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Bud Raymond

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Bud Raymond

Cover of Genii (1945)
BornCharles Raymond Tracy
May 26, 1896
Youngstown, Ohio
Died?
Flourished1920s-1960s

Bud Raymond (1896-?), an engineer by trade, was the stage name of semi-professional magician Charles Raymond Tracy, who billed himself as the "Magical Enthusiast."[1]

Biography

Tracy grew up in Youngstown, Ohio where he saw such famous magicians, including Kellar, Houdini, and Thurston at the Youngstown's Grand Opera House.

In 1917 he was working as an electrical engineer at Portage Rubber Company, Barberton, Ohio.[2] and was employed by the Western Electric Company, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1925. From Milwaukee he went to New York City, where he became a regular visitor at the Hornmann Magic Company Shop.

By 1928, Tracy was back in the Mid-West working as an engineer for the Sioux City Gas & Electric Company in Iowa.

A longtime friend of T. Nelson Downs, he organized the T. Nelson Downs I.B.M. Ring No. 58 in 1931, which he also served as president.

He was a magic collector (with over 500 books) and one of his most prized possessions was a complete autographed (of the cover subject) collection of Genii Magazines from Volume 1, No. 1 through at least Vol. 9, No. 12. In 1981, he bequeathed this complete collection of autographed Genii Magazines to the Magic Castle Library[3]

Tracy, who was honored on the cover of Genii 1945 November, compiled the "Directory of Magicians" in 1951 and by the late 1960s was living in Florida with his wife, Colet.

It was reported in The Magic Cauldron Number 15 (1965) that he began selling off his collection.

References

  1. * C. R. TRACY (Bud Raymond) by Herman Koch, Genii 1945 November.
  2. http://www.waynekuntze.com/wk6mar201/pafn459.htm
  3. The Magic Caravan By Roberta Griffin, Genii 1981 November.