I discovered a little known film of the 1932 SAM Convention in Detroit and wrote about it in my Cardopolis Newsletter. Cardopolis Lab 02 to be specific. I thought it an exciting piece of footage because we get to hear the voices of T Nelson Downs, Nate Leipzig and several other prominent magicians. Someone then republished the information on the Thayer Magic Group without mentioning Cardopolis but adding ‘courtesy of David Britland.’ Which was a complete surprise to me since no one asked me about it. Cheeky devil!
One magician who made magic proud was Thomas Nelson Downs. Here is what was published in Cardopolis Lab 02 together with some additional information about T. Nelson Downs, the King of Koins, one of the greatest manipulators the world has ever seen.
FROM CARDOPOLIS LAB 02
Here’s an interesting magic clip. It’s from the SAM Convention in Detroit, 1932. It shows a rather mischievous Tommy Downs, almost clowning around as he tries to make sure he’s in the movie. Later you’ll see him perform the Coin Star. I’ve never been overly convinced by this trick, but I have to say that Downs has a wonderfully light touch compared to others I’ve seen do it. Makes you realise why he was praised for his coin manipulations. Definitely worth paying attention to.
I do recall discussion as to whether ordinary coins were used for this trick or whether you might cheat and wax one of the coins so it stuck to the fingers. I think the coin on Down’s thumb is, let’s say, firmly placed. Oh, and you also hear Downs talk, which was a surprise for me. Also talking on this film, and performing some cigar manipulation, is Nate Leipzig alongside John Mulholland and Paul Noffke. Noffke demonstrates a little card manipulation.
When you click the link that follows, start your viewing at 01:46:35. The magic segment is at the end of a very long news reel collection. Here is the link at the Historic Films Stock Footage site.
SOME THOUGHTS
Much of what I know about T. Nelson Downs comes from the correspondence he had with Eddie McGuire. I delved into this when writing Phantoms of the Card Table (2003) with Gazzo. Downs was very knowledgeable about card magic, but he became famous for his work with coins. He travelled across the world with his coin manipulation act, an act that was praised as the finest of its kind. It was also copied by other performers, some of them, like Talma Mercedes, making a good job of it.
By 1912 Downs had largely retired from variety and was living in Marshalltown, Iowa when he began his correspondence with Eddie McGuire and became acquainted with the Phantom of the Card Table that was Walter Scott. You can get a sense of his character from the correspondence. He was proud to declare his expertise not only on magic but also cardsharping. He wrote to McGuire:
'I’ve read all the books on Card Sharping and I’ve “been there & helped skin ’em,” and I know from experience that the best thing ever invented for advantage playing at cards is “Second” dealing. It beats all the other devices put together for getting “the coin” in any card game for the following obvious reasons:'
And then went on to list why second dealing, Walter Scott's favoured technique, beats all other sleights when cheating at cards. Downs was exceptionally well-informed, and described riffle shuffle chains of the kind we associate with Charles Jordan and the use of eight perfect dovetail shuffles to bring a deck back to its original order. In the letters he writes of his friendship with Dr Elliott andHoudini.
Downs and Houdini had been friends since they met at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, they later worked in many of the same venues across the US. Downs travelled to London in 1899 where his act was very successful and this encouraged Houdini to do the same because one year later, and without a booking to his name, Houdini was in London trying to sell himself as the world's greatest escape artist. They remained in contact for many years, Houdini regularly sending Downs his latest press releases.
On hearing of Houdini's death in 1926, Downs wrote to McGuire: 'I was very sorry to hear of Houdini’s death. Regardless of his faults Houdini was the greatest booster for Magic that ever lived and probably ever will - his early demise will be a great loss to Magic.'
THE LONG NAIL
Downs explained his manipulations in his book Modern Coin Manipulation, published in 1900 while he was still working the act in the theatres. The book contains photographs of Downs’ hands and in them you can see the overly long nail on the little finger of the right hand. There was no mention in the text as to the reason for this oddity. But Willard S. Smith, writing in The Sphinx magazine (October 1950), said, ‘His hands were not overly large and by way of partial compensation he let the nail on his right little finger grow to abnormal length. Perhaps this helped him to backpalm six half-dollars, a feat which he found not at all difficult.’ Looking at the photographs in Modern Coin Manipulation, this might be true.
