The phrase "many a trick has been ruined by improvement" is reliably attributed to Al Baker. I am looking for the written source (publication, publisher, date of publication, and page number) for this Baker quote. I've searched his books and the usual suspects (Denis Behr's Conjuring Archive, Google, MagicPedia, and online forums) but was unable to find a specific bibliographic citation. Help from more perceptive quotation sleuths would be appreciated. Thank you.

For some reason I thought it was Max Maven or maybe Eugene Burger

Some say "killed" rather than "ruined".

Maybe parallel but the phrase I know is “You improved it worser.” I recall it said with a heavy accent so probably an East Coast guy around the 40s or so. Maybe even Slydini.

Happy hunting for the Al Baker quote. Genii has a useful biography on him with lots of Bibliographic reference beyond his books


http://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.php/Al_Baker

I hadn't realised how quotable he is....

"No matter how bad the show, or how little the kids, or how hard it is to get their attention, take a live rabbit and coil of paper out of your hat and you're safe." The Secret Ways of Al Baker, page 135

" "We must never forget that the details of presentation are what make a trick. And study and thought brings us those details. If you have a trick you like but never do because of some weak or unnatural or illogical part, don't lay it aside—just begin thinking. What I mean is thinking about that part. You will be surprised how a brilliant idea will crop up and you will be surprised even more that you hadn't thought of it before. The usual trouble is that we don't bother to think long enough or hard enough" - "What Makes a Trick" by Al Baker, The Sphinx, Vol.40, No.1 (March 1941)." (Which is usually paraphrased as "Magicians stop thinking too soon!”)

The earliest reference I can find is The Jinx Issue 16, January 1936, p. 84

Apologies - it’s on page 82, not 84