Entertainment
Hackin’ The Hempen – Another Piece of Magi History Rescued & Researched
(or the link between a group of Manchester magicians & The Sex Pistols!)
Recently, one of our members was lucky enough to be able to obtain a programme from a 1952 production by members of The Order of The Magi, entitled “Hackin’ The Hempen” (subtitled ” A Magical Fantasy”). We are still looking into the origins of such a bizarre show title, and whilst various theories have been suggested, we are keeping an open mind at this time.
The show took place at The Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester on Saturday 18th October 1952, just 1 year after the venue reopened after being damaged in 1940 during the Manchester Blitz.
The Free Trade Hall
Located on Peter Street, The Free Trade Hall is an important part of Manchester’s history. Built in 1853 – 1856, on the site of the Peterloo Massacre (1819), the venue would play host to many famous names over the years – Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, and Winston Churchill, and would be the permanent residence to The Hallé Orchestra.
The Lesser Free Trade Hall
The Lesser Free Trade Hall was a smaller venue, upstairs within the same building, which was to later host the Sex Pistols famous concert in 1976, that inspired many bands including the Buzzcocks, Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths, Happy Mondays and Oasis; as well as being partly responsible for Manchester’s iconic music scene, including The Hacienda, Madchester, Factory Records, and the indie scene:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sex-pistols-50p-gig-manchester-8331165
The Programme and The Show…
As can been seen from the scan below, The programme, costing 3d was decorated with a lovely line drawing of a bearded wizard, dressed in mystical looking robes, surrounded by a cauldron, skull, spell books and other magical items. This drawing was in fact part of the letterhead used in the 1940’s to decorated the society’s “Magi Magazine”.
The Front Inside Cover
Page 1
Centre Pages – The Show
The centre pages detail the order of the evening’s show, and the performers. It appears that the show’s premise was a “History of Magic & Entertainment” starting with Zoroaster, moving through the Magic of Egypt (The Temple of Osiris), Alchemy, Punch & Judy performed by The Order of The Magi’s President Fred A. Taylor – “The Swazzle Man”, and 19th Century Music Hall. The first half of the show was closed by no other than Magical Legend Ken Brooke.
It is interesting to see that the show’s interval lasted only 5 minutes. Today, even in the smallest of venues, it is impossible to imagine that an interval would last any less than 15 minutes. Was the director being optimistic, or are modern day audiences more demanding of a longer break?
The second half of the “Magical Fantasy” is dedicated to up to date, and futuristic Cabaret. We can only assume that Tommy Hill “The Ballunatic” was a balloon modeller, and that Jack Shepherd & Syd Walton performed in drag as “The Widdingtons” – “Two minds with not a single thought!”; no doubt a parody of the famous contemporary Australian Telepathy duo “The Piddingtons”.
The penultimate part of the evening was Frank Cleaver’s “Flying Saucer” subtitled “Magic of the Future”. It would certainly be interesting to see if he had indeed predicted the future of magic!
After over 2 hours of magical entertainment, the show was to close with a Finale of the entire company, followed by “The Queen” – The National Anthem – a tradition that has died in most theatrical productions in the past 60 years.
The Cast
This is the only online record of The Order Of The Magi’s production “Hackin’ The Hempen” from 1952. So it seems fitting that we include a full list of all the cast, the majority of whom would have been members of the only Magic Society in Manchester. Perhaps it will help anyone in the future researching any of the magicians, either for personal or professional reasons:
Frank G. Brown – Zoroaster
Reginald Boncey – The Inebriate
Stella Sweet – The Dancer
Len Ainsworth – The High Priest of Os-Ra
Syd Taylor – An Acolyte
Harold Swindells – The Alchemist
Fred A. Taylor – The Swazzle Man (President of The Order of The Magi at the time)
Douglas Ettenfield – The Man
Joyce – The Maid
Edgar Horner – Chairman
Dennis Birch, Stephen Birch and Pat Birch – The Birch Brothers – The Singing Waiters
Leslie Greenhalgh – The Man With The Hat
Arthur Horner – The Pianist
Ken Brooke – The Professor
Tommy Hill – The Balunatic
Jack Shepherd – Vera Widdington
Syd Walton – Gladys Widdington
Oscar Paulson – Tricks & Chatter
Frank G. Clever – Magic of The Future (The Flying Saucer)
Page 4
Of course, a programme for a such a magical performance wouldn’t be complete without credit to those behind the scenes who helped to put it all together.
Production – Will Hughes
Properties – Mal Davies
Electrician – H. Macartney
Stage Managers – George Wade & Norman Crook
Effects and Music – Geoff Lawrence
Show Devised & Arranged by Will Hughes, Syd Taylor and Harold Swindells
The Order of The Magi desires to express its appreciation of the invaluable help rendered by the following –
“Joyce”
Miss Stella Sweet
Mr. Frank G. Brown
The Birch Brothers – (Dennis, Stephen and Pat)
Roy Lever
The Staff of The Free Trade Hall
Geoff Lawrence
Mameloks of Oxford Road for the loan of musical items
O. Z. Seferian for ticket work
The Inside Back Cover
The last page of the programme gives us a clue as to the length of the performance, declaring “Carriages at 9.45pm approx”.
