Folks,
I hope this is an appropriate place for this query. I'm trying to put a list together of magicians who also wrote stories and novels (or novelists who were also magicians). The most obvious one, I think, is Walter Gibson, who wrote the Shadow and many other pulp characters, and featured magic prominently in his stories.

The most recent author I can think of is James Swain, who writes the Tony Valentine series about a guy who busts cheaters in Vegas and solves mysteries on the side.

There has to be more than that, right? Lots of actors these days letting it slip that they are lifelong fans and amateur magicians, but not so much for the writers. Are there any others, past or present, that I'm not aware of? Any help would be most appreciated.

Was Conan Doyle also a Magician?? He was with an acquaintance of HOUDINI. And was interested in Seance. ??????????

Hi Mark,

Charles Dickens was an avid amateur magician and put on many full evening performances for friends.

Does that count?

Thomas Henry

It certainly does! I did not know that, and I consider myself fairly well-read. Cool!

Besides editing "The Phoenix" and writing four wonderful books on magic, Bruce Elliott also wrote mystery and science fiction stories for pulp magazines and edited men's magazines.

Outstanding! I will add him to the list. Very cool.

Oh, I just connected the dots. He wrote some of the Shadow novels after Gibson. But his non-Shadow stuff was well-regarded. I've read a few of his stories. Didn't know about the magic side of his life.

Hi again, Mark,

I learned of Dickens' conjuring exploits way back in 1975 when as a young college student I made a pilgrimage to his still-standing house on Doughty Street in London.

Your reminding me of this got my curiosity up and I did a quick search on the Web. It seems an entire book has been written on Dickens the magician.

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/586791

The reviews give it high marks for research and low marks for writing style!

But just had another memory come back. When visiting Dickens' house, I struck up a conversation with the curator, and she said I might also enjoy seeing the Lewis Carroll exhibition elsewhere currently on display (at Hatfield House). I went, and lo! Turns out he too was an amateur magician performing for friends.

There you go: another one. Lewis Carroll not only performed magic, but also privately contributed to the literature of the subject. Somewhere around the overstuffed bookshelves here, I have an entire book which collected all of his magic effects under one cover.

So Lewis Carroll: professional mathematician, amateur magician, but most remembered today for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Thomas Henry

Here are two more for your list:

Sid Fleischman - https://www.sidfleischman.com/

Clayton Rawson - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Rawson


.

Although primarily known as a filmmaker , I would say Woody Allen is a writer who has had a great interest in magic from his childhood to the present. (I recently read his memoir ,"Apropos of Nothing", and he frequently mentions his interest in magic.)

Magic themes are often found in his films (which he also writes) and short stories.

Click here to view attached image.

Steve Martin.

Like Woody Allen, I think most people would probably think of him as a stand-up comic and a film actor , but he also writes. His play, "The Zig-Zag Woman" has an obvious magic theme (an actual Zig-Zag illusion features prominently in the play).

The prolific magical inventor Edward Morrel Massey also wrote fiction.
Left Hand Left
Five Were Called
Through The Lens
The Adventures of a Boy Magician (teaches magic but was a fiction story)

I'm not sure if Paul Gallico qualifies as a magician per se, but he wrote two great novels that featured a magic theme--both with a main character--Alexander Hero--who was a parapsychologist/paranormal investigator: _Too Many Ghosts_ and _The Hand of Mary Constable_.

He also wrote _The Man Who Was Magic_--a novel about a city of prestidigitators where a magician who does genuine magic sort of applies for residency.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

Is anyone actively collecting Fiction related to magic and allied arts these days? That would include fiction written by a magician, with a major or minor character as a magician, with a magic theme, with a magic principle or prop featured in the story line? I am familiar with Leo Behnke's lists in INSIDE MAGIC years ago and several lists and/or publications that Michael Cannick put out. I acquire and list magic ficton occasionally on my book sales list, but they tend to be overlooked by most. Is this an interest area for anyone else? Any help appreciated. Thanks. Be safe and be well. - Dan (Dan@BradbuyBooks.com)

I have 'The Magician's Wife' by Brian Moore (1998) and a Kids book,'The Boy Who Made Magic' by Marjory and Earl Schwalje (1958)

The late Val Andrews wrote several Sherlock Holmes stories in the style of Conan-Doyle, some of them magic/theatre related; i.e. Sherlock Holmes and The Houdini Birthright,Sherlock Holmes and The Egyptian Hall Adventure, Sherlock Holmes and the Charlie Chaplin Affair etc. etc.

