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Faster New user Texas 57 Posts |
Just got a copy of "Stars of Magic" from Meir Yedid Publishing and something odd caught my eye in all those terrific photos taken by George Starke.
Dai Vernon, John Scarne and Bert Allerton are photographed at tables with what amounts to a satin silk quilt laid down as a performance pad. Each of the pads has a different quilting design so I know they aren't the same one used over and over in some studio somewhere. That got me to thinking about the history of performance pads and how we got to the two basic varieties today; the neoprene “mousepad” with velour or felt top and the padded plywood with velvet (frequently) top. The men in these photographs could certainly afford the best, as could Starke/Karger in their studio, if indeed the photographed pads were theirs. Yet they chose to go with cotton batting (one assumes, not being able to see the inside) sandwiched between satin silk and the whole thing quilted. They could have had smooth surfaces like we do in today's pads. They could have used felt or velour or velvet surfaces. Neoprene was invented 15 years before the 1st of these photographs was taken. Yet they worked on quilts. This rather fascinates me. Anyone know the history of the development of the performance pad? Do they just go through phases along with the preferences, for example, of dumping things into your spectators' pockets (now seriously out of fashion)? Is the old style actually better somehow, but the new style is more cheaply manufactured and otherwise good enough? What was being used during Malini’s and Leipzig’s day? Does anyone actually perform on one of the old style pads made of quilted satin with some kind of batting inside? Tell us about your pad and experiences with it! Richard |
Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
Of course, it is really not possible to tell precisely what the padding inside the quilted surface some of the aforementioned artists were working on consisted of. In some of the photos, Scarne appears to be working on a herringbone pattern quilted pad of some sort. In others, he is working right on the wooden table top. In other photos, he is apparently working on a quilted pad that has a square and rectangle pattern in it. This same square and rectangle pad shows up in some, but not all, of the Allerton photos.
Many of the Vernon photos show him working on what appears to be a felt or baize surface, such as one would find on a high quality card table. The photos on page 73 of the Tannen's collected first series of Stars of Magic might give a clue. It's the same herringbone pattern quilted pad, but it definitely has a matching skirt on it, and there is an elastic band that holds the pad on the top of what is apparently a folding card table. I doubt very seriously that anyone carried one of these satin table covers with him to perform. Ross Bertram describes his "Welcome Mat," which he used from about 1942 in chapter 10 of Bertram on Sleight of Hand. He also gives a basic history of the close-up mat in the introduction of that chapter. However, the first mention in the English language of performing on a special surface would be in Hocus Pocus, Jr., published in 1634. The author recommends performing on a table with a carpeted surface. Modern close-up mats were common by 1970. There were even some made from the material that wet suits are made of. But these pads were not necessarily the best for all close-up magic. A chop cup routine has different requirements than, say, a coin routine. And there are some coin sleights that won't work well on certain surfaces. I've seen a lot of performers, but I don't know any of them who regularly perform on a quilted satin pad. There are a few who display their cups on satin placemats, but that's an entirely different thing.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
Faster New user Texas 57 Posts |
Thanks, Bill!
I guess I need to drop 75 bucks on a copy of Bertram's "Bertram on Sleight of Hand." As to "Hocus Pocus Jr.," I'm sure the definition of "carpet" back then vs. now is close but different. It probably referred to some seriously thick and heavy woven fabric that today we'd call "rug" material, as in Oriental Rug or Area Rug. The same stuff the Carpet Baggers were famous for back in the late 1800s and Mary Poppins pulled umbrellas and lamps out of. Come to think of it, Dick Van Dyke played a sweep in that movie by the name of Bertram. Hmmm... I point out the difference because carpet (pile carpet) is what I use when I can. It's a very short pile, taken from a scrap end of a roll of office carpet. Quote:
I doubt very seriously that anyone carried one of these satin table covers with him to perform. I wouldn't be surprised at all. It would make perfect sense if he also carried his table, and that's a small table. Houdini carried a stout chair with him for the sole purpose to let people tie him to it. We're talking of the age when people traveled by car, bus or caravan and they took as much stuff with them as they could find space for. Today, if you tell your needs when booking a venue, they give you something close. Back then it was, "This is what we have. Use it or don't." I know this from now-deceased members of my family who traveled extensively in and out of vaudeville. If you needed/wanted it, you took it with you. The back half of the car was a storage closet while you were on the road. I sometimes take my own table, which is a modified folding card table. I have a crushed velvet table cloth used to mask the small modification under the table, which is simply a tilt-down drawer for holding loads and ditching. I carry that tablecloth with me when I take the table. It's reasonable to allow that the design Vernon uses in those photos is simply a way to combine a tablecloth with a performance pad into a single unit. Much easier to carry (assuming the table is also carried) and makes the pad almost invisible. Or it could simply be a studio-owned table and pad, not meant for travel. Portable or not, it, with the others in the book, are quilted pads, significantly different than anything I've seen in the past 30 years or ever noticed in films or photographs of earlier days. Which is why I raised the question on history. Thanks for the information and the pointers to further reading. I think I'm quite comfortable and reassured that the pad of choice for me is, in a very close style, the pad of choice from the 17th century. I guess the title of this forum is accurate; Everything old is new again! Richard |
Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
When Vernon performed at the Kit Kat club, he worked at the tables where the diners were. There are photos of him doing that. He also did some work in hotel lobbies, etc.
Houdini carried a lot more than just his own chair -- he had quite a bit of baggage that he traveled with. I've seen a lot of the carpets that were in more posh places that were in existence in the 18th century, in museums and castles when I travel. There is a very wide variety of things that people call carpets. The performing scenario in Hocus Pocus Junior is basically a pub. So, I doubt that the carpet would be anything nearly as ornate as the floor coverings of Schönbrunn Palace. He could have even been referring to a thick tablecloth. In HPJ, reference is also made to performers working while standing rather than seated. In a marginal note, the author says "Some I have seene sit with their Codpiece open, others play standing with a budget hanging before them, but all comes to one end. Some feats may with more grace be performed stading (sic) then sitting." By way of explanation, a budget is a bag, basically what the French called a gibeciere. The spelling errors are not so problematic as to obscure the meanings of the words. Modern close-up magic has changed in the past couple of decades. There are not many venues at which seated close-up performance is feasible. For example, at a restaurant, if you sit at the table and roll a close-up mat out on the table, that's not going to be well accepted by the management. If there is space enough for a close-up mat on a restaurant table, they want people to be eating from it. If you are performing after dinner, that's a different story. But in that case you would be performing at their table on their tablecloth.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
lin Special user California 876 Posts |
I don't know what surfaces magicians through the centuries might have employed, but it wasn't uncommon to find oriental carpets used as tablecloths:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_So......1604.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rembra......rdam.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lotto,......Wife.jpg :) |
Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
The one in the second painting was probably not an oriental carpet. The name of that painting is often translated as "Masters of the Tapestry Guild." Tapestries of that nature have been made in the Netherlands and in Belgium for a long time.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
Faster New user Texas 57 Posts |
The designs/patterns certainly lend themselves to such carpets. Thanks, Lin. Gives me some ideas to check out.
As for the 2nd image, Bill, I'd say it looks more like an old ad for Dutch Masters Cigars, not that I would deign touch anything less than pure Habana. You're probably right on your observation. It does look more like a solid reddish cloth with embroidery. The 3rd looks more like oriental rug stuff as we think of it today. The 1st is hard to tell. The pattern is probably better achieved via weaving than embroidery, but the corner folds hanging off the table make it look like a very thin cloth. On a fashion note: The well-dressed, international man about town in 1604 wore basic brown with a white ruffle collar. I don't know how the Brits and the Spaniards could tell who belonged to which team! |
Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
Funny that you should mention the Dutch Masters cigars. That's the painting that was on the box.
I've seen that painting twice "in the flesh." The first time was in 1990, when I was visiting Munich. I was at the alte Pinakothek -- the old painting gallery -- when I saw the painting down at one end of one of the rooms. It is HUGE -- those are life sized portraits. The painting is about as big as a king size bed sheet. I saw it again in 2005, when my wife and I were in Amsterdam. We went to the Rijksmuseum, where it is normally on display. It's an amazing painting.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
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