The Cambridge Pentacle Club, founded in 1919, introduced this badge in 2022. This particular badge belongs to John Davenport.
Non-apparatus
This is an Edison Bell Radio record, Magical Problems Series. Side 89367 is No. 5, Copper and Silver. Side 89368 is No. 6, Cutting the Cards. The Davenport Collection also has an electronic file of the content.
This is an Edison Bell Radio record, Magical Problems Series. Side 89373 is No. 3, Under a Hat. Side 89374 is No. 4, The Coin and the Glass. The Davenport Collection also has an electronic file of the content.
Manufactured by Weyhing Bros. Mfg. Co., Detroit, Michigan, USA. The company was a well known manufacturer in the heart of Detroit since 1903 producing custom made badges, jewelry, and awards. We have two badges, only one of which is in the original Weyhing envelope.
These 40 or so blocks look brand new and it is clear they have not been used to print anything. It seems they must be spare blocks, in case they were needed during the print-run of the book. The images shown here include the halftone blocks for Robert Harbin and Charles Bertram. There is also a PDF which lists all of the magicians included on these blocks and explains how the pages of illustrations were printed.
Davenports made great use of printed matter and used to print much of it themselves. A selection of printing blocks is shown in the PDF which can be accessed by viewing the details of this item. The PDF also includes two cutters: one for a rabbit shape and one for a top hat shape.
This plate has multiple images on it, one of which has been sawn out, presumably for use in some promotional material. The largest image shows Lewis in a pose which was used on the letterhead of ‘Les Davenports’ notepaper, item N2718 which is also illustrated here. This act was formed after the death of Lewis’s first wife, Julia. The act consisted of Lewis who provided the magic and Julia’s brother, Dave Dwyer, who provided the comedy.
Gus Davenport became involved in creating and selling premium lines for a number of companies, including the large breakfast cereal companies. Smaller customers sometimes required inexpensive magic tricks and puzzles. So this collection was printed on one sheet prior to the individual items being stamped out. With simple instructions they made a successful popular give-away.
Davenports made their own conjurers wax, and even in the 1990s the family was selling it in these tins which originally contained anti-dim cloth that was used during World War II for gas masks.
The UK TV licencing company sent out this note to advertise the fact that a paper licence was no longer needed. One side of the note says ‘Make your paper licence magically disappear!’ The other side includes the instructions as to how you can scrunch your TV licence into a tight ball and then magically make it vanish.
The display card carries the message: ‘ “Please remember Paul by wearing this badge and supporting vital brain tumour research.” Debbie McGee.’ www.braintumourresearch.org.
The International Brotherhood of Magicians British Ring held their 8th Annual Convention at Malvern in 1938. On Friday 24 June the Davenport family took a 16mm colour film of Les Levante escaping from a straitjacket whilst suspended from the roof of the Festival Theatre. This stunt was arranged to provide publicity for the convention’s public magic show.