Scottish Association of Magical Societies
History
The story of the Scottish Association of Magical Societies
In 1949, Max Raskin, a
member of Paisley Magic Circle, discussed, with any one who would listen,
his idea of setting up an association of magical clubs in Scotland. He soon
had the members of Paisley Magical Society, as it was at that time,
convinced that this was a good idea and received their full support. The
club decided to go ahead with the idea and invited Max to contact all the
magical clubs in Scotland on their behalf. Max was soon writing to all the
clubs with a request that they contact him if they were interested. The
clubs contacted were Aberdeen Magical Society, Dundee Magic Circle,
Edinburgh Institute of Magicians, Edinburgh Magic Circle, Kirkcaldy Magic
Circle, Kilmarnock Magic Circle, Paisley Magic Circle, Perth Magic Circle
and Scottish Conjurers' Association. Due to the response Max soon arranged
a meeting where delegates could discuss the formation of an
Association
On the 16th December 1951 delegates from Dundee Magic
Circle, Edinburgh Institute of Magicians, Kirkcaldy Magic Circle, Kilmarnock
Magic Circle, Paisley Magical Society, and Perth Magic Circle all attended
the meeting. It was agreed to form an Association of magical clubs, which
would be known as S.A.M.S. short for The Scottish Association of Magical
Societies.
A number of conditions were set. These included:-
1) SAMS
would help to unite all Scottish magical clubs without interfering with
their separate identities.
2) It was also agreed that only clubs could
be members of SAMS. It was at this meeting that the first officials of SAMS
were elected.
President Max Raskin, Vice President James Hynd Treasurer
David Kelly.
A follow up meeting was arranged for 24th February 1952.
This must have been a busy time for an association just having its second
meeting as they agreed to publish a SAMS magazine, with John Geddes as its
editor, and also arranged to have a magical convention in that same year.
Convention organisers were appointed. These were Registration Officer Dr. G.
H. Browne, Gala Show Organiser Capt. G. H. Smith, Accommodation and Catering
Officer Jim Hynd, Press, Publicity and Dealers Organiser John Geddes. To
help ensure a good convention Harold McMillan and Max Raskin presented cups
for competitions. The McMillan Shield was awarded for a Stage act and the
Max Raskin cup for best children's act. The only restriction was that all
competitors must be members of a Scottish Magic Club.
The
convention took place in the Station Hotel, Kirkcaldy on the 13th-15th June
1952. Registration was fifteen shillings for members of a Scottish magic
club ( = 80p by 1999) and eighteen shillings for non members of a magic club
( = 90p by 1999). Bed and breakfast in the Station Hotel was sixteen
shillings (=80p by 1999). A full report of the convention can be read in
SAMS magazine issue 1 number 5/6. Reporters included G. M. Browne, Tom
Harris, Ed Garson and Martin Miller. In this report we read that a
children's show was organised and the following were the performers:- Tom
Harris, John Geddes, Bill Given, Tricado & Willie, Douglas Swanson,
Madam Rala, Arthur Leo and Miss Zarina. The Gala show had Jack House as
compere, Bill Milligan, Marko (Harry Carnegie), John Geddes, McClelland,
Zarina's, Zanda, Tom Harris and Fred Gordon. As an after thought a late
night show was organised starting at midnight and running till three a.m.
The late team performers included Tom Harris, John Warrander, Louis Hister,
John Geddes, John Ramsay, Ken Brooks, Bill Burnside and Max Raskin. Is it
any surprise that the show lasted three hours?
The first convention
was such a success that the club delegates decided to organise another one.
As part of a celebration, SAMS decided to have a special get-together which
was organised by The Edinburgh Institute of Magicians on 19th October 1952.
Representatives from all but one club attended. There is no record of which
club, only that one club was missing. This was soon followed by a Dinner in
Station Hotel, Kirkcaldy on February 1953. The toastmaster was John Geddes
who introduced the special guests, Provost James Young and John Ramsay.
After dinner a cabaret was presented by John Geddes who introduced Bill
Milligan, John Ramsay, Radeen and June, Max Raskin, Louis Hister, George
Barrand and Ian Spark.
The first issue of SAMS magazine was published
in March 1952, and proved a great success with the club magicians. The first
Editor was John Geddes.
The Editor's chair was
occupied over the years by John Geddes, Tom Johnston and Eddie Dawes. These
editors were to give the members reports of the actions of the SAMS
committee, review new magical effects, provide space for the magical dealers
to advertise their wares, the historians the chance to share their
knowledge, information of future SAMS convention, reports of magical club
activities, full reports on SAMS convention for the members who could not
attend and many other issues. Indeed had it not been for the work of these
editors and reporters we would have no records of SAMS or magical events
in Scotland from 1952 till 1972. Most of the minutes of SAMS meetings
prior to 1988, like our rabbits, silks or cards, have disappeared.
The Society was now into full swing when a request came from the
International Brotherhood of Magicians, British Ring, for SAMS to arrange the first night get-together programme for their convention in Edinburgh.
This request was accepted. On Wednesday sixteenth of September 7-30pm in The
Assembly Rooms, George Street, Edinburgh, the members of SAMS and their
wives had arranged for a fantastic spread of sandwiches, cakes and a large
selection of the golden nectar. These had all been donated from every corner
of Scotland. As IBM conventioneers entered, the first thing they saw was a
large display board with the words " Ceud Mile Failte" which of course
translated from Gaelic means a hundred thousand welcomes. The IBM President
John Gambling was escorted into the hall by two pipers. John in turn
was followed by SAMS President Max Raskin and John Ramsay Past President of
the IBM. As part of the evening John Ramsay cut a large cake and had it
distributed to the conventioneers. Informal magic of course took place as
part of the night's entertainment but mostly it was an opportunity to meet
with old friends. For their part Edinburgh District Council arranged for the
Castle to be specially floodlight so all the conventioneers could see the
castle by night.
When John
Gambling retired as President of the I. B. M. it was his intentions to make
a return journey to Scotland to present SAMS with a President's chain. This
was to be his special thanks to SAMS for their help in making the I. B. M.
convention such a success. Unfortunately he died (24 March 1954) before he
could arrange the visit but his daughter, Mrs Starling, paid a visit on his
behalf and presented the President's chain to our President Max Raskin on
3rd September 1954. The presentation of the chain was made at a special
dinner in the Rogano Restaurant in Glasgow where all the executive of SAMS,
their wives and the Presidents and wives of all the magical clubs in
Scotland attended. The design on the President's chain was from a proposal
by Paisley Magic Circle.
It would appear that around this time
special dinners were in vogue as another dinner was soon arranged to welcome
Dr. Zina Bennett to Scotland. The dinner was held in North British Hotel,
Glasgow. Zina was well known for his manipulating of jumbo cards. He
invented a number of magical effects including the ZinaB deck.
The
1955 convention started a new phase with the inclusion of a magical lecture
by Tom Harris. His lecture included close up magic and antics with a mouse
made from a white handkerchief in front of your eyes.
Honorary
Presidents.
Dr Sir
Alexander Cannon, Peter Warlock & Dr Eddie Dawes
In 1955
we saw the first mention in SAMS magazine of His Excellency Dr.
Sir
Alexander Cannon. He was invited to become the first Honorary Life President
of the Scottish Association of Magical Societies. In late October a
delegation from SAMS went to the Isle of Man with the purpose of installing
Dr. Cannon as the Honorary Life President. The deputation consisted of Max
Raskin, George Piggot, Eddie Dawes and John Geddes. Cannon, not to be
outdone, presented SAMS with a trophy to be known as the Cannon Trophy. This
would be awarded to the club which gained most points over the year. Points
could be gained for delegates attending SAMS meetings, contributing articles
for the magazine, winning cups at the convention and for the author of the
best thesis on a chosen subject. Dr. Cannon had a special badge of office
made for himself as Honorary President. When he died his family held onto
the badge of office but did donate a copy of the original. There have been
only two other Honorary Presidents of SAMS. On the death of Alexander
Cannon in 1960 Peter Warlock became the second Honorary
President. Peter was
followed in 1996 by Eddie Dawes.
Over the years SAMS introduced some
first class lecturers at the convention. The names read like a who's who in
magic. Names such as Tom Harris, Lewis Ganson, George H. Smith, William
Scotty Lang, Fred Barton, Harlan Tarbell, Frank Baunforth, Peter Warlock,
Graham Davis, Francis Haxton, Ron McMillan, Jack Morrison, George Blake, Bob
Ostin, Horace King, Geoffrey Robinson, Pat Page, Fred Lowe, Malcolm
Davidson, Arthur Setterington, Bob Read, Ken De Courcy, Donald Bevan, Ali
Bongo, Rovi, Trevor Lewis, Peter Scarlett, Neil Roberts, Billy McComb,
Graham Reid, Tony Griffith, John Wade, Mark Leveridge, George Hill, Malcolm
Davidson, Terry Herbert, Stephen Tucker, John Palfreyman, John Hotowka,
Henrique, Stewart Murray, Ali Cardabra, Simon Lovell, Aldo Colombini, Terry
Seabrook, Bob Wooding, Shaun McCree, Lee Earle, Alan Driffield, Paul Hallas,
Brian Sefton, David Charles, Peter Duffie, Mike Wallis, Helmut Kutz, Scott
Penrose, Mike Smith, Tom Owen, Barry Miller, Pat Fallon, Paul Wilson, Pat
Gresham.