Marc Bolan (November 3 1966) The Boy Who Lived With a Wizard

Publication: Queen Magazine Date: November 3 1966

Country: United Kingdom Section / Page: POP SCENE by Patrick Kerr Format: Profile / Early‑Career Feature

Overview

A striking early profile of 18‑year‑old Marc Bolan, published just days before his Ready Steady Goes Live! television debut. Patrick Kerr positions Bolan not as another Dylan‑inspired protest singer, but as a myth‑maker, a teenager whose life story already sounded like folklore: Parisian wanderer, apprentice to a “coloured magician,” and writer of fairy‑tale pop songs. This article marks the first major attempt by the British press to decode Bolan’s mystique — years before T. Rex, glam rock, or glitter.

“We lived in an old château on the Left Bank. Wow! Was that a weird place.” — Marc Bolan

What the Clipping Shows

• The POP SCENE column header by Patrick Kerr, printed in Queen Magazine’s elegant serif style. • A captioned photograph: “Marc Bolan, pop singer fascinated by black magic: on ‘Ready Steady Goes Live’ (12 Nov)” — one of the earliest published images linking Bolan to mysticism. • Kerr’s introduction contrasting Bolan with Dylan imitators, positioning him as a singular new voice. • Bolan’s vivid first‑person account of life with the “wizard” in Paris — the château, the owl Archimedes, the Siamese cat, and the leather‑bound occult books. • Commentary on The Wizard single, including Kerr’s warning against drug‑culture misinterpretation. • A short profile of producer Jim Economides, emphasising his pedigree and the significance of his work with Bolan. • A closing section on London’s new club, The In‑Place, followed by the “Ones to watch for” list naming Marc Bölan: The Wizard.

→ IMAGE WOULD GO IN RIGHT COLUMN   Caption: Marc Bolan in Queen Magazine’s POP SCENE column, November 3, 1966 — introduced as the teenage mystic behind “The Wizard.”

Source Details

Publication: Queen Magazine Date: November 3, 1966 Format: POP SCENE Column / Early‑Career Profile Provenance Notes: Based on the original Queen Magazine article archived via the British Library, supplemented by discographical and biographical sources.

The Story Behind It

In late 1966, Marc Bolan was still a newcomer — a mod‑styled dreamer with a single on Decca (The Wizard) and a reputation for telling stories that blurred memory and myth. Patrick Kerr’s Queen profile captures him at this exact threshold: not yet a star, but already a legend in miniature.

Kerr frames Bolan as the first truly individual voice to emerge from the Dylan‑Donovan wave, noting that while many young singers chased protest‑folk authenticity, Bolan arrived with something stranger and more poetic. His Paris tale — living in a crumbling château with a magician, an owl named Archimedes, and a ghost‑white Siamese cat — is presented not as literal biography but as the origin myth of his songwriting.

Kerr defends The Wizard against drug‑culture misreadings, insisting it is a children’s fantasy, not a coded psychedelic message. He also highlights Bolan’s extraordinary luck in securing Jim Economides, the American producer associated with early Elvis Presley and Phil Spector, signalling that industry insiders saw potential in the young singer.

The article closes with a snapshot of London’s club scene and a prophetic “Ones to watch for” list — with Marc Bölan at the top.

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In the November 3, 1966, issue of Queen Magazine, under the column POP SCENE by PATRICK KERR, 18-year-old Marc Bolan (then still spelled Marc Bolan) was introduced as a fresh, enigmatic voice in the crowded field of Dylan-influenced protest singers. The article, titled with a photo caption reading “Marc Bolan, pop singer fascinated by black magic: on 'Ready Steady Goes Live' ( November 12 )”, framed him not as another folk imitator but as a singular talent shaped by an extraordinary, almost mythical past.

Kerr wrote:

“Out of the flood of young, casual, protest singers who have tried to follow in the groove carved by Bob Dylan, only Donovan has emerged successfully enough to establish himself here and in America. But there now comes a young man who looks at first glance as though he might be of this type, but who in fact has a very definite, individual approach to pop music.”

At just eighteen, Bolan’s story began at fifteen when he left London to “bum around” Paris for eighteen months. There, he claimed to have fallen in with a coloured magician on the Left Bank. In his own vivid words, quoted directly in the piece:

“We lived in an old château on the Left Bank. Wow! Was that a weird place. Stacks of books, all leather bound, in Arabic, Egyptian, and other odd languages. We had an owl called Archimedes and the biggest, whitest Siamese cat I’ve ever seen. We never had full stomachs, yet thanks to the mystical wizard we never actually starved.”

