MAGICANA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Bob is a highly-experienced media, marketing and communications expert, and is also a senior broadcaster and sports reporter. He has spent a quarter of a century studying and providing in-depth analysis on professional golf tournaments for major television broadcasts, in addition to his duties as editor and content advisor for communication content for magazines, radio and digital media.
Bobby Voltaire died in 1986 at age 76, still working on an autobiography titled Things Are Not What They Seem. Gwen Voltaire was last mentioned in The Magic Circular in 2000 as having helped make arrangements for the care of her husband's grave in Northamptonshire. Can someone fill me in on what has happened to Gwendie? For much of the material in this profile, I'm especially indebted to Amy Dawes and her extensive chapter on British performers in Those Beautiful Dames, edited by the late Frances Marshall. I also used the resources available on Ask Alexander.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Craig is a globally experienced business and operations leader. Leveraging a technical education and extensive commercial experience, his focus is in healthcare, both in product enablement and, more recently, in home care service delivery.
Dayle Krall is a female escapist, billing herself as Lady Houdini. Mistie Knight partners with her husband, Kyle, in their illusion and magic show, and the couple calls Las Vegas home. Jen Kramer from Long Island has headlined her own show in Las Vegas. Cydney Kaplan is based in Los Angeles, and Amy Kimlat has published a wonderful magic book for young girls titled Hocus Pocus Practice Focus. As Magical Katrina, Katrina Kroetch has become a sensation with her virtual shows and her success fooling Penn & Teller. Lea Kyle from Bordeaux, France, is an internationally famous quick-change artist. And who could forget Jinger Kalin, the incredibly talented co-star and business partner of Mark Kalin, stars of Carnival of Wonders, Illusionariaum, Magic Underground, The Illusionists, and other successful ventures.
As a child, Debbie was "drawn to all the performing arts." Her brother had a magic set from FAO Schwartz, and their parents were her first audience. Debbie studied Dramatic Arts at Emerson College and at Lesley University (then Lesley College), where she received her MA in children's theatre. The first time she did magic professionally was in a local production of The Fantasticks, where she made a Fantasio cane appear. The audience reaction sealed her fate, and she began performing magic for pay the summer following her college graduation.
In addition to touring nationally as a children's theater actress for 40 years, Debbie O'Carroll had a busy magical performance schedule. She was a favorite at schools, libraries, festivals, and other such venues up and down the east coast from Maine to Florida. For instance, the Savannah Irish Festival in Georgia wrote, "I would like to thank you for your delightful work at our festival. We have nothing but raves for your children's entertainment."
Versatility was one key to her success: she had so many different shows and workshops to offer. For example, "The Magic Library" was aimed at children aged 4-14 and featured Debbie as "Debra Cadabra," who found herself in a library storage closet and used magic, costumes, and audience participation to bring books to life. Her "Yankee Doodle Magic Show" celebrated American history and culture, while the "Irish Magic Show" introduced characters from classical Irish literature. She and Tom also had a show together that enchanted young audiences with different aspects of Irish culture. Her "Small World" show introduced young audiences to the enchantment of London Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, the Stone Circles of Ghana, the Taj Mahal, Blarney Castle and the Hagia Sophia.
Debbie O'Carroll counted the late Ray Goulet among her mentors, stating that he encouraged her magic performances and her interest in magic's past. That interest in history led her to develop an act inspired by Mrs. John Brenon, the first recorded female magician to perform in the United States. Very little is known about this late 18 th-century performer, whose husband was a magician and rope-walker. While O'Carroll was creating the Mrs. Brenon character for the stage, she was also developing the story for a children's book featuring a young Irish girl who loves magic, marries a magician, and performs in colonial America. Bridget Boylan, Girl Magician was published in 2007. It is a charming adventure story that teaches young readers about Irish history and culture while giving future magiciennes a plucky fictional role model.
