Highlight Magic by Berger, Ben - 1941

Madison, WI: John Snyder, Jr., 1941. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Berger (1893-1981) was a midwest magician who grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, as Benjamin Goldenberger. By the early 1940s he had shortened his last name to Berger, by the latter part of that decade was spelling it as Bergor, which he settled on until his death in 1981. Bergor and his wife, Alvina, performed all over the Midwest and brought their two daughters into the act at an early age. Bergor and his wife won the coveted Harry Houdini Trophy three consecutive years (1940, 1941, & 1942) for their performance of Houdini's famous trunk act where Bergor would tie Alvina up in a straightjacket, place her in a large bag, lock her in a steamer trunk that; Bergor would then stand on top of the trunk, raise a curtain, and within moments when the curtain was lowered Alvina would be standing on the trunk and Bergor would be locked in the trunk, in the bag, in the straightjacket. By the mid 1950s Bergor had retired from active performing to operate his booking agency, Madison Entertainment Service. As of 2007 a Ben Bergor Magic Club still existed in Madison, Wisconsin, and the city's local wing of the International Brotherhood of Magicians is known as Ben Bergor Ring 31. 32 pp. 8vo. Green cloth covered boards with gold embossed titling to spine set into blind embossed frame. Very light rubbing to base of spine, very clean within. Instructional piece of nine tricks with illustrative drawings by Nelson Hahne. Includes the following tricks: The Spirit of the Cobra, The Atomic Penny, Think Stop, Reversed Misdirection, Centerise, Flipfan, Finger Stand, Poker Player's Dream, and No-Prep.