Al Baker (September 4, 1874 – October 24, 1951) was a professional

magician Magician or The Magician may refer to: Performers * A practitioner of magic (supernatural) * A practitioner of magic (illusion) * Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context Entertainment Books * ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...

. Al Baker was an inventor of many tricks that he marketed including his Dictionary Test, Al Baker Slates and his version of the Rice bowls. Many of his silk magic effects were included in Rice's ''Encyclopedia of Silk Magic''. Al Baker opened a magic shop with Martin Sunshine in

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

. Al Baker also regularly contributed to ''

The Sphinx The Great Sphinx of Giza is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a legendary creature, mythical creature with the head of a human, and the body of a lion. Facing directly from west to east, it stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of ...

'' and other magic magazines.

Biography

He was born on September 4, 1874, in

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...

. Al Baker was known by most of his magical contemporaries as an outstanding M.C., author, and inventor. By the time he was 21 was working in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

and

ventriloquist Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is v ...

. Though he was a performer at

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

as the

Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua bro ...

Lyceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the th ...

headliner, he also had a photo studio there. He was Dean of the

Society of American Magicians The Society of American Magicians (S.A.M.) is the oldest fraternal magic organization in the world. Its purpose is "to advance, elevate, and preserve magic as a performing art, to promote harmonious fellowship throughout the world of magic, and t ...

from 1941 to 1951. In 1951 Al Baker wrote a book called ''Pet Secrets'', where he had the American

mystery writer Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reas ...

Clayton Rawson Clayton Rawson (August 15, 1906 – March 1, 1971) was an American mystery writer, editor, and amateur magician. His four novels frequently invoke his great knowledge of stage magic and feature as their fictional detective The Great Merlini, a ...

draw all his illustrations. He died on October 24, 1951.

Legacy

Al Baker's dry humor and tongue in cheek approach to his advice to other magicians is timeless. Al Baker was once quoted saying, "No matter how bad the show, or how little the kids, or how hard it is to get their attention, take a live rabbit and coil of paper out of your hat and you're safe."

Published works

''Al Bakers' Book One''
(1933)
''Al Baker's Book Two''
(1935) * ''Magical Ways and Means'' (1941) * ''Mental Magic'' (1949) * ''Pet Secrets'' (1951)

Manuscripts

* The Twenty-Five Dollar Manuscript (Ca. 1929) * Al Baker's Pack (1932) * Cardially Yours (1934) * THOUGHT TRANSCRIPTIONS by AL.Baker Jan 11th (1938) * Effects 1, 2, 3 (Ca. 1939) * Card Trio (1948)

Compilations

* ''The Secret Ways of Al Baker'' by Miracle Factory Books (2003)

References

* M-U-M magazine, September 1982.
Genii Forum Book of the Month

External links

*
Al Baker MagicPedia entry

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Al 1874 births 1951 deaths American magicians Card magic Coin magic Mentalists Sleight of hand Vaudeville performers