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GAS LAMPS, COBBLESTONES, AND MAGIC WANDS!
One of the most enchanting and mysterious tales to ever emerge from the fog-shrouded streets of post Victorian Sheffield is the story of Mr. Pullman's Magic Wand Shop. This magical little shop was situated along the narrow, winding cobble-stoned alley known as Chapel Walk, betwixt the city's imposing cathedral and the area now occupied by the world-renowned Crucible theatre. Throughout the decade of 1905 to 1915 old Mr. Pullman traded his wares from this shop, the glass frontage of which no doubt flickered eerily beneath the light of a near-by gas lamp.
Within Mr. Pullman's shop could be purchased all manner of magical knick-knacks, from simple parlour tricks to decks of tarot cards. But it was the fine handcrafted wooden magic wands, produced in the cellar of the premises by Mr. Pullman himself, which gave the shop its name and its very raison d'etre.
However first let us stop and consider the era in which this most enchanting of tales takes place. In our 21st Century world we are used to regarding the centre of Sheffield as a brightly lit cosmopolitan area, full of gleaming trams, busy office workers, department stores and city living apartments. Much of the magic and mystery has left our lives to be replaced with deadlines, meetings and timetables. A 'magic wand' to our modern minds is perhaps a small bit of plastic painted black with white tips, used by children's entertainers and the occasional TV puppet.
But let us take a moment to step back in time a full 100 years to a very different Sheffield - a mostly forgotten Sheffield of cobble-stoned streets, horse-drawn trams, and gas lamps. A Sheffield where jobs such as chimney sweep, roast chestnut seller, and organ grinder were as commonplace as mobile phone salesman, IT consultant and website designer are today. A Sheffield where the Victorian obsession with parlour magic and spiritualism still lingered like the thick smog which descended nightly onto this most industrial of northern towns.
Spiritualism had spread throughout the United Kingdom by the mid-1850's, having originated in 1848 in the USA when the notorious Fox Sisters founded the movement with their celebrated New York seances. Spiritualism found much favour in this country particularly amongst the upper classes, and soon table-knocking and tambourine shaking seances were occurring in all the most fashionable drawing rooms, from the north of Scotland to the south of England. It should be noted however that despite the various manifestations and communications experienced at many spiritualist meetings and seances, the great majority of those involved viewed the whole enterprise as nothing more than a bizarre form of entertainment; a form of entertainment totally consistent with the Victorians' gothic obsession with death and the afterlife.
At the same time parlour magic, the forebear of today's stage magic where rabbits are produced from hats and beautiful assistants are commonly sawn in half, was gaining much popularity amongst the same upper classes. Typically a magician would be hired to amaze and impress invited guests with his conjuring abilities at special private soiree evenings, immaculately prepared food and drinks being served prior to the magical show beginning. And in 1905, during his European tour, Harry Houdini visited Britain. Interest in all matters magical and spiritual had almost reached fever pitch.
In an environment such as this it is easy to understand how in 1905 a magic wand was not simply a small cheap object. In this environment a magic wand was a beautifully crafted instrument, fashioned from mahogany, rosewood or oak. Yes, sometimes the wand may be stained black and be given chrome tips, but more likely it would have been a reddish brown in colour with brass tips or, as was favoured by the parlour magicians of the day, the wand would have had an ornate handle at one end with which to hold the shaft, and there would have been no tips either painted or attached. These wands would have been between 10" and 16" in length, with 14" being perhaps the average (if there is such a thing as average where magic wands are concerned), and if you lived in the north of England there would be only one place you went to purchase one of these wonderful creations. You went to Sheffield, to Chapel Walk to be more precise, and to Mr. Pullman's Magic Wand Shop!
Mr. Pullman took a real craftsman's pride in his wooden creations. Once a magic wand had been completed, it would be polished until it seemed to glow from within. Only then would it be deemed fit to be placed on display within its own silk-lined presentation case. Mr. Pullman also produced these wooden cases on the premises, and each and every wand would be sold complete in its own case.
YOUNG NELLIE AND THE MAGIC WAND SHOP.