Unlike Adelaide, Dell grew up in a show business family. Her father, Lucky Bill Newton, owned a small travelling circus based in Kansas. He didn't want his daughter involved in the tent-show life, so he shuffled her off to a Catholic boarding school in Nebraska at the start of each season. Whether or not he actively discouraged her interest in sleight-of-hand-as she later claimed-by saying, "Girls can't do magic," Dell would eventually trade her sawdust training ground for the glamorous world of the night clubs, doing three shows a night filled with comedy magic.
But, not before she tried out other branches of show business: During the Twenties, she left her father's troupe and performed as an acrobat with several other circuses. Her signature feat would be climbing a ladder while balancing a sofa-a sofa!-on her forehead. It was an act she did in vaudeville and burlesque, while at the same time also exploring a career as a physical culture expert. Dell sold her own line of exercise equipment and touted the benefits of juggling as a means of keeping fit, especially for women. She even worked with the Coca Cola company as a spokesperson, giving away bottles of "The Drink that Refreshes" at her lectures.
Dell O'Dell endorsing Coca Cola; Dell climbing a ladder while balancing a sofa on her forehead (Courtesy of Michael Claxton)
Sometime in 1929, she acquired the rights to the act of the late Frank Van Hoven, who had reduced audiences to helpless hysterics during his vaudeville career, mostly with slapstick magic. In his show, the tricks were never the point-it was the pandemonium he caused onstage with two stooges who were each asked to hold a block of ice on their lap. The act was impossible to capture in print, but in Frank's madcap hands, it killed show after show. Dell could never quite be Van Hoven, but the few years she spent making his act her own were essential training. The education helped her develop a brash, take-no-prisoners persona that propelled her into the world of comedy magic.
Dell O'Dell endorsing Coca Cola; Dell climbing a ladder while balancing a sofa on her forehead (Courtesy of Michael Claxton)
Sometime in 1929, she acquired the rights to the act of the late Frank Van Hoven, who had reduced audiences to helpless hysterics during his vaudeville career, mostly with slapstick magic. In his show, the tricks were never the point-it was the pandemonium he caused onstage with two stooges who were each asked to hold a block of ice on their lap. The act was impossible to capture in print, but in Frank's madcap hands, it killed show after show. Dell could never quite be Van Hoven, but the few years she spent making his act her own were essential training. The education helped her develop a brash, take-no-prisoners persona that propelled her into the world of comedy magic.
Dell would be a master at changing with the times. She was a flapper in burlesque in the Twenties. She was a zany comedian in the age of the Marx Brothers and Fanny Brice. And when magic moved from vaudeville to the night clubs in the Thirties, she found her ideal medium. Witty, charming, and flirty, Dell loved entertaining audiences in the glittering big-city night spots. She took standard tricks available from magic dealers and created snappy routines for them, using rhyming patter and rapid-fire delivery. After the show, she went into the crowd with a rolling cart, giving away souvenirs, telling jokes, and doing tricks at the tables of all the folks out for a night on the town. "Gregarious as hell," one friend recalled, Dell schmoozed with her audiences well into the late evening hours-sometimes working multiple clubs in an evening.
Dell O'Dell at various ages through her career (Courtesy of Michael Claxton)
Her regular assistant was another man-her husband, Charlie Carrer. They met at a vaudeville theatre in 1931, when Dell was mistress of ceremonies and Charlie was on the bill as an internationally known Swiss juggler. When Dell used her own juggling skills to parody his act, the suave entertainer was smitten. They married a month later and worked together for thirty years. Like Dell, Charlie's persona was perfectly suited for the age. He was a kind of juggling bartender, using bottles and plates and trays filled with shot glasses to work his own form of magic. Night club managers loved to book both performers, and that enabled Charlie to be there to bring out Dell's props, many of which he had improved in his elaborate workshop.