It's not clear from the photographs in Modern Coin Manipulation whether the nail on Down’s left little finger is also long. I mention this because Downs also used a long nail to maintain a break when performing card magic. See Greater Magic (1945) where Hilliard describes The T. Nelson Downs Speller:
‘I should record here that Mr. Downs makes use of his famous long little finger nail at this point, by inserting it in the break under the Ace of Hearts and then inviting the spectator to cut off a few cards. He holds the pack in such a way that the cut can only be made by the ends and as the spectator takes hold of the cards he tilts the inner end of the eleven pack with his finger nail thus forcing the cut at this point. This is a very useful method of forcing the cut and can be done, even if the performer does not enjoy the use of an elongated horny appendage on his little finger. It is only necessary to hold a break by squeezing a little of the fleshy part of the tip of the little finger in between the two packets, and not to raise the packet perceptibly as the spectator makes the cut.’
Downs refers to a nail break in a letter to Eddie McGuire (November 23rd, 1929) where he gives instructions to hold a break in the deck, adding that ‘I hold this break usually with the L. finger nail.’ It’s not clear whether the ‘L’ means ‘little’ or ‘left.’ Downs also made use of his thumbnail to hide a blob of wax used in a trick and to nick or scrape the edges of cards so they could be located in the deck.
A MAGICAL GIANT
Let’s return to T Nelson Downs and his coin manipulation act 'The Miser's Dream.' There are plenty of accolades from the press about the act, and Downs featured many of them in Modern Coin Manipulation, but the most enthralling account of Downs’ act that I’ve read was by A. J. Essler and published in Top Hat (Issue 5, 1951), the newsletter of the Portsmouth & District Magic Circle.
I have no information on A. J. Essler but his essay is one of a series called Magical Giants of the Past. Essler writes he was around 18 or 19 years old when he saw Downs perform at his local theatre. And that while 30 years may have passed and ‘distance may lend enchantment to the view,’ he says that, ‘Wherever the truth of the matter lies, to me Nelson Downs remains the most outstanding magical performer of my experience.’ Essler’s description, which mentions Downs' voice, continues:
‘Nelson Downs was one of nature’s fortunate beings, in that he possessed all the attributes which make the ideal stage performer. I say nothing at the moment as to his manipulative ability. He had a really fine appearance, and naturally he was perfectly turned out, happiness exuded from him, and perhaps, next to his very great skill with his hands, his truly magnificent voice was his greatest asset.'
‘I have never seen since then anyone who tripped so likely down to the footlights, who seemed to enter upon his (indecipherable faded text) entertaining his audience with such éclat. He seemed to move not to walk: “Ladies and Gentlemen, I will try and amuse you with some tricks in magic, but before doing so, I’ll remove my cuffs, as it is not my intention for to deceive you (notice the odd phrasing: “For to deceive you”), he goes on: “Now may I borrow a hat?” A topper is passed up from the orchestra. “I was going to show you the rabbit trick, but someone said you have seen it before, so instead I’ll tell you the story of a Miser’s Dream.'
‘From this point the classic Aerial Mint, as he reached into the air and caught a silver piece, he conveyed the impression of having actually caught it, sometimes he caught a single piece, at other times a number, then as he took and pushed it through the hat we were certain that it had, in fact penetrated the crown, then his little catchphrase, “Every movement that picture,“ spoken in almost a whisper but this whisper in that wonderful voice could be heard in every corner of the house. The Coin Catching ended, he then proceeded to show a variety of passes, vanishes, productions, the coin passing through the legs, turn over of 90 coins lying on the palm without visible movement of the hand. What an artist? and what perfect enjoyment his act provided he was truly an actor playing the part of a magician.’
When discussing this with Richard Wiseman, Richard asked a good question. Did Downs use music in his act? There’s no mention of music in Modern Coin Manipulation nor any of the press accounts that I’ve seen. But the sound that is mentioned is what one journalist called 'the melodious jingle' of coins as Downs tossed them into a glass or hat or set them tumbling down a coin ladder. When it came to sound, Essler recalled:
‘When Downs was on the stage, you could truly hear a pin drop, there was no intermittent applause, the spectators were too intent to break the silence - and let me say to you young performers, silence indicates attention, let the applause come in its right place, at the end.’
