Prior to becoming an established brand name in the magic world, Percy Abbott was an Australian vaudeville performer. In 1927, at the invitation of his friend, Harry Blackstone, Abbott traveled to Colon, Michigan to partake in fishing and summer fun. Blackstone was known to have given open invitations to many of his contemporaries to summer on Blackstone Island. During his stay in Colon that summer, a conversation led he and Blackstone to decide to go into business together. They would create a company to supply tricks to other magicians and called it the Blackstone Magic Company.

The pair’s complementary skill sets helped address the needs of the business. Blackstone, being a fraternal and successful professional magician, would be the external face of the company — the salesman, the promoter, and the ambassador of goodwill. Percy Abbott would assume the role of the inside man. He would work in Colon to produce the tricks, manage the mail order business, and oversee the financial records. The venture launched in 1929.

While this magic company paved the way for the famous Abbott’s Magic Company that is known today, the Blackstone and Abbott partnership lasted only about 18 months. A former resident of Colon and a mutual friend to both Blackstone and Abbott provided this account on the dissolution of the company to Robert Lund:

“Harry came in off the road and went up to see Percy. They had a combination office, factory, mail order department, and modest living quarters for Percy in an office building. Blackstone asked Percy how much money they had made. Percy said they made nothing or less than nothing, meaning they had gone into debt. They had a terrible row until Harry got a grip on Percy and pitched him down the steps.”

Percy Abbott could not afford to stay in a rural village without work, so, like his former partner, he hit the road to perform. Abbott’s time on the road included a stint at Coney Island, New York, where his earnings were so small that he was forced to trade one of his illusions for the set of car tires he needed to get back Michigan. Why would Percy Abbott go back to Michigan? It wasn’t for the magic business, but for a Colon resident named Gladys Goodrich. When Abbott returned to Colon, he married Goodrich and she became his assistant in his act. The newlyweds set off on the road together, performing at schools, small movie houses, and carnivals. By 1934, life on the road lost its appeal to the couple and they decided to take up permanent residence in Colon. To support their life in Colon, Abbott revisited the idea of the mail order magic business and Abbott’s Magic Company was created.

Percy Abbott would become the namesake not only of a renowned magic company, but also of an international event. In 1935, Abbott initiated the annual event known as Abbott’s “Magic Get Together.” The Get Togethers grew over the years until more than 1,000 attendees and performers came to Colon for the event. Being such a small community, Colon had no hotels and few restaurants for Get Together participants, so hospitality for the visitors fell to Colon’s residents. Townspeople rented out rooms, organizations served meals, and everyone attended performances in the Hill’s Opera House, school buildings, and temporary tent structures. Each August, magicians, magic fans, and children of all ages visit Colon to reconnect with the magic community, acquire new equipment, practice magic, and attend performances.

In 1959, Percy Abbott sold his share of Abbott’s Magic Company to his partner, Recil Bordner, and went into retirement. On August 26, 1960, Percy Abbott died from a heart attack at the age of 74.

The “Torn and Restored Newspaper” is a trick developed and mastered by Gene Anderson, a magician famous for his performance using only newspapers. In fact, he literally wrote the book on the subject called Newspaper Magic. Professional fans of Anderson’s Torn and Restored Newspaper studied with Gene and the trick was featured by illusionist Doug Henning. Although Gene grew up in Minnesota, he has spent most of his years in Midland, Michigan because of his 32-year career with Dow Chemical. In Midland, Gene worked as a chemist and development scientist at Dow Chemical by day. By night, he became a magical wizard.

A believer that magic is more commercial than creative, Gene told The Linking Ring in 1987: “Magic is much more than just doing tricks. It involves a keen sense of marketing and a magical program that has been clearly thought out. Magicians know far too many tricks. A wise magician was once asked, ‘How many tricks do you know?’ He replied, ‘I know only ten tricks, but I do them well.’”

