once a month there was a magic show there that featured the best performers in London. Actually some might not have been that good but at age eleven it never occurred to me at the time. There was a small musical combo that accompanied the acts. If I close my eyes I can still conjure up the vision of the drummer who’s name was Alfred. He looked like a merchant banker perched behind his drum kit, in fact he probably was a banker but not on the first Monday of every month. During the show he could have been one of the ‘Sultans of Swing’ as he rapped out drum rolls, riffs and rimshots to punctuating the onstage antics. I saw many fine magicians perform on that stage John Wade, Ali Bongo, Alan Shaxon, George Kovari and many others.
The night that I remember the best at the Conway Hall was the night I first saw Billy McComb. Billy was a legend in magic
and a full time magician who didn’t have to worry about a real job to distract him from the world of magic. Billy had an easygoing Irish charm that won over an audience by the time he had finished walking out onstage. To this eleven year old he was nothing less than dazzling.
The first time I sat in the dark theatre and watched Billy perform I realized that what he did is what I wanted to do. In many ways I have never changed my mind and that most of my life has been devoted to trying to be like him.What took my breath away when Billy performed was the way he blended non-stop comedy and amazing magic.
other comedy magician fell far short of the mark when you compared them to Billy. Most intriguingly he performed small tricks that seemed to make the biggest impact I had ever seen on an audience. He turned blank pieces of paper into five-pound notes. He put a half crown inside a tiny Schweppes bottle. Best of all, he took a tiny piece of white thread and after breaking it into small pieces he elegantly restored it all the while causing huge waves of laughter with a steady stream of one liner jokes. I remember watching him standing in the spotlight in his sharp mohair suit, gazing intently at the piece of thread as the entire audience burst into wild applause. The fact that he later produced a live hen from nowhere was amazing but not the same class of thrill for me. No I had it straight in my mind I wanted to be Billy McComb. If I could be half as charming, half as witty and able to transfix an entire theatre with a piece of thread, well that would be just fine for me.
I didn’t get to meet Billy that night but I soon did and that is a whole other story. Move over Houdini the young magician has a new hero.
