Leo Behnke – Taylor-Made Magic

We are excited to offer this new magic biography of the life story of Merv Taylor, a man who revolutionized the look of magic right after World War II. Using new materials now available to the public, he created modern magic apparatus that matched the look of everyday items, but with a little extra pizzazz for working onstage.
Merv, and his wife Della, keep records of all the varied items he was called upon to make as custom equipment, as well as the many props he made for magicians. using those records as well as a worldwide search of magic collations and libraries, the book opens up the little-known life of this amazing designer and craftsman, as well as detailing his magic wares.
More than 200 pages recreate the ads from the magic magazines and direct copies of the instructions for the Taylor-Made line of magic. Very few tricks don’t have complete histories, and many are supplemented with additional photos.
Besides making some of the world’s most desirable paraphernalia, Merv was also an important source of magic for Walt Disney and his studio. Besides acting as magic advisor for movies, Merv was also offered, and immediately took the offer, a place in a fabulous new park named Disneyland. He opened Merlin’s Magic Shop in Fantasyland, the Main Street Magic Shop, and three shops in the Disneyland Hotel.
Merv Taylor was a man who really had a magic life…..

Taylor-Made: The Life of Merv Taylor was written by Leo Behnke. Author of more than 90 other books. It is more than 300 pages and is filled with many photographs in black & white and color! The book is hardbound in red and black to match the Merv Taylor packaging.

The first part of the book is the biography of Merv and his Magic, starting with his life as one of twelve children coming out to Los Angeles at the age of eight. The first chapter covers his life of learning skills of machining metal and wood, sometimes creating models for movie studios, and then his fortunate introduction into the world of magic. The years of designing and building magic props that looked better than the usual magic shop apparatus, and some of the movie magic he made are also brought to light. Then the great opportunity knocked on his door with the shops in Disneyland.
The second part of the book consists of the instructions, photos, ads and comments about the magic that came out of the Merv Taylor company. Three or four pieces of his inventory left no trail in the history but all others are here, 87 in total., including the complete Gambling Demonstration put together by Bob Haskell.