Final Thoughts
Reading and researching this programme has been an opportunity to learn a little more about The Free Trade Hall in Manchester, The Order of The Magi, it’s members, and activities nearly 70 years ago. Without currently having any more information about each act, it is an opportunity to imagine what magic tricks were performed that night in Manchester City Centre, and if a similar show was to be performed today with the same programme, how each act might differ. There will be more information on the show in at least one issue of The Order of The Magi’s society magazine “The Magi” from 1952, and hopefully soon we will be able to provide you with more details.
There is no doubt however, that any of the performers on Tuesday 18th October, 1952 could imagine that the stage they were performing on would be host to one of the world’s greatest punk bands just 24 years later.
Can You Help with our Research?
It would be great to hear from anyone related to any of the magicians, or other performers, who took part in “Hackin’ The Hempen”. We would love to see photos of the performers (especially any promotional material etc). Perhaps you have an 1952 issue of The Magi Magazine that details the planning of the show, or features a report of each act’s performance?
If you can help us in our research in any way, please get in touch – webmaster@orderofthemagi.co.uk
Presidential Ponderings – May 2017
As entertainers, we (hopefully) bring a little joy and happiness to our audience. On the night of Tuesday 22nd May, the heart-breaking news began to break of the terrorism attack at The Manchester Arena after the Ariana Grande concert. I myself had just returned home from what seemed to be a particularly tough gig, but suddenly everything was put into perspective. The feelings of joy and happiness experienced by thousands at Manchester Arena would suddenly be replaced with feelings of fear, worry, terror and tragedy.
At least 22 people went out for a night of entertainment but sadly would never return home. Many more were injured, and thousands of concert goers, the majority of whom were children and teenagers, will never forget the horrific events of that night. It is hard to imagine the effect that night had on the brave staff at the venue who stayed to help, the emergency services who had to deal with the aftermath, and the hospital staff who treated the victims. Ariana tweeted that she was “broken from the bottom of my heart, I am so, so sorry. I don’t have words.” and has announced that she was to postpone the rest of her tour. She and her team of fellow entertainers and crew must be totally devastated that a wonderful night, sharing their talents of music and entertainment, ended so tragically. Finally, many of our members will have family or friends who work at The Arena, or who were affected by the terrible incident. I sincerely hope all are safe and well.
Given everything that happened, it was an extremely difficult decision whether to hold a meeting of The Order of The Magi in Manchester less than 24 hours later. Should we cancel the meeting or carry on in spite of the events the night before? Manchester Comedy Store cancelled a benefit show for fellow comedian Jim Taveré saying that “As much as we feel that people should carry on as normal we’re not sure that today is a good day for comedy”. This was an understandable sentiment in the circumstances.
The decision to hold society meeting certainly wasn’t made lightly, but I personally believe that the right decision was made. In this context, the saying “the show must go on” seems rather flippant, but perhaps it goes just a little way to express the spirit of the people of Manchester, those working in Show Business, and our members. To those who came to Geoff’s excellent lecture, thank you for your support. To those who didn’t (or couldn’t) attend the meeting for whatever reasons, it is of course very understandable. Each of us has to make a decision based on our own personal circumstances, feelings and beliefs.
At times such as these it’s important that we, as entertainers, keep entertaining; bringing a smile to those around us, a little joy and happiness. A world without entertainment would certainly be a terrible place. It can’t undo the terrible events of that night, but perhaps you can change the future, in a small, positive way. The world always needs a little magic!
“Believe something and the Universe is on its way to being change, because you’ve changed, by believing. Once you’ve changed, other things start to follow. Isn’t that the way it works?”
– Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard
Stay Safe & Keep Entertaining
Stuart Cassels
President
It’s All Greek To Me! The Origins of Modern Words in Entertainment & Magic
I am sure, like me, many of you will be familiar with this expression without knowing the real significance. It was only on a Classic Greece holiday that I found out just how many words we use every day in the English language actually have Greek origins.
Here are a few examples.
- Antiqua – antique, antiquity, ancient.
- Biblos – book, bible.
- Cosmos – (world) cosmopolitan.
- Dynamis – (power) dynamite, dynasty.
The list goes on, so what has all this to do with magic you are surely already asking. Well now having an interest in the subject I started to look up words relating to our art and found some interesting results.
The first word that came to mind was morph(e) meaning shape or transforming bringing about metamorphosis – the substitution trunk.
Scopos means watcher and leads to horoscope cinemascope etc (oops! etc that’s Latin).
Pyr or pyro means fire, hence pyrotechnics.
In Greek mythology the name Luna is sometimes used as a nickname for any goddess associated with the moon. Remember the Luna Trick – children’s effect a la die box.
I could go on but I feel our website will not have space for more than a page so I’ll finish with a few words from the entertainment world generally.
Cine means motion so we have cinema. The theatre name of Adelphi comes from Adelphoi meaning brothers. Presumably this refers to the brotherhood of actors appearing on the stage. Theatron (theatre) was a place where the audience of a Greek tragedy sat to watch the performance. Finally choreography appears to derive from khorus (chorus) and/or khoreia (dancing in unison). There you have it then, now it’s all Greek to you too!