Anderson coined the term “part-time professional” to describe a person who performs magic professionally but has a full-time day job. Weekends were when magic could be the top priority, and those weekends allowed Gene to develop his stand-up act. While Anderson developed his act outside of his professional job, he did later find opportunities within the firm to perform as part of his global responsibilities. As a result, he has professionally performed magic on six different continents. Gene has been awarded a number of first-prize trophies in magic competitions for stage comedy, close-up, and originality. He was also nominated for two Academy Awards by the Academy of Magical Arts: The Magic Castle in Hollywood, CA.

Zina Braden Bennett was a Detroit physician and magician. Born October 30, 1891, Bennett was known for his giant card manipulations and as a collector of magic memorabilia. A true magic enthusiast, it is claimed that Bennett held memberships in nearly 200 magic organizations.

According to Bennett, his interest in magic began as a child, when a friend received a magic kit. Some accounts state that he traded with his friend for the magic kit, but other stories do not explain how he acquired his first magic apparatus. Either way, during high school, he set magic aside for several years. He always expressed regret that he hadn’t stuck with it during those years.

While magic was his hobby and not his profession, Bennett found ways to combine both. In 1916, he opened his private medical practice and worked as a surgeon at Michigan Mutual Hospital. In an interview with the BBC in 1956, Bennett said, “Now I found that by teaching simple magic I could not only entertain patients, but in many cases it acted as a form of therapy.” In a letter written to Mary Lou McDonough on June 26, 1947, Bennett wrote:

“For the past seven or eight years, I have devoted considerable time to the entertainment of patients in hospitals. During the war period, I worked many U.S.O. shows and entertained a number of times at the Percy Jones Hospital. I find that the most beneficial results are obtained from individual entertainment in magic. Many of the sleights with cards and coins when taught to the patients enable them to more quickly regain the use of their hands and also stimulates their morale.”

Zina’s strength in magic performance, was working with giant cards. His routine was quite unique, and he once performed a show on Broadway. He also performed in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. Abbott’s, the well-known magic company, carried a card deck called the Z B fan deck. One of his most earnest fans was Suzy Wandas, who eventually became his second wife.

Zina’s first wife, Edna, died in 1955. Suzy, who had met the Bennetts at the annual Abbott’s Get Together in Colon, wrote in 1956 to express her condolences. The two continued their correspondence and were married in 1959 in Belgium, where Suzy lived. Reports of the wedding mentioned that the local magicians formed an arch with their wands for the wedding couple’s departure after the ceremony.

Suzy was not Zina’s only correspondent. In 1941, he became the Chairman of the Welfare Committee for the International Brotherhood of Magic. As part of his duties, he would write to all of the sick magicians in the IBM. When Bob Lund arranged Bennett’s letters, he counted over 6,000. Zina Bennett was described as a generous man and the “great fraternal magician of his time.” He died on July 2, 1965.

For multiple generations of Americans, the name Blackstone conjures memories of some of the most amazing magical performances of all time. Harry Blackstone, Sr. was one of history’s premiere illusionists who spent much of his life wowing audiences with his spectacular company and stage show.

Harry Blackstone, Sr. was born Harry Bouton in Chicago in 1885. On his eighth birthday, he received a magic trick as a gift. But, whereas for many children the magic trick is merely a toy, for Harry, magic would become his life’s work. That same year, in 1893, he held his first amateur performances in a church basement for members of the congregation. In addition to performing magic, Harry took an interest in the great illusionists. At the age of 12, he stood in front of Chicago’s McVicker’s Theater, admiring the colorful lithographs heralding the Great Kellar, the era’s most famous illusionist. The young man was so enticed that he purchased a good seat for the show. For Harry, the magic show motivated him to want to become a great magician. While such thoughts tend to occur to children, the idea stuck with Harry. To guide Harry on his mission, his father suggested that he visit the local library to start his research. Harry found books on magic, took home several conjuring classics, and began practicing his art.

In his studies, Harry found two distinct ways approach magic: close-up magic and illusions. Close-up tricks would require him to spend the hours necessary to perfect his prestidigitation with small objects such as cups, balls, and coins. The other approach, illusions, would require building and buying complicated apparatus needed for a full-scale stage performance. Harry made a rare decision to pursue both magical avenues, thus creating his unique style that was to become his trademark throughout his 65-year professional career.

