Happy birthday to you; Happy birthday to you; Happy birthday dear Genii; Happy birthday to you.
In case the text above hasn’t already made it obvious, this month we are celebrating a milestone in the history of this magazine: our 90th birthday. In many ways this is an odd event for an inanimate project like a magazine—with no biological limits on potential age, the century we will celebrate in the not-too-distant future is clearly the bigger milestone, and 90 feels akin to a 46th human birthday, as opposed to the occasion of a 21st or a 50th. It is also not the time for a large retrospective on our history and potential future, not least because editor at large Chloe Olewitz provided just such a piece in our February 2025 edition. Nevertheless, becoming a nonagenarian (while hopefully maintaining a youthful viewpoint) is something worth marking, as we do in a variety of ways in this issue.
As you peruse our pages you will spot a birthday twist on some of our regular columns, including an Almanac that celebrates our first nine decades and a Questionnaire About Genii, rather than the more usual Genii Questionnaire. It is not just our words that reflect the occasion—as you make your way through the pages you will notice a selection of references to the artists and designers who have shaped this magazine. See how many you can identify and then turn to the back of the issue for a complete list along with a piece from Chuck Romano, an expert on the intersection between art and magic.
Long before I joined the team, the Genii editors have been exploring how we can make the magazine as accessible to as many people as possible, and with that in mind we are also celebrating the birthday by giving, rather than receiving, a gift. I remember the formative impact that Genii and other similar magazines had when I was younger, and we want to make sure that opportunity is accessible to as many of today’s young magicians as possible. With that in mind we are launching a Youth Subscription to the digital magazine at a subsidized rate. Anyone between the ages of 14 and 24 can take advantage of this offer, regardless of their educational or employment status, and you can find further details later in this issue and on our website. We very much hope this will allow present and subsequent generations of magicians to connect to Genii and its rich history during a period in which enthusiasm is often as high as money is tight.
In September 1936, the very first issue of Genii contained an advertisement from the magazine itself: “The Genii thanks all subscribers, advertisers and contributors and hopes to continue to receive your favors.” Today we know that those favors did continue to be received, and that each one contributed to a magazine that has spent the last nine decades both recording what magic was and shaping what it became. We add our appreciation for everyone who has shaped these pages to date, and very much hope that you will continue to bestow your favor upon us as we continue to shape the magazine, and magic, in the coming years.
Errata
Two substantive mistakes in recent issues have come to light. In our June 2026 feature on Professor Hoffmann we stated that he left the parental home in 1895. I would like to reassure readers that the author of some of the most influential books on magic was not so bereft that he lived in his parents’ basement until his mid-50s; he actually left home for university in 1857. In the August celebration of Ton Onosaka’s life and work an error crept into one of the picture captions. The man onstage with Ton and Dick Zimmerman for the presentation of Ton’s Award of Merit was Peter Pit. Apologies for any confusion caused by either error.