Geoff Newton
Webmaster Note: I couldn’t leave this post without adding a favourite of mine – Hippodrome, from the Greek word Hippos – for Horse (and not Hippopotamus, which means “water horse”). Originally a Hippodrome was an ancient Grecian stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The word was resurrected in Victorian and Edwardian times for buildings constructed specifically for animal & variety acts (such as the World Famous London Hippodrome, and more locally The Rochdale Hippodrome), which often became theatres in later years. Thank goodness they never raced hippopotamuses / hippopotami!
The modern word circus, now associated with entertainments such as clowns, jugglers, acrobats and magicians, originates from Roman horse racing tracks (circuits) which were very similar to Hippodromes. But as that is a Latin origin, and not Greek, it might be best to leave that for another post!
John Archer Lecture – Manchester, April 2017
The Helen Moran Memorial Lecture this year took place on 25th April and was presented by John Archer. There was a good turn- out of members and visitors and included Peter Moran.
Helen Moran was a much respected honorary member of The Order of The Magi, who worked very hard behind the scenes. When Helen sadly passed away, she kindly left a bequest to provide the first magic lecture of the Society’s year.
I last saw John at South Tyneside a few weeks ago as a performer and it was great to see a lecture where he showed not only how his effects were achieved but how to and where to obtain the laughs. By the use of various methods he illustrated how a magician screws up can be turned into a positive result with hilarious consequences.
He went on to show the envelope routine that fooled Penn and Teller and brought him a trip to Las Vegas. It was indeed clever thinking and one can understand why they were fooled!
His coincidence routine with a very attention grabbing story was simplicity in modus operandi, but needed presentation work to achieve the right angle. Apart from two decks of cards all it needed was some ******** (you should have been there) and you were off.
His dog pet name was a much improved and simplified working of an effect he has demonstrated at a previous lecture and now a lot stronger.
A mind reading routine of a chosen celebrity went down well.
A routine with ESP cards was another hit. All routines were described in great detail with all the pauses and asides clearly shown. Yes, I can understand why this man fooled Penn and Teller!
On your behalf I would like to thank Peter for continuing the sponsorship to keep in our minds all the hard work and massive input Helen Moran put into this society.
Report by Geoff Newton
(Webmaster Note: Parts of this report, which features in full in the members’ only Magi Magazine, have been edited to keep John’s methods secret. For full explanations, we recommend that you speak to John Archer directly, who will be able to advise which of his lecture note packs contain the relevant tricks)
The Order of The Magi Christmas Party 2016
The IBM British Ring President goes to The Order of The Magi Christmas Party
After a gruesome journey of roadworks and long delays on the motorway we arrived at the Irish World Heritage Centre in Manchester. This palatial venue with panoramic views over the city was the ideal location for a party.
As we arrived midst a general knowledge quiz which appeared to be very popular with the 60 or so guests present, we were formally introduced to President Alan Johnston who made us very welcome and was charming throughout the evening. Being in Manchester the meal was Lancashire hotpot which was delicious with good helpings all round. After this British Ring President Clive Moore drew the raffle in a humorous way.
Next, the cabaret, a delightful young couple Jez Mansfield and Emma, his started with a silent magical janitor act featuring the empty box routine which then produced Emma. After this Jez did some nice patter card work in a light hearted manner. The act was rounded off by the singing talents of Emma sat at the piano, with many songs she had written herself.
Next Geoff Newton introduced Bunny Holly and the Cricket Bats, a comedy stint featuring Mark Sharples dressed as a giant Rabbit.
The whole evening was a great success, very friendly and well organised Mike Sharples and Geoff Newton had done an excellent job throughout the whole evening hosting and compèring the event.
Jean Ellison
The Centenary Dinner & Cabaret
The Centenary Dinner & Cabaret – 31th March 2009
Report by Richard Blackie.
One hundred and fifty people attended this special event, and we were treated to a wonderful evening of celebrations with quality food and top class entertainment. Continue reading
Magi Annual Dinner – 24th March 2006
Wow what a lovely evening. Where shall I start? At the beginning of the rainbow I think. We were welcomed into the Irish Centre with an overhead rainbow leading us into the dining hall which looked fantastic. Each table adorned with a golden pot and chocolate coins with cleverly created rainbows reaching upwards with the table number and pretty themed balloons swaying above. Continue reading
Annual Cabaret & Comedy Competition 2006
Annual Cabaret & Comedy Competition 2006
Wednesday 15th February saw the Magi host their annual cabaret & comedy competition. With the Magi being such a romantic bunch, it was decided to move the date back a day so that it didn’t clash with Valentines. Like last year we had 7 entrants competing for the awards
The outright winner for the evening was Nick Barnes, with Phil Tilston runner up. Continue reading
Manchester’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2006
Manchester’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade – 12th February 2006
On a freezing cold Sunday morning in Manchester, members of The Order of the Magi, their wives, partners, families and supporters could be found battling the wintry conditions to support Manchester’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Manchester has hosted the UK’s largest parade for a number of years now and 2006 was no different. Continue reading