This section includes all types of ephemera other than Posters & Showcards and Programmes & Handbills.
The collection is particularly rich in ephemera relating to the Davenports, the Maskelynes and Will Goldston.
The Italian magician Chefalo and his family were great friends with the Davenports. On a visit to the family home, Ivydene, in 1948 George (Gilly) Davenport took some informal photographs showing everyone relaxing and having fun in the back garden. Click on View Details and then download the PDF file to join them.
This shop was opened in the West End of London in 1935, as an outpost of Davenports’ main shop at 15 New Oxford Street. It was managed by Gus Davenport. It had L. Davenport & Co on the frontage, but Davenports also referred to it as Maskelyne’s Mysteries. The Maskelyne name was well known to the public, and the family had recently purchased the rights to it, along with the assets of Maskelyne’s Ltd.
The new shop lasted only nine months. When its closure was announced in the Demon Telegraph there was a cartoon of Gus (also illustrated here) titled Moving Day. It showed Gus pushing a trolley full of Marvellous Mysteries, Scintillating Stunts and Gorgeous Gags.
The wedding took place at St Michael-at-Bowes, Bowes Park, London. Eve was a buyer for Gamages, a large London based department store. The illustrations included here show the main wedding group with their identification.
Gianni Versace designed the wardrobe for David Copperfield’s stage show Beyond Imagination. This well illustrated article shows David Copperfield wearing some Versace designs in company with some well dressed female models.
These seals were found with an advertising leaflet put out by W.R.F. Avery & Co. There are two types of seal, both with the Davenport Demon Series logo in the middle. One had ‘Sugared Almonds Samples’ around the edge, the other ‘Eau de Cologne The Mark of Quality’. We do not know if these seals were samples from Avery, or whether Davenports actually used them on joke products. Either way, it seems likely that Davenports purchased their seals from Avery.
The Avery leaflet is illustrated in View Details. Its purpose was to encourage customers to purchase seals commemorating the coronation of King Edward VIII, which was scheduled for 11 May 1937. Examples of such seals are shown on page 3 of the leaflet. In fact the King abdicated in December 1936, so there was no coronation for him.
The notepaper shows Lewis Davenport on the left. Lewis did the magic. On the right is Dave Dwyer who provided the comedy. Dave was the brother of Julia, Lewis’s first wife, who had recently died.
The full citation is: ‘The world’s oldest family run magic business is Davenports founded in 1898 by Lewis Davenport (UK) at his home on Ryles Road, Plaistow, London, UK.’ The correct spelling of the road name is in fact ‘Riles’.
The Copperfield Bay islands in the Bahamas are covered in this 15 page article. David Copperfield and his fiancée Chloe Gosselin are both featured.
The Daily Star is a red top tabloid. In March 2021 the Ever Given container ship became stuck in the Suez Canal causing huge disruption to the world’s shipping. Uri Geller spotted a publicity opportunity and the headline of the Daily Star was “Help It Round The Bend: spoon botherer Uri Geller needs you – at exactly 11.11am – to use the power of your mind to get this bloody ship shifted. .” The article on page 5, also illustrated, shows that Geller had doubled his chance of success by saying he wanted everyone to visualise the ship moving at 11.11am and 11.11pm today. Unfortunately mind power did not do the trick.
The British Ring usually used The Palace Hotel, Bloomsbury Street, for their Dinners. This event was reported in The Budget for March 1937. The Davenports were there in force. In the front row, from the left, is Wally. his wife Hilda, Gus and then Wyn. In the second row, 8th from the left is Gilly. During the after dinner show Wyn Davenport assisted Brian McCarthy with a silk effect. Gus and Wally Davenport also assisted Levante with a new version of the Block Off Ribbon.
