Bluey Bluey

Bluey Bluey
Born	William F Troyk
Died	January 19, 1939

Bluey Bluey born as William F. Troyk, was a Canadian magician.

Biography

Canadian-born William F. Troyk was a little person of scarcely five feet in height, yet his impact on audiences was immense. Performing under the name Bluey-Bluey, he traveled through carnivals, fairs, and circuses across the United States, turning the rough, immediate conditions of these venues into the natural domain of his art of magic.

Around 1930, the eminent magic author John Northern Hilliard (1872–1935) had the opportunity to see Bluey-Bluey perform in St. Louis. What he witnessed made such a lasting impression that he preserved the performer for posterity in his standard work Greater Magic. Hilliard described Bluey-Bluey as a “homunculus of a man,” with a huge head and the lugubrious face of a born clown. At rest, he noted, Bluey-Bluey’s eyes appeared almost mournful—yet once the performance began, this melancholy gave way to intense presence.

Bluey-Bluey’s magic was anything but drawing-room entertainment. It was not a club specialty, not a protected stunt. He worked in a small, paddock-like enclosure, scarcely eight feet in diameter, surrounded by spectators three or four rows deep. There was no distance, no favorable angles, no geometric refuge. Under such conditions, Hilliard observed, only a performer who was a master of misdirection and an exceptional showman could possibly succeed. Bluey-Bluey, he concluded, was precisely that: a magician of the highest authority.

Hilliard was particularly struck by Bluey-Bluey’s contribution to Greater Magic, the effect known as “The Bill and Envelope.” Considering the circumstances under which it was performed, he ranked it among the most perfect magical feats he had ever seen—an extraordinary judgment from a discerning observer.

Eddie Clever (1904–1975), himself well acquainted with the world of circus and carnival performers, later echoed this admiration. Among the many clever magicians he had seen—and the many poor ones as well—none, in terms of presentation, surpassed Bluey-Bluey. That Hilliard chose to mention this ingenious little magician, Clever believed, was the highest compliment that could be paid.

Bluey-Bluey died on 19 January 1939 and was buried in Richmond, Virginia. His longtime friend and fellow magician Ben Badley (1895–1950) honored him in The Linking Ring with heartfelt words: only a “runt,” a three-and-a-half-foot dwarf, yet within his own world—the carnival game—Bluey-Bluey was known as one of the great showmen of modern times.

Badley had once accompanied Hilliard to see the small magician perform. The act included the “Thumb Tie,” a rope escape, fire eating, and the celebrated “Bill and Envelope.” It was a simple repertoire, sustained by a personality that transformed proximity into grandeur—and a small ring of onlookers into a complete magical universe.

References

• Genii, Vol. 64, No. 9, 2001, page 32