Party for Seven

Before William Oliver Wallace became famous as the great Ali Bongo, Middlesbrough resident Leonard Winter donned the cape and turban of an Oriental magician to entertain guests at his daughter’s birthday party. The birthday girl follows next with a tap-dance routine, possibly to work off some of the sugar rush from eating birthday cake made by mother Jean, who, like bakers across the country, were still revelling in the end of sugar rationing the previous year.

Leonard Winter was an accomplished amateur filmmaker who frequently blurred the distinction between home movie and fiction in his work. He made many 9.5mm movies between the 1930s and 1970s. From 1946 onwards his films often featured his wife Jean and daughter Maureen. The family moved from the South East to Middlesbrough in the late 1940s. William Oliver Wallace became a household name as Ali Bongo during the 1970s appearing in a number of television magic shows. For 15 years, he also worked alongside Middlesbrough born magician Paul Daniels on his hugely successful television magic show. He joined the Magic Circle in 1960 and was elected its president in 2008 shortly before his death the following year.