Al Koran

Al Koran began life as Edward Doe, an East End barber, and remade himself so completely that he toured the world as The Fantastic Koran, the World's Greatest Mind Reader. He was, by every account, a true gentleman: charming, debonair, quiet and unassuming, the very opposite of the booming showman. Yet behind that easy manner lay one of the most inventive and meticulously self-fashioned performers in the history of the art.

Where Dunninger overwhelmed and Fogel dazzled, Koran charmed. His creations were direct, subtle and original, and so good that many are still in working repertoires today. More than almost anyone, he understood that a mentalist's greatest illusion is the figure he presents to the world, and he built his with extraordinary care.

A Petticoat Lane Apprenticeship

He was born Edward C Doe in London's East End on 4 March 1914, the son of Charles Edward and Lois Heckman, and grew up working as a barber. His first taste of magic came from watching a street performer named "Pins" Draper, who worked the crowds of Petticoat Lane and Club Row. The boy began to act as Draper's stooge and assistant and, in return, was taught the secrets of classics such as the Cups and Balls and the Glass of Water from a Borrowed Hat. His earliest reading came from the Hoffmann books his mentor lent him, along with magic catalogues full of apparatus he could not afford, and so began a lifelong study of sleight of hand at which he came to excel, eventually earning a reputation for an extraordinary, magician-fooling card-stab routine.

He joined the Magicians' Club at the age of sixteen, giving his age as nineteen. During the war he entertained with ENSA before joining the Parachute Regiment, and afterwards became a member of the London Society of Magicians, where his originality and enthusiasm made him, at twenty-nine, the youngest performer ever awarded their Gold Medal.

Becoming Al Koran

At this point he was still Edward Doe, a hairdresser at the celebrated Truefitt & Hill, living in Bethnal Green with his wife Kay. The decision to turn full-time professional came with a new identity. Many were sceptical about the name Al Koran and its religious connotations, but it proved shrewd: memorable, exotic and perfect for billing. In 1947, in collaboration with Jack Lamonte, he wrote Mastered Amazement, the first of many publications that established his reputation as a genuine originator of effects.

The Great Reinvention

Koran's most audacious creation was himself. Having first made his name in immaculate close-up and card magic, he concluded that mentalism offered him a far greater future, and he set about transforming his image entirely, from a friendly, ingenuous trickster into a cultured, highly educated gentleman possessed of unusual powers. He dressed and spoke the part, shedding a strong cockney accent, and even whitened the hair at his temples to lend himself an air of distinguished authority. His routines were direct, subtle and original, and he had a rare gift for turning long-neglected magical principles into genuine miracles, and for finding exactly the right words to dress them. Unusually for a mentalist, he would happily weave conventional magic into his mind-reading, and his methods were often strikingly daring.

Before he turned professional Koran had been, in the trade's phrase, an ideas man, quietly devising material for other performers, and that fertile, restless invention never left him. He had a rare instinct for taking a long-neglected principle and dressing it so well that it played as a miracle, and a craftsman's ear for the precise word that would lift a simple secret into something that felt impossible. The proof of the originator is not novelty alone but durability, and the fact that so many of his routines are still in working repertoires, decades after his death, is the surest measure of how good they were.

The Creations

Koran enjoyed a long and fruitful association with Harry Stanley's Unique Magic Studio in London, through which many of his inventions were marketed. Among them were a special stacked deck known as the Koran Deck and the effect he called Colour Psychology, but his most enduring creations were Ring Flight and the Koran Medallion, both still performed the world over. Ever the innovator, he even experimented with electronics for a card-from-pocket routine. His writings continued throughout his career, culminating in the fine Professional Presentations, published by Harry Stanley in 1968.

Royalty, Predictions and Fame

At the height of his career Koran's gifts carried him around the world. He played the London circuit and the Palladium, performed for Sir Winston Churchill and Princess Grace of Monaco, and gave some twenty-five Royal Command performances at Buckingham and Sandringham, appearing before Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip and counting Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon among his friends. His publicity predictions were the talk of the press: he correctly revealed the result of a general election, complete with the newspaper headline, four days before the event, and named the winner and runner-up of an English Derby a fortnight in advance. He made many television appearances, including his own series in 1960 and 1961.

The "Psycho" Book

In 1964 a book appeared under his name, Bring Out the Magic in Your Mind, in fact ghost-written and heavily advertised. A blend of positive-thinking self-help and publicity stories, it was unkindly described by some as the "world's thickest advertising brochure," yet it raised his profile considerably. Such a "psycho" book had become almost obligatory among famous mind readers, a way to build reputation and earn money. For all his brilliance, though, Koran lacked the promotional flair of some of his rivals, and despite his fame he never quite reached the financial heights he felt his talent deserved. As variety declined he turned to well-paid private engagements and the clubs and nightspots, which demanded real courage, for their audiences were often far from ideal for so refined a style, securing residencies at the Savoy and Quaglino's, though his first night at the Savoy was a near disaster when he unwisely opened with all-new material and almost lost the booking before it began.

America and the Final Act

In January 1969 Koran and his wife uprooted themselves and emigrated to the United States, drawn by family ties and, it seems, by the hope of greater fame and fortune. Before leaving he asked his friend Terry Seabrooke for a farewell drink, handing him a collection of books and props he no longer needed, among them many works by Annemann, in thanks for his support. He settled first in Cleveland and then in Chicago, taking an expensive apartment and a large salt-water aquarium and living the life he fully expected to be able to afford. He began advertising exclusive "Professional Secrets" in the pages of Genii, in small numbers and at high prices, and engagements started to come, including appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show, and new success seemed within reach when he was struck by terminal illness. With no health service to call upon, his medical costs were enormous, and his friend Ken Brooke led British magicians in raising nearly a thousand pounds towards them. After a brave fight, Al Koran died in Chicago on Monday 12 June 1972, aged fifty-eight. His ashes were brought home by his great friend Billy McComb and scattered in places that had meant much to him, including the stage of the London Palladium and the Dealers' Exhibition at the magic convention in Margate.

Legacy

Koran could be a lonely figure in his later years, and he grew frustrated by what he saw as the careless exposure of magic by amateurs, believing that bad performers did the art more harm than any newspaper ever could. Away from the stage he loved photography, tropical fish and a little do-it-yourself. But it is his inventions that endure. His originations and his beautifully constructed routines have secured him a permanent place in magical history, and his writings are studied still. He left a wife and a daughter, Katherine, and a legacy of mentalism that remains greatly admired today.

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From The Magic Circular

This profile is adapted and expanded from Roberto Forzoni's original feature in The Magic Circular, the journal of The Magic Circle, July 2015.

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