Crackerjack!

[Mark.Lewis]

Roger has been asking quite a few questions about Crackerjack, which is a television programme I appeared on with some frequency in, I think, the early seventies. For some reason I haven't mentioned it once in my upcoming memoirs, "The Lives of a Showman" (The title should be credited to David Ben). No doubt the reason I haven't mentioned it is because of my innate modesty.

Anyway here is Roger's latest question:
................................................................

Getting back to Crackerjack, am I right that Harold Taylor was also a regular on the show? I wonder if Americans even know who Harold "Three trick" Taylor was. As a child I recall putting the lining of the outside of an egg in vinegar in preparation for Max Sterling's egg on fan.....one of Harold's favourites. My mother, who Ronnie has met and is still alive at 97, thought I was really quite odd. My mother actually thought Ronnie was very good at card tricks, so I think she would be mortified if she thought Ronnie was possibly going to be banned from this forum for being outspoken. My mother has always been outspoken, and that is why she still has a zest for living at 97! JR
................................................................

First I would like to know what your mother credits to her long life. My own doctor tells me that I am liable to have a stroke or heart attack if I don't take his horrible poisonous blood pressure pills. He keeps chattering about the benefits versus the risks and I tell him that I am the one taking the risk and the greedy drug company gets the benefit.

As for Harold Taylor he was indeed a regular on Crackerjack but way before my time. As I stated they got bored with John Wade and refused to use him any more and poor Ali Bongo tried like mad to get on the show bombarding the producer with literature but I put paid to that and I shall no doubt tell the story of my wickedness regarding that later in this thread.

Harold "three tricks" Taylor was a fine showman and indeed well known in North America because of all the frequent lectures he did over here. At one point he was denied entry into the USA when he tried to cross the border from Canada. Some twit of a magician was with him and when the border official asked him what he was doing in America the twit said, "This is the famous Harold Taylor who is going to be lecturing to magicians" Since he wasn't supposed to be working he was banned from entering. And he isn't the first one.

You can get into a lot of trouble entering foreign countries without work permits. Tim Ellis take note and print out that website thing I gave you for which you haven't thanked me yet.

[Jolly Roger]

Interesting! So,are there any Americans on here who remember Harold Taylor? He was a fine showman, but always came across as very camp with his fancy jackets and ponsey golden white hair. However, he often talked about "Presh" who I presume was his wife. I would say that there was a time in England that if you were to ask the general public to name a famous magician besides David Nixon, the answer would have been Harold Taylor. JR

[Mark.Lewis]

I don't think the public had ever really heard of Harold Taylor to any great extent but they had certainly heard of David Nixon who was very famous indeed and actually my favourite magician besides myself. The odd thing is that though David Nixon was a household name in Britain hardly anyone over here would have heard of him and in fact Harold Taylor would be far more well known among Americans and Canadians that Nixon ever was.

[Tom Ecclestone]

Mark, were you an associate producer on Crackerjack?

[espermachine]

Harold Taylor (of whom I am a huge fan after first reading his old Magigram articles) discusses how he got the Crackerjack gig in one of his lectures. He did the old stunt of vanishing a pencil behind his ear and it impressed the show's producer.

By the way, if anybody has Harold's 1982 lecture notes for sale "Magic As Entertainment" (the notes published by Supreme, not the later self-published biography) please let me know!

Harold and Mark's stint is a bit before my time... If I remember correctly, wasn't The Great Soprendo the featured magician on Crackerjack in the 80s?

[Mark.Lewis]

Mark, were you an associate producer on Crackerjack?

Good heavens no! I wonder what brought that on.

[Mark.Lewis]

Harold Taylor was a fine showman and I did see him work. It is interesting to relate what a night club owner said to me about him. The guy's name was Jimmy Jacobs and he owned a strip club called the Gargoyle in Soho. He was a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats and a friend of David Berglas I remember. I worked in his strip club (as a magician I hasten to add) for several months and I remember the night that Jay Marshall and Billy McComb came in to watch me but that is another story. On another night Billy took me over to meet Al Koran at the place Billy was working but that is another story still.

Anyway Jimmy Jacobs was advising me on my act and used Harold Taylor as an example. He said "Harold is a TERRIBLE magician, but oh the charm!"

I remember years ago irritating Harold Taylor as I tend to irritate everybody but that is another story still.

As for Crackerjack the reason I got on the show was that a supposed BBC producer came in to a night club I was working and he got a little tipsy with drink and I showed him some card tricks. I say "supposed" BBC producer because in the light of subsequent events I am not sure he was.

Anyway he told me to call Peter Whitmore the producer and mention his name. I did so but was surprised that Peter had never heard of him. I remember being quite surprised that I got through to a television producer so easily since this was a national television show. Anyway Peter asked me to come down to the television studio which I did. I showed him a few card tricks and whenever I do that I am always in. So he booked me on the spot and I was on many times.

AFter I was on a couple of times the negativity from Ali Bongo and John Wade quite surprised me. They were upset that I was taking work away from them whereas in actual fact the producer didn't want them anyway. When I am in the mood I will tell you all about it. Mind you I retaliated with Ali Bongo and he ended up with steam coming out of his ears. As I have always said you don't mess with grafters.