For two decades, Dell played an exhausting array of club shows, school programs, department store events, and birthday parties (some for swanky clients-she once entertained the Duke and Duchess of Windsor), all working from her home base in Queens, New York. She lived in a house filled with animals and practical jokes and constantly hosted parties for her magician friends and for the neighborhood children. She loved to cook and promoted the image of herself as the ideal modern woman, both domestic and theatrical. The cover of her souvenir program-"Dell O'Dell on Both Sides of the Footlights"-showed her in an apron making dinner and then producing a rabbit onstage in a sparkling black gown.
As promised, I'll end with a nice story about Dell O'Dell (1897-1962), whom Debbie O'Carroll cited as an inspiration. (You can also see Dell in action in The Screening Room.
I spent eight years working on the biography Don't Fool Yourself: The Magical Life of Dell O'Dell, which was published by Squash Press in Chicago in 2014. It tells the adventures of the larger-than-life performer who flourished in ten different branches of show business during her forty-year career, especially in her heyday of working popular night clubs in the Thirties, Forties and Fifties. From circus strongwoman to physical culture expert to vaudeville comic to television star, Dell was a brash, funny, and widely loved magician.
Not long after the book came out, I received a letter from a Sacramento man named Bill Etgen. His letter made my day, and I'm happy to share it here.
Dell O'Dell performed at our school on Staten Island in 1942 or 43. She was the biggest magic show I had ever seen-and the most memorable and influential. Her rabbits, clanking linking rings and magic boxes captured me in a unique way. I had ADD (according to my teachers) and exploded into motion every fifteen minutes in order to let off steam. They called me "Mister Lightning." My folks called on all the child behaviorists they knew because I could not study or remember or stay on a topic-until I saw Dell O'Dell's show.
Dell O'Dell performed at our school on Staten Island in 1942 or 43. She was the biggest magic show I had ever seen-and the most memorable and influential. Her rabbits, clanking linking rings and magic boxes captured me in a unique way. I had ADD (according to my teachers) and exploded into motion every fifteen minutes in order to let off steam. They called me "Mister Lightning." My folks called on all the child behaviorists they knew because I could not study or remember or stay on a topic-until I saw Dell O'Dell's show.
That night I talked for over one hour solid about magic to my friend Tommy. My father was so impressed by this newfound focus that we went to a magic store that Saturday. I bought my first trick-the Hindu Prayer Vase-and he bought a Svengali deck. I practiced and focused on the moves and remembered the patter. Magic was my therapy of choice.
Dolly Reckless danced and conjured in the night clubs and USO in the late 1930s and ‘40s, while Ellinor Redan (1874-1956) was the first female member of the SAM, having joined in 1903. The Reed sisters-Jessica, Shayna, and Mandy-are a young group of magiciennes from Ohio mentored by Kenrick "Ice" McDonald. For 45 years, Carolyn Ann Rees (1948-2022) of Norton, Ohio, performed magic as Mrs. Wiz. The Englishwoman Josephine Reeve had an unusual blend of sleight-of-hand and sharpshooting in the 1920s. One of the first recorded female magicians, Madame Regnault worked the cups and balls in Paris in 1697. Toronto-based Rosemary Reid is a professional magician and a scholar of magic history, having done pioneering research into the life and career of Madame Konorah. Reine de Solange (1869-1953) was the niece of the French magician Cazeneuve with her own act circa 1900, and Zena Relph (1925-2015) did magic and fire-eating in England in the ‘60s.
In England later in the century, Dolores Johnson was popular in the Sixties with an act titled "Dell and Her Doves." There have been a number of female magicians in recent years in the UK (Dallas, Hayley Anna Dancy, Danielle, and Mandy Davis). The youngest is Leah Mae Devine, the first female to win The Magic Circle's Young Magician of the Year title (2015). One also recalls the Davenport women: Julia (1882-1909), Wynne (1891-1981), and Betty (b. 1934). Among the French, one of the most skilled women in magic is Alexandra Duvivier, who appeared on the cover of Genii in June 2013. She is the daughter of Dominique Duvivier. A magician in her own right, Marge Dean is the wife and partner of the late Canadian performer Dicky Dean.
