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Percy Abbott

Percy Abbott was an Australian magician born in 1886 who founded the Abbott Magic Novelty Company, once the largest manufacturer and retailer of magic tricks, in Colon, Michigan. He had been performing magic from a young age in Australia. In the 1920s, he opened a magic supply shop in Sydney before moving to the US. In 1928, he partnered with Harry Blackstone Sr. to form the Blackstone Magic Co. in Colon, Michigan. In 1932, he opened his own shop, the Abbott Magic Novelty Company, which grew significantly over the decades. By the late 1940s, the business had expanded to seven buildings and over 50 employees. Abbott retired in 1959 and sold his share of the company, passing away in

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390 views6 pages

Percy Abbott

Percy Abbott was an Australian magician born in 1886 who founded the Abbott Magic Novelty Company, once the largest manufacturer and retailer of magic tricks, in Colon, Michigan. He had been performing magic from a young age in Australia. In the 1920s, he opened a magic supply shop in Sydney before moving to the US. In 1928, he partnered with Harry Blackstone Sr. to form the Blackstone Magic Co. in Colon, Michigan. In 1932, he opened his own shop, the Abbott Magic Novelty Company, which grew significantly over the decades. By the late 1940s, the business had expanded to seven buildings and over 50 employees. Abbott retired in 1959 and sold his share of the company, passing away in

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Percy Abbott Born May 3, 1886

Braidwood, Australia
Died August 26, 1960 (aged 74)
Colon, Michigan
Nationality Australian
Known for Abbott Magic & Novelty Co.
Percy Abbott (May 3, 1886 – August 26, 1960) was an Australian magician
and magic dealer who founded Abbott's Magic Novelty Company in Colon,
Michigan. Abbott's business was once the largest manufacturer and retailer
of magic tricks and stage illusions in the world.
Contents
1 Biography
2 Bibliography
2.1 Books
2.1.1 Written or contributed to
2.1.2 Published
3 References
Biography
The complete biography of Percy Abbott Magician
PERCY ABBOTT MAGICAL YEARS
Abbott was born in Braidwood, Australia on May 3, 1886 as one of four
children. Orphaned as a youngster, Abbott and his siblings moved in with an
aunt who charged the children for room and board.
His early interests included theater and magic. He took part in amateur
theatrical productions as a boy. He discovered magic which he would devote
most of his life along with its allied art, ventriloquism. In his early 1920s,
Abbott found himself performing regularly in Sydney and other Australian
towns, eventually taking a position with a firm that supplied magicians with
the tricks of their trade, the New York Novelty Co. Abbott would eventually
open his own supply house for conjurers, called the Abbott's Magic Novelty
Co., on Pitt St. in downtown Sydney. He continued performing and was
reportedly one of the first magicians to perform the Sawing a woman in half
illusion in Australia.
Abbott turned the reins of his magic shop over to his brother Frank to leave
Australia permanently. He toured the Orient and eventually landed in
America, where in 1926 attended the first annual convention of the
International Brotherhood of Magicians.
Abbott met Harry Blackstone Sr. and the two men agreed to form a
partnership to establish the "Blackstone Magic Co." in the small village of
Colon, Michigan in 1928, but the company only lasted for 18 months. Four
years later, after working on Coney Island with Jean Hugard, playing school
shows throughout the Midwest, and getting married, Abbott opened
another magic shop in Colon, Michigan, "The Abbott Magic Novelty
Company" and began advertising in trade journals in 1933. Recil Bordner, a
magic enthusiast and son of successful farmers from Edon, Ohio, joined the
firm as a partner in 1934.
The shop moved into larger premises in Colon, at 124 St. Joseph St., and
celebrated the event by hosting the first annual Abbott Magic Get-Together
that fall. The event became an annual tradition that continues to this day.
He also founded the Abbott Magic Co.'s magazine called "Tops", in January
1936, editing it for several years before turning it over to the Abbott
company's staff artist, Howard Melson.
By the end of 1945, Percy Abbott's business was spread over seven buildings
and employed over 54 workers with Abbott branch stores established in
Detroit, Indianapolis, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Abbott's issued
the largest magic catalog of all time, some 832 pages long, and featuring
over 1800 different products, most manufactured at the Abbott factories.
Abbott maintained an active interest in the magic business until his
retirement in 1959. At that time, he sold his share of the company to
longtime partner Bordner. In 2003 his children, Marilyn, Linda &Sydney
along with Rick Fisher started the Fisher-Abbott Magic Company (FAB Magic)
in Colon solidifying Colon's claim as the Magic Capital of The World.

In 1959 Abbott wrote his memoir, "A Lifetime of Magic"


which was published just months before he died, on August 26, 1960, from a

heart attack at the age of 74.


Bibliography
Books
Written or contributed to
Percy Abbott: Magical Years,Biography of Percy Abbott Written by Rick
Fisher (2016)
Abbott's Magic for Magicians, Secrets of Occidental and Oriental Magic
(1934).
Abbott's Practical Patter (1935)
Comedy Magic (Abbott) (1937)
A Lifetime in Magic (1960)
Abbott's Encyclopedia of Rope Tricks, Vol. 1 (1941) compiled by Stewart
James
Rice's Encyclopedia of Silks, Vol. 1, (1948) by Harold Rice
Abbott's Cigarette Magic compiled by Tom Zeno (1936)
Published
Hat Loading Methods, compiled by U. F. Grant and Stewart James (1941)
Illusions! Illusions!

References
All Stories (2011- 08-06). "Linda Abbott, daughter of Percy Abbott, comes
to Colon Historical Museum! | River Country Journal".
Rivercountryjournal.info. Archived from the original on 2013-09-14.
Retrieved 2013-09-14.
Cover of The Linking Ring, May 1959
A Lifetime in Magic by Percy Abbott, The Abbott Magic Manufacturing Co.,
(1960)
"Percy Abbott – American Museum of Magic".
Americanmuseumofmagic.org. Retrieved 2013-09-14.
"MagicTimes News Archives - July 23-29, 2012". Magictimes.com. Retrieved
2013-09-14.
The Magic Capital of the World, page 2
Chayka, Kyle (24 September 2014). "Welcome to Colon, Magic Capital of the
World". The Verge. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
Programmes of Famous Magicians, 1937.
Cover of Genii Magazine (June, 1949)
Cover of The Linking Ring, October 1959
Abbott, Percy (1934). "Abbott's Magic for Magicians"

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