[Jolly Roger]

Funny stuff Ronnie! I have some very early lecture notes of Harold Taylor, signed by him. I would say they were mid-sixties called "The angle of a pro." When I was at boarding school, in the early 1960's I corresponded with Harold about his thoughts on me becoming a professional magician. I still have the correspondence. He was very encouraging, and I followed his advice with the result that I have been a professional magician ever since........except when I was a grafter! JR

[Mark.Lewis]

I wandered into the Magic Circle and John Wade was there. I had met him on two previous occasions but he didn't remember me. I was quite taken aback on those two occasions to find out how obnoxious he was especially since he was such a good performer with a lovely personality on stage. He was quite rude to me on those two occasions but I never answered him back because I was young and shy. Nowadays I would have told him to go and play in the traffic.

He called me over and yelled to everyone in sight, "This is the fellow who is taking away the work of pros" Of course he had been on Crackerjack a few times and had suddenly been dropped because of his hackneyed material but I had no idea of this at the time.

He called Billy McComb over and started to berate me in front of him but Billy to his credit didn't respond negatively and explained to Wade that I was a night club magician and not an amateur.

The incident reminded me of the old showbusiness saying, "Never be nasty to people on the way up because you might meet them on the way down"

Ali Bongo was even worse. He hadn't even been on the programme but the producer told me that Ali had bombarded him with literature. When I met Ali he was very negative and full of criticism and I realised even then that it was pure jealousy that I was on the show. This was way before Ali made television connections of his own.

He told me that he didn't like the table that the BBC supplied and he thought it should be dressed in a fancier manner. He was full of other criticisms and he topped it off by saying, "I don't think the show is very well produced anyway"

The next day Peter Whitmore the producer phoned me about something or other and he asked me if I had received any feedback about my work on the show. I told him Ali Bongo had given me feedback whereupon he asked me what was said. I told Peter a little of what Ali had said and mentioned he didn't like the BBC table. Peter responded, "I don't agree. Surely the more mundane your props are the more effective you are" I actually agree with this and it should be remembered that I was doing close up magic on the programme and this dictum is very wise in that context.

I then put the nail in Ali's coffin by saying, "Ali doesn't think the show is well produced anyway" Since Peter was the producer that put paid to Ali's potential career with Crackerjack. Whitmore said to me, "Well you tell Ali Bongo that you have been on the show 4 times already and he hasn't been on once!"

A week or so later I met Ali in Davenports and decided to have some fun. I said "Oh, Peter Whitmore of Crackerjack mentioned you the other day" Ali got all excited and started to beam with pleasure saying, "What did he say?" I responded, "Well, I told him what you thought of the show and the way I worked" His face fell and he said "Well, you shouldn't have done that" I continued, "Well, I told him that you said the show was badly produced". He went red in the face and I thought he was going to explode. I continued, "He told me to give you a message". Ali brightened at that thinking that Peter was going to say something nice. I continued "He told me to tell you that I have been on the show four times and you haven't been on once yet so I should take no notice of you."

Poor Ali went nuts. He stomped his feet on the floor just like a woman and got very angry saying, "How dare you stir things up for me!" I merely looked all innocent and said "I only told the truth. You did say those things, didn't you?"

Alas poor Ali didn't see it my way at all.

As I said you don't mess with grafters.

[Tim Ellis]

That's an excellent example - in light of the current criticism of Shawn's appearance on the Ellen show - as to why not to jump on the criticism bandwagon.

[Mark.Lewis]

I realise that. And that is the reason why I am filled with remorse over it. Mind you, I think I was right.

[Dale Shrimpton]

you know, this stuff is facinating.

I wonder how many guys reading this in the U.S, apreciate just how big Crackerjack was.

[Hamp]

I certainly do since I was on the production staff! And yes, Ronnie McLeod was on the show several times as was Harold Taylor. He was on four times altogether. If you look at the link to this schedule you will see his name at 31st August 1969. I do know that he was also on a week later with Amen Corner although his name is not listed in the entry for that date.

http://hardprog.pagesperso-orange.fr/cr ... e_2291.htm

[performer]

I certainly do since I was on the production staff! And yes, Ronnie McLeod was on the show several times as was Harold Taylor. He was on four times altogether. If you look at the link to this schedule you will see his name at 31st August 1969. I do know that he was also on a week later with Amen Corner although his name is not listed in the entry for that date.

http://hardprog.pagesperso-orange.fr/cr ... e_2291.htm

Good heavens! I have only just noticed this post from last year!

[performer]

I just heard that Crackerjack is making a return to British television! How interesting!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dd ... n2zL-4GeP0

[Leo Garet]

I just heard that Crackerjack is making a return to British television! How interesting!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dd ... n2zL-4GeP0

Indeed.

Although more accurately, it seems that something with the same name and a few nods to the original programme is on its way.

[performer]

The host on my show was Michael Aspel. He was a real gentleman and didn't try to take the limelight away as so many TV hosts do. Is he still around? I remember he was older than me so perhaps he isn't any more.

I still remember Peter Glaze who was on the old show glaring at me viciously and muttering something under his breath. I had no idea what I had done to upset him so I asked Michael "What did he say? He looks annoyed" The reply was "oh, he just said, "damn magician taking up some of my performance time" It seems that to accommodate my few minutes they had to cut some of his time! Michael did look suitably embarrassed when he told me!