Short childhood anecdote

[Robert Allen]

As a young boy I, as many of us were, was introduced to magic by a magic set. No doubt I browbeat my dad to get me the largest set at the store, probably an Adams kit. Mostly junk. My introduction to magic was when I tried using the "vanisher", which you would all now recognise as a black plastic egg shaped pull.

So I borrow a handkerchief from my father and stuff it in the vanisher. I fiddle with the vanisher, trying to make it work, but despite my best efforts the hank remained visible there inside the "vanisher". Why wasn't it vanishing? Finally in desperation I read the instructions...and learned the shocking truth about magic and magicians. I then pondered how to make the pull work while wearing my traditional boys garb of a horizontally striped T shirt.

Oh well.

[Jonathan Townsend]

What was the first time you saw a magic trick done and you got the feeling - "I am going to learn how to do that - and perused the matter?"

[Robert Allen]

That was too far in the distant past to remember. I DO however recall the first magic book I saw. It was by Ian Adair and was in the library. I have a copy around here somewhere........but I can't find it. I recall it had a photo on the dust jacket of a tube, a silk, maybe a ball and a dove. Inside it had a variety of tricks described. I have no idea what made me look for a book about magic. This was in San Francisco, so I may have seen something on TV, or an ad for the Museum of Witchcraft & Magic on Fishermans Wharf.