When I was growing up in St. Louis, Gene DeVoe's Magic Den in downtown St. Louis was where I pretty much used to hang out every Saturday, just about all day.

I used to take the bus there, and Gene, God love him, always seemed to tolerate me being around: I was lucky to have even one dollar in my pocket to spend on magic!

But Gene knew I LOVED magic, so I got to hang around. He taught me my first real magic trick when I was 8 years old: Paul Curry's Out of This World....and I still do it today!

MAN...the magicians I met at DeVoe's Magic Den in St. Louis! WOW!

Don Alan, Don Lawton, Jay Marshall, Ernie Heldman, John Mendoza (pretty much after Gene moved to Maplewood), Frank Dobrina, Harry Monti, John Fabjance, Harold Russell, Mike O'Dowd, Bud Deitrich, Brother John Hammon....and on and on and on.....

Do any of you fellow magicians, like me, have fond memories of Devoe's Magic Den in St. Louis?

I remember it well. My Dad, Chuck Williams, was a magician and Gene Devoe was my Godfather and the source of my middle name.

Hey Rainboguy, I, too, used to take a bus downtown to Devoe's and at first I just looked in the window at all the cool trick there, but a sign on the door said "Magicians Only!". I looked thru the door and saw about 3 men standing with Gene and doing tricks. As I gawked thru the door,(I had played with magic since I was 10 and by this time I was 12-13) Gene saw me and motioned me to open the door and come inside. I was thrilled!!! I started going to the shop a lot and found out that Gene lived not far from me in N. St. Louis and he invited me to his house one evening! As we were talking about a new pocket trick, Ernie Heldman walks in. He was a TV magician and here I was with these 2 real magician. I then realized I was one, too!

Hello - I grew up in the 50s and 60s and was a fan of Bro. John Hamman's Final Ace Routine and others of his card tricks. I bought them at Douglas Magicland in Dallas, but the trick was distributed by DeVoe Magic Den in St. Louis. Apparently, Bro. Hamman's tricks are no longer manufactured as such directly. Can anyone tell me where to obtain the 6 gaffed cards that were used in the Final Ace Routine? I still have the instructions, but cards seemingly lost. It was a good trick I want to pass on to kids... Thanks! Doctorfrey (Jerry Frey - Austin, TX).