Paul A. Noffke – The Mystic Merrymaker

A lot of magicians had a few throw-out cards, and a few magicians had a lot of throw-out cards. Paul Noffke was one of these latter magicians.

I have acquired eleven different cards for Noffke.

John Sardo and The Celebrity Trick

This post involves John Sardo of Elmira, NY, who was born in 1896. He was a longtime supporter of magic clubs, published a number of effects in The Sphinx, and was instrumental in initiating one of the great minds of conjuring into the magic business. He also created “The Celebrity Trick” and had a nice scaling card.

Sideshow Al Salvail

There’s a description among historians for performers who traveled widely and played rural towns and hamlets, frequently one-night stands, but always on the road—Long Grass Showmen. The subject of this post is one such gentleman by the name of Adolph Louis Salvail.

Often times while going through my scaling card collection, I come upon a single card, fairly unimposing, and certainly not one of the “big names,” but intriguing just the same. Such was the case the Salvail. His card (below) is smaller than most, measuring only 3-1/4” x2”. It shows his face in the center of an ace of spades and identifies him as a “card expert.” The reverse features an attractive playing card design.

King Baile

It is a pleasure to write this particular post because it involves a number of areas of interest to me. First, the subject was not a “big-timer” but rather a journeyman, sideshow barker, circus promoter, pitchman, and collector. He is the long-forgotten King Baile.

His full name is Everett Bail Drumm and he was born Oct. 28, 1888, in Michigan. What prompted this post is a scrapbook on Baile assembled by my late friend and collecting mentor Frank Dailey of Indianapolis. The thick scrapbook is filled with everything Frank could find on Baile and which he obtained after some tremendous detective work. 

According to Frank, he learned that an auction house in Terre Haute, Indiana had once auctioned off the estate of a local magician. He started contacting local auction houses in the city and finally found the one where Baile’s magic had been sold. In discussions with the auction house he learned that Baile’s magic equipment had come to them stored in steamer trunks. Apparently the auction house thought the trunks were worth more than the magic and so they sold the trunks.