Magic in Blackpool

Blackpool’s history boasts a number of iconic shops and their memorable owners, such as “Uncle Bill” of Bill’s House of Jokes and Smokey Joe’s Record Emporium on Church Street. But there was one that remained magical for generations of children and would be magicians alike. It was run by a retired Australian magician and escapologist who lent his name to the outlet, Murray’s Magic Mart.

Leo Norman Maurien Murray Stuart Carrington Walters (1901-1988) was originally from Melbourne, Australia and became known as the suave looking Magician, Murray, who also specialised in daring escapes.

The Escapologist Emerges

He began his career at age 14, and for a time worked in the Sloggetts show before launching a successful series of worldwide tours spanning nearly 40 years. With “Murray the Escapologist” being a major part of his act, he became especially popular after the death of Harry Houdini in 1926. While he popularised the term Escapologist, it is likely he got it from a quote by Houdini during a visit to Melbourne in 1910 when he said “If I might be allowed to coin a word, I would call myself an escapologist.”

Murray toured the world during the 1930s and 1940s with a full evening magic and illusion show. His own working philosophy on stage magic was “The two most essential things for a conjurer to possess is audacity and bluff”. And he certainly had both in abundance.

He appeared in London during 1933, the show including Shooting Through a Women, The Pin Cushion Girl, Selected Cards on a Sword, The Girl Without a Middle, Siberian Handcuff Escape and climaxed with Escape from a Slotted Box while Immersed in a Tank of Water.

The Great Escape

He played a season in Germany during 1939 and was even visited backstage by Hitler and Goring. However, he had to escape the county on a bicycle when World War Two broke out to avoid arrest and interment as an alien. There was no choice but to leave his props, scenery and costumes behind, a small amount of which he recovered after the war. When asked why he had not evacuated earlier, Murray replied “I though sanity would prevail – but it didn’t.”