Sadly no photographic record of Mr. Pullman's enterprise survives, however Nellie's daughter recounted her mother's encounters with Mr. Pullman's Magic Wand Shop thus:
My mother was born in 1899 and as a young girl developed a keen interest in magic and conjuring, an interest fostered no doubt by her paternal grandfather who was something of the black sheep of the family and had spent some years of his youth travelling the country as a circus entertainer, much to the family's dismay! However by the time Nellie was born he was an old man, and he became totally devoted to his granddaughter. He would spend many hours entertaining her with little magic tricks and sleights of hand that he had doubtless learned from his old circus friends. Well, Nellie became very keen to learn tricks herself and so her grandfather would often take her into Sheffield town to visit Mr. Pullman?s Magic Wand Shop.
I think that Mr. Pullman, the shop's proprietor, must have taken something of a shine to Nellie himself because according to her she would sometimes spend whole days in the shop, helping Mr. Pullman to serve customers, tidying shelves and dusting. I don't know what Nellie's parents made of it all, but to a young girl it must have been a marvellous place to spend time! Perhaps her parents, my grandparents, thought that she was learning a trade! Learning how to work in a shop! We have never been a terribly well off family, so working in a shop before getting married was probably the fate that they thought awaited Nellie anyway! If that is what they thought, she proved them wrong. Nellie went on to train as a nurse, and later a midwife. We were all very proud of her.
My mother used to love to reminisce about that old magic wand shop. She would tell me how the shop had rows of glass display cases, inside of which dozens of different styles of magic wands were on show, each handmade individually by Mr. Pullman on his woodturning machine. You could also buy magic tricks and props such as collapsible tables, and boxes that made things disappear! The shop also stocked items like crystal balls and ouija boards. In those days magicians often used things like that as props. The public were very interested in spiritualism, and the magicians of the time picked up on that and added it to their act. I think that magic was a lot more mysterious in those days than it is now. Now it all seems very brightly lit and clean and nice! Back in my mother's day it was a lot darker and more exciting!
Apparently if you were walking down Chapel Walk, you could always tell where Mr. Pullman's shop was because there'd usually be a small crowd looking in the window at the wands on display. Children used to gather around and sometimes the local policeman had to move them on because they were blocking the way of people trying to get down Chapel Walk, which as you know is quite a narrow little street. I suppose all the commotion must have been a real nuisance to people simply going about their business.
My mother said she used to feel like royalty because often Mr. Pullman would let her sit on the shop's counter, and all the children outside would press their faces up against the glass and wonder why she was being treated so special! My mother really liked that! I can just imagine the scene myself, all the children in their clogs and flat-caps gathered around the Magic Wand Shop. It must have been like a scene from Mary Poppins! Nellie's grandfather had shown her how to make a threepenny piece disappear, and she used to spend hour after hour practising. She was very good at it. Even when she was getting old and frail, she could still do all those sleight-of-hand tricks!
The only place that Nellie was never allowed within the shop was the cellar. This was where Mr. Pullman used to actually make his magic wands, and Mr. Pullman told her it was too dangerous for her to go inside. But she said that the most wonderful smells would drift up from the cellar. Burning wood and polish and aromas like that. Whenever we'd have a bonfire my mother used to say that it smelled like 'my magic shop' as she used to call it. I really think they were the happiest days of her life!
The shop closed during the war in around 1915. I'm not sure if Mr. Pullman went off to fight, or whether it was the war that stopped people wanting to purchase frivolous items like magic wands anymore. Whatever happened, Mr. Pullman never opened his shop again. I don't know what happened to him. My mother said she couldn't remember, but I think that secretly she knew and just didn't like to say. That awful war killed off a lot of the magic in people's lives. I don't think Britain ever really recovered, do you?
I can clearly remember one particular day when I was in my early teens. Mother had been up in the attic, and she suddenly appeared carrying a wooden box wrapped in a cloth. She asked me to come and take a look. Mother removed the cloth and opened the box. The inside of the box was lined in a crimson silk, and lying there was the most beautiful magic wand I had ever seen. It was made from mahogany I think, and it had a very ornate handle. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. When she'd talked about the magic wands before, I'd always imagined them to resemble the kind of thing that you would sometimes see on the television, you know, black sticks with white ends. But no, this was something entirely different. This was a real work of art. It was a lovely deep brownish red colour and was about 14" long. I'd never seen anything like it before, and I've certainly seen nothing like it since.
When my mother died I tried to find the box and the wand, but it was as though they'd simply vanished. I thought that was quite nice actually. I like to think that when mother died, the wand went with her and all her happy memories too. I'm probably getting a bit soft in my old age, but I like to think that sometimes magic like that really does happen!?