This article is to introduce magicians and magic fanatics to the abundant background of magic in Singapore. It honours the noteworthy achievements, prominence and significance of neighborhood magicians from the earlier and present.
The beginning of Present day Magic in Singapore
It is the basic consensus that contemporary magic in Singapore (post World War 2) commenced with the late-Ng Bo
Oen AKA The Great Wong. Info on neighborhood magic pre-war is quite scarce. The only information found has been on The Wonderful Wong performing at the New World Amusement Park (then positioned at Kitchener Highway) in the nineteen thirties.
The Wonderful Wong was born in 1908 in Shanton, a city of the Guangdong Province, China and immigrated to Singapore in 1933. He was the only expert magician of his time in Singapore and carried out throughout South East Asia. He was known for his sharp stage magic, Linking Rings regimen and Sword Basket illusion. He was also an specialist craftsman who constructed all of his props by hand. He had the present of figuring out the mechanics and methodology of magic props and fabricating them from scratch.
In 1962, The Fantastic Wong manufactured a important contribution to the intercontinental magic local community by publishing his famous linking rings regimen with English script written by Tudor Brock. Davenports Magic in London distributes his manuscript to date. In 1982, he was invited by the Federation Internationale des Societes Magiques (FISM) to complete at the fifteenth Planet Congree of Magic in Lausanne, Switzerland.
(For a lot more info on The Great Wong refer to ‘The Great Wong Story’ in The Intercontinental Brotherhood of Magicians Singapore Ring one hundred fifteen The Quantum Ring Golden Jubilee Concern)
Another nearby magician who was instrumental in developing modern day magic in Singapore for the duration of the beginning was the late-Tan Hock Chuan. He was a instructor by career but carried out for annual particular events, charity exhibits and personal parties. He was (and nevertheless is) internationally known for his magical innovations. His consequences and concepts are nevertheless marketed vendor things nowadays and have been published in a great number of publications (of that time) such as Gen, Spinx, Pentagram, New Pentagram, Swami Mantra, Abracadabra and even Tarbell’s Course in Magic. He is the initial Asian magician to get the Spinx Award (1936-37)
Each The Fantastic Wong and Tan Hock Chuan have been important influences to numerous of the initial generation of Singapore contemporary-magicians who have paved the way for future generations.
fifties
It was only following the war and for the duration of the British Military Administration that magic in Singapore began its rise to the place it is right now. 1950 was the year that the Singapore Magician’s Club was fashioned by a group of beginner magicians, comprising of English-educated professionals.
In 1951 the Singapore Magician’s Club received their charter from The Worldwide Brotherhood of Magicians HQ in The us and was from then on was formally acknowledged as The Worldwide Brotherhood of Magicians Singapore Ring one hundred fifteen. Founding customers of the club at that time incorporated Tan Ewe Chee (President), Yeo Quickly Kian, Lim Kim Tian, Lim Hap Hin, J.H Stafford, L.A Joseph, J.W Jackson (Vice-President) and Tan Hock Chuan (Secretary).
The 50’s gave delivery to Singapore’s first era of modern magicians. Apart from the founding associates of the IBM Ring and The Great Wong (who joined the Ring in 1952 by invitation), some distinguished initial era magicians incorporated Lim Hap Hin, Tan Choon Tee, Tan Bah Chee, Yeo Quickly Kian and his college student Michael Lim.
The Great Wong operated the very first magic store from his residence cum showroom/ workshop in Singapore at 255-A Jalan Besar the place he bought his own handcrafted props as effectively as imported seller objects from Japan. (This residence/ store was ruined in a fireplace in Dec 1988 causing him to get rid of most of his textbooks and props)
nineteen sixties
Throughout this time period, magicians like The Excellent Wong, Tan Bah Chee, Lim Hap Hin and Tan Choon Tee executed magic programs at the Nationwide Theatre Club and the YMCA. They were liable for creating active magicians this kind of as Charles Choo, Wong Fok Choy, Chia Hearn Jiang, Gwee Thiam Hock and the late-Vijeyacone.
The early 60s also saw the ‘Golden Age’ of magic with magicians executing at different venues across the place. Besides local magicians doing in night time golf equipment, international magicians such as Socar carried out a grand illusion display to a entire residence at the Capitol Theatre (alongside Stamford Highway) and The Great Nicholas at the Sky Theater in The Excellent Globe Amusement Park at Kim Seng Highway (Now, Wonderful Globe City).
