Published in a limited edition of 550 copies.

First published in 2001 by

Martin Breese International
164 Kensington Park Road
London Wll 2ER, England

© Martin Breese, London 2001

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy-
ing, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval System including
the internet, without written permission from Martin Breese International,
except for the inclusion of a quotation in a review.
Chan Canasta
Cover Image © Camera Press, London Afterthoughts

Typeset in ll/14pt Palatino and Prose Antique by

Ann Buchan (Typesetters), Middlesex
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Itchen Printers Ltd, Southampton MARTIN BREESE INTERNATIONAL • LONDON
 "W- Chan Canasta - Afterthoughts

the book was read by an expert proofreader before publication, some-

thing went wrong and all the corrected errors reappeared in the text in
the final book. This did not please Busby and it certainly did not please
A Few Thoughts from the Publisher me. There are few typographical errors in the majority of books that I
publish and I pride myself on the care with which they are checked and
checked again. In the case of the book in question none of the typo-
graphical errors would cause any misunderstanding, nor did they alter
any of the sense of the book, nor did they affect the description or work-
David Britland wrote, and I had the pleasure of publishing, ing of any of the magic described. They were just tedious errors, such as
the book Chan Canasta - A Remarkable Man. The book had a missing question marks, commas in the wrong place and quotation marks,
resounding success and was highly priced in order to keep it which were either missing or misplaced. I apologised sincerely for these
out of the hands of secret-seekers. Excellent reviews were re- errors and suggested that I would produce a small booklet, which would
ceived from the magical press with the exception of a carping and rather add some new material to the Canasta legend and which I would prob-
unpleasant review from Jeff Busby who, drawing from the text in David's ably give away for free or perhaps in exchange for the cost of the postage.
book, spent hundreds of words giving his readers a potted history of
Chan Canasta as if he had some Special inside knowledge. He also of- I commissioned David Britland to work on this Supplement and together
fered as a fact that Chan Canasta based his act on the work of other we wrote each other countless emails and David acquired a great deal
well-established performers who were on the scene before Canasta. of new material which had been offered to him and which he had not
been able to use in the original volume. This little give-away booklet
Without supplying his sources he went on to suggest that Chan Canasta was fast becoming a proper Volume Two to the original Canasta book
with his initials C.C. had drawn on the work of a performer from France and by the time David had delivered the final text it was obvious that a
called Charles Carts who specialised in, 'exactly the sort of material Chan book of its length could not be given away without bankrupting its pub-
was later to become famous for'. Jeff Busby then continues, 'If you haven't lisher.
already put it together, the earlier performer's initials were also "C.C".
Like Chan's, his last name suggested cards (carts is a play on the French I have decided, therefore, to release this mass of new material as Vol-
word for "cards" and Canasta the name of a populär card game) and ume Two of Chan Canasta - A Remarkable Man. Although it will not be a
Mifelew (Canasta) also mentioned he had visited France after the war, hardbound volume, it has been designed to match the style and design
though reviews of Carts' Performances were in contemporary entertain- of the original book. It has several illustrations and images of Chan Ca-
ment magazines.' So far no-one eise has mentioned this Charles Carts! nasta and much more. As it is intended to Supplement the original
Harry Stanley of the Unique Magic Studio who helped Chan consider-
ably very clearly states that he came up with the name Canasta for Chan
I published volume it will be reasonably priced and I hope that you will
enjoy its contents as much as I have. Details of its availability will be
Mifelew. advertised in the magical press very soon.

