Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1935-11-28
Magician Birch Featured
In The Sphinx Magazine

| The following by j. M. appeared
in "The Sphinx
The November issue of "The
Sphinx which is an independent
magazine of magicians, is devoted
very largely to Mcdonald Geo }
Birch 1t is a handsomely compil-
of printing. The cover page car
ries a large picture of Mr. Birch,
and a smaller picture of our famous
magician appears in the magazine,
also a full page picture of Mr.
Birch and his wife, Mabel Sperry
Birch. In the magazine is an arti-
Gle entitled "Birch, the Magician"
and Mr.. Birch has written two of
the leading articles in the magazine
One is entitled "a Hat Load" in
which he describes trick (he does
or he doesn't, we don't know
which, and another article writ
ten by Mr.. Birch is under the cap
tion Brown Shoes and Magic" in
which he tells what led him to take
up magic.
The articles by Mr. Birch are
splendidly written, and in his writ
ing is noted the same easy, smooth.
clever style that is SO marked with
him on the stage as magician
and which has no small part in
making him in the very foremost
position as magician.
Birch, The Magician
Birch has a show of magic and IL
lusions, designed primarily for
full evenings entertainment, but
may, upon occasion, be given as one
or more shorter acts. Usually he
plays engagements of one, two or
three days. The show is designed
to pack in one large truck which
facilitates moving the show from
town to town, and avoids the neces-
sity of fitting his jumps to the
vagaries Of railway timetables. Mr..
and Mrs. Birch do their travelling
in their own car. The Birch show
has proven so popular that even
during the worst years of the de-
preston, he has been limited to the
business mans two week holiday.
Mcdonald Birch does not belong
to the now you see it, now you
DON'T school of acrobatic sleight of
hand. Birch could never get into
)
he can back-palm at one time. for
he frankly admits that he does not
do sleight of hand Of course what
he means is that he does not do
sleight of hand which seems to be
sle1ght of hand. Even in those
tricks in his large show which are
purely manipulative, no one in the
audience is led to think sleight of
hand is used. Birch follows the rule
set down by Robert Houdin, and
acts the role of a man possessed of
super-normal power. To success
fully portray this role it is necessary
that the audience never suspects the
performer to be digitally skilled.
Recently | had the opportunity to
witness Birch in five successive
shows. No one I have ever seen.
with the single exception of Howard
Thurston, so skillfully and delight
fully handles the committee who
come upon his stage He is gentle
manly and cordially friendly
throughout his show. There is not
one detail of his show but what has
been carefully and thoroughly
thought out and diligently rehears-
ed. AS far as the show itself is con-
cerned, | like it from beginning to
end, and matter of real import
ance, audiences like his show.
Mrs. Birch, Mabel Sperry on the
program, not only is very capable
assistant to her husband, but as a
Xylophone soloist of exceptional
ability, provides a delightful mu-
sical interlude.
Birch is magician who knows
the ethics of magic and adheres to
them. M.