The ones that I have read are quite enjoyable and if you are into the subject, I can recommend them!

https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/val-andrews/517252/

Leslie

A story I wrote some years ago-----

MAGIC IN THE DEPARTMENT STORE

By Gerald Deutsch
4/21/10

I’ve been doing magic since I was in grade school and I briefly toyed with juggling and ventriloquism and in high school I got a part time job in a department store, hoping as a salesman I could show some tricks to customers. But alas, Mac, the store manager, assigned me a job as a stock boy. In the basement. Alone.

I hated being alone and smoked cigarette after cigarette as I did my work down there. Alone. Yes, in those days I smoked. Two packs a day. Well, one day Mac caught me smoking in the basement. That wasn’t allowed. “Hey kid,” Mac said, “Make that cigarette disappear. Now!” I looked up in apparent fear and I put the cigarette into my left hand, snapped my right hand over my left and opened my left hand. The cigarette was gone! “Okay?” I asked Mac. “Hey kid, come up here.” I was a salesman!

But that didn’t mean I would do magic all the time. Even back then I knew that there was a time and a place for doing magic. A lot of magicians don’t understand this. They bore people to death. I would do magic for customers only when it was appropriate.

I must digress for a moment. I once – it was long ago – did magic at a wake. The deceased wasn’t someone I knew but I was there to pay respects to a friend. But as I and a few of my friends approached the body I had a wicked thought. I pretended to see something and pulled a quarter out of the dead man’s nose. My wife slapped my arm and told me to behave. But that was long ago.

Anyway, back to the department store. Most of my tricks were done for the staff at coffee breaks etc. Everyone loved them – everyone that is except Dave. Dave was a salesman in the men’s department but unlike me, he was full time. I wasn’t assigned to any one department but went where I felt it was necessary and I actually sold merchandise in all six departments – men’s, women’s, boy’s, girls, infant’s and domestics. And unlike Dave, I didn’t have to work Saturday evenings. After all, I was in high school and we went out on Saturday nights.

One of my favorite tricks was to steal a spectator’s watch while doing a trick – which, was always returned as soon as the trick was over. This was Mac’s favorite trick and he loved to see me do this. One day a customer went over to Mac and was upset, saying she had lost her watch. “Jerry,” said Mac. “Could you come up here a minute?” She, of course found her watch in her handbag.

But then, sadly, Mac got hurt and had to leave to store permanently and – yep – you guessed it – Dave became my boss. He was mean. I would guess he was jealous that I was going to go to college and this was only a part time job etc. So when I mentioned to Dave that I had a special date planned for that Saturday night, he decided I would be working that Saturday. I was upset but – well – I worked that Saturday.

Dave and I were the last one’s in the store that night and Dave checked out the basement and the store to be sure all customers were out. Then, as we were outside and leaving, I had a wicked thought. Using my basic ventriloquism we heard a voice from the metal doors leading to the basement.

“Hey – where is everyone? Its dark in here—“ Dave became concerned. “Who’s in there?” he asked. “It’s me – How do I get out--?”

“Dave,” I said, “It must be a joke. I’m going home.”

“Well I can’t go home,” said Dave. “I have to go back in and see who’s there.”

“There’s no one there Dave. I’m going. Goodnight.”

And as Dave went back inside I smiled. Until my hand started to talk to me. (As most ventriloquists’ hands do).

“That was mean,” it said.

“I told him there was no one there.” I said trying not to feel guilty.

Here's another

By the time I got to high school, I was ready for high school.

Junior High was in Astoria – High school was in Bayside – Bayside High School. We had moved.