Jeff Busby is a talented and knowledgeable writer but it seems that, al- This small booklet that you are reading right now has been produced
*though he very clearly devoured the entire contents of our book, he didn't with the help of Graham Jolley and Val Andrews and it is free of charge
like it a scrap! Busby raised the point that the book had more than its to those who invested in the original Chan Canasta book. You may have
fair share of typographical errors. This is perfectly true and although obtained this book directly from me or from the dealer from whom

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 Chan Canasta - Afterthoughts

you first purchased the Canasta book but, other than making a contri-
bution towards the cost of postage, you should not be asked to pay for
it.
Qraham Jolley on Chan Canasta and
Both Graham Jolley and Val Andrews told me after the publication of
Chan Canasta - A Remarkable Man that had I asked them they could have AI Koran
contributed Information which was based on having actual personal
knowledge of Chan Canasta. Both Graham Jolley and Val Andrews had
met Canasta personally and both had watched him performing. Val
Andrews knew Canasta well and, on many occasions, they met up Graham Jolley is one of Britain's finest entertainers. He combines a
together with a group of magicians for magic sessions. Val was even light-hearted approach to mentalism witha touch ofcomedy andis very
asked if he would like to work on the Script for the Canasta television much in tune with his audience and always many steps ahead ofthem.
show but decided not to accept; the reason why can be found in this Graham commands very high fees and works at venues around the
booklet. Graham Jolley met Chan Canasta and spoke to him several times world. He has a fine reputation which has been well earned. He was heavily
but, most important of all, he saw him working live three times. All influenced byAl Koran and had the chance to see both Chan Canasta and AI Koran
those who enjoy Chan Canasta's work are more than likely to be fasci- performing live on stage. Graham kindly shares some ofhis observations ofthese
nated by AI Koran, and Graham Jolley contrasts the style and work of two remarkable men.
the two performers in his interesting article.

I would like to thank Graham Jolley and Val Andrews for so speedily In the early seventies, I was working for a merchant bank in Knightsbridge,
making their contributions to this little booklet. I would like to thank London. The bank was owned by a man called Jack Delal - who was
David Britland for his wonderful research and amazing writing ability, affectionately known by the name Black Jack Delal because of his love
especially when applied to the life and times of Chan Canasta. There of playing cards and gambling. The bank had quite a few well-known
are many others who have contributed material for the second volume customers in the entertainment business; there was Roman Polanski,
and each and all of them have been mentioned in the introduction to the film producer, Richard Attenborough, also a film producer, and many
Volume Two, which, in my opinion, is just as good as the first volume of others including Chan Canasta. Chan used to come into the bank about
Chan Canasta - A Remarkable Man. Finally to all of those magicians who once a week. He was always very friendly; a tall, elegant man who always
have trusted - over the years - that I will not use my advertising copy- wore a cravat and, if I remember rightly, he usually had a pipe in his
writing skills to make them purchase something that they will regret, I hand. He would walk towards me and, even though I would be the only
extend my grateful thanks. The two Chan Canasta volumes are really person in his view, he would always say the same words, 'Good morn-
dedicated to magical enthusiasts; those who are prepared to study in ing everybody'. It was rather as if he was walking out to a television
great detail the life and times of such heroes as the Remarkable Chan Studio audience.
Canasta.
I would often have a chat - he was very friendly - and I would teil him
Martin Breese, March 2001 how much I enjoyed his television programmes and I remember once
innocently saying to him, 'What do you think of AI Koran?' He replied
that he thought he was very pleasant and he liked him very much. He

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 Chan Canasta - Afterthoughts Chan Canasta - Afterthoughts

