Are you a member of The Magic Circle?

[mrgoat]

LOL @ the goat. Like I suggested, posting under a pseudonym is a bit of a safety blanket for those who are prone to be obnoxious and unreasonably argumentative. Thanks for proving my point.

You prove your point with many of your own posts, darling.

I am fairly sure in real life you aren't as humourless, patronising or deliberately miss points in order to give yourself some kind of odd self worth.

So your primary point didnt concern the safety differences between in-person and online interaction? Okay ...

My primary point, and I find it hard to believe you are really struggling with this, was that many people recommend the use of pseudonyms online. That's it. Nothing to do with offline life.

I can draw a picture if you still don't get it. Let me know.

so since logic and reason will not work with you, theres no point in pursuing your comments in detail, since youre never mistaken or misinformed.

Why do you consistently waste your time with me then? I view you as entertainment. You clearly view me as an annoyance. So just ignore me. Easy :)

[Mark.Lewis]

I am sure the deterioration of this thread was planned all along by Jolly Roger. He knew it would descend into madness when he made his first post. All we need now is Munton's presence to kill it off altogether.

[Jolly Roger]

I am sure the deterioration of this thread was planned all along by Jolly Roger. He knew it would descend into madness when he made his first post. All we need now is Munton's presence to kill it off altogether.

Nonsense McLewis. You are the one who keeps derailng the thread, and going off topic. You always were a scoundral, but I had hoped you would have mellowed in your old age. The fact that you say you used to attend the Circle when it was at Chenies Mews makes me think that you were once a member. Why did you allow your membership to lapse, or were you thrown out like Michael Vine and Andrew O'Connor? JR

[Mark.Lewis]

You know perfectly well that I was thrown out and the very fact that you just mentioned it proof of my contention that you wish to cause mischief.

I shall try and remember the reason I was thrown out. It was about 40 years ago and Bobby Bernard told me that they would never forget. Regrettably I think they have so I feel bound to remind them. One of my friends in Toronto finds it highly amusing and indeed refreshing that I am so proud of being thrown out of the Magic Circle. Canadians don't get a lot of fun so I was happy to amuse him with this information.

I think at that time I had moved to Blackpool and couldn't be bothered with the Magic Circle any more on the grounds that there was no point since I would no longer be able to attend. However I was working at the Ideal Homes Exhibition in London lasted around a month. I think I may even have been working with you there at the time. I therefore decided to attend for one month only. However some officious toffee nosed twit with a three piece suit which was the Magic Circle uniform at the time kept after me saying that I would have to pay my yearly subscription there and then or I would not be allowed to visit for a month. He was quite adamant that I would have to leave unless I gave him money.

I therefore did what any grafter worth his salt would have done. I scammed them. I pleaded poverty and offered them a post dated cheque for 4 weeks ahead which they reluctantly accepted. So naturally when the month was up and I had my value from visiting every Monday I naturally stopped the cheque.

Paul Gordon would have been about eight years old at the time. I probably sold his mother a svengali deck at the Ideal Homes Exhibition and as a result inflicted him on the world of magic. I also did that with Kimmo's mother and at least John has expressed his gratitude unlike Paul.

Someone sent me an e-mail about young Gordon and informed me that he performed in an arrogant manner calculated to show his superiority. I don't know if this is true but if it is he should immediately go to my Bored Stiff thread and read my defensive resentment theory and learn to do the job properly.

[Jolly Roger]

I have known Bobby Bernard for much of my life. He is one of the most knowledgable minds in magic. If any of you care to ask him about Roger Blakiston, he will tell you more about me than I know about myself! What some may not know is that many years ago he was made manager of the magic department at Hamleys. He was actually appointed to that position by our good friend Ron MacMillan. At that time, little Martin MacMillan who was still a child(although is probably now older than Paul Gordon) was working alongside me and Bobby pitching Svengalis and other items. The point of all this is so you know that at one time in his life Bobby was a grafter like me and McLewis. I always thought that grafters stuck together, but obviously that was not so in the case of your good self and Bobby Bernard. You must have done something really bad to have been thrown out of the Circle. I wonder what it was? Surely, it was worse than the scamming tale related in your post above.