When Ed Reno married Emma Austin in 1886, he wasted no time teaching her magic. She was nineteen, having been born in Pittsburgh on August 31, 1867, to a house-painter named William Austin and his wife Mary. Emma grew up without theatrical training in Omaha, Nebraska. She married Ed in Atchinson, Kansas, and the couple lived there until 1900, when they moved to Kankakee. Emma proved an able student and soon went beyond simply assisting her husband onstage. As early as 1891, H. J. Burlingame wrote in Leaves from Conjurers' Scrap Books that "Prof. Reno is ably assisted by his amiable and esteemed wife, who is one of the best lady magicians on the stage in our country. She is exceedingly careful in her work, and never attempts a trick before the public until certain of success." Emma not only performed magic in those early days, but also did routines with trained birds. By 1908, the Renos became one of the few couples in magic to have successful separate acts. Emma started out in the lowbrow dime museums, but soon moved into Chautauqua. Eventually both were under contract with Redpath.
Ellen Armstrong Bowling died on March 21, 1994, at the age of 88. When she took her own show out on the road in the Jim Crow South, she had both race and gender as strikes against her, but Ellen Armstrong displayed remarkable courage and deserves an important place in the history of magic.
Frances O'Beirne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, into an Irish family on October 3, 1898. She never advanced beyond the 8 th grade but went on to perform an act that required dazzling skill and intelligence. She married English magician Harry T. Usher (1891-1950) in Toronto, Canada, in 1918. It was Harry's second marriage, but in the quaint language of the day, Frances was listed on her wedding license as a "spinster" at the grand old age of nineteen.
Gloria Dolores Jerome was born into a show-biz family in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on August 10, 1922. Her arrival at 12 pounds was announced in The Billboard. Her father Arthur Jerome (1878-1944) had been an acrobat for Ringling Brothers before working for Thurston and then performing as a vaudeville magician. Gloria's mother Grace was a slack-wire artist and juggler. During the 1930s she assisted her husband in a magic act built around a Wonder Screen, producing all the props from it and ending with a stage full of colorful botanias. Arthur Leroy saw the act-billed as Marco and Jerome-at the 5th Avenue Theatre in New York and admired its thematic nature.
Gloria soon joined the show, having learned to sing and dance at age five. The family eventually moved to Dallas, and at fourteen she danced at the Texas State Centennial and in Billy Rose's Fort Worth nightclub Casa Manana. By the age of 17 she had her own magic act and toured with the Music Corporation of America, opening at the Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis right after graduating from high school. Throughout the 1940s, Gloria played the top night clubs and hotels in the US. Gerrie Larsen featured Gloria in her Genii column in October 1940, after which a group of young West Coast magicians started the "Dear Gloria Jerome We All Love You Please Come to California Club of America."
She had the usual ups and downs in getting started. A Billboard reviewer caught her five-minute act at the Glass Hat in New York City in 1942 and gave this mixed assessment: "Not the ideal place to break in a new set, but the ability is there although it needs polish and a line of gab. Gloria Jerome's blonde hair and neat gams are an asset and capitalized upon with a neat black costume. Switches scarves, fans cards, does a familiar cigarette routine a la Cardini, which climaxes with a lit pipe, and gets off by palming kerchiefs into an American flag. Best routine has her showing audience how the scarves vanish into the prop egg and then breaking the egg to prove it wasn't a prop."
Gloria Jerome in her night club costume
Later that year, when she appeared at the Club Rendezvous in Newport, Kentucky, alongside the legendary Bill Bojangles Robinson, a reviewer described her act this way: "Gloria Jerome, a Betty Grable type of doll, fits nicely in this room with her bag of tricks which she accompanies with a bright line of chatter. Opens with silks and flowers and follows with the venerable egg bag nifty with sucker effect, the card in the ballroom, Symphony in Smoke (her best), and, for the finale, silks to flag. Has swell appearance and personality and sells her magic capably for a femme, but just needs a little more polish that comes with experience."