also said that he thought he was very good indeed but he couldn't under- David Britland discussed and explained in his excellent book; some-
stand why he did magic as well. 'He shouldn't mix magic and mind- how these effects in a theatre lacked impact and the reaction was clearly
reading,' He clearly thought that mixing magic and mindreading was a lukewarm but on television the same effects went over incredibly well.
mistake. Quite often it is difficult for a mentalist to capture that strength on tele-
vision and in a live Performance as well - it seems that certain kinds of
At that time Chan was doing a lot of painting and around the walls of presentation and style are best for television and the less intimate kind
the bank were quite a few examples of his work. They were quite ob- of material seems to work better in cabaret or on the stage.
scure and nobody really understood them, but Jack Delal, who was a
friend of his, liked to have them on display. I remember too that on Almost at the same time, towards the end of the sixties, AI Koran used
Chan's records that his address was given as the Playboy Club. Presum- to come to my hometown quite often. I know that I am writing about
ably he frequented that particular establishment to gamble but, whatever Chan Canasta but I think it is quite interesting to see how different these
the reason, I was impressed. two performers were, despite the fact that they were both performing
mentalism and working the same kind of shows either live or on tele-
I was brought up in Clacton-on-Sea in Essex - which is an unf ortunate start vision. I went to see AI Koran on ten occasions during one particular
to life, I know - but I was only there from about the age of twelve to the age week, during which he was doing two shows a night. I would sit in the
of twenty. They had a pier there of course and a theatre called The Ocean front row - usually the same seat - and he had a different sort of approach
Review and I remember around that time going to see Chan three times as he altogether. His act was about half an hour and he would close the show.
was there f or just one week. It was a variety show with a couple of dancers, Unlike Chan Canasta, Koran virtually left nothing to chance and if any-
comedians and singers and Chan Canasta closed the first half. thing did go wrong it was purely by accident.

It was quite interesting to see the contrast in the way he worked for a Koran and Canasta were completely different in appearance. AI was quite
live audience as opposed to the way he worked when doing a television sophisticated and suave. He wore a dinner jacket and bow tie whereas
show. On television he came over very well and I thought his style was Chan, when I saw him live at the theatre, wore grey flannel trousers, a
perfect and intimate. He would keep the viewers on the edge of their blazer and a tie - more like a businessman. Chan would do very well
seats whether his 'experiments' (as he called them) worked or not. This, now in the corporate market because in those days corporate entertain-
somehow, didn't work in a theatre holding up to fifteen hundred people ment wasn't like it is now. In those days you went on television, did
on a cold Friday night. And here he was doing card effects where the your series and, I suppose, for the summer you might do sixteen weeks
spectator had to cut the pack behind his back and put the bottom card in at a theatre in Eastbourne or Scarborough then do a few private func-
his left trouser pocket and the top card in his right trouser pocket. Canasta tions in London or Birmingham or some other large city and that would
worked out which was which and also offered the spectator seven sec- beit.
onds in which to change his mind - you know the routine. He also
performed coincidence-type effects using two packs of cards. This seemed One night I feit very sorry for AI Koran because he was doing the pre-
lost within the atmosphere of a large theatre. I think he got that particu- diction with a newspaper which he called Countdown. I think one method
lar experiment right on the three occasions when I saw him but there was explained in Hugh Miller's second book but Ken de Courcy cer-
was no applause at all. tainly explained it accurately in one of his manuscripts. An envelope
was given to a member of the audience and AI would take a sheet of
His book test worked - a brilliant book test as we know - the one that newspaper, tear it up into sixteen pieces and ask the person to give him

