History
Magicians' Clubs are a twentieth century phenomenon. Although there was a club which briefly existed in 1896, the first permanent club was the Society of American Magicians (SAM) founded in 1902, followed in 1905 by the British Magical Society (BMS) in Birmingham and The Magic Circle in London.
The Australian Society of Magicians Inc (ASM Inc), the fourth oldest magical society in the world, was founded in Sydney, NSW, on 15th January 1907. Meetings were first held at Queen's Hall, Sydney, and later at Central Chambers, 173 Pitt Street, on the first Tuesday of each month and Harmony nights on the third Wednesday.
On 15th January 1909, the ASM commenced publication of their official organ, The Magic Mirror, an eight page printed magazine. It was the first magic magazine in the Southern hemisphere.
In 1920 the Melbourne, Victoria, branch of the ASM was formed at the proposal by The Great Levante (Les Levante) who happened to be in Melbourne at the time. Later a charter was also granted to an ASM Inc in Adelaide.
The ASM in Sydney progressed favourably until 1923, when a certain officer embezzled all the Society's funds. At the same time, the landlord gave notice for the club to quit its premises, so it 'folded its wings' and went into recess. An attempt was made in 1927 to revive the club but with the depression deepening, its members decided that the ASM, as such, go into recess.
The ASM Melbourne became known as Assembly No.1 and the ASM Adelaide as Assembly No. 2. Subsequently, more ASM Assemblies were formed:
Unfortunately, few are still active today.
On 18th October 1952, the ASM No. 1 Melbourne held the first Convention in Australia. It was a one day affair and the forerunner of many more held since then . In June 2000, the 27th Australian Convention of Magicians was held in Melbourne.
The monthly newsletter of the ASM No. 1 Melbourne is called MAGIC MAKERS. It commenced with the Jan/Feb issue 1946. At that time it consisted of about ten duplicated pages of half-foolscap size and tended to appear on a bi-monthly basis. The last issue in that format was that of Dec. 1950/Jan 1951. In April 1952, the present series was born under the direction of the new President/Editor, Les Worthington. The size was altered to quarto and he designed the mast head for the front page which was used up until 1999. From the April 1954 issue, pages have been 'old gold' in colour giving the magazine the distinctive appearance. The newsletter is currently produced on white paper with a new masthead introduced with Volume 51 No.1 dated January/February 2001
In the 1969 Melbourne Moomba Parade, the ASM No.1 Melbourne had float, a flat trailer surrounded by black, red, white and gold 'History of Magic' signs with a 'Merlins versus Moderns' theme. Past President Ken Russell was Merlin and performed the 'Broomstick Illusion' on the moving trailer! Ian Buckland was a modern doing the 'Dancing Cane'. The whole was drawn by a 1923 vintage Rolls Royce owned and driven by Rod Cuthbertson, with Ian Baxter and Rex Jenkins on board.
History kindly researched and supplied by Peter Strasser, based on an earlier historical compilation by Rod Cuthbertson, assisted by Margaret Yates."