Not surprisingly, when Gloria reappeared at the same Kentucky club in 1947, the review was all praise, even if with a heavy dose of the usual sexist jargon: "The show is off with Gloria Jerome, a cute trick showing some cute tricks. Young and shapely miss works like a vet in dispensing her magic, punctuating her nifties with a sly personality and punchy repartee. Works with silks, cards, cigarettes, rope and sundry paraphernalia. A good opener for any smart room. Took a solid hand."
Whether performing in white tails and top hat or in a short skirt and fishnet stockings, Gloria grew used to such ogling attention and endured countless cheeky comments from reviewers who no doubt felt themselves clever: "If you can manage to take your eyes off her streamlined chassis, she will astonish you with her skill." Or, "Who cares about the hand being faster than the eye? The eye does all right!" Or, "Personally, we saw her show ten times before we realized there was a rabbit in the act." Or, "With pretties like this going in for legerdemain, guys like Blackstone will soon be driving trucks." But Gloria seemed to take such remarks in stride as an occupational hazard of being an attractive woman in the business.
During the war, Gloria made several USO tours. During one trip through military bases in the South in 1943, she and her group had to stay overnight in a Memphis jail, as there was no available hotel space in town. By 1948, she had stopped touring night clubs and returned to Dallas, appearing at occasional club dates or county fairs into the mid- 1950s. At one point she briefly worked the counter at Douglas Magicland. She also did a brief stint as a magician for Chun King, the frozen Chinese food line. Wearing a black wig with chop sticks poking out of it, she appeared as Princess Fu Ling Yu. According to the late Al Sharpe, who profiled Gloria in his journal for collectors in 1984, she revised her act for country club audiences to include lots of comedy and audience participation. She often repeated her father's two-part motto: "Never drink ‘til the show is over, and get the show over quick!"
She had many friends in magic, including T. Nelson Downs, Richard Himber, and Paul Rosini, who inscribed a photo to "A Really Sweet Girl Magician, Gloria Jerome, a Lover of Magic, from one who makes a living by it also" (Never one to let on her age, Gloria scratched out the year 1939 below Rosini's signature). Even after she retired from the stage, she remained active in Texas magic associations and made an appearance at the 1959 TAOM convention. Her poem, "Kitchen Prayer for a Magician's Wife," is a charming tribute to every woman who has endured her husband's card tricks at the worst possible times. Here is just the first verse:
Gloria Jerome died on May 15, 1994, at the age of 71. She was married at one point to a Joseph Kovacs, though they had been separated for many years at the time of her death. Gloria battled cancer for four years, refusing chemotherapy. Only a few months before, her friend Ralph MarcoM had profiled her in The Linking Ring, writing that she was "destined for success in magic, achieved it early, and has remained at the top of her profession."
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Ingrid has recently retired from the practice of law. During her career she made time for public service, including volunteer work and serving on several boards. She has been involved with Frontier College, the Children's Own Museum, Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Canadian Mental Health Association.
J.H. Armstrong (1874-1939) was a Black man from Columbia, South Carolina, who started performing magic with his brother Thomas around the turn of the last century. They called themselves "The Colored Hermans." Later he partnered with a man named Jordan and finally with his first wife Ida. As "The Celebrated Armstrongs," they toured the East Coast with a lyceum-style magic act, playing primarily to Black schools and churches. Unlike some African-American magicians of the time, who adopted Hindu dress or exaggerated minstrel mannerisms, the Armstrongs proudly proclaimed their race and performed with formal dignity.
Job Titles:
- Editor of the Magic Circular, Praised the Act
John Young, editor of The Magic Circular, praised the act: "Here was a graceful and assured magicienne show which to our way of thinking avoided the customary pitfall into which too many lady performers fall. Too many will use effects which are primarily adapted for the male of the species, but here was a preeminently feminine performance for which the setting was that of a lady's boudoir, with dressing table and mirror . . . altogether an ideal cabaret act and a wonderful show."