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a number between one and sixteen. He would count down to that piece, During one of these ten shows of Al's that I went to see, I was sitting in
call out a word on that piece of paper, open the envelope and it was the the front row and the lady sitting next to me said, 'You are very enthusi-
same word. Well, on this particular occasion he had torn the paper into astic,' and I said, 'Oh yes, I like him.' And it turned out to be his wife,
sixteen pieces and laid them on his hand when a lady in the audience Kathleen. In Clacton I got to know a gentleman called Sidney Smith
got up to leave. She opened the door and went outside and the wind who was also known as Paul Ducaine and he was in his seventies at the
blew into the theatre and the sixteen pieces of paper went all over the time and has only just recently died. He was a friend of Al's and he took
floor. AI kept very cool. He picked up the pieces of paper put them back me backstage to meet him. I was about sixteen and doing a manipula-
in what he hoped was the same order. They hadn't actually scattered tive act. AI was kind and asked what I did and I told him. He told me
over a wide area and had fallen in two or three clumps. that he used to do manipulations and found that kind of act very diffi-
cult to get over to an audience. He advised me to do a mindreading act.
What number are you thinking of? Back came the answer, number five. I wish I could thank him now because that is exactly what I did and I am
He counted down to the fifth piece and gave it to the spectator. It was glad that I took his advice. After meeting backstage we went over to the
the wrong piece of course. He said, 'Open the envelope.' It was a com- Royal Hotel in Clacton; Sid, AI and myself spent an hour together. Koran
pletely different word. AI just stood there and said, 'Well you can take was very pleasant to meet but, unfortunately, I never had the opportun-
my word as a professional; if that lady hadn't got up and opened the ity to talk to Chan Canasta at length other than exchanging pleasantries
door and the wind hadn't blown all the pieces all over the floor, this at the bank. Again nothing to do with Chan Canasta but I should add
would have been the fifth piece.' He bent down and picked up the cor- that Sid told me that AI Koran's torn and restored newspaper which he
rect piece and said, 'You can take my word as a professional that that explains in Routined Manipulation Finale - an excellent book - was actu-
would have been the piece and that would have been the word and it ally Sid's and he said that in the end AI did actually acknowledge this
would have worked.' And, of course he walked off - he didn't have fact.
anything eise on him to go into just in case that failed. I do that particu-
lar effect myself and it is prone to accident. I wouldn't close with it but Graham Jolley, England, April 2001
he did and walked off to rather low-key applause.

David mentioned in his book that AI was probably more highly thought
of than Chan by magicians and I suppose that this is absolutely true.
Perhaps it is something to do with the fact that Al's routines were recog-
nisable by and accessible to magicians because Harry Stanley put a lot
of them on the market. With Chan you wouldn't necessarily know what
he was doing - you would have an idea - but with AI you could actually
recognise the routine because you knew that you could buy it for a couple
of pounds. It is extraordinary looking through old catalogues because
in the sixties you could buy Al's routine Direct Mind Control - the effect
with the word, the book and the number and the card for £3.50. Jackpot
Coins - which he made a big thing of in his cabaret and television shows
- could be bought for just £1. It was quite amazing and a shame that AI
made his act so available, especially during his career.

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 Chan Canasta - Afterthoughts

and this minimised his very pale complexion. He would stand around
and hold court showing members complicated card moves and sleights.
He made it clear that he would allow no shoddy work on their part and
My Memories of Chan Canasta he rapped out his instructions.
by Val Andrews Some of the members who spoke with London accents would irritate
him with their pronunciation and he would snap at them,' "Through"
not 'Frew!" ' Chan was Polish and like many who have English as a
second or third language he had little patience with shoddy speech.
Val Andrews zs a prolific author and has wrüten books on a variety
ofsubjects other than his speciality, magic and conjuring. His Sherlock I suppose one has to be fair and say that Harry Stanley 'discovered'
Holmes stories wrüten in the style ofthe original author Conan Doyle Chan Mifelew and turned him into Chan Canasta just as he had already
have attracted world-wide attention. Val has long been an unsung discovered AI Koran and would later discover Johnny Hart. He was not
hero and in April 2000 he was deservedly honoured by the Academy ofMagical the first, by any means, to see the possibilities in these performers but
Arts with a Literary Fellowship. perhaps the first to put his intuition to practical use by using his influence
to help them. I don't know if he suggested the name Canasta but he
certainly did suggest that a new stage name should be adopted. Stanley
When first I met Chan he was working part time at Harry Stanley's Unique was a sort of magical Carol Levis or Hughie Green. His many years in
Magic Studio when the location was in Wardour Street in London's West show business before opening his magic business had given him the
End. The astute Harry could soon see great possibilities in Chan's Card ability to spot a winner when he saw one.
magic and forceful personality and obtained him engagements at late
nightspots in the Soho area, which he worked under the name of Chan We skip a year or two and by then Chan Canasta had his own television
Mifelew. At that point Chan was working a straightforward 'take a card, series in which he portrayed a role which was more that of a psychic
put it back' stand-up act. He was very effective with his very direct and than magician. Chan had formed a close friendship with a gentleman
arresting manner. A less dominant performer could easily have died a with whom I had more than a passing acquaintance, the late Cy Endfield.
death in front of these particular audiences but Chan just would not I met Cy first when he had come to Britain from his native America
allow any inattention, interruption or any of the other pitfalls of late- practically as a refugee from the McCarthy witch-hunt era. This was a
night cabaret. terrifying period in the history of U.S. show business when almost any-
one even the slightest bit of an individualist was accused of being a
Sometimes on Wednesday nights Harry would inveigle Chan into drop- communist sympathiser. For this was the horrific 'Reds under the bed'
ping in at the Round House where the Unique Club evenings were held. period. Cy was a respected film director who bravely refused to give in
Usually this would be after the official magic club Session was over and to the blackmail of naming names of other equally innocent people, pre-
the members were thinking of putting on their hats and coats. Few would ferred to leave his own country until such time as sanity should prevail.
go home once Chan had started to perform his outstanding card tricks.
Without even pausing to remove the trench coat and scarf which he wore Whilst here he became far more famous than he had been in the U.S.
over his dinner suit as he dashed from one show to another, Chan would directing such movies as Zulu and The Sands ofthe Kalahari. No mean
demonstrate his skill. Usually he would still be wearing his make-up card man himself, Cy had a circle of magical friends which included

