The bill includes Lewis Davenport presenting a series of bewildering novelties supported by Winifred Wynne & Co.
Posters & Showcards
The majority of posters in the collection are theatre posters. These are either letterpress posters for variety theatres, or pictorial posters for a single magician or show.
A small number of other posters advertise books, exhibitions or events such as conferences.
To search for a specific date use the format 10 October 1924.
Chris Charlton tops a variety bill.
The bill includes Lewis Davenport Magician.
The image shows Mr. Fleming Norton acting the part of Mr. Samuel Spivins in his musical and mimetic entertainment ‘Mr. Perkins’s Pic-nic’. The lithograph is signed Alfred Concanen, a leading lithographer of the Victorian era. We know that Norton performed Mr. Perkins’s Picnic at the Egyptian Hall in 1874. However, this poster has the handwritten date 1869 without a mention of the venue. Fleming Norton also appeared at the Egyptian Hall under the Maskelyne banner in 1886 when he and Charles Bertram took over from Maskelyne and Cooke who went on a provincial tour.
Presented by Piatnik. The poster is signed by Magic Christian.
The bill includes Gus Davenport, immaculate magic.
The date of the poster is not known, but it will be 1918 or later. This poster is in poor condition. The image here has been digitally enhanced. Maskelyne’s Theatre of Mystery is St. George’s Hall in London.
Davenports owned the magazine Abracadabra at this point. This Abracadabra poster was used by Bill and Roy Davenport to advertise their show at the 1985 Edinburgh Fringe.
The poster highlights The Uncanny Woman in a new show. This illusion makes use of a Walter Jeans invention.
The Davenports were Lewis Davenport and his first wife Julia. Julia did magic in the act, rather than acting solely as an assistant.