While diligently rehearsing sleight-of-hand, Harry secured a series of jobs with cabinetmakers and other craftsmen in his neighborhood in order to develop the construction skills needed to build his own magic equipment. Throughout his career, Blackstone and his technically talented brother, Pete, designed and built nearly every piece of equipment required for the lavish Blackstone show. Some of their tools and creations can been seen on exhibit at the American Museum of Magic.

In 1899, Harry and Pete found their first opportunity for a paid engagement. Together, they became regular performers on the club and party circuit so they could refine their art and help pay the bills at home. Around 1904, the brothers developed a vaudeville act called “Straight and Crooked Magic.” Later, they appeared under the billing “Fredrik, the Great & Co.,” chosen because they were able to purchase, at discounted rates, some fancy lithographs bearing that name. As World War I loomed, German-associated names were not a popular draw in American culture. The Bouton brothers changed their names to Blackstone and the rest, as they say, is history.

Around 1915–16, Harry and Pete put together their largest illusion show to date. During a Los Angeles engagement, their show was seen by none other than the Great Kellar, the very magician that inspired Harry as a boy. The legendary magician was impressed by the Blackstone show that he came backstage to tell the young performer that he was the best all-around magician he’d ever seen. The two men became friends and Kellar revealed some of his trade secrets to Blackstone and the secrets would find new life in the Blackstone shows.

As the years passed, the Blackstone magic show continued to grow in size and fame. Harry was a master front man, while Pete decided he preferred life behind the scenes. With the growing company, the Blackstone show moved to Colon, Michigan. Harry’s first wife, Inez, found a 208-acre mint farm and lake-front property on Sturgeon Lake that would be known as Blackstone Island. It was the company’s summer home where Harry Blackstone and friends could relax, recuperate, and prepare for the next tour.

During World War II, under USO auspices, Blackstone and company toured to 165 military bases. Since many of the camps had no theatrical equipment, the magician trouped everything from lights to ladders to curtains. It was a fast-paced, physically demanding tour, but it was also a show business accomplishment of which Harry Blackstone, Sr. was proud.

In 1942, The Great Blackstone performed what many people consider his greatest and most spontaneous illusion: The Vanishing Audience. During a show in Decatur, Illinois, Blackstone announced that his next illusion was so large and spectacular that the audience would have to go outside the theater to see it. Blackstone then proceeded to conduct an orderly, row-by-row exit of the theater. When they reached the street, the crowd became aware of Blackstone’s real motivation to empty the theater: There was a fire in the neighboring building! Blackstone’s quick thinking and composure averted a panic that could have led to crushing deaths if the exits had been rushed, such as in the 1913 Italian Hall disaster of Calumet, Michigan.

After 45 years, Harry Blackstone decided to retire from life on the road and move to Hollywood, California. During these years on the West Coast, Blackstone was featured in several television appearances. He also frequented The Magic Castle, where he demonstrated his close-up magic for his fellow magicians. On November 16, 1965, Harry Blackstone died in California. His body was returned home to Colon, Michigan where he was laid to rest at Lakeside Cemetery. “The New Tops” magazine, a publication of Abbott Magic, paid tribute to the late magician by stating: “Harry Blackstone, age 80; occupation, Legend.”

Neil Foster was born Edgar Neil Foster, Jr. in Aurora, Illinois. But it was Colon, Michigan that would be his home for 29 years. The gentle practitioner of the presto trade left his mark on Abbott’s Magic Company and a generation of magicians. Bob Lund, founder of the American Museum of Magic, honored Foster in 1987 by proclaiming August 9 as “Neil Foster Day.” Many magicians’ feelings about Neil may well be summarized by a banner that was hung across the interior of the museum that day. It read, “To know Neil Foster is to know real magic.”

