[Guest post]: Remembering Sam Cramer

I am grateful to Phil Matlin and all of his input to the creation of the Broken Wands page. In the absence of a proper tribute page, Phil offers some memories of Sam Cramer, from Montréal:

One of the names I gave you was Sam Cramer. Although I am not sure I believe he had the first magic shop in Montreal. My first visit to his store was in 1947. I was 10. For about 2 or 3 months he sold me what I wanted (i.e. what he demonstrated) and then one day he wouldn't sell me another trick until I bought books. He set me up with a plan that if I gave him $3.00 every 2 weeks he would give a volume of the Tarbell course. I eventually got all 5 (that's how many there were then). The price of each volume was $6.00. When he retired, his brother-in-law Alex Chervin took over the store and kept it. Had to move a few times and finally closed it up when the city expropriated the land they were on. Alex's main interest was stamp collecting but he also was a wonderful magician. Alex is still around. I spoke to him a few months ago. He is still living by himself, (his wife died close to ten years ago), and confided in me that he was 94 years old. Between Sam and Alex, every magician in Montreal then and now owe them, because without them, magic in Montreal as we know it today would never have happened. I know that Sam Cramer from Montreal was a cover feature in an issue of MUM. So far I have been unable to find it.