Fred Kaps

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Fred Kaps (ofcial name Abraham Pieter

Adrianus Bongers) (June 8, 1926 July
23, 1980) was a Dutch magician, famous
for being the only magician to become
FISM Grand Prix world champion three
times.[1] He was the creator of numerous
original effects including his version of the
color-changing silks. Another popular
effect he often performed was the long-
pour salt trick. Part of the act has Kaps
exhibiting facial expressions of great
surprise and disbelief, as he tries
unsuccessfully to desperately stop the
flow.
 Fred Kaps

Fred Kaps (1961)

Born Abraham Pieter Adrianus Bongers

June 8, 1926
Rotterdam

Died July 23, 1980 (aged54)

Utrecht

Nationality Dutch

Occupation magician

Another of Kaps' most renowned tricks

throughout the world was the Dancing &
Floating Cork, which he performed at
extremely close quarters, allowing his
audience to be really close-up to view the
illusion.

A small cufflink box was shown, then

opened to nd a wine bottle cork resting
inside. With hands being held extremely
steady, the cork starts to move and
wriggle around inside the box. It is stated
that this is a floating cork; well, all corks
float on water. This one floats on air. With
that, the cork floats outside the box with
absolutely no visible means of support.
A small four-inch diameter metal ring is
then passed over the cork every which-
way. The cork stays floating. The
audience is so close they cannot see
anything holding the cork afloat. At the
conclusion Kaps would grab the cork and
pass it to an audience member watching.

This was such a spectacular and

successful trick that Fred Kaps then
collaborated with London magician Ken
Brooke at Ken Brooke's Magic Place, who
then marketed the trick to magicians from
the early 1970s. Before one could
purchase the Kaps Dancing & Floating Cork,
one would have to sign a contract with
Ken Brooke NOT to reveal or share the
secret with anyone, not even fellow
magicians. Then one would be permitted
to buy the Kaps trick.

The cork trick developed such a

successful reputation as a close-up
illusion that Michael Parkinson had Fred
Kaps feature it on the British TV show
Parkinson.

Fred Kaps always performed with great

joy and worked very hard. He always had
beads of sweat on his brow. He'd often
joke about it, "This is a magnicent
building", he said with his tenor voice, "but
I think the roof is leaking." This would
always get a laugh, which he would milk.[2]

Biography
Haircut that became magic

Bram was born in Rotterdam and became

interested in magic through performances
by his barber, Piet Verschragen.
Verschragen was not only good at cutting
hair, but was also an amateur magician.
He often tried magic effects on his
customers. One of his favorites was the
disappearance of two matchsticks. One of
the customers that was more interested
than most was young Bram. He'd visited
Verschragen's shop often. Bram wanted to
learn the tricks Verschragen showed him.
The barber said he would, if he'd got a hair
cut rst.[3] Not only did he leave after each
visit with a fresh haircut, but a new magic
trick as well.[2]

Bram would go home and practice until he

knew how to perform these effects
himself. Then he would return for more.
While there, Bram noticed Verschragen's
daughter, Nel or Nelly. Piet too noticed
this. After a while the barber asked him,
"Bram, what are you really coming in for,
my daughter or my magic tricks?"
An embarrassed Bram answered, "Both."
Bram practiced each new trick that the
barber taught him as well as befriending
his daughter Nel.

In secondary school Bram showed his

classmates what he knew. This was
usually at the wrong time. His teacher
would conscate the tricks and put them
in his drawer. Bram's father was not
pleased. He tried to tell his son repeatedly
that, "Not a sliver of bread could be earned
with this kind of jocularity." [2]

At the age of nine, Bram collected

coupons on oatmeal packages and sent
away for a box of magic tricks. After
nishing his high school education, Bram
thought about becoming a cook like his
brother. He was tested by the MULO
(translated is expanded primary
education). The MULOs results showed
that Bram had a natural talent for design.
His father wanted him to enroll into a
drawing academy in Amsterdam so he
could work as an artist in advertising. But
Bram wanted to turn his hobby into a
profession. His father would have had his
way if WWII didnt intervene. There was no
trains going to Amsterdam at the time and
Bram had to stay in Rotterdam. Thats
when his interest in magic grew.[2]
Using the name Valdini, he performed at
weddings and parties. Then he changed
his name to Mystica and performed for
Dutch soldiers. Later, Bram too had to
serve in the military.[2] He was put into the
"cabaret group" and performed magic. He
went to Indonesia where he retained his
passion for magic by performing.

