(Hank) Moorehouse 1934 – 2011 - The Society of American Magicians

Holden’s Magic Shop 1944
Baker, John Mulholland, and many others. When these entertainers
came to town, they frequently stopped in Holden’s to
visit Lucille; since many of them were performing nightclub
shows, they took the opportunity of attending early evening
meetings of the Sorcerer’s Apprentices. It was for this reason
that the young men had the opportunity to meet Senor Mardo,
Cantu, and others.
Each year the Sorcerer’s Apprentices presented an annual
show at the New Century Club, an exclusive women’s organization
at 1520 Chestnut Street. The organization formed shortly
after the close of Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exposition and
served as a place where women could meet, socialize, have guest
speakers and entertainers, and learn. They also had an elegant
stage in the drawing room of their mansion.
During the fourth annual show in 1949, member Jacob
Needleman recalls that the elegant stage almost burned down
when member David Ross magically produced a bowl of fire that
set the curtains ablaze. Club members formed a bucket brigade
that doused both the fire and the first few rows of the audience.
Needleman, a noted author and professor of philosophy at
San Francisco State University, wrote a fictional novel based
on the club called Sorcerers. Many of the characters are loosely
based on members of the club, including Lucille, who, in the
novel, is the “enigmatic and beautiful Irene Angel,” a mentor of
the young magicians. Needleman never met Lucille, but he still
recalls a beautiful professional portrait of her doing the linking
rings that hung on the wall of Holden’s Magic Shop.
Other members of the club included at one time: Walt Hudson
the noted magician, sideshow authority and author Rod Ware,
Henry Perkinson, Dave Rosenbaum, Don Mechlin, Chuck Sovel,
Jack Key, George Copes, Howard Rice, Paul Voight, Billy Bishop,
Dick Hagy, Ben Brenner, and Bill Yeager, who billed himself as
“Pep Williams.” Williams was a designer for Westinghouse and
served as treasurer of Assembly 4 in the mid 1940s.
Over the years some thirty different boys were members of
the club. Her compatriot in running the club was a local magician
named Jim Kilip, who performed in Chinese costume and billed
himself as Chang Kuo Lao. Kilip used magic to promote health
and good nutrition in Philadelphia public schools.
When not helping young magicians develop, Lucille appeared
both locally and nationally as an accomplished sleight-of-hand
artist, being one of the few persons who could execute a triple
cut with both hands at the same time. During World War II she
performed for wounded soldiers in area hospitals. She was an
accomplished artist and puppeteer and designed outfits for her
characters. Lucille also appeared frequently on the local annual
I.B.M. and S.A.M. stage shows and throughout the 1940s served
as secretary of both local chapters.
In September 1944, Saxon appeared at the annual Abbott’s
Get-Together. The Sphinx carried a review of the show and
featured a photo of Saxon on stage. Always with a sense
of humor, she used to advertise herself by distributing a
p r o m o t i o n a l
giveaway in the
form of a small
manual titled,
“What Men Know
about Women.”
Upon opening it,
the reader discovered
it was filled
with blank pages.
She also married
a local magician
named Rudy Saxon
who, in addition to
doing regular magic
and ambidextrous
writing on a large
chalk board, went
on to become one of
the nation’s leading
Jim Killip
mentalists in the
1950s and 1960s.
Saxon had also been
an assistant on the Blackstone Sr. show during the same time
Lucille was on the show. She also kept in frequent touch with
her children, especially her youngest, Judy, to whom she sent
detailed letters emblazoned with hand-drawn fairies and princesses
and fanciful artwork. Judy still treasures a sketch book of
doll clothing designs her mother drew.
Although she left Holden’s in 1945, Lucille continued to
operate her Sorcerer’s Apprentices group; the April 1946 Linking
Ring mentions that she and her boys attended the third annual
picnic of the Allentown Society of Magicians/Ring 32 at Dorney
Park.
Eventually Lucille left Philadelphia and returned to Corning,
New York, where she became increasingly ill. A lifetime smoker,
she succumbed to lung cancer and died on November 10, 1948.
Magic publications of the time carried her obituary and mourned
the loss of a talented magician and mentor.
Today, the care and development of young magicians in the
Philadelphia area lies with Arlen Solomon and the leaders of Bob
Little S.Y.M. Assembly 96. Begun in November 1991, the club
currently boasts twenty-five members and over the years has introduced
magic to more than 150 youngsters and their parents.
They have also been assisted by members of Assembly 4, who
have generously volunteered, lectured, and donated magazines,
books, and props for these budding magicians.
Although few of Lucille’s students remain today, those who
do recall a warm and wonderful woman who cared deeply for
both the young magicians she trained and the art of magic. At
a time when magic clubs were exclusive, hers was inclusive.
No doubt, when she looked in the bright eyes of her students,
she saw the future of magic. So do we today at every S.Y.M.
meeting. �
AUGUST 2011 53