In the late 60s, Wee Peng Guan (Uncle of Charles Choo), opened the second magic store in Singapore at a store property alongside Robinson Road. All around that time, popular entertainer Victor Khoo’s father Khoo Teng Heng who was a magician, a ventriloquist and hypnotist opened his magic shop at Bras Basah. (the place Carlton Resort stands at present).
In the course of this decade, Tan Choon Tee was producing a identify for himself in the global magic group in the area of Mentalism. He won several worldwide Linking Ring Awards for his One-Guy Parades and has two books printed by Micky Hades. He was also a standard contributor to quite a few intercontinental magic journals this kind of as Gen, New Pentagram, Magicgram, Magicana and The Linking Ring.
Overseas magicians whom passed by way of Singapore incorporated Milo & Roger, Milbourne Christopher and Maurice Fogel.
seventies
The 1970s saw the birth of the next generation of Singapore magicians. Some properly-known magicians who received started in the course of this time included The Fantastic Wong’s son Ng Kee Chee, John Teo, Tang Sai Thong, Ng Seow Kiat, Tang Yeng Exciting, Bob Chua, Eric Leong, Tan Teck Seng, Lawrence Tham, Tan Tuan Seng, Lawrence Khong and Andrew Kong.
The Singapore Affiliation of Magicians was launched on ten March 1973 in welcoming ‘rivalry’ to the IBM Ring. The club was led by Tan Bah Chee with distinguished founding associates such as Lim Hap Hin, Tan Hock Chuan and Charles Choo.
Magic outlets in Singapore started to spring up for the duration of the late seventies. Ng Kee Chee set up a magic stall at Yaohan in Plaza Singapura and Wang Leng opened his shop in Peninsula Plaza. Charles Choo opened his store in August 1978 on the 6th flooring of Much East Buying Centre. (It would go several occasions to a variety of malls but at some point returned back to Far East). His store would quickly grow to be an institution in which magicians would acquire a variety of magic items as effectively as meet up and discover from every other.
It was a variety haunt for a lot of magicians in the many years to arrive until the shop shut in the new millennium.
In kit champignons hallucinogènes of this period of time, The Tropicana Night Club, which was positioned at Pacific Plaza, was a location that had standard magic performances. Numerous popular magicians also frequented Singapore in the 70s. In 1970, John Calvert done at the National Theatre. In 1972, Albert Goshman frequented Ring a hundred and fifteen to give a lecture. In that very same yr, “The Professor” Dai Vernon also visited Singapore, lectured and interacted with nearby magicians. Other visiting magicians incorporated Andre Kole, Billy McComb, and Ali Bongo.
nineteen eighties
By the eighties, the local magic scene was flourishing with healthy memberships for the two main magic clubs as effectively as a surge in the amount of performing magicians. Several of today’s veterans manufactured their identify in the 80s. Acquainted names like Richard Ang, Patrick Wan, Patrick Ng Wang Lin, Tan Hai Yan AKA Gician, Paul Koh, AB Francis and Gordon Koh were doing often at community and private shows in the course of this ten years. Common local venues for community magic shows by magic clubs held on a regular basis at that time incorporated the Drama Centre and the National Museum Theatrette.
The acceptance of magic outlets also grew and in 1982, Chew Kin Song opened a Magic & Novelty Corner at the Chinese Ebook Area of Popular E-book Co Pte Ltd on the 4th Floor of Bras Basah Intricate. Gician Tan also opened up his first magic shop at Parkway Parade which subsequently moved to Marina Square and was managed by Richard Ang. Besides this principal shop, he distributed magic products and sets by way of division retailers
in Singapore and South East Asia.The Singapore viewers was also uncovered to globe-course magic through many magic tv demonstrates and collection that have been aired on neighborhood Tv set which includes the David Copperfield specials, Magic Magic and The Very best of Magic.
Overseas magicians who visited Singapore in the course of this time included David Copperfield, Mark Wilson, Ben Harris, Paul Daniels and Gene Anderson.
nineteen nineties
The starting of this ten years observed the introduction of the country’s 3rd technology magicians into the neighborhood magic scene. Distinguished budding magicians included Enrico Varella, Sherman Tjiong, J C Sum, Joe Yu (Chan Ee Kang), Nique Tan Li Keong, Prakash Puru, Kiki Tay, Alex Tan and Jeremy Pei.
The local chapter of Global Magicians Modern society was shaped, started by its President, Tan Bah Chee although the club’s presence in Singapore was short-lived.