And! There are more: Florrie Lingard, Lucy Lingerman (1870-1926), Julie Llusion, Layne Loughland (1967-2016, partner of Stuart Loughland as "Safire"), Sherry Lukas (who starred in "Spellbound" at Harrah's in the 1990s), Sunny Lupton (b. 1939), Zobeide Luti (who performed in Barnum's show in the 1870s), Sheila Lyon (who researches women in magic and recreates the act of Anna Eva Fay), and the Canadian magic illustrator Pat Lyons (1933-2016). Finally, I salute perhaps the most important dynasty of women in magic: the Larsen family, with Geraldine (1906-1998), Erika, Heidi, and Liberty, and the late, much beloved Princess Irene (1936-2016).
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Partner at Blake
Kevin is a partner at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP with a practice that focuses on private equity funds and investment products. He holds extensive experience in advising domestic and foreign clients on private equity and asset management. Kevin regularly provides legal advice regarding the regulation and registration of investment fund managers, portfolio advisers and dealers, and has considerable experience in structuring and implementing new fund platforms in Canada for both domestic and international sponsors.
Leona LaMar had a 20-minute Alexander-style question-and-answer act, in which she sat blindfolded on stage and identified objects that her husband borrowed from audience members and held up. But the real heart of her show was providing answers to sealed questions asked by the audience. "Will my business succeed?" "Who will win Friday's horse race?" "Is my husband faithful?" Reviewers consistently praised the speed of her working, the seeming absence of the usual obvious trickery involved in such acts, and the fact that she took questions from the entire theatre, including the balconies. Magicians praised her. J.P. Ornson reported to The Sphinx that she turned people away at every show in Buffalo and was generating tons of publicity. Dorny called her a "solid hit and a big sensation." Thomas Chew Worthington described her as a "performer of finished excellence." Bill Hilliar named hers "one of the best mind-reading acts in vaudeville."
Like many others in the field, she tried to shroud her origins in theatrical illusion. Leona insisted that her father was Count Alexander Von Vos Dumar of St. Petersburg, and while her father was indeed a Russian immigrant, he was no aristocrat. In fact, according to John Buescher's book Radio Psychics, he was convicted of larceny in Rochester, New York, after stealing carpet from a furniture store. He died in 1890 when Leona was five. She was born Leontine Dumar in Rochester, New York. While the earliest census records put her year of birth at 1886, her headstone reads "Leontine Dumar Shannon October 26, 1883-April 22, 1941." She was actually born in 1885. In her prime in 1923, she told journalists she was nineteen years old. According to Buescher, she stayed nineteen for years.
But her age was just one of Leona's many sleights-of-publicity. For instance, she claimed that her mind-reading ability began at age eight. It may have been pure puffery, but she swore that as a child she could find hidden Christmas presents and could anticipate who the visitors were when the doorbell rang. She told Billboard in 1919 that in school she could predict the next day's lessons, sometimes even before the teacher had decided what they would be. She claimed to have gotten this gift from her mother, who she said was also psychic. Yet she took her time exploiting this talent on the stage. In the 1905 census, Leona is listed as an actress, and a search of Billboard and Variety shows her performing as a singer, then a contortionist, then a "physical culture girl."
She began her transition from minor vaudevillian to headlining mind-reader when she met Walter A. Shannon in 1914, and by the end of the year, she had begun practicing the talent that would win her fame. Shannon became her husband, manager, and on-stage partner, though much of his work happened in the audience rather than on stage. With his charismatic help and her obvious skill, "The Girl with a 1,000 Eyes" would soon shoot to the top. Already by January 1917, she took out a half-page ad in the Billboard proclaiming herself "The Box Office Record Smasher." She touted attendance records at several theaters, including drawing 6,000 people in one day at Poli's in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She was even held over an extra week at the famed Palace Theatre in New York in 1917. Her rapid success and grueling schedule caused quite a strain, though, and Buescher reveals that in September of 1917