Francis Martineau
Art and magic were inseparable for Francis. In high school he began performing on stage and painting movie posters for Famous Players. At age 21 he enlisted in the Canadian Army and was assigned to the Entertainment Corps. After WWII he joined the Vancouver Magic Circle (VMC) and established his commercial art studio, Martineau Displays.
During the 1940s and 1950s—in top hat, white tie, and tails—“Martineau the Magician” performed his magic act at the upscale Cave, Isy’s, and Palomar Supper Clubs. In 1947, at age 25, he performed at the annual convention of the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians (PCAM) in Seattle—which included the VMC—and was awarded all three trophies for the best original, most artistic, and most entertaining presentations, as well as the gold medal for overall stage excellence and showmanship. The followingyear, after performing at the PCAM convention in Reno, Nevada, he was awarded the trophy for the best all-round magical performance in the continent-wide competition. He also received the VMC’s trophies for excellence in stage magic (1954) and magical arts (1958). An active member of the VMC, Francis served as its President in 1954. He also appeared on local television, emceed and performed at VMC fundraising events, and toured his act up and down the west coast club circuit Francis is widely known as the artist who hand-lettered and hand-illustrated three volumes of Rice’s Encyclopedia of Silk Magic (1948, 1953, 1962). Hired by publisher Harold Rice when he was only 20, he embarked on a 20-year collaboration entailing over 1500 pages rendered with pen and ink and representing “the most amazing thing seen in a lifetime of magic” (Dai Vernon). These superb volumes are lauded as an extraordinary achievement in magic literature.
Indicative of his ingenuity, Francis built a small wooden box with a drafting lid to hold his art supplies sohe could work on the encyclopedia pages while touring in the Army. He simultaneously wrote and illustrated four magic booklets (also published by Rice). Over the ensuing years he invented many of hisown magic effects and apparatuses and, through Martineau Displays, created promotional materials, displays, and devices for his theatrical and magical clients. He also designed the VMC logo and lapel pin.
In 1961 Francis joined magician Mark Wilson’s creative team in Los Angeles as Associate Producer on The Magic Land of Allakazam (NBC-TV). The team also created magic effects for other trade and television shows, and they created the Hall of Magic in the General Cigar Pavilion at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. In 1965 Francis hired a talent agent and embarked on his lifelong dream of travelling the world. He performed at the famed Magic Castle, in nightclubs in North American and Asia, and on cruise ships sailing out of New York. Though he was most at home on the stage, life ‘on the road and out to sea’ proved too lonely. In 1970 Francis returned to Vancouver with his two great loves: art and magic.
