Few other IJA members.can claim to epitomize the magical heritage of juggling as well as Bob Blau of Pearland, Texas.

 

Born in 1902, the same year the Society of American Magicians was established, he took up juggling and magic before the birth of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and was long established in both magic and juggling by the time the IJA was founded. He has been an active member in the IJA as a correspondent since its inception and up to the present.

 

An active magician as well, he has held offices with local chapters of the IBM and SAM, has recently written a book on magic, and is now working on a juggling book. At age 85, he still performs magic and juggling and has, as he likes to point out, juggled under two passes of Halley's Comet - two passes and no drops!

 

Blau traces his performing roots back deeply into the adolescence of vaudeville. A fifth generation Houstonian, he was born into an active, outgoing family in the age when parlor entertainment predated radio. The Blau family entertained themselves with vaudeville-like performances.

 

He was fascinated by the novelty acts in vaudeville and spent hours practicing knife throwing, wire walking (resulting in a gimpy knee) and acrobatics. He picked up magic from his parents and, in 1910, with Halley's Blue Streak overhead, learned to cascade three pebbles. He was the first of his family to be seriously bitten by show business and soon infected the others.

 

He first interested his older brother in juggling and together they progressed from stones to sawed-off broom sticks, ten cent rubber balls and broom-handle torches. At. 15 he paid the hefty price of $9 for three Van Wyck clubs, and later some torches - beauties with nickel plated bodies.

 

He and his brother gave free backyard shows, then earned their first buck in 1917. In 1918 he met his first booking agent when his 14-year-old girlfriend got him a $5 job juggling on wobbly benches (with those heavy Van Wyck clubs). In the tradition of those romantic times, he and the young lady were later married.

 

The same year, at age 16, Blau left school and went to work for a dental supply company, a career he maintained for the next 64 years until retiring in 1982 at the age of 80. That move just cleared the decks for even more performing.

 

Along the way, he brought his family into show business. He began by producing and directing musicals and minstrel shows with his brother until 1924. He and his brother performed as the Aldo Brothers. Then they were joined by all four siblings and by 1925 he had an ensemble act, the Seven Blaus. It consisted of three brothers, a sister, two wives and a sister­in-law. The act included everything in the novelty line from juggling to mentalism to magic to fire eating, plus songs, music and comedy.

 

By the forties, the act had pared down and added a newcomer, Bob's son, Dean. Together they revived the title of Aldo Brothers. Recently, after 36 years, Bob and Dean, now a retired doctor, reunited their act. There seems an inexhaustable supply of energy in this Blau family.

 

In the best vaudeville tradition, magic and juggling went hand-in-glove for Blau. His fascination with deception was spurred by his mother's Handkerchief Mouse routine and his father's Ball and Vase trick. His dedication to magic equalled his love of juggling, and both have always been included in his act.

 

At 18, he formed a small magic club that was later chartered as Assembly No. 19 of the SAM. He joined the IBM 9 years later and helped organize Houston Ring No. 39 in 1945. At the same time, he was active in the fledgling IJA, supporting Roger Montandon's "Juggler's Bulletin" with correspondence, and organizing juggling magicians into "jug fests" at SAM and IBM conventions before the IJA was formed.

 

His long-time activity within the IJA must give him the record for most durable correspondent, having had letters published in both the 1944 "Bulletin" and 1986 "Juggler's World." He emceed the 1974 and 1975 public shows and was elected an honorary director.

 

This disconcertingly active individual has come up with perhaps the ultimate melding of magic and juggling: a four color changing ring. These three rings, changing red, blue, white, and striped cannot be manipulated by a non juggler and could not have been conceived by a nonmagician. It is the remarriage of estranged parties into the ancient "jongleur" - neither one nor the other, but the true magician/juggler.