Last week I wrote about Magic Tom, a famous and well loved magician here in Montreal, Quebec and I received a comment from someone who had lived in Montreal and had moved away. She read my post and looked him up and was thrilled to see that he was not forgotten. It made me think about other magicians who had a great influence on the Montreal Magic scene, not necessarily TV stars, as Tom was, but nevertheless had an impact here.
Le Grand Marcis, Maurice Choquette, was one of these people. He had a little magic shop on de Bienville when we met him and he gave weekly magic courses and had a great following. We were friends with him and he was kind enough to translate many of the popular card tricks for us when we first went into business. I have a copy of Wild Card “Les cartes “frimées” which he did for us “Traduction et adaptation française faite par “Le Grand Marcis” 1977 and many others as well.
Wim Vermeys, Marcis, and Phil – Magie Montreal
This is a photo of Marcis at Magic Montréal being presented with a plaque by Wim Vermeys with Phil Matlin looking on in recognition of what he had done for magic here. I’m not sure of the year, but it was long ago, as both Phil and Vermeys had a full head of dark hair. I’m not sure when Marcis died, but he was not that old.
It would be great if his students could write in and provide us with information about him, anecdotes, when he started, when and where he moved his shop to. I think it was Park Avenue. If you were a student of his, let us know. Maybe you should have a reunion. Let’s hear from you. let’s get a little history going here, and if you want to write it in French, ça va!
philipmatlin
Perfect Magic Then and Now 