Roy Benson

Roy Benson (January 17, 1914 – December 6, 1977) was a stage magician born in Courbevoie in France. He was an accomplished musician. He is credited for Special Effects, having created the monster for the film The Flesh Eaters (1964) [1] directed by his first cousin,[2] Jack Curtis. He died of emphysema.[3]

For the submarine commander, see Roy S. Benson.
Roy Benson
Born
Edward Emerson Ford McQuaid

(1914-01-17)17 January 1914
Courbevoie, Seine, France
Died6 December 1977(1977-12-06) (aged 63)
Forest Hills, New York USA
OccupationMagician
Parent(s)Dora Ford
Edward Emerson McQuaid


Magic career

He studied with Nate Leipzig, creating the bell and bowl routine and elaborating the Chinese Sticks routine which is published in "Benson by Starlight".[4] This also describes Benson's Bizarre Bag (an egg bag variant), The Dice Box, Bell and Bowl (rice bowls), The Wines of Beelzebub and Hydrostatic Cravis (where a drinking glass is inverted without the contents spilling).

A photograph of Benson, signed and dedicated "To Dai [Vernon], Jeanne, Neepie in admiration and affection, Roy. 1946." was auctioned in January 2010.[5]

Publications
  • Benson by Starlight. Published by Miracle Factory 2006 (Levent, Todd Carr). ISBN 0-9710405-4-0. ISBN 978-0-9710405-4-0)[4]
  • The Second Oldest Profession (republished within "Starlight")
  • Benson on Magic (republished within "Starlight")

Chinese Sticks

(Also called Mora Wands after Silent Mora - Louis McCord[6]).[7] The method for the Chinese Sticks as well as a number of routines by magicians including Howard Hale, Aldo Colomini, Pete Biro, Joe Stevens and Charlie Miller is presented in the DVD "Chinese Sticks" published by Greater Magic Video Library.[8]

Benson elaborated his Chinese Sticks in "Starlight"[4] on The Pillars of Soloman and the Magic Bradawl, published in Hoffman's Modern Magic.[9]

Benson Bowl

The Benson Bowl is a Cups and Ball routine popularised by Benson.[10] The method and routine is published in "Starlight"[4] and "Classic Secrets of Magic" by Bruce Elliott.[11] The routine is included in the DVDs "Pat Page Spongeballs",[12] "WGM Spongeballs",[13] "John Mendoza Vol 2",[14] "Steve Dacri Volume 3".[13]

See also

References
  1. "The Flesh Eaters (1964) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  2. "Roy Benson". IMDb.
  3. "Roy Benson". Genii, The Conjurors' Magazine.
  4. http://miraclefactory.net/zenstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=81
  5. Photograph auction http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/6941247
  6. http://www.conjuringlights.com/CL/Portraits/Mora/Mora,%20Silent_1.htm
  7. "Account".
  8. Chinese Sticks DVD http://gmvl.com/details.asp?id=85
  9. Hoffman's Modern Magic Page 330 (1876) https://archive.org/stream/modernmagic00hoffgoog#page/n346/mode/2up
  10. "Account".
  11. "Classic Secrets of Magic: Amazon.co.uk: Bruce Elliot: 9781406793901: Books".
  12. http://www.llpub.com/zenshop/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=&products_id=2148
  13. http://www.llpub.com/zenshop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2313
  14. http://www.llpub.com/zenshop/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=&products_id=2351
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