The Genii Forum

In some of my research for the Magic Reference Pages (http://magicref.tripod.com/books.htm), I have run across books by Don O'Neal of O'Neal Magic, that seem to be exact replicas of U.F. Grant publications. For example, there is a book "Trix With Hares by Don O'Neal", and says "Revised and Published by O'Neal Magic", with no apparent credit to Mr. Grant, yet the contents listing matches exactly with "Trix and Hares" written by Don Tanner for U.F. Grant. Was Mr. O'Neal just republishing Grant's works without credit? None of these books appear to be dated, so it is hard to tell how far apart they were in publishing.

Doug Atkinson

First publishing of Tricks with Hares in 1952 by U.F. Grant (See Ad in The Linking Ring, Vol. 32, no 9, page 140.)

Is it possible that Don Tanner and Don O'Neal are actually the same person?

Also, I didn't mean to be accusatory in asking if O'Neal Magic was republishing Grant's works without credit. It is quite possible O'Neal Magic had permission to do so - I'm just trying to find out if anyone knows of the link between Grant, Tanner, and O'Neal. Even Abbott's often didn't list the author of many of their earlier manuscripts. According to Magicpedia, Grant turned his business over to his daughter Mary Ann King becoming "MAK Magic".

Hi:

Don O' Neal and Don Tanner were most definitely two different people.

Basically, in the early 1970's, Grant Magic was split up into two divisions: "smaller props" were handled by Gen...and the "larger props" were handled by their newly-formed MAK division.

The last U.F. GRANT "Catalog of Popular Magic" was Catalog # 21 (1971).

There afterwards, "Popular Magic" catalogs #22 through #25 (1977)...were issued by the "O'Neal Magic Company".

Mrs. O'Neal helped with the fabric sewing and making the rope tricks.

Don Tanner died in 1981.

May I suggest that you contact the big man himself - Jimmy King, Sr, over at MAK for a first-hand account.

The exact relationship between the 3 divisions: Grant/MAK/O' Neal - gets a little murky, otherwise.

Long time Gen Grant fan,

--Joe Fox

Hi JFox,

As you are a fan of U.F. Grant, have you The Bibliography of UF. Grant by Don Tanner ?

Regards

Hi--I don't have that Bilbio., per se....but I believe that I would have a lot of that information scattered among my notes.

btw - I think that even with the best of intentions, Don Tanner would have been hard pressed to list 100% ALL of the magic inventions & concepts published by Gen Grant during his lifetime.