International Brotherhood of Magicians - History

History

The organization was founded February 10, 1922 in Winnipeg, Manitoba by Len Vintus (stage name of Melvin Justus Given McMullen) of Transcona, Manitoba, which would later amalgamate with Winnipeg. Gene Gordon (aka Gordon Avery) of Buffalo, New York, and Don Rogers (aka Ernest Schieldge). Unlike earlier magic clubs, such as the Society of American Magicians (SAM) in the USA and The Magic Circle in England, the I.B.M. was begun by magicians living outside the major cities, who were unable to attend magic club meetings, and who kept in contact by post.

Gene Gordon established the first local group, Ring 1, in Rochester, New York. The original Ring 1 eventually disbanded, and St. Louis, Missouri later assumed the vacated title of Ring 1, which it continues to hold today. Since then, a new club, Ring 4, formed in Rochester.

The IBM holds an annual convention, usually in June or July. Although the SAM and the Magic Circle held banquets as early as 1905, the I.B.M. was the first to hold a magic convention, in Kenton, Ohio on June 9–10, 1926. The 66th annual convention was held in Orlando, Florida.

Read more about this topic:  International Brotherhood Of Magicians

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    The awareness that health is dependent upon habits that we control makes us the first generation in history that to a large extent determines its own destiny.
    Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)

    The reverence for the Scriptures is an element of civilization, for thus has the history of the world been preserved, and is preserved.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    You that would judge me do not judge alone
    This book or that, come to this hallowed place
    Where my friends’ portraits hang and look thereon;
    Ireland’s history in their lineaments trace;
    Think where man’s glory most begins and ends
    And say my glory was I had such friends.
    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)