Anyhow, I am a huge fan of The Magic Circle, and always have been. I believe it is the best and most prestigeous magic society on the planet. Jack Delvin, the current president, knows me very well. He actually took over the children's entertainment business in London of Phil Derrick, who was the man who changed my career from full time adult magician to full time children's entertainer. However......I am giving you all way too much information for this post to be of any more interest to all but a few. JR

[Mark.Lewis]

Bobby was never a grafter. Far too honest I am afraid. Honesty is NOT the best policy in the grafting business. And to prove it Ron had his worst year ever in Hamley's when Bobby became manager. It was an unmitigated disaster.

I didn't know Jack Delvin was the president. I knew him well. He would probably let me back in now even though I wouldn't dream of joining that toffee nosed place again full of incompetent card magicians and geriatrics. Actually Jack Delvin must be even more ancient than Anthony Brahams. I well remember Jack telling me that he was forty donkey's years ago when I was far younger than that. He said he was delighted to be forty and that the old saying that life begins at forty is quite true. He said, "you have figured out what you want to do and where you want to go. You have given up your wilder ambitions and life now begins"

Not for me of course. I am still pursuing my wilder ambitions.

Real grafters do stick together. All my closest friends have been grafters. Terry who stole your display stand is my closest friend and he has never done any other occupation since he met me when he was 16 years old.

I remember Terry running across a field with a policewoman chasing after him and he pushed her and she ended up in the mud. When he got to the other side of the field a police car was waiting for him. The lazy cop didn't get out though. Terry ran along the pavement and the car just caught up with him so he ran again and the car kept driving alongside him. The cop was far too lazy to get out of the car and bring Terry in so he wound down his window saying, "It's no good running son. You may as well give up. You can't outrun a car you know"

And so Terry ended up in the police station for the awful crime of flypitching. I am not going to explain what flypitching is since various stuffy members of the magic circle who look in here will have a heart attack. One unfriendly cop snarled at Terry saying, "Do you like hitting women?" referring to the silly policewoman who ended up in the mud. But then another friendly policeman said "I heard you can make a lot of money doing what you do. There was a lad in here last week and he said he made 500 quid a day. Do you make that kind of money?" I think he was contemplating another profession.

Anyway those are the sort of friends I have. People who know how to lie, cheat and steal. Why would I want to go to the Magic Circle where they are all stuffy snobs who have never learned to be good thieves?

[Jolly Roger]

Anyway those are the sort of friends I have. People who know how to lie, cheat and steal. Why would I want to go to the Magic Circle where they are all stuffy snobs who have never learned to be good thieves?

Not entirely true, Ronnie. I neither lie, cheat, or steal, and I am a snob...although I am definitely not stuffy! I consider you a friend, and I trust the feeling is mutual. However, I am really upset that Terry still has my display stand from Woolworths in Oxford Street. Nobody else here knows what we are talking about, but as it was about 40 years ago, I suppose I can forgive him and he can keep the bloody stand. JR

[magicam]

My primary point ... was that many people recommend the use of pseudonyms online. That's it. ...

If that was your primary point, I think its fair to say you dont write very clearly.

... You clearly view me as an annoyance. ...

Rest assured, though, its nothing personal I feel the same way about all trolls, and there is a special place on this board just for your type.

[Mark.Lewis]

Roger. Terry stole your display stand only around 25 years ago. Therefore you are cheating in your description so that takes care of one of one of the provisos concerning lying, cheating and stealing. You stole the display stand from Woolworths before Terry stole it from you in return. So that takes care of the stealing requirement. And you once told me that you were well organised and I actually believed it until your mother snorted, "ROGER??? WELL ORGANISED? NONSENSE!" So that takes care of the telling lies department.

You are indeed not stuffy in the slightest despite being enthusiastic about the rather dreadful Magic Circle. But then you can't be a grafter and be stuffy. In point of fact you are one of the only two posh grafters I have ever met. Nelson Holt was the other one and he talked even posher than the Queen.

[Jolly Roger]

Game, set and match to McLewis. I surrender. However, do you remember David Cronin? He was a grafter, and a little bit posh. Here is an example of my poshness:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 604&hl=en#

JR

[Mark.Lewis]

I do remember David Cronin the master grafter. He sold a magic set to the Queen in Harrods.

