Frances Ireland Marshall, wife to Jay, passed away last night. The news I got said that Jay was with her until about 8:00 p.m. and she passed away at 10:00 p.m. Let's all remember Jay in our thoughts.

This is truly sad news. Our prayers are with Jay and his family. If there is some sort of rememberance we can help with, please post it. She truly was one of the queens of magic.

Sadly
Mr Phil


Thank You Frances

Frances Ireland Marshall; ran magic shop

May 28, 2002

BY JULIE PATEL STAFF REPORTER

Like many women of her time, Frances Ireland Marshall had a zeal for cooking and sewing.

Unlike many women of her time, she was also a magician, writer and small-business owner.

She and her first husband owned the Ireland Magic Store, and for a time "she ran the business, kept it going," said Jay Marshall, her husband of almost 40 years.

Mrs. Marshall earned a reputation among magicians for the quality of the store that she and Jay Marshall later operated. A 1971 newspaper story called it "an institution among American magicians."

She stocked the store with some of her own homemade items, including guides to doing magic tricks, which she wrote and published, as well as sewing bags and other supplies.

Mrs. Marshall died Sunday night at Alshore Nursing Home in Chicago. She was 92.

She grew up on Chicago's West Side, later living in Oak Park and the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago after her second marriage.

Mrs. Marshall was a secretary when she had an opportunity to type a book by magician Laurie Ireland--the man who became her first husband. Mrs. Marshall found herself captivated by the subject, and she ended up not just typing, but also rewriting the book, Jay Marshall said.

This project sparked her passion for magic, and she subsequently wrote 27 books and pamphlets on the subject.

Together, she and Ireland ran the Ireland Magic Co. until his death in 1954. She and Jay Marshall married later that year and continued to run the store at 109 N. Dearborn. In 1954 they changed the name to Magic Inc. and moved it to its present location at 5082 N. Lincoln.

For more than five years, Mrs. Marshall appeared every Sunday in the "Funny Paper Party," a program on WGN-TV featuring Chicago Tribune publisher Col. Robert McCormick.

She was one of only a few female magicians in the country, and she performed her magic tricks at birthday parties and for small audiences.

Mrs. Marshall, along with Bess Houdini, widow of the famous escape artist and magician Harry Houdini, were founding members of Magicgals, a group of women who perform magic.

Mrs. Marshall also was considered a great cook.

"We would have people over and she'd make what she called 'goop,' a combination of unknown ingredients with ground beef," Jay Marshall said. "It was delicious--really."

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Marshall is survived by her sister, Marguerite Young, and her brother, John Harens.

Visitation will be from 4 to 9 p.m. today at Drake & Son Funeral Home, 5303 N. Western. Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Transfiguration Church, 2609 W. Carmen

I'll be praying for his family.

From,
Cornelius.

In fact I have also learned an idiom from her. I had ordered a catalog and it was something like 16 dollars. So I had put 20 dollars in an envelope and posted to them.

Two months later I have received the catalog and naturally the excess amount of 4 dollars was not enough for postage. And she had written me: "We have used the excess money for the postage youngman, and even we are on some money". I personally owe you a cup of coffee when you have opportunity to visit me...
I have never seen her, and never found that opportunity up to now. But I think that her debt of coffee has already been paid by the Cafe members. Peace to ashes.
Tora