Where Doulas Magicland was located for years is now part of the Dallas freeway system. When I was 12 and on a family vacation, we stopped at Douglas where I spent every dime of my "vacation money" on Key-Rect. At that time it sold new for $18.

The Douglas Magicland catalog was my very first magic catalog I ever got. It was my magic wish book.I currently have 2 more of the catalogs in my collection, not my original though.
My first purchase was Kenard's Mystery Box, which I also have in my collection but also not the original one I bought.
Rennie

A good friend of mine that lives in Dallas says he thinks Douglas has closed.Does anyone know what the story is?
Thanks Don

I haven't heard of it for a long long while. The name was changed to Jefferie's Douglas Magicland. It was great, the fastest delivery at the time, and this was before UPS, FedEx, etc.

I lived in Dallas for awhile during the time "the Magic Jeweler" (can't remember his name/won all kinds of awards, builds Magic, etc). owned the store. It was a GREAT stop on Saturday afternoons!

When we used to play in Dallas at Willie Nelson's Whiskey River Club, Magicland was a regular stop for me. I had a good friend that workded there in the 70s. I first saw Card Warp at Magicland. One of the best two bucks I ever spent on magic.

-=tabman

These post brought back fond memories of Douglas Magic. In fact, my friend was just showing me the catalog we used to order from in the 60's. You guys remember the 60's don't you?

I'm not sure whether it's good or bad that I remember the 60's, but I do, ha, and one of my fondest memories is the Douglas Magicland catalogue that my dad brought home from one of his business trips to Dallas. I literally spent hours looking at that little gem. Frank, maybe the shipping was fast for you, but it seemed like forever to me from the moment I slipped my order into the mailbox to when it finally got back to me. Of course, I'm sure it was only a matter of a week or 10 days, but it sure seemed like forever. But oh, when that package arrived, the wonders that were inside. My first square circle, popcorn box, and vanishing milk pitcher all came from Douglas Magicland. Funny, I still have those catalogues, and they still look mystical to me, ha, and I filled 2 foot lockers with all the neat stuff I got from them, all of which I'm lucky enough to still have. I never had the chance to see the place in person, but my imagination is alive with what it might have been like to step inside.

Derek;

Great memories, huh? Interested in selling any of those catalogs??

Howard Hale "The Magic Jeweler" bought Magicland and moved it twice. Then he sold it to a fellow named Mark. It has since closed its doors.

Too bad. It was one of the oldtimers.

Spinnato, thanks for the offer, but my childhood remains firmly fixed between those magical pages, and it's still worth an occasional visit. Bill, thanks for the update.

I completely understand. If you look really, really close you'll see my childhood as well. You're a lucky man. Enjoy.

In case you guys didn't see it, there is a nice story written by Bev Bergeron on page 70 of the January issue of The Linking Ring. I wasn't really aware of the history involved, and it helped me realize just what a large part that great shop played in the role of many aspiring magicians. Thanks Bev.

For a long time, Magicland was in downtown Dallas. It's sign was a well known landmark, and I think it is still there as a protected historical landmark. In the mid/late 1980's it moved to the suburbs area of north Dallas (LBJ and Midway, for you Dallasites). There was a fire not too long after it opened.

I think it was the fire that initiated the sale to Howard Hale, and the store moved to the SE corner of Marsh Lane and Forest Lane. Stayed there a few years, and then Howard Hale sold it to Mark Roberts. The store later moved to the opposite corner of the same intersection (NE corner).

A few months ago I went to the store and it was shut tight. Sad. We do have 2 other shops in the area (Plano and Frisco), but the history of Magicland, and the memories of visits in the early 70's, buying my first fake dog poop (hey, I was a kid then!).... I could go on.

HI SPINNATO,

Somewhere among my books is a brown envelope with a recent catalog from Magicland and one from circa 1953 from Douglas Magicland. They are almost identical except that the newer one deleted the prices and sent me a separate price list. The 1953 Douglas catalog has the prices published with each ad. I remember sending for the Silk 'N Sorcery book by Hugard and two small colored silks. The silks cost 35 cents each and I think the book was $ 2.00...That was a lot of money for a youngster in grade school!!

I would be glad to send you the newer catalog when I find it. I want to keep the old one for sentimental reasons.

Bob

I have a black and white photo somewhere (and the negative) of the sign at Douglas Magicland. It shows a clown popping out of a box and says Douglas Magicland. I took the picture when I visited the shop with my parents on vacation in August 1955. The shop was located at 409 North Ervay Street in downtown Dallas. I was 12 years old and really into magic. The salesman showed me a couple tricks, including the penny to dime and the rising/falling steel ball and tube trick. I bought both of them.

I remember the showroom wasn't too large, about 18 by 20 feet. Various costumes hung on a rack along one wall behind a glass showcase. That's where I saw those tricks displayed. There was also a backroom behind a drawn curtain. That was the stockroom: no one was allowed back there.

If anyone wants a picture of the sign, let me know. I will look in my files for it.

Bob

For all of you not from Dallas - it was a landmark that started many a young man down the right path. Yes it is a sad report but the shop has closed. Last time I was in there it was a pretty sad site. Most of the inventory was old and not much on the shelves. I think the last thing I ordered from them was a Raven PK. Most of the shops are gone. If you get to the Dallas Fort Worth area - the best shop in the metroplex is Magic ETC just west of Downtown Fort Worth. Man are we getting old or what?
JCPENNY
Simply Magic

Several major magicians used to work at Magicland.

Jimmy Wilson -- now known as Mark Wilson -- was a counterman there.

Gloria MarcoM worked there after Tom Palmer (erroneously called Tony Andruzzi) abandoned her and their kids.

Wow I didn't know that. It's been a couple of years since I've been in Dallas but according to these dates, I stopped in at the shop a few months before it closed (had no idea it was to be so) and rummaged through a box of old MUM magazines for sale. Picked up several of them including one with Don Drake on the cover, a VHS tape on Shimada from the 30 something remaining videos, and watched a kid scratch effects off his magic wishlist. He reminded me of myself in Robinson's shop long before he closed his downtown shop to pursue his Collector's Workshop efforts.

This is all news to me.

We're talking about Dallas shops.....I must tell this story........absolutely no embellishments, I promise.....my wife would validate this......a very magical story.........the one and only time I made a magic shop appear:

I live in Tyler, Texas and was a member of IBM ring 266 in the mid-90's..........for a very long time, I would hear guys talk about "Queen of Hearts Magic and costume Shop"- - - - - 'in Dallas'...........those of you who are familiar with the Dalls metroplex know that people outside that area frequently say "in Dallas" when they actually mean in "the metroplex"..........anyway....I'd heard about it for a long time, and my wife and I were going to a wedding one weekend in big "D"......I think we were on Greenville Avenue, but I'm not certain. It's critical to understand that I didn't have the faintest idea where this shop was located......no idea whatsoever...........we were driving along, and were about 4 miles away from the wedding's location, when I just happened to say to her, "You know, for the longest time, I've heard guys talk about Queen of Hearts Magic and Costume shop, and I've never been to it.....I sure wish I knew where it was."...JUST AS I'm coming to a stop at an intersection....I glance to my right at her and looking out the window, sitting right on the corner is a brick bldg. with the words, "Queen of Hearts Magic and Costume Shop" painted on the window, whereupon I say, "It's right there." - - - my wife completely freaked! It was the nearest to a paranormal experience I've ever had in my life.....I have never forgotten it!