Roy Benson

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For the submarine commander, see Roy S. Benson.
Roy Benson
Born
Edward Emerson Ford McQuaid

(1914-01-17)17 January 1914
Courbevoie, Seine, France
Died6 December 1977(1977-12-06) (aged 63)
Forest Hills, New York USA
OccupationMagician
Parent(s)Dora Ford
Edward Emerson McQuaid

Roy Benson (January 17, 1914 – December 6, 1977) was a stage magician born in Courbevoie in France. He was an accomplished musician. He is credited for Special Effects, having created the monster for the film The Flesh Eaters (1964) [1] directed by his first cousin,[2] Jack Curtis. He died of emphysema.[3]


Magic career[]

He studied with Nate Leipzig, creating the bell and bowl routine and elaborating the Chinese Sticks routine which is published in "Benson by Starlight".[4] This also describes Benson's Bizarre Bag (an egg bag variant), The Dice Box, Bell and Bowl (rice bowls), The Wines of Beelzebub and Hydrostatic Cravis (where a drinking glass is inverted without the contents spilling).

A photograph of Benson, signed and dedicated "To Dai [Vernon], Jeanne, Neepie in admiration and affection, Roy. 1946." was auctioned in January 2010.[5]

Publications[]

  • Benson by Starlight. Published by Miracle Factory 2006 (Levent, Todd Carr). ISBN 0-9710405-4-0. ISBN 978-0-9710405-4-0)[4]
  • The Second Oldest Profession (republished within "Starlight")
  • Benson on Magic (republished within "Starlight")

Chinese Sticks[]

(Also called Mora Wands after Silent Mora - Louis McCord[6]).[7] The method for the Chinese Sticks as well as a number of routines by magicians including Howard Hale, Aldo Colomini, Pete Biro, Joe Stevens and Charlie Miller is presented in the DVD "Chinese Sticks" published by Greater Magic Video Library.[8]

Benson elaborated his Chinese Sticks in "Starlight"[4] on The Pillars of Soloman and the Magic Bradawl, published in Hoffman's Modern Magic.[9]

Benson Bowl[]

The Benson Bowl is a Cups and Ball routine popularised by Benson.[10] The method and routine is published in "Starlight"[4] and "Classic Secrets of Magic" by Bruce Elliott.[11] The routine is included in the DVDs "Pat Page Spongeballs",[12] "WGM Spongeballs",[13] "John Mendoza Vol 2",[14] "Steve Dacri Volume 3".[13]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "The Flesh Eaters (1964) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  2. ^ "Roy Benson". IMDb.
  3. ^ "Roy Benson". Genii, The Conjurors' Magazine.
  4. ^ a b c d http://miraclefactory.net/zenstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=81
  5. ^ Photograph auction http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/6941247
  6. ^ http://www.conjuringlights.com/CL/Portraits/Mora/Mora,%20Silent_1.htm
  7. ^ "Account".
  8. ^ Chinese Sticks DVD http://gmvl.com/details.asp?id=85
  9. ^ Hoffman's Modern Magic Page 330 (1876) https://archive.org/stream/modernmagic00hoffgoog#page/n346/mode/2up
  10. ^ "Account".
  11. ^ Classic Secrets of Magic: Amazon.co.uk: Bruce Elliot: 9781406793901: Books. ASIN 1406793906.
  12. ^ http://www.llpub.com/zenshop/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=&products_id=2148
  13. ^ a b http://www.llpub.com/zenshop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2313
  14. ^ http://www.llpub.com/zenshop/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=&products_id=2351
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