He greatly admired American magician

Channing Pollock as well as Italian
magician Chefalo and German magician
Kalanag. Kalanag, (born Helmut Ewald
Schreiber) toured the world as an
illusionist. Bram worked with him for
about one month. Kalanag wanted him to
take over the show. It just didnt work out
for him. It seemed that the big trunks, the
crates, and large illusions just didnt suit
him. Bram favored the smaller props.[2]

World War II was over with for about a

year and normal life soon resumed. But,
young Mystica found it difcult to get
work. In 1946, Bram entered the
competition at the rst national Dutch
convention for the International Congress
of Magicians. About three hundred artists
from the Netherlands, France, Great
Britain, Belgium and Spain attended the
convention.[4] The event was put together
by the magical magazine Triks.[2]
On August 9 magic competitions where
held at the Krasnapolski Hotel in
Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The
festivities would include a ball and a
public show.[4] The convention was
attended by such masters in the eld of
magic as Jean Valton from France, John
Ramsay from Scotland and Balsamo,
Boeda and the Flezki's from the
Netherlands.[2]

Bram, under the stage name of Mystica,

performed a gambling routine. Mystica
didn't win a prize that day, but he made a
good impression [4] on columnist Alex
Wins. He wrote, "In the opinion of your
reporter, this young man presented the
best performance of the convention. His
Poker Deal was neatly done, technically
outstanding and met high artistic
standards. He also proved that mime and
acting are of great value. Mystica is still
young, but I'll dare to predict that he has a
dazzling future ahead." [2] This also
changed the minds of his parents, who
were now more appreciative of Bram's
chosen profession.

Even Mr. Wins didn't realize how dazzling

a career was in store for the young
magician from the Netherlands. Bram was
a protg of Henk Vermeijden, who was
the owner of a magic studio in
Amsterdam. Henk trained several world
champions. He became Mystica's agent,
director, and coach. In 1950, Bram had a
new act, the continuous production of
canes, which he had rehearsed with Henk
for about a year. He performed it at the
Dutch national convention in Arnhem, and
was a big hit.[4] What impressed everyone
was not only the personality that would
soon gain him world wide acclaim, but
that cultivated look of the routine that was
so technically polished.[2]

First FISM win

Later that year, he revised the Cane act
and went to Barcelona, Spain where he
performed it at the FISM World
Convention. With his perpetual
appearance of canes, he charmed the
2,000 that attended. The applause that
followed was thunderous. Within ten
minutes he magically transformed himself
from an unknown young man from
Utrecht, to the success of the entire
convention. He gained his rst Grand Prix.

During the closing ceremonies, Bram was

presented with an extra prize by the
Swedish Magic Circle. They gave him a
silver wand for being the most polished
act of the convention. Then after FISM,
Mystica was signed up for a two-week run
in Barcelona at the El Cortijo nightclub.
From then on he became a heavily booked
magician.[4]

There were other magicians that used

similar sounding names to Mystica. Henk
didnt like the sound of Mystica. He felt
Bram needed a name that would, click
in any language, so they sat down to
ponder an appropriate name. They went
through the phone book until they found
an advertisement for raincoats made by a
company named Daks. From there they
developed the word Kaps. But Bram Kaps
would not do because people from other
countries always mangled his rst name.
So on December 1950, Bram Bongers,
changed his stagename to Fred Kaps.[2] In
1952, Kaps married his childhood
sweetheart Nelly. Nelly would put up with
her husbands one track mind as his
success grew.

Kaps second and third Grand

Prix wins

The next convention, Kaps sat out. He

meant to defend his title but was
developing a new act.[4] He did attend the
following convention in Amsterdam in
1955. A day before the competition some
of Kaps' friends, who had seen a few of
the competitors' acts, told him to withdraw
because the others looked very promising.
They suggested Kaps should feign some
kind of injury or illness. You must nd
any excuse to withdraw, his friends said.
Kaps was upset by all of this.

Nelly heard this and got angry. Are you

crazy, she said. She turned to Kaps and
said, If you do that Ill expose you! We are
here to enjoy ourselves. The next morning
she purchased some tranquillizers and
got him to take a hot bath to relax him.[2]
But his friends didnt realize Kaps new act
had a lot of surprises in store. On the day
of his performance, he wasnt going to let
the public sense his anxiety. He entered
the stage carrying a walking cane. They
expected him to go into his continuous
production of canes routine. Then, to the
audience surprise, he produced a full size
rabbit from the tip of the cane. From there,
he did a series of silk manipulations. He
did some unique one handed color
changes, followed by the canary in
microphone. He intermixed some card
manipulations in between. One stunt was
to spread the cards over his arm. Then he
flipped the cards over with the same hand
and caught the cards before they fell to
the floor. He seemed to take great joy as
the cards flowed through.

