I.B.M. British Ring 2nd Annual Convention 1932

The 2nd Annual Convention of I.B.M. British Ring No.25 takes place 24th–26th June 1932 at Westmon House, Charlton Kings, Cheltenham, with the Friday Social Evening and the Saturday Grand Public Magical Entertainment at the Empire Hall, Cheltenham. Following the first British Convention of the International Brotherhood of Magicians held in Cheltenham in 1931, the weekend opens under the Ring’s Founder and President, Oswald Rae, with the Official Opening and an Impromptu Entertainment on Friday afternoon, then a Social Evening of Magical Interludes, Cinematograph Films of the 1931 Convention and dance music by George Maisey and his Dance Band. Saturday brings a Morning Session of Magic Informalities and the Group Photograph with Will Blyth’s talk ‘The Developments of Magical Effects’, an afternoon Magical Entertainment and the evening’s Grand Public Magical Entertainment, and the Convention closes on Sunday with the General Meeting, Impromptu Entertainments and a Talk.

The British Ring welcomes members and visitors to its Second Annual Convention. In the Souvenir Programme, Oswald Rae — ‘The Bewildering Humorist’, Founder and President of the British Ring, I.B.M., and British Representative of the I.B.M. — greets all magicians and welcomes them to the Ring’s Second Annual I.B.M. Convention. The Ring’s officers listed in the programme are Oswald Rae (President), Prof. Bofeys and Laurance Glen (Vice-Presidents) and Wm. G. Stickland (Secretary), with a Committee of Dan Bellman, Dleisfen, Walter Kemp, Archie Byford and Harry Kaye.

The Convention opens on Friday 24th June at 3.0pm with the Official Opening by Mr. Oswald Rae at Westmon House, followed by an Impromptu Entertainment. At 8.0pm comes the Social Evening at the Empire Hall, with Oswald Rae as M.C. Magical Interludes are given by Prof. Bofeys, Tom Hayter, Wm. G. Stickland, Will Blyth, Leo Tree and Teddy Coll, and the evening also includes Cinematograph Films of the 1931 Convention and Dance Music by George Maisey and his Dance Band. Leo Tree has promised to present his new novelty ‘Mental Television’ at the Friday Social.

Saturday 25th June begins at 10.30am at Westmon House with a Morning Session of Magic Informalities and the Group Photograph, together with a talk by Will Blyth, ‘The Developments of Magical Effects’. At 3.0pm a Magical Entertainment is given at Westmon House by Donald G. Crombie, J. Gambling, Williams the Whimsical Wizard, Dan Bellman, Geo. E. Brighting, Dan Calvan and Archie Tear. At 7.45pm the Empire Hall, Cheltenham, hosts the Grand Public Magical Entertainment, compèred by Oswald Rae, with an Overture by George Maisey and his Orchestra: Ellis Stanyon (Novel Sleight of Hand), Donald Crombie (‘The Magical Connoisseur’), George Blake (The York Ventriloquist), Teddy Coll, The Viennese Magician (‘Possible Impossibilities’), George Davenport (Magic of 1932) and Mr. and Miss Tree, The Royal Command Entertainers, in an amazing demonstration of Thought Transference. After the interval and a Selection by George Maisey and his Orchestra come Frank R. Squire, ‘The Gay Deceiver’, in ‘Necromantic Nonsense’; Wm. G. Stickland, The Wessex Wizard, assisted by Poppy Gwynne, presenting ‘The Merry Midgets’; Max Stirling (‘The Magic of Japan’); Gilly Gilly (Modern Deception); and Djinn and his Magic (‘Sleightly Subtle Swindles’). Harry Kaye directs the stage, and the evening closes with the National Anthem.

The Convention closes on Sunday 26th June with the General Meeting at 11.0am at Westmon House, followed by Impromptu Entertainments and a Talk.

The Souvenir Programme, printed by Archie Byford, is filled with greetings and announcements. Hamley Bros Ltd. of Regent Street congratulate the members of the I.B.M. on the development of the British Ring 25 and announce their enlarged magical department and a forthcoming Magic Week; Stanyon & Co., L. Davenport & Co. and Edward Bagshawe advertise new effects, and a ‘Hail Caledonia’ page carries the greetings of the Scottish ‘Wizards of the North’. Other notices include the British Magical Society of Birmingham (Headquarters & Library at the Imperial Hotel; Annual Dinner on Saturday 22nd October 1932), the news that this year’s Conference of the Magic Circle and Affiliated Societies will be held at Bradford on Saturday 8th October 1932 with the competition for the Challenge Shield (holders: the Magic Circle), and the Merlin Magical Society of Enfield (President Edward Victor; meetings fortnightly through the winter). Archie Byford’s page, ‘Archie Byford Apologises’, answers a magical questionnaire with tongue-in-cheek replies, and Wm. G. Stickland adds a rhyming reminder to pay subscriptions — and an invitation to non-members to join the Ring.