Who are Thirteen of Magic (Jinx) ?

[Gordon Meyer]

In The Jinx, there are a handful of tricks from "The Thirteen of Magic" -- but Annemann never explicitly lists their names. In The Jinx 86, there are cartoons of the full membership, however.

I see Al Baker (#4 in the graphic I'm attaching) and Annemann (#12). Can you help me identify the other caricatures? Perhaps Christ, Gibson, and Jaks are among them?

Thanks!

http://skitch.com/gordonmeyer/dp1q3/the ... 73-of-1028

[Bill Mullins]

#10 looks like Charles Laughton.

[Gordon Meyer]

Just checking, that's a joke, right? Although in Abra Vol #31 Robert Lund does say that Charles Laughton was a magician. (Let's hear it for Ask Alexander!)

[Bill Mullins]

Well, I don't really think it is a picture of Laughton, but stranger things have happened. . . .

[Gordon Meyer]

Others have suggested that #1 is Bruce Elliot, #5 is John Muhlholland, and #9 is Dr Jacob Daley. (Perhaps #13 is Daley instead.)

What's your best guess?

[Jim Maloney]

I can't seem to load the image -- I get an error stating that it can't connect to the database. Seems to be a problem for all of skitch.com. Is there another place you could put the image?


EDIT: Nevermind, I found it. Issue 86, available @ The Learned Pig Project. :)

-Jim

[Bill Mullins]

I can believe that #5 is Mulholland. But neither #9 or 13 look anything like the picture of Daley in Stars of Magic.

#11 vaguely resembles the picture of Cy Enfield HERE.

Maybe #9 is Paul Curry?

#3 Hen Fetsch?

#8 Will Goldston?

[Richard Hatch]

#12 Audley Walsh?

[Gordon Meyer]

Thanks! (And that's a nice site of photos, Bill.)

Annemann was a member, and I think 12 must be him due to lack of other good candidates, but here is the assembled tally so far. Each one should be envisioned as having a "?" after it.

1 - Bruce Elliot
2
3 - Hen Fetsch / Ross Bertram
4 - Al Baker
5 - John Muhlholland
6
7
8 - Will Goldston
9 - Dr Jacob Daley / Paul Curry / S Leo Horowitz
10
11 - Cy Enfiield
12 - Annemann / Audrey Walsh / John Scarne
13 - Dr Jacob Daley

http://skitch.com/gordonmeyer/dp1q3/the ... 73-of-1028

[Philippe Billot]

I think N 12 is Audley Walsh because the carricature looks like the photo of him, page 563 of The Jinx.

[gfajuri]

10 looks more like Mulholland to me.

9 looks like a bad caricature of Houdini's brother, Hardeen.

2 looks a bit like Horace Goldin.

[Gordon Meyer]

I agree about the resemblance, but if #12 is Walsh, which one is Annemann?

[Philippe Billot]

N 6 ?

[Gordon Meyer]

#6 could be Annemann, he did perform in a turban early in his career, according to Abram's book.

[Joe Pecore]

Could #10 be Richard Himber? http://cardstarlifestyle.com/?p=333

[Philippe Billot]

Who think N 2 could be Walter Gibson ?

[Gordon Meyer]

Thanks, Gabe, Joe, and Phillipe.

I could see the point that #10 could be Himber.

I would certainly expect Walter Gibson to be among the 13, but based on a younger photo, I'd guess #11.

http://dialbforblog.com/archives/112/walter_gibson.gif

Henry Christ is probably here too, anyone have a candidate for which drawing represents him? Could it be #7, which so far nobody has identified?

[Joe Pecore]

Henry Christ photo here if it helps anyone: http://www.magicnook.com/forum/biopics/Christ_Henry.jpg.

Looks like to #12 to me, but that doesn't help as you have a lot of candidates for that one :)

[Philippe Billot]

N 7 can't be Henry Christ because his ears are larger on the photo than on the picture.

Personally, I'm not physiognomist but a good drawer can help us.

[Gordon Meyer]

Wow, thanks for finding that photo, Joe. #12 sure does look a lot like Christ, other than Al Baker, that might be the strongest resemblance yet.

[Eric Fry]

Consdering how prevalent moustaches were in those days, it's odd that only Turban Guy has one. Only two wear glasses, which leaves out a lot of people.

Is No. 8 supposed to be a person in costume as a Chinese magician? Al Baker wore glasses, so No. 5 seems to be out for him. No. 5 looks too old and haggard for Mulholland. Daley wasn't bald and didn't have a unibrow or fleshy lips. I don't see No. 13 for him.

I wonder if No. 4 is Percy Abbott.

[Jonathan Townsend]

Maybe they are all Lon Chaney?

Or perhaps one of them is Erdnase?

Are any of them Hirshfields?

[Philippe Billot]

Percy Abbott is on the cover of Genii, Vol. 13, no. 10, june 1949.

If someone can check.

Also see the photo, page 653 of The Jinx. There are Lyons Vosburgh, Ted Annemann, Rawson Clayton and Walter Gibson.

Perhaps this can help.

[Joe Pecore]

If the drawing was portraying how they looked at the time of the publication, here are the approximate ages of some of the proposed magicians as they would have been in 1938:

Bruce Elliot: 22
Hen Fetsch: 26
Ross Bertram: 26
Al Baker: 64
John Muhlholland: 40
Will Goldston: 60
Dr Jacob Daley: 41
Paul Curry: 21
S Leo Horowitz: 44
Cy Enfiield: 24
Annemann: 31
Audrey Walsh : 44
John Scarne: 35
Dr Jacob Daley: 41
Lyons Vosburgh: 46
Walter Gibson: 41
Horace Goldin: 65
Hardeen: 62
Richard Himber: 32
Henry Christ: 35

Not sure if this helps or not.

[Gordon Meyer]

Keep in mind that this was Annemann's inner circle. In the Jinx, he describes them all getting together on more than one occasion. So this would logically eliminate some of the wild guesses. Think NYC and east coast magicians from that era. Over 90% of travel in the US, at that time, was by train.

But don't let me discourage you from playing, by all means. :)

Joe, the age list is interesting all by itself. I know I tend to think of past magicians as being frozen in a certain era. Thanks for doing the research to put that together.