The nale was a version Roy Benson's

Long Pour Salt. Both Benson and Kaps
handling of the trick were superb. Benson
used dialogue interspersed with a
syncopated drum beat. Benson pretends
to be bored as the salt just keeps pouring
and pouring. He looks at his watch while
the music acts like its stuck as it plays
one note waiting and waiting for the salt
to nish. Finally it does. Benson shows his
hands empty and runs off stage.
Kaps handling is different. He is silent
throughout the trick using music in the
background. He takes out the salt cellar
and tries to shake the salt into his closed
st. Too impatient for that, he opens the
cap and makes it disappear. Then he taste
it as he mouths the word, Salt. He pours
it into his st and makes the salt
disappear. He shows his hands empty and
produces the salt from his closed st.

He picks up the shaker and tries to catch

the produced salt, but it starts to overflow.
He panics as he doesnt know what to do
with the over abundance of the white
stuff. The music starts to end and Kaps
poses as he hopes the salt will end with it.
Silence. The music has stopped, but the
salt has not.

He looks over to the bandleader to play

something. The band plays Stars and
Stripes For Ever from John Phillip Sousa
and the salt keeps pouring. Frantically,
Kaps puts some of the salt into his pants
pocket to get rid of it. The march ends, but
the salt keeps pouring. Kaps taps his foot
for the bandleader to keep playing. It does
and so does the salt. The music ends
again and again the salt going. Kaps is
laughing in embarrassment. He looks at
the bandleader and utters Da, da, da, da,
da, da, da, da, and the band plays the
Sousa march again.

Finally the salt runs out and Kaps brushes

the remaining salt from his empty hands.
He takes a bow to the thunderous roars of
applause.

Years later Kaps widow Nelly told Kaps

biographer Freddie Jelsma that he worked
on that closing bit for three years, "Salt
was strewn constantly throughout the
living room. If I needed some for cooking
and couldn't nd it in the kitchen, I knew
Fred had been busy again [2]


Fred Kaps (1959)

Once again Kaps waited six years before

he defended his title. It was almost
expected of him. Days before the
convention, ever the perfectionist, he was
a nervous wreck.[2] The night before the
World Congress, Dutch newspaper, Het
Parool wrote, Yesterday, the world
champion Fred Kaps from Rotterdam gave
an example of the act he will use to
defend his title. The paper went on to say
that when Kaps gave a sample
performance for his colleagues, it nearly
brought the house down. [2]

Kaps improved the salt pour trick and

added other items to his act. And once
again added a few more surprises. FISM
was to take place in Lige, Belgium on
September 6, 1961. About 560 magicians
from twenty-three countries registered,
from which some 120 competed.[4] The
actual competition went on and on from
day after day. There was also a lot of dead
spots in between.
While there were many repetitive
performances, some were bright spots.
Former third place winner in Vienna,
Frenchman Pierre Brahma and Fred Kaps,
past champion. Brahma looked good and
his act was spectacular. It was felt that he
was the only competitor that would stand
in the way of Kaps winning three grand
championships.[4] Brahma displayed silks
empty and produced precious jewelry by
the handful. As a nale, Brahma produced
a chest that was overflowing with jewels.

This artistic performance made the

tension even greater for Kaps. He started
off with his usual opening of vanishing a
cane in a newspaper.[2] Then he started to
read the paper, but cannot make out the
print, so while folding the paper he
produces a lit candle. He did a double take
when he realized the impossibility of what
he just did. All of this was taken from his
previous act. Next he led to the new items.

He had preset a champagne bottle in a

bucket next to him. From the bottle,
bubbles came popping out. Kaps reached
out and grabbed one of them. He
proceeded to do manipulations with the
bubble. After he was done with the
bubbles, Fred moved on to the rest of his
act. Instead of playing cards, Kaps
manipulates banknotes, producing an
endless amount of bills. Throughout all of
this, he was interrupted by applause. He
took these bills and boomeranged them
into his top hat. The lit candles still
continued to plague him appearing and
disappearing. For the nale, Kaps
produced a large candelabra.

When he was nished, the curtain fell and

there a silence for a while. Then the
audience awoke from their stupor and
broke into an ovation. Twelve jurors from
12 different countries granted Kaps with
the Grand Prix de Honour. He became the
rst person to win three consecutive world
championships.

Life after FISM

Kaps used those wins to appear on The Ed
Sullivan Show in the United States, on
February 9, 1964. Unfortunately for Kaps,
his act directly followed the highly
anticipated American debut of British
Rock and Roll sensation The Beatles.
However, Kaps was not distracted by the
pandemonium that occurred in the studio
after the Beatles performed their rst
songs; his performance was actually pre-
recorded, not live (an announcement to
that effect was made during the closing
credits).

