Winston Freer (August 10, 1910 – April 21, 1981) was born in St. Albans, Vermont. In 1926, at the age of 16, Freer saw

Howard Thurston Howard Thurston (July 20, 1869 – April 13, 1936) was a stage Magic (illusion), magician from Columbus, Ohio, United States. As a child, he ran away to join the circus, where his future partner Harry Kellar also performed. Thurston was deeply i ...

perform and became interested in

magic Magic or magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces ** ''Magick'' (with ''-ck'') can specifically refer to ceremonial magic * Magic (illusion), also known as sta ...

. He grew up to be one of magic's cleverest inventors. In the 1930s, Freer worked at Abbott's Magic in

Colon, Michigan Colon is a village in St. Joseph County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,199 at the 2020 census. The village is located within Colon Township. It is known as "The Magic Capital of the World", as it is the home of the Abbott ...

and performed under the name Alladin and later Doc Maxam. Freer gained a reputation for performing effects like freezing

ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

in his bare hand. He also startled magicians by performing a suspension while standing in the middle of a floor entirely surrounded. It was captured on the cover of The Linking Ring, August 1941. Freer also published his classification of magical effects in ''

The Linking Ring ''The Linking Ring'' is a monthly print magic magazine published by the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM) for its members since 1922. It is based in Bluffton, Ohio. In 2007, Samuel Patrick Smith, a magician, author and publisher ba ...

''. Freer also fancied himself a

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

. One of his most impressive creations was his Tile

Puzzle A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are differe ...

. What makes it so interesting is that neither the pieces nor the frame change shape or size in any way.

Published works

* Alagen Rope (with

U.F. Grant UF may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Ultimate Force'', a British television drama series *User Friendly, a webcomic Businesses and organisations * UM Airlines (IATA airline designation UF) * Florida Museum of Natural History, by collectio ...

) (1939) * 25 Rice Bowl Methods (1954) * The Magic of Doc Maxam (1954)

Works about

Adventures of Winston Freer CD (2008)

References

External links

*
Video of Winston Freer's Tile Puzzle

Winston Freer effect classification
American magicians 1910 births 1981 deaths Card magic Coin magic {{magic-stub

Published works

Works about

See also

References

External links