Prior to Foster finding his home in Colon, he went to California to enroll in the Chavez Studio of Magic, or “the Chavez Course,” as it is known in the trade. The year was 1947. The Chavez Studio, named after its founder, Ben Chavez, was a fully accredited school in the State of California. It was approved by the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs for returning servicemen who wanted to take up magic as an occupation. Foster was found to be an outstanding student and gifted performer, so Ben and Marian Chavez accepted him as an instructor following his graduation. Foster went on to be recognized worldwide as a great teacher and performer of magic. After Ben, and then Marian, Chavez passed away, it was Marian’s wish that Neil Foster continue operation of the school. Accordingly, a Chavez Studio was opened by Neil in Colon, Michigan. The Chavez Studio of Magic, College of Manual Dexterity and Prestidigitation torch is carried on today by Larry Wirtz.

After serving as a Chavez instructor, Neil spent time performing on the road as part of a magic duo. His partner was his wife, Jeanne (Hammond) Foster. The couple married in 1955 and started performing on the school assembly circuit under the sponsorship of the lecture bureaus of the Universities of Wisconsin, Minnesota and North and South Dakota. This was followed by a stint for the Ireland Magic Co. in Chicago, Illinois.

In 1959, Neil and Jeanne moved to Colon. It is fitting that Foster moved to the home of The Great Blackstone, because it was Harry Blackstone who inspired him to become a magician. Neil, an influential force in the Magic Capital, encouraged Robert Lund to move to Colon — although the American Museum of Magic was to find its home in nearby Marshall, Michigan.

At Abbott’s, Foster acted as chief magician-in-residence and vice president. He revived the Abbott’s publication, “The New Tops,” a magazine for which he served as editor. Neil further gave to the magic community as a frequent performer at the annual Abbott’s Get Togethers. In 1977, the Academy of Magical Arts presented Foster with the Performing Fellowship Award. Neil was well known for his trademark presentation of Joe Karson’s commercial floating-ball effect known as the Zombie. Foster made it his own and took it to a new level by turning the small-scale trick into a stage performance with ballroom style flair. Foster’s Zombie ball and scarf are part of the collection of the American Museum of Magic.

Neil Foster passed away in Battle Creek, MI in 1988. The group formerly known as the Battle Creek Magic Club was renamed the International Brotherhood of Magicians Neil Foster Ring 89 in his honor.

June Warsaw was born on September 12, 1913. She had bone tuberculosis as a child, which left her with an immobile hip joint and led to a permanent limp. Her father, Abe Warsaw, was a magician and taught all of his children magic. While all of them were involved with magic, only June maintained it as a lifelong pursuit.

June began learning magic as a young girl. By the age of 12, she had become an apprentice of sorts to her father. Eventually, she was able to make money with her magic, and it was her magic that helped her to pay for her education at the University of Michigan. Her magic also played a role in meeting her husband, Sam Horowitz. While the full story is still a mystery, it seems the meeting involved sleight of hand and a sugar cube.

June went on to pursue a career in education. She was a math teacher at Ottawa Hills High School, Grand Rapids Junior College, and Marywood Academy in Michigan. She would use her magic to help her teach math, and many of her students pursued magic themselves. June also became qualified to assist her husband Sam with his insurance business, Trail-O-Home Insurance Agency.

Even though her career was in education, June was still very active in magic, and received many honors. She was also one of the few women in magic, and she stood out for that. She was awarded Best Female Magician in the U.S. and England by the Magigals, and she was one of only two female magicians to ever perform at the Society of Canadian Magicians Convention.

June considered herself a close-up magician. Although she had done and could do stage magic, she preferred close-up, with smaller groups of people. This method also posed a challenge not encountered on stage, as the audience was closer and could more easily observe what the magician was doing. She also did television performances, including a six-week stint as the Queen of the Elves for a show sponsored by Wurzburg’s.

June was a member of many organizations, including serving as a moderator for the Panel of Americans for eight years, serving on the board of the Welcome Home for the Blind, working with the League of Women Voters, serving on the board of the Tuberculosis & Emphysema Society, and being involved in MENSA at one point. She was also active in Temple Emmanuel. She became its first woman officer in 1952, and she wrote a book on its history in 1954. She chaired committees for Hadassah, was an officer for Urban League, was her temple’s historian, served on the board of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, and presented on Judaism to other faiths in the community.

She was also active in magic organizations, including the International Brotherhood of Magic (IBM). In 1987, she became the first female president of IBM. Her tenure as president was spent traveling to conventions, at one point attending 14 in a three-month period.