The late-nineteen nineties noticed a large surge in magic international recognition owing to David Blaine’s avenue magic specials. A lot of men and women began to ‘get into’ magic and had new mediums to understand the craft this kind of as the introduction of DVDs and the Web.
A new magic store, Magic Castle & Promotions, opened up by Vijay Kumar at Shaw Towers quickly became ‘the location to be’ in which new magicians would dangle out and meet.
During this 10 years, Wang Leng’s shop in Peninsula Plaza was offered to Patrick Wan. The shop was subsequently sold to Richard Ang and is now nicely identified as Ang Residence of Magic. Patrick Wan opened his new store, Magic Wand, which has spawned into several shops in a variety of parts of Singapore. Steven Sim also opened Magic Supreme at Coronation Plaza which has subsequently moved to Park Shopping mall.
The 90s was an exciting decade with numerous visits and performances by popular magicians. Aside from lectures by Michael & Hannah Ammar, Mark Leveridge and Wolfgang & Sonja Riebe there ended up also general public theatre performances by the Pendragons, Princess Tenko, Andre Kole, Franz Harary, David Copperfield, Rudy Coby and Robert Gallop. Other visiting magicians integrated Larry Becker, Tim Ellis, Terry Seabrooke, Phil Cass and Albert Tham.
2000 – Current
Magic has continued to prosper at the nearby amount in this 10 years. New options and abilities have emerged to elevate the artwork in Singapore. In May 2000, J C Sum staged the very first at any time regional full-night theatre show ‘Magic at the Theatre’ at Victoria Theatre. Just a month later on, a lot more than a dozen magicians from the US and Canada arrived down to Singapore as element of the Magic Competition structured by the Malls of Centrepoint. Magicians this sort of as Robert Baxt, Rocco and Peter Gossamer carried out several displays at a variety of Centrepoint Malls for more than a 7 days.
In 2004, the Singapore Magic Circle (SMC) was developed by Aloysius Yeo and with its on-line forum drew a new pool of magic lovers together. SMC has because developed to above a thousand customers and regularly arrange gatherings, activities as properly as the modern Notion:Magic Micro MAGIC Convention in January 2007.
By means of a huge-scale theatre magic musical ‘Magic of Love’, Lawrence Khong, a pastor with Religion Local community Baptist Church and his daughter Pricilla, distribute the gospel information.
The multi-million dollar production has been staged a lot of times more than the many years throughout the planet to distribute the phrase of Christ. Subsequently, the exact same crew arranged two Global Competition of Magic conventions in 2003 & 2005. The very first of its variety large magic functions provided competitions, lectures, a dealers’ space and performances. International performers this sort of as Jeff McBride, Max Maven, Johnny Thomspon, The Pendragons, Lee Eun Gyeol and Tommy Surprise had been booked to perform at the gala shows and lectures.
In current several years, J C Sum has turn into arguably the most prominent Singapore magician of this technology. His magic has been witnessed by thousands and thousands by way of his reside performances across Asia as properly as his landmark mass media initiatives on MediaCorp Studio’s Ch eight as effectively as subsequent ‘Street Illusions’ compilation DVD/ VCD.
His 24-episode ‘Magic in Motion’ series can currently be seen daily on Singapore Push Holdings MediaBoxOffice by means of 2007. In the international magic neighborhood, J C has also recognized himself as an elite illusion designer from Asia with the publication of his three critically acclaimed illusion publications that have been sold in much more than thirty nations to date.
Yet another talented award-winning magician, Jeremy Pei, is elevating the profile of Singapore magic within the regional magic community with his theatre shows, organized lectures, workshops and energetic participation in magic conventions & competitions in Japan, Korea, China, Thailand and Australia. His unique North-Asian impact design of magic overall performance has garnered him a following with new budding magicians whom he teaches and guides. He has also unveiled a number of authentic magic products which are accessible to magicians worldwide.
In another 1st, award-profitable junior magician, Kyle Ravin secured a 13-episode weekly Street Magic collection, “Maya” on MediaCorp Studios’ Vasantham Central. This 30min sequence saw him perform magic for the Indian community and superstars throughout the region.
This decade has noticed the introduction of even more magic outlets and dealers operate by young magicians to meet the desire of magic fanatics and magicians. These consist of new ‘brick & mortar’ magic stores these kinds of as Road Magic by Tan Wei Ping, Challenging Organization by Jimmy Wong, The Magic Corridor by Kenneth Peh as properly as on-line stores like The Minor Magic Store by Ning.