ALL
IN A DAY
Some
magicians ask me "Ian, what do you do in
your day now that you are no longer active
in the famous and original Supreme Magic
Company of which you have been associated
with for more than thirty five years?" Granted,
things are not so busy and there's not the
money coming into the home, with no salary
each month. I still present shows, though.
I get and average of four per week, but
in the summer months I am almost every night.
How I wish the summer months would come
along. The summer season down here is usually
approximately 22 weeks long, and sometime
I do two shoes in one evening with sales
of puzzle bags after the show. Often those
extras bring in more money than the actual
fee itself!
But
behind it all, I am a person who must always
work. I miss the daily drive into the old
firm, miss phoning, helping, meeting magicians
and customer, and indeed being in charge
of displays at the old Supreme stands (if
one remembers the last Supreme stand - it
was dreadful). I wasn't part of that, thank
goodness! I miss the demming, the involvement
in advertising, the fact that the firm is
no longer there.
Here's
what I do!
I
get up early, around 6:30am - but please
don't phone me - and feed the cat and the
rabbit before I feed myself. A small piece
of toast is all I have with no tea or coffee.
I sit down at my typewriter and I write
several trick articles for various magazines,
free of charge. I receive my mail and it
usually contains letters and request from
magicians from all parts of the world. I
answer these letters.
I
write scripts for one of the popular soaps
on TV and so this takes up a lot of my time.
Unfortunately, although I enjoy it very
much, there's no money to be made in writing
up magical effects or writing for magic
magazines, that's for sure.
Over
forty or more years I have found, that as
someone who has encouraged magicians to
share their pet effects, many don't, some
want to but cannot write, and most are lazy.
That's why most society editors have to
rely upon outsiders to fill the pages. We,
and I include myself amongst them, love
doing it, but would love to see more members
contributing. Don't say, "It's easy for
you. I can't write!" I was bottom of my
class throughout my school life for English.
Yet I went on to teach myself, and ended
up writing 265 books, thousands of magazine
articles, thousands of adverts and even
ghosted for famous stars, writing `their'
books too. The thousands and thousands of
letters I have written, some very important,
has now come easy.
Except
for books, and books only, I only write
my copy ONCE. Books, and very special scripts,
I write drafts and future drafts until I
get it right. After all, they are paying
me and I want to really get it right. I've
always found that sometimes when you write
the first draft, it is the best one. When
you alter it for a second time, you often
lose things down the line. A third and final
time can sometime mean that you have lost
everything, including your enthusiasm.
I've
written for more magic magazines than I
can think of, many of which are no longer
in existence. Writing in the old `Magic
Wand' was one of my first. Then Abra, and
Wizard before it folded up. Magazines like
Budge, Magic Circular, The Young Magicians,
Repro Club71, Linking Ring, MUM, Genii and
lot more, plus many society magazines.
I
always have a late lunch, which is combined
with teatime. In my house there's no such
thing as dinner. Different days bring along
different things. Last week for example,
I traveled up on the train from Barnstaple
to Paddington London to be part of the Kilroy
TV Show, in which I appeared and featured
prominently. Two days later I was traveling
up to Porlock, a lovely part of Somerset,
visiting a mansion where I was filming for
`Collector's Lot' with Sue Cook interviewing
me, and hopefully another promotion show
(with, I may add, no exposure - of which
I am completely against). Other times I
may be at trade shows or advising on a TV
programme.
| But
I don't think I am well off. I'm
not! In fact it is a struggle just
to have been solely involved in
magic since the age of 15, when
I left school, to the age I am now.
One must get up in the morning and
say, "How can I make some money
today? Whilst many, or most people
have normal jobs and don't have
to say that.
I've mixed
with the very famous in magic, including
Channing Pollock - had a dinner
with him and he has always been
my idol. Stayed at Paul Daniels
home on several occasions, and in
more than one of his homes. He told
me on the phone he has settled into
his new home on the riverside near
Reading. Staying with Tommy Cooper
was a great experience. He lived
in Chiswick in a lovely house, but
nothing too grand. His wife Gwen
still lives there and I know the
address by heart. He was always
the same off stage as he was on,
and I remember when I was with him
he shouted at his wife "Darling
. darling (speaking to Gwen - he
often called her `dove') stop shouting,
no one else wants to hear you down
the street."
I've been
in and out of the TV studios and
John Fisher was kind enough to invite
me to meet the stars when he was
recording "The Best of Magic, which
was a wonderful boost for magic.
I met my old pal Sorcar Junior,
having known his great father P.C.
Sorcar. "Ian . it is YOU?" he said.
Of course it was. there's only one
Ian and he knew me. He went around
telling everyone how famous I was
- funny. Even Mandy Nixon, the daughter
of the great late David Nixon, worked
at the Teddington studios, which
was then the Thames TV studios.
Here I was last week at the same
studios, which is now under a different
name. Mandy came down to Bideford
with her parents Vivian and David
(Nixon) and we were young then.
Billy Mc Comb also came down and
was partly responsible for getting
David down to us. David had a wonderful
time. We all did. Mandy was 20 years
of age. She wrote me a letter after
the event, which rather confused
me. She said in that letter that
she wanted to come down to Bideford
and be with me. I was not with any
girlfriend at that time and was
flustered. We met 25 years later
at Thames TV studios and the first
thing she said was `sorry' for sending
that letter. |
 Channing
Pollack
 Paul Daniels
 Billy McComb
Fred Kapps
|
If
anyone wanted to congratulate me in anything,
it wouldn't be for the load of books, articles,
and magical effects I have given and shared
amongst magicians, but it would be to my
recent engagement to Ela, a lovely Polish
lady, on the first of January (that's New
Year's Night).
We
both send out love to all.
Ian
Adair
