ProvenanceThis item is part of a collection of magic and entertainment props which belonged to Harold Watson. He was born on 20 March 1900 in Meadows. Besides his career as a school teacher in South Australia, he was fascinated in magic research and became a semi-professional magician. Known as The Wizard Watson he had his own branded props to entertain the audience with mystery and excitement in his shows. Harold Watson was an initiator of the Adelaide Magicians' Club in 1920. The Australian Society of Magicians had been founded in Sydney on 15 January 1907.
Harold Watson’s repertoire was versatile, including telepathy acts which he performed together with his wife on stage as ‘Zelena and Demont’. Harold’s booklet The Magic Flight of Thought includes different code word combinations they used to perform their ‘thought transmission’.SignificanceA number of items of magic paraphernalia in the State History collection give us the opportunity to take a look behind the curtain of magicians and their magic.
One of just over 30 items in a collection which belonged to magician Harold John Watson.DescriptionA rectangular book with stiff covers containing several typed sheets of paper, cuttings and written notes. There are four small booklets included in the large scrapbook. The larger one is stapled to the inside of the back cover. The front cover has the title 'Summary of New Art of Thought Transmission' and 'The Secret System a Mind Reading Code' and a cut out illustration headed 'The Magic Flight of Thought'.Creator (person)Harold WatsonAcknowledgementDate of CreationBetween 1st January 1917 and 31st December 1945Date of UsageBetween 1st January 1917 and 31st December 1982MaterialCardboard
|Paper DimensionType: Closed
Height: 230
Width: 340
Depth: 5
Unit (Lengths): mm
|Type: Open
Height: 230
Width: 680
Unit (Lengths): mm Accession NumberHT 2017.1529