ad did not show up in all of our searching as he describes the cards only as "business cards," (even while mentioning that the could be thrown)  rendering this text unresponsive to searches for "throwing cards," "throwout," "scaling cards" and the like.  But since this ad first appeared in Stanyon's in April 1908, nearly 20 years before the aforementioned Roterberg catalog, it seems that my use of the term "Roterberg back," could well be considered a misnomer.   Moreover, in describing the "elegant design, Stanyon mentions that the "plate . . . has been prepared at considerable expense," suggesting that he commissioned the design.  So, indeed, it may be that this design should properly be referred to as a "Stanyon Back."

For those unfamiliar, Wikipedia summarizes Stanyon's career as follows:

William Ellis Stanyon (January 1870 – September 1951) was a professional magician and magic dealer in London. Stanyon published and edited his own journal known as Magic.  The journal's aim was to‚ 'popularize the Art of Sleight of Hand'.   It was first published from October 1900 and ran for 177 issues with a break during World War I; the final issue was published in June 1920.
Stanyon in his journal published a method of escaping from packed boxes. Biographer Kenneth Silverman has written that the magician Harry Houdini "accused Stanyon of having posted a bounty of several pounds for his secrets... Houdini dismissed the methods purveyed by Stanyon and others as being nothing like his own, "puny attempts at duplication."  Magic historian Henry R. Evans wrote that Stanyon was "one of the most prolific writers on legerdemain in the world, and his hand-books on magic are largely sought after."

And while I'm expanding on this tiny piece of history, I am pleased to be able to offer more information about Clarence Rothschild, whose elegant throwing card first came to my attention when exploring this back design.  I have found no mention of Rothschild in magic literature, and in the past, have been able to tell you nothing about him.  However, a fortuitous journey into the world of real estate led to a trove of information about this little-known performer.

Clarence "Rocky" Rothschild (1890-1978), a Jewish-German immigrant, is described in several books and periodicals as a pipe fitter, naval draftsman  and pilot, as well as a magician and ventriloquist who lived and performed in California through the late 1940s.  His claim to fame, however, was his purchase of the Starr Mansion in Vallejo, California, a stately home sporting panoramic views, widow's walk and ceiling murals. The

mansion, seen here, was built in 1869 by grain magnate Abraham Dubois Starr, one of the founders of the Starr Mills Grain Elevator.   When the elevator project failed in the bank panic of 1893, Starr abandoned the home.  Clarence purchased the home in 1933, supporting several relatives in the rooms of the massive estate which is allegedly haunted. While the house was being renovated as a bed and breakfast in 2005, workmen discovered Rothschild's flight logs, ventriloquist dummies and several books by Houdini.