Bert Douglas - "A Family Remembers"

Douglas Robert Smith (Bert Douglas) was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1897, the youngest of a family of eight. In World War One he served for over four years with the famous Gordon Highlanders.

Enlistment, 1915	At age 21 in 1918	Married to Laura, 1920

Following marriage to Laura (Cantlay) in 1920, they immigrated to Toronto, Canada where he was employed in the Motive Power Department of Canadian National Railways until his retirement in 1962. He died in Toronto on March 8, 1974.

From an early age in Scotland, Douglas Robert Smith was captivated by magic. His boyhood ambition was to follow in the footsteps of Professor Anderson, the famous "Wizard of the North".

John Henry Anderson

As a young conjurer, he adopted the title "Mr. Smith - the Uncanny Aberdonian". In 1912, at the age of fifteen, he wrote his first article for the Magic Wand.

Soon after coming to Canada in 1920, he chose the name Bert Douglas for professional purposes by transposing his two Christian names.

As his sons, my brother, Russell, and I (Donald), were well aware in our childhood and early teens of our father's enthusiasm for and involvement in all things having to do with magic.

Early years: Bert Douglas performing in Scotland (circa 1914)	Bert Douglas, Magician	Donald (age four) and Big Bill
Bert with sons in 1944 Russell (12) & Donald (16)	Bert with Donald (1944)	Bert with his family (1950)

From the mid-20's onward he became well known in magical circles in Toronto and, through his writings, in Britain and the United States. He was an avid reader of magic magazines as his subscription list indicated, and exchanged them widely with his magic "buddies". In a tribute at the time of his death (New Tops, May '74) his good friend Sid Lorraine (who supplied the illustrations for many of his books) remarked that for over forty years he and my father met almost daily over lunch in downtown Toronto - often with Tommy Bowyer, where magic was the main topic of conversation.

Sid Lorraine	Sid Lorraine & Bert Douglas

My brother and I remember visits to our home by fellow magicians Murray Sumner and Bill Cambridge, and on at least two occasions, I traveled with my father to Hamilton in the early 1940's for visits with Ross Bertram.

Ross Bertram

We both recall the excitement of visits with father to Eaton's Toy Department where his friend and fellow magician Johnny Giordmaine would delight young and old with his show of tricks. (He also operated the electric trains there - one of my delights!)

Although my father never owned a car, as a CNR employee he had unlimited access to the extensive passenger rail service in existence in the 20's to early 60's period. This included the CN-owned line to Chicago passing through several important centers in Michigan and Illinois, including Battle Creek, where he had dealings with the Tinker Toy Co. in developing tricks using Tinker Toy. Through the uses of passes on various U.S. railways, he was able to attend numerous conventions and other magic gatherings in major centers in the United States.

In a period of some fifty years, Bert Douglas made over two hundred contributions to English and American magic magazines. In addition, he was the author of sixteen books reflecting his wide range of magic interests. Several were devoted to collections of patter, including one for Dell O’Dell, one of the few women magicians of the period.

He created dozens of tricks which were purchased and marketed by various magic dealers. His real passion was the creation/invention of new tricks. An editorial in Sphinx magazine declared "To my mind four of the greatest modern creators of magical effects are Charles Waller of Australia; G.W. Hunter of England; J.F. Grant of U.S.; and Bert Douglas of Canada. Their effects are to be found in great profusion and are worthy of great merit."

In latter years of his life, Bert Douglas developed a series of tricks designed for talks/workshops on the subject of workshop safety called "The Magic of Safety". Several articles on the programme were published in 1967-69 in New Tops and Genii. In the 1940's he invented the game of Pic-O which was sold to and marketed by the Copp-Clark Co.

Although our father was never primarily a performer of magic, my brother and I fondly remember his 'shows' performed at various church gatherings, Sunday schools, Christmas concerts and, above all, to family gatherings with his children and grandchildren.

May 1962 - Retirement
Bert Douglas on his last day of work at the CNR

As Sid Lorraine expressed it: "He was a somewhat shy and retiring fellow.a fellow who loved magic and contributed a great deal to all who shared his enthusiasm and pleasure." In his own quiet and modest way he influenced countless magicians everywhere.

Additional Resources:

Audiocast: This audio interview of Bert Douglas was conducted by Sid Lorraine after Bert returned from a Magic Convention held in Chicago, 1948. (Coming soon!)

Books By Bert Douglas: Here is a book list (.pdf) of Bert Douglas' work. If you are aware of other contibutions by Bert Douglas (books, magic magazine articles or other works), please contact MAGICANA and we would be delighted to add to our archive.

Donald Smith is Emeritus Professor of Divinity at Knox College, University of Toronto.	Russell Smith is a retired high-school history teacher and school librarian (Kitchener-Waterloo)