Kaps entered in full fanfare and looked

condent. Kaps did his wonderful version
of Fred Braue's Homing Card. He
introduced it as a new trick. He told the
audience that the trick is done with ve
ordinary red playing cards. As he counts
them, he notices that the fth card is not a
red spot card, but a black face card. His
condence soon diminishes. He gets rid
of the card because it doesn't matter how
many, he can do it with just four spot
cards. Each time he counts them, the face
card returns. Fred gets very upset. The
face card continues to plague him as he
tries to get rid of it. He does this until he is
left with two. He shows both of them and
expects to see the face card, but is
relieved to see that both are spot cards.

He shows the faces again, but one of the

cards is a face card. The audience reacts,
but he thinks they are incorrect as he
states that everyone thinks it will be
wrong again. So he continues only to nd
out that the face has returned again. He
puts the face card away and apologizes to
the audience because he can't do the trick
with one card. And sure enough, when he
shows it again, the face has played one
last trick on the magician.

He closes with the now famous Salt

Shaker trick.

As a result of this performance, some 73

million viewers watched Fred Kaps' card
and salt-shaker trick. While in the United
States, he got an offer to appear in a
movie. But because there was no magic in
it, he turned it down.[2]

Kaps also appeared on many European

televisions shows. He also performed for
'august audiences' such as the royal
families of both the Netherlands and Great
Britain [3] as well as President Sukarno of
Indonesia. He also had the pleasure to
perform for Princess Grace and Prince
Rainier of Monaco to name a few.

Along with his appearance (immaculate

suit and white shirt), sleight of hand was
Kaps' trademark. He would practice an
effect for weeks before he dared to
perform it live. He performed both stage
illusions and close-up magic using a
variety of props like playing cards,
candles, coins, balls, dice and silks.

Kaps didnt take to fame very well. Hed

rather relax on his boat or camper than be
stared at, like a monkey. He preferred to
stay at home and work on new effects or
read his magic books. He enjoyed
companionship and would talk all hours
about his favorite subject, magic.[2]

Kaps would have a long career becoming

a favorite of magicians and audience
alike. He would forever be known as the
grand champion of FISM. A magicians
trophy was named after Fred's mentor,
Henk Vermeijden.

Kaps' love of magic

Kaps was a perfectionist in his craft. He
thought that reaching the top of magic did
not depend on luck or chance. He felt that
careful studying was (one of), the
factors that brought the different
magicians their individual successes.
According to Kaps widow, Nelly Bongers,
calling Bram (Fred Kaps) a perfectionist
was, putting it mildly. You cant believe
how thoroughly he would investigate a
subject when he started something new.
She goes on to talk about how this
perfectionism was strong in everything he
did in or outside magic. Kaps felt that
magic was an art that should be studied.[2]

He loved to go to magic conventions

because magic was not only his
profession, but his hobby as well.
Knowing that the convention was weeks
away, Kaps would get excited. He would
pack up his close-up case with all of the
stuff he wanted to show.

He would get upset if he saw a fellow

magician imitate him at the convention.
Loving originality, he admired anyone that
did anything out of the ordinary even if it
wasnt performed very well. He was
interested in any amateur whose goal was
originality.[2]

Early death of the grand

champion
Only Kaps' closest friends knew that he
had cancer. Fellow Dutchman and cabaret
artist Wim Kan sent Kaps an audio
cassette saying how he was shocked
about nding out about the cancer. He
consoled his ailing friend by telling him
how much he and his wife Corrie cared for
him. He ended by saying that he learned a
lot from working with him. I learned from
you how, by making every effort, by
working hard, by giving enormous
concentration, and by coping with any
difculty that arises, one can reach the
summit! It is said all the time, but I believe
thats the way it is.
He was doing much better and planned on
working again. In March 1980, Kaps was
honored with a Master Fellowship of the
Academy of Magical Arts in Hollywood.[3]
Then he had a relapse. This time it was
made public. He battled it the best he
could, but on July 23, 1980, Bram Bongers
better known to the world as Fred Kaps
died. He was a month shy of his 54th
birthday. He left a wife, a mother, and two
daughters.

Legacy
During a closed party on March 9, 2005, a
memorial was revealed in front of the
house in Utrecht where he used to live, to
honor Kaps' contributions to magic.

He was called "World's Greatest Magician"

in 1972 by George Anderson. In 1980 he
received the AMA Masters Fellowship as
well as being inducted in the SAM Hall of
Fame.

References
1. FISM Grand Prix World Champions
Archived April 2, 2007, at the Wayback
Machine.
2. Fred Kaps compiled by Freddie Jelsma,
Translated by Bab j. Jienhuis, edited by
Stephen Minch
3.
http://homepage.mac.com/gbbuckley/.Publi
c/20.%20TMWApril08.pdf
4. [1] Archived November 20, 2008, at the
Wayback Machine.

External links
Fred Kaps DVD
Fred Kaps website

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