When you hear the name Charles Morritt you might think of a particularly creative magician, and perhaps the Morritt Grip, Tally Ho!, or a disappearing donkey, depending on whether your interest lies in sleight-of-hand magic or illusion. In the week that began on July 18, 1921, however, Morritt’s work was recognized for a different quality. He was performing at the Middlesbrough Empire, in the North of England, on a 60% basis (i.e., receiving a percentage of the ticket revenue from the shows), and the theater manager recorded that he was “a good entertainment and a very cheap top.” Presumably Morritt would only have been happy about the first half of the note.
