Abbott’s Magic History: Building Dreams in Colon, Michigan

 By Wes Iseli

I fondly remember carrying an Abbott’s magic catalog around in high school, dreaming about the amazing show I hoped to have one day. I imagined producing animals and performing illusions inspired by what I saw in those pages.

That memory is one reason Abbott’s Magic means so much to me. Its catalog gave me a way to picture possibilities that were still years ahead.

Behind those pages was a remarkable business in Colon, Michigan—a company that helped supply generations of performers, established a beloved magic convention, and helped make magic part of an entire town’s identity.

Who Started Abbott’s Magic?

The story begins with Australian magician Percy Abbott, but Colon’s connection to magic also owes a great deal to Harry Blackstone Sr.

Blackstone established his summer home in Colon in 1926. The community became a place where he and his company could prepare equipment and take a break from touring. Abbott later joined him, and the two became partners in the Blackstone Magic Company.

That early partnership ended, but Abbott’s connection to Colon continued. In January 1934, he opened his own magic business above a grocery store.

Later that year, Recil Bordner joined him as a partner, investing $1,000 borrowed from his father. Their partnership became the foundation of the Abbott business remembered throughout the magic world.

Percy brought the experience of a working performer and demonstrator. Recil contributed the business skills that helped the company grow. Together, they developed a business serving people who wanted to put magic on a stage.

For more about the famous illusionist who helped establish Colon’s magical reputation, read our article on Harry Blackstone Sr. and his place in magic history.

The Famous Storefront and the Buildings Behind It

Abbott’s familiar black exterior and white skeleton decorations have become part of its visual identity. The shop at 124 South Saint Joseph Street is a destination with a history that reaches back to the company’s earliest years.

Historian Patrick West’s 1976 study describes how Abbott and Bordner moved into a former carriage-factory building in 1934. They painted it black, and Bordner used a stencil to add white skeletons.

The original wooden building was gutted by fire in 1938. Rather than move the business away, the partners rebuilt on the same site, replacing it with a concrete-block structure.

That decision helped keep magic manufacturing rooted in Colon.

The showroom was the public face of a much larger operation. Behind the demonstrations and displays were the workshops where apparatus took shape.

Abbott’s production history includes woodworking, metalworking, painting, sewing, printing, silk dyeing, and feather-flower construction. A finished prop might bring together several different crafts before it was ready for a magician.

For the audience, an effect might last only a few seconds. Behind that moment could be hours of measuring, cutting, fitting, finishing, and rehearsal.

What Kinds of Magic Did Abbott’s Make?

Abbott’s became associated with a broad range of magic, from colorful family-show equipment to larger theatrical illusions.

Its manufacturing and catalog history includes:

• Silk magic and comedy apparatus: Production silks, blendos, Haunted Hanks, and the well-known Mutilated Parasol.

• Feather-flower productions: Garden of Flowers, Botanias, and other bouquets and floral apparatus that could fill a stage with color.

• Animal magic: Dove productions, vanishes, and transformations, including apparatus such as the Suckerette, associated with changing doves into a rabbit.

• Stage illusions: Larger pieces such as the Super X Levitation, alongside other apparatus for theatrical productions.

• Books and printed material: Instructions, illusion literature, catalogs, and the company’s magazines, including Tops and The New Tops.

Abbott’s history also involves the work of creators beyond its founders. Joe Karson’s Zombie floating-ball effect, famously performed by Neil Foster, belongs to that broader story.

Remembering the creator matters. The inventor, manufacturer, and performer can each make a different contribution to the life of a magical effect.

Readers interested in another side of Karson’s work can explore our post about Joe Karson’s World’s Fastest Card Trick.

For a young magician studying the catalog, that range was powerful. There were possibilities for a small act, a family show, or the kind of illusion production that could become a long-term ambition.

How Abbott’s Magic Get-Together Began

The company dates the first Abbott’s Magic Get-Together to September 15, 1934, when Abbott and Bordner held an open house attended by approximately 80 magicians.

That modest gathering grew into a major tradition.

Over the decades, the Get-Together brought together performances, demonstrations, lectures, dealers, and opportunities for magicians to exchange ideas. Its stages have featured names including Harry Blackstone Sr., Harry Blackstone Jr., Neil Foster, Lance Burton, Mac King, and Jeff McBride.

By 2026, the event had reached its 88th gathering. Our earlier coverage of Abbott’s 88th Magic Get-Together in Colon looks at that edition’s performers and activities.

Part of the event’s character comes from its relationship with the town. The evening shows at the high school, activity around the showroom, street performances, and conversations in local gathering places make the convention a community event.

It gives people a reason to return to Colon and spend time with others who understand why a new illusion, an old catalog, or a beautifully presented routine can be so exciting.

How Colon Became the Magic Capital of the World

Colon’s magical reputation grew from several things happening in the same place: Blackstone’s presence, Abbott’s manufacturing business, and the expanding Get-Together.

The phrase “Magic Capital of the World” is commonly credited to magician and escape artist Lester Lake during the convention’s early years.

The nickname endured because the town continued to live with magic.

Residents welcomed visiting performers. Community organizations helped feed convention crowds. The school became a venue for public shows. Local businesses found themselves serving customers whose shared interest was the art of making the impossible appear to happen.

Magic is also part of the town’s historical memory. Lakeside Cemetery holds the graves of people connected to that tradition, including Recil Bordner, and cemetery tours have become part of the Get-Together’s activities.

The result is a community where magic appears in places that extend well beyond a theater stage.

Even the School Mascot Has a Magical Connection

Colon’s school teams are officially the Magi, and the district uses a rabbit wearing a magician’s top hat as its mascot.

That is a fitting expression of hometown pride.

In a community shaped by magicians, a spirited rabbit belongs alongside the familiar hats, wands, and illusions. Even the school’s identity reflects the magical heritage that makes Colon distinctive.

A Catalog That Helped a Young Magician Dream

Percy Abbott retired in 1959 and sold his share of the company to Recil Bordner. Recil’s son, Greg, entered the family business in 1974, helping carry the Abbott name into another generation.

The company’s history can be told through those dates, its buildings, its apparatus, and the performers who appeared at the Get-Together.

For me, there is also the memory of that catalog.

Before I became a full-time magician in 1996, I was a high school student carrying those pages around and imagining a future filled with animal productions and stage illusions.

That is part of Abbott’s legacy, too: giving a young magician something to work toward.

In Colon, craftspeople built the equipment. Through the catalog, a teenager could begin imagining the show.