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 Chan Canasta - Afterthoughts Chan Canasta - Afterthoughts

Chan Canasta, Robert Harbin, Alex Elmsley, Bobby Bernard and my- Later as an entertainer with a psychic style of approach I feel that he
self. One day at Stanley's studio he walked in and said that he had been was a little less effective than his contemporary counterpart Uri Geller,
suggesting some effects to Chan for his television show and asked me if who is a person with whom he had many similarities. I think that Ca-
I would consider taking on the job as writer for the series. His next words, nasta lacked some of Uri Geller's charisma but then both of them were
'Maybe you can get along with Chan, not everyone can' stopped me past masters at the art of making a little go a long, long way.
from even considering the offer. I never work with people with whom I
might or might not be able to get on! Val Andrews, England, April 2001

Chan Canasta was extraordinary in that he could base a whole television

series on a Single effect; for example a psychological force which he would
use week after week but with a different dressing and with new guest
stars each time. One week he had the then immensely populär comedy
duo, Jimmy Jewel and Ben Warriss on the show. When he asked one of
them, Jimmy, to secretly think of a card, Chan produced an envelope
and stated that as a prediction he had placed a duplicate of one of the
cards therein (and on this occasion it was the Five of Clubs). He asked
Jimmy to name his card and he replied, 'The King of Spades'. Jimmy's
partner Ben, instantly realising that the effect had failed, said, 'Well,
isn't that remarkable, Chan? I thought of the Five of Clubs!' Then Jimmy
said, 'Even more remarkable, Chan, I thought of the Five of Clubs before
I thought of the King of Spades. I know you said I was not to change my
mind but I did!' Ben added that he and Jimmy had both thought of the
card that Canasta had predicted and added that he thought it amazing.

Cy Endfield told me later that there had been absolutely no collusion

between Chan and Jewel and Warriss but he had been saved as they had
had the good sense to make his failure look like a miracle. Great old
pros, Ben and Jimmy. They don't come like that any more. I do hope
that Chan appreciated their kind assistance.

Canasta eventually went to America where he evidently repeated the

success he had enjoyed in Britain and then, quite suddenly, he left show
business to become an artist as this seemed to be what he really always
wanted to do.

I will never forget the impression Chan Mifelew made upon me with
his brilliant card work and the forceful gleam in his deep-sunk eyes.

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