A Brief History of The Peoria Magicians Assembly and Some of Its Members

The Peoria Magicians Assembly was founded by the late C. Verne Bloch (1913-1991) in 1931. He had been inspired after seeing an early performance by Ted Colteaux who just passed away in February 1995.

Mr. Bloch was an award-winning journalist and later an editor of the Journal Star and served as a correspondent for the former International News Service. His mutual love of magic and journalism brought him the honor of being offered the editorial positions of both two prestigious magic magazines -The Linking Ring and M-U-M. Although he chose not to take on these additional positions, his combined contributions to magic gave the PMA the push it needed to carry it through to the present day.

The purpose of the Peoria Magicians Assembly (PMA), as defined in the constitution, is "to promote, popularize and elevate magic as an art and sociability among magicians." Enthusiasts, amateurs and professional magicians and members of the allied arts (ventriloquist, clowns, and jugglers) have been coming together in central-Illinois under the PMA for more than sixty years now. Many things have changed about the club during those years, however, what has not changed is the broad base of individuals who have and currently hold membership cards in the PMA. Their collective individual talents and experiences are considered to be of the greatest value to the membership. Presently, the membership includes novices to world traveling entertainers - The Henneberry Family from Toulon, Illinois.

Their magical skills notwithstanding, our current members have entertainment experiences in theater, music, singing, choreography, radio and television broadcasting, clowning, ventriloquism, apparatus design, and construction and public relations. Several of our members are also dealers in new and used magic props.

In addition to local membership sociability, the PMA is and continues to be interested in the affiliation and recognition of the national and international magical societies. In 1947, the PMA received their Ring Charter (#48 - The Nicola Ring) for the International Brotherhood of Magicians (lBM) and then in 1952 received their Assembly Charter (#51 - BLANCORUMA Assembly) for the Society of American Magicians (SAM). Even today, the PMA is one of only a few magic clubs in the United States with dual charters.

The choosing of Nicola for our ring charter is to this author a slight mystery. No records have been found detailing why this magician was chosen, but I could hypothesize a guess. Nicola was born William Mozart Nicol in Burlington, Iowa, and is the third generation of performing conjurers. His family soon moved to Monmouth, Illinois where Will grew up, learned his first magic tricks, and where he was later buried. If you get a chance, we highly recommend reading the section on Nicol in Milbourne Christophers' book The History of Magic (1973). Nicola was without a doubt the greatest magician to travel the whole world with a full evening stage show.

The assembly charter was originally named to honor five men who had done much to further the interests of magic in Peoria. The name BLANCORUMA was coined by William T. Reid, Sr. on 5/22/52 and used the first two letters from the surnames of Verne Bloch, Andy Anderson, Jose Correll, Al Ruesch and Harold Martin (MUM - Vol. 57, Issue No.9).

In March 1991, the PMA voted to officially recognize the members of the ever-growing Fellowship of Christian Magicians (FCM) and gave this society an equivalent position on the PMA executive board. Junior membership is also strongly encouraged and several members of the Society of Young Magicians (SYM - established in 1994 under the guidance of SAM) are currently active with the PMA. Also, in 1994, the PMA began offering FREE quarterly youth training workshops under the billing name, “Magic 101.” Private lessons can also be arranged with a number of our current members.

The PMA's strong tie with the magical societies also gives us the opportunity to bring in nationally recognized talent in the different sub-specialties of magic lectures, performances and dealer demo shows. Such well-known guests have included JB Bobo, George "Sensational" Sands, Max Howard, Paul Diamond, Ron London, Frank Pemper, Dick Zimmerman, Kevin King, Loren Christopher Michaels, David Harkey, Petrick & Mia and Harry Blackstone, Jr. (Who is an Honorary Life member of the PMA).

Membership in the PMA also presents opportunities for participation and leadership. Every month the program chairman is actively recruiting members to perform, lecture, teach, etc., on some aspect of magic. Performers are sought for both community service and profit. A regional convention is also hosted every three years by the PMA and participation and leadership roles are plentiful at convention planning time. The more interested applicants with more time to give should consider running for a PMA officer position. Elections are held for the PMA officers' positions and any open position on the executive board each November.

Finally, the PMA offers its membership a free subscription to its monthly newsletter, PMA PA TIER. Although attendance and participation at the PMA functions are the primary goals of the officers, they acknowledge that some members and working professional performers are not always able to attend monthly meetings and therefore still find a sense of belonging through the information passed along in the newsletter. Since its beginning in 1989, as a supplementary page, the letter has grown to be The Newsletter with three or four monthly pages detailing past, present, and future events, editorials, updates on members' public shows, national magic news or gossip and an occasional joke or two.

Aside from the history of Verne Bloch, no handouts on the PMA would be complete without also mentioning the tremendous contributions made to the club by the late Harold Martin and J. Gary Bontjes. Harold Martin was instrumental in securing the SAM Charter, for which as Assembly President, he served several terms. In his role as the proprietor of Martin's Magic Shop (Peoria), Harold was able to help bring many of the now older members into the PMA.

In addition, as an esteemed officer of the Magic Dealers Association, Harold was also able to attract big names such as Dorney, Jay Marshall, and Blackstone, Sr. to Peoria and the PMA. In 1967, the PMA paid its highest tribute to Harold by changing the ring name from Nicola to The Harold Martin Ring. Later the PMA also changed the Assembly name to the Harold Martin Assembly.

J. Gary Bontjes' significant contributions to the PMA are still now just being realized by many. Before his early death in 1985 from leukemia, Gary served in the prestigious position as national president of the SAM (1971-1972). His personal library was and probably still is considered to be one of the largest private libraries in the Midwest, if not the U.S. His most complete collection was that of the lecture notes of all the major magical contributors. He also has a stage named for him in the Magic Hall of Fame in Hollywood. Even today, Gary's lovely wife and assistant Char, now Char Gott, still resides in Morton and continues to be active nationally in the SAM. Char continues to be active in performing, writing, and assisting the SAM on the national level. Specifically, for the 1991 SAM convention, she served as the Alternative Activities Chairperson. She and her son Chris are Life Members of the SAM. Needless to say, Gary and his family brought and continue to bring the club a sense of position in an entertainment business so strongly dominated by the commercial area of the east and west coasts. In 1985, at Harold Martin's encouragement, the PMA paid Gary its highest honors by renaming the Assembly Charter for Gary.

Any individual who believes and will support the purpose(s) of the club as so stated in the constitution may be referred to the executive board for membership consideration. Three types of membership are available to new members: active, junior, and associate (refer to the constitution for specific membership rights). Each type of membership has annual dues, and the specific rate of the current dues may be obtained from a current officer.

All members must demonstrate their interest in magic by performing a five-minute routine at one of the monthly meetings of the club. Active members are strongly encouraged to join one or more of the three international magical societies referred to above as IBM, SAM, and PCM. Junior members (ages 7-17) will be given the opportunity to join the Society of Young Magicians (SYM) or as a junior members of IBM. Associate members are defined as assistants and/or spouses of active members.

We welcome any biographical information you have on yourself for inclusion in the PMA history book.

Send all information to PMA Historian: David Taylor 204 Schramm Dr. Pekin, IL 61554.