Essler recalled a friend who had also watched Downs. The friend, who ‘disliked all forms of conjuring,’ had unwittingly gone along to the theatre thinking that the ‘Miser’s Dream’ was a theatrical sketch. On meeting the following day, the friend told Essler, ‘I saw one of the finest dramatic performances last night I am ever likely to see, I enjoyed every moment of it.’
At the end of the show, Essler went backstage with several magic buddies and hung out with Downs in his dressing room. ‘He seemed delighted to see us,’ wrote Essler, and asked them to come again and he’d tell them all about the performance he was about to give for some local dignitaries.
‘He showed us everything he could think of in card and coin work, and was quite generous in his praise. One of my friends was really clever with coins and cards, and he had one or two moves that delighted Downs. He was, he said, “Tickled to death with that, I’m sure going to use it, here’s something in exchange."'
The last paragraph of Essler’s essay pays a touching tribute to T. Nelson Downs:
‘There are others who were much more intimate with Downs than I who say that there were better manipulators than he. On that I am unable to offer any decided opinion, I have seen many: Mersano, Allen Shaw, Talma, Fred Harcourt, Cameron, the younger Dobler, and others. They all did excel in some direction, but none had the acting ability, none the sense of timing, none the spirit of sheer joy and none that wonderful voice. No, there was only one King of Koins, and his name was Tommy Downs.’
THE GREATEST BOOK ON MAGIC EVER!
T Nelson Downs stayed at 4 St. Alban's Place, Regent Street when in London. He published the address in Modern Coin Manipulations. It also appears in a series of advertisements he placed in The Sphinx magazine in 1903 and 1904. I discovered this using the Ask Alexander database at the Conjuring Arts Research Centre, a service I can I thoroughly recommend.
Downs was promoting a book to be written in collaboration with British magician G. W. Hunter. Hunter was a successful comedy performer on stage and a pioneer of close-up magic off stage. Max Holden, writing in The Linking Ring (January 1933), praised his card work, with a special mention of Erdnase, saying,
'Now first of all let me explain that Mr. G. W. Hunter is one of the greatest inventive magicians of all times and Mr. Hunter was one of the first magicians to master the Erdnase book. Magicians used to say it was impossible but Mr. Hunter showed that it was.'
The book Downs and Hunter were planning would have made it the largest book on magic published at that time. The advertisement, headed 'Special to the Fraternity,' is tantalising:
'As I am daily in receipt of many inquiries re our new book, I wish to state briefly that I have collaborated with Mr. G. W. Hunter, and we are at present, and have been for some time, very busy writing what we promise will prove positively the greatest and most up-to-date work ever produced on modern magic. The book will contain, amongst other features, a complete and correct explanation of all the programs, exactly as performed by our most eminent magicians since the time of Robert Houdin to date; including those of Bautier DeKolta, Anderson, Verbeck, Jacoby, Guibal, Bertram, Hartz, Fox, Hertz, Nix, etc., etc. These, programs will be described with every attention to detail, and in such a manner that any performer desiring to reproduce them will experience no difficulty in doing so.'
'The book will contain about 700 pages, solid matter, most concisely written: there will be no 'padding' or unnecessary 'patter.' A chapter will be devoted entirely to Handcuff Trix and will contain a biography and sketch of the famous Harry Houdini, written by himself.'
The book was a work in progress and Downs advised not to send any money until it was completed. Unfortunately, the book never appeared.
Wondering what happened to this magnum opus I found a manuscript by G. W. Hunter titled Mystia, which was the name of Hunter's wife. Fergus Roy published this lost manuscript in volume 2 of The Davenport Story: The Lost Legends (2010). Fergus estimates that the manuscript, which is about a 100 pages, was written around 1899. It does contain explanations of programs featured by many famous performers, as mentioned in Downs' advertisement. Was this to be part of Downs' untitled masterpiece? I'll leave that thought with you.