[Ian Kendall]

I remember David well. Always in the same pinstripe suit.

Take care, Ian

[Mark.Lewis]

Always. I expect it wasn't exactly the same suit but it was always pin striped. He worked for Roger for a time. He was the master of the "blink fake". Since most of you have led sheltered lives you will not know what the "blink fake" is. It sounds like a magic trick but it isn't. I have no energy to explain what it actually is.

David was Mr Magic of Harrods department store. Possibly the poshest store in the world. He was posh enough to work it but not quite as posh as Roger. Mind you he was suited to that environment more than Roger who is far more flamboyant. As for me I would have lasted precisely 5 minutes in there.

Talking about Harrods reminds me of something involving the aforementioned Terry. He was my star pupil in the University of Evil. The only one of my many workers who went on to become a full time grafter working other products. He is now one of the top grafters in the UK. He has done no other work since he left school and that was 32 years ago. I am proud to have brought him into the business.

Anyway here is the story. He decided one Christmas to sell magic in a shopping mall. However the mall insisted on all sorts of red tape. Grafters and red tape do not go together very well since we are independent spirits. Part of the red tape was that Terry had to submit photographs of his display and it was advised that it should be colourful and attractive enough to come up to the mall's strict standards. Terry had no such display. You are somewhat limited when all you are selling is a lousy pack of cards and a scruffy looking magic worm.

However he knew who did have a wonderful and colourful display. The magic department in Harrods which was run my Marvin's Magic. I have done business with Marvin Berglas in the past but he didn't know Terry at all. Anyway Terry went down with a camera to Harrods and told the poor soul behind the counter that he had been sent by Marvin to take photos of the department. The poor innocent was not wise in the ways of grafters so naturally he went along with it. Terry snapped away and probably held up business for about 20 minutes for which Marvin will send him a bill if he ever reads this. Terry then submitted those pictures to the mall who were daft enough to believe it.

Terry then signed a contract with the mall for the Christmas season. Of course when they saw his rather less salubrious display eyebrows were raised but by that time he was already in there drawing crowds and entertaining people. Besides he had signed a contract. Terry is a much more affable person than me so was able to establish a good relationship with the mall.

Naturally I told Marvin because I knew it would annoy him. Some of you may have noticed that I take great delight in annoying people. In fact one twit has been so annoyed by me that he has take to making all sorts of false accusations on facebook and other places. He will be hearing from my solicitor next week. You don't mess with grafters.

Anyway Marvin was not pleased and steam came out of his ears. He told me to inform Terry of his somewhat negative opinion. Naturally I did and Terry roared with laughter. We grafters have very thick skins.

Anyway that gives you some idea of the mentality of grafters. We are among the most street wise of all the professions. You will all read about the business and all the interesting characters in it in my upcoming memoirs-"The Lives of a Showman"

[Jolly Roger]

Years ago, Marvin Berglas saw me pitching Svengalis at Hamleys. He told me he had a father called David, who I might know. I did. Marvin knew little about magic at that time. He was running a company selling an ink drawing board. However, he seemed fastcinated I was able to take so much money selling a magic product. A year later, Marvin's Magic was created, and the rest is history! JR

[Mark.Lewis]

Typical Roger claiming he started the Marvin Berglas empire.
Actually I used to do business with Marvin years ago. We would have a sort of exchange programme like universities do with their students. I would send my people over to work for Marvin in England and in turn Marvin would send his people over to Ireland to work for me.

It was of mutual benefit to us. He would get sharp grafters who knew what was what and of course this helped his business and I would get honest people who were brainwashed in a corporate type manner and that helped my business.

I used to buy his awful drawing board things and the bastard things leaked like crazy and didn't last a week when people got them home. I told his father David that since Marvin was scamming the public my opinion of him had gone up very much indeed. I am afraid David didn't see the humour.

One day when I am in the mood I will relate a story about the aforementioned Terry and how he fooled David Berglas and David still doesn't know about it to this day. He wouldn't even know what I am talking about if he read this here. And I am not going to tell it for now.