This surreal apprenticeship infused Bolan’s music with a fairy-tale quality. His debut single, “The Wizard”, released earlier that year on Decca, was described as a direct reflection of his time with the magician — not a drug allegory, Kerr stressed, but a childlike fantasy akin to Puff The Magic Dragon. He warned against overinterpretation:

“I think that initially people will be suspicious of the song, and will try to find hidden meanings in the lyrics; but in fact it’s really about nothing more than what most children have experienced in their make-believe worlds… soon the ‘hippies’ began to read into it clever hidden meanings and allusions to drugs and addicts. It’s now become almost an anthem for drug takers.”

Bolan’s fortune, Kerr noted, lay in landing Jim Economides — the American producer behind early Elvis Presley, Bobby Vee, Julie London, and Bobby Darin records, and a former collaborator with Phil Spector — as his first UK producer. “Marc is the first English artist he has produced,” wrote Kerr, signaling high expectations.

The article closed with a spotlight on London’s buzzing club scene, naming The In-Place as the new hotspot — “rather like a cross between Annabel’s and the Ad-Lib” — and ended with a prophetic “Ones to watch for” section:

Actual text below

POP SCENE

By PATRICK KERR

Out of the flood of young, casual, protest singers who have tried to follow in the groove carved by Bob Dylan, only Donovan has emerged successfully enough to establish himself here and in America. But there now

Marc Bolan, pop singer fascinated by black magic: on 'Ready Steady Goes Live' (12 Nov)

Comes a young man who looks at first glance as though he might be of this type, but who in fact has a very definite, individual approach to pop music.

His name is Mare Bolan, and he is just eighteen. His whole approach to singing and writing stems from his way of life since the age of fifteen. At that age he went to Paris to 'bum around' for eighteen months, and took up with a coloured magician. In Mare's own words, here is a description of life with the wizard. 'We lived in an old château on the Left Bank. Wow! Was that a weird place. Stacks of books, all leather bound, in Arabic, Egyptian, and other odd languages. We had an owl called Archimedes and the biggest, whitest Siamese cat I've ever seen. We never had full stomachs, yet thanks to the mystical wizard we never actually starved

Mare now comes up with songs which have a real fairy-tale quality. His first record is The Wizard, and tells a little about the black magician. I think that initially people will be suspicious of the song, and will try to find hidden meanings in the lyrics; but in fact it's really about nothing more than what most children have experienced in their make-believe worlds. Puff The Magic Dragon, for instance, which was successfully recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary, is a similar kind of song, but soon the 'hippies' began to read into it clever hidden meanings and allusions to drugs and addiets. It's now become almost an anthem for drug takers.

Mare Bölan has been extremely fortunate in getting the right man to produce his record. He's an American called Jim Economides, responsible for records by Bobby Vee, Julie London, Bobby Darin and the early Elvis Presley ones. Jim has also worked with Phil Spector. He's now in England and Mare is the first English artist he has produced.

The all-happening club on the pop sene at the moment is The In-Place. Apparently it had a bad start, but the policy of the place was changed and it is now becoming more popular. It's rather like a cross between Annabel's and the Ad-Lib well-designed and decorated; a discotheque with records and live groups; gambling facilities; two bars and a restaurant. At present it's patronized by several top popsters and titled swingers.. The atmosphere is young and exciting.

Ones to watch for

Marc Bölan: The Wizard

Marc Bölan: The Wizard

Appearing just weeks before Bolan’s TV debut on Ready Steady Goes Live! (November 12, 1966), this Queen feature captured him at the exact moment folk mysticism met mod cool — a teenage dreamer on the threshold of reinvention. Five years later, he would electrify the world as T. Rex. But on November 3, 1966, in the pages of Britain’s most elegant society magazine, Marc Bolan was simply the boy who lived with a wizard — and the pop scene would never be the same.

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© Copyright Notice — Queen Magazine (November 3, 1966)

All original magazine text, photographs, and artwork remain the property of their respective copyright holders. This scrapbook entry is a transformative, non‑commercial archival summary created for historical documentation and educational reference.

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