Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1937-01-14
Morgan County Thursday January

4
magic at the age of 10-Birch, the
famous magician, sends you per-
sonal message in this interview with
the editor" The article carries the
picture of Mr.. Birch; scene from
one of his stage settings; also pic
lures from two of his tricks. The
interview as printed follows:
The theatre was packed. Row af-
ter row of thrilled spectators lean
ed forward in their seats. Alert
eyes watched tensely the small pony
| that stood on a platform suspended
in the center of the stage. Sudden.
| ly Birch, the magician, made pass
with his hands. A puff of smoke, Il
| flash of Highland the platform fell
| with a clatter The pony had van
ished! boy, oh boy." lad behind
us gasped. Il didn't think anybody
could do that" The vanishing pony
trick was only a starter. For two
hours we watched the tall young
magician with the quick hands and
pleasant smile perform seemins
miracles. Birch escaped from a seal
| ed hardwood chest into which he
had been placed He caused canaries
to disappear--and produced them
again in a burning electric light
bulb. He brought beautiful girl
out of an empty doll house hardly
big enough to hold jackrabbit.
Then he put her in small chest
ran swords through the chest, hack
ed at it with giant cleaver. He
even performed the famous Hinda
rope trick that for hundreds Of
years only Hindu fakirs knew how
to perform.
After the evenings show was
over, we fought our way back stage
to have a talk with this interesting
magic-maker.. We found him engulf-
ed in a miniature cyclone. Stage
hands were working all around him;
assistants rushed past with equip
ment under their arms. We walke'l
up and tapped the magician on the
shoulder "Mr. Birch,' we said,
'are you too busy to talk for few
minutes? You see, we know thou
sands of live-wire boys who are
Crowell Junior statesmen. We would
like for you to give us word to
pass on to them'' After the men
ticn of boys, twinkle came into
the magician's eyes. Boys are my
best friends he smiled. What do
you want me to tell them?' GLOW
you perform your tricks we said
boldly. His eyes twinkled again
He reached out his hand, pulled q
peanut out Of our right ear, and
handed it to us. ''Now if I started
to explain how I did that trick" he
told us, Il could finish by the time
my equipment is loaded. But to eX-
plain all my tricks to you-"'Oh,
we don't expect you to explain them
in DETAIL. we interrupted. "Just give
the general principles" "All right,
he agreed. Gin creating any IL
lusion, the main problem is to do
seemingly impossible things without
the audience seeing how they are
done Special equipment helps, so
do trained assistants. But in my
tricks, quick and skillful use OF
the hands is absolutely necessary.
docs it take much practice to de-
velop skill at magic?" "Quite bit.
For example, it took me five months
just to develop my latest illusion,
the Hindu rope trick. ''You must
have started to practice many of
your illusions at an early age!
"That's right When l was only ten
my younger brother gave me mag
c set The first time | successfully
pulled a cord from an egg, | was
sold on magic. At II | organized
my own show. And here / am
still at it, 'sMany of our junior
statesmen have already decided what
they want to do when they grow up.
Do you suppose they can succeed as
we'll as you have?" Birch, the ma
gician, slowly nodded his head ANY
boy with grit" he said quietly, ''who
has decided, really and truly, what
he wants to become can make
success of his chosen work. Tell
your Crowell Junior statesmen to
pick a job that they like-no matter
what it is-then work at it. And |
wish each one of them success"
''Thank YOU" we said warmly,
shaking his hand. Then we turned
and left. At the outside door of
the theatre we paused a moment to
search for the peanut Birch had Civ
EN- us. We couldn't find the peanut;
instead, we found a banana in our