Astoria was tough – I was bullied. I had my dad drive me to school but I insisted he let me off a few blocks away so no one would see. I did well in junior high – in fact they made me the head of “the visual aid squad” – the group that runs the movie projectors etc. Not bad for an 11-year-old. I could leave classes anytime. Then I had an idea. I told the teacher in charge I needed an assistant and when he agreed I picked the toughest kid in the school – Anthony Baomonte. I was never bullied again.

And by the time I got to high school I was a magician.

Bayside High School. I was 13. Classes were coed – boys and girls together – except gym – separate classes for boys and girls. Gym and the pool. I learned why there were separate classes for boys and girls. No clothes – no bathing suits for the pool. We swam nude.

And I did magic and told jokes in every class.

One of my favorite tricks was to borrow a quarter, put it in my left hand, snap my right hand over it and show both hands empty. The quarter had vanished. I then reached into my pocket and produced the quarter and returned it to the lender. I became famous for this trick. Mostly with the teachers – kids didn’t have quarters to risk.

I was the MC for the senior show. I remember one line I was told not to use – but I did anyway – and got a good laugh.

“I don’t mind Bayside High School – it’s just the principal of the thing--.”

But teachers would come up to me with a friend or another teacher and hand me a quarter and I would “do my thing” – making the quarter vanish and then produce it from my pocket.

One thing I remember clearly was that day during swimming class.

There I was with the other boys – naked being inspected by the teacher. When the teacher got to me he handed me a quarter.

Reminds me when I was in High School (1953-55 ) I was known by the "Jocks" as the 'little boy who play'd with Dolls' what they didn't know was I was helping my family (Self-Mom-Sis) a welfare Family,(lost Dad when I was 5) income by doing "A Puppet/Ventriloquism Show" at Birthday Parties, all over the Los Angeles County. Also when 16- was asked to Entertain at a Hospital Ward -it was a Girls ward - met a Cute Patient (15)- 3 years later we were Married ( for "63" Blessed Years) .

Another story---

Magic With Magicians
Gerald Deutsch
June 29, 2014

I have been into magic as a hobby since before I was a teenager and I have met – and continue to meet magicians from all walks of life.

There are professional magicians – that is magicians that depend on performing magic to make a living, at parties or at restaurants or at nightclubs. And there are amateur magicians who, like me, do magic as a hobby.

Some amateur magicians are practitioners in various professions as for example, the gastroenterologist that came up with the colonoscopy, business moguls, or myself, a CPA and attorney.

The remarkable thing about the gathering of magicians is that a group can include a variety from (i) different racial or religious groups, (ii) different nationalities, and (iii) different economic backgrounds. The only question is how well an individual can do a particular effect (called “effect” not “trick”) or “sleight of hand move” or how well that individual can present an effect. A truly meritorious standard to meet.

And such a gathering of magicians can, of course be as few as two participants and such a session would involve the performance of an effect or a move with the goal of, if not fooling the others, getting their admiration, criticism or suggestion.

I had such as “session” with two “wall street giants” years ago at a downtown restaurant after the market closed that day. I, like one of the other fellows, was a student of one of the greatest close up magicians of the era – Slydini – and unlike most of his students, I adopted his principles to fit my personality and I was able to use those principles for effects that Slydini never did. I was doing this for my companions when a well dressed executive with a younger woman sat down at the table next to ours.

That didn’t concern us except that I had to be careful not to expose what I was doing as I performed for my companions. Therefore I had another “angle” I had to be concerned about. Not much of a problem. But the three of us pretty much ignored our new neighbors as we performed for each other.

Suddenly the executive at the next table called to us. We had not been aware that he and his companion had been watching us. “Would you mind showing ‘my friend’ a few of your tricks?” he asked. Well, we magicians would rather perform for “laymen” than for other magicians so we were delighted to do what he asked.

One by one each of us traded seats with this executive and we did some magic for the young woman, the “companion” of the executive.

They left and we three continued our session.

Finally it was time for us to go and we called the waiter and asked for our check.

“Oh your check has been taken care of by the gentleman that sat at the table next to yours. He said you were great magicians.”

I smiled at my friends and said, “Well guys, I guess we’re professionals now.”