June once described a trip to western Ireland that she and Sam took. The owner of a local bar found out that she and Sam were part of the International Brotherhood of Magic, and he gathered up patrons and local magicians and asked her to perform. She said, “It was heartwarming and instant friendship, it cut across all the geographic barriers.”

Augustus Rapp was incredibly active in magic throughout his life and was considered one of the most multi-talented troupers of his time. Born Francis Augustus Rapp in Jeffersonville, Indiana, Gus, as his friends called him, spent approximately 60 years traveling through the Midwest and southern regions of the United States during the1890s and well into the 20th century. On the road, the performer would entertain crowds with magic, comedy, mentalism, juggling, ventriloquism, and puppeteering.

Gus decided to hang his hat for a time in Colon, Michigan. As a number of esteemed magicians chose to do, Gus worked for Abbott’s Magic Company during founder Percy Abbott’s tenure. Augustus was at home in the Midwest both as a traveling performer and into his retirement. A friend of famous names such as Harry Houdini and Howard Thurston, Gus was prodded to enter bigger circuits, but he always refused. In Houdini’s short-lived “Conjurers’ Monthly Magazine,” Houdini advises Rapp to “come out of the sticks,” but Rapp preferred small towns to large cities.

In his final years, Augustus Rapp returned to his childhood home of Milwaukee, where he died at the age of 90.

Suzy Wandas Bennett was born Jeanne Van Dyk in 1896, in Brussels, Belgium, to a performing family. Along with her father, mother, and one of her brothers, she was part of a family act, in which she began performing at the age of eight, as Miss White Flower, the dancing violinist. She also learned to perform magic, mainly coin and card manipulations, and by 1910 was performing it as part of the show. After her father died in 1912, she, her mother, and her brother performed as the Wandas Trio. When her brother was wounded in World War I, Suzy and her mother became the Wandas Sisters. After her mother’s retirement, Suzy became a solo act in 1936.

Later in her solo career, she was no longer including the violin as part of her routine, focusing solely on manipulation, and she was quite famous for her act. Of her performance, Suzy said, “I tried to give the audience a performance filled with beauty and elegance. This gown in the picture was designed by Chemourd, a top Parisian designer on the Champs-Elysees. The dresses I wore were created just for me and cost thousands of dollars. But that’s what separates the great magicians from the amateurs —  the total performance. All the amateur does is the trick, period.”

Her elegant performances included manipulation with ropes, thimbles, cigarettes, canes, silks, coins, the Miser’s Dream, card fans, and eight linking rings. After she began corresponding with Zina Bennett, she added a dove trick to the act. Miss White Flower the dancing violinist became the Lady with the Fairy Fingers, a master manipulator.

Suzy spoke five languages, which was useful, as she performed all over Europe. She toured U.S., British, Canadian, and Belgian army camps during World War II. In 1952, she won the contests at the Magic Congress in Hastings, England. In 1953, she made her first U.S. appearance at the annual Abbott’s Get Together, where she first met Zina Bennett and his wife, Edna. When she heard of Edna’s death, she wrote Zina to express her condolences. They continued to correspond and attended the World’s Fair in Brussels, Belgium in 1958. After the trip, she had the courage to express her feelings for him, which he reciprocated, and a few short months later, they were engaged. Of the wedding, she wrote, “Of course it shall be a big event in the magic world.” They were married in August 1959, and she returned to Detroit with Zina as her husband. Her final performance was in Colon, Michigan in 1962.

Even though her career as a performer had drawn to a close, she still performed with Zina, and she was not forgotten as an artist. In 1975, she was elected to the Society of American Magicians’ Hall of Fame, a tremendous honor. In 1981, Suzy received a Performing Fellowship from the Academy of Magical Arts in Hollywood. And even though she was retired, she still practiced magic every day.

In her later years, Suzy’s health began to deteriorate, and she had more difficulty traveling. Peg Weikal, an active member of the Michigan magic community, provided assistance to Suzy. She had more trouble getting by on her own, and eventually had to enter a nursing home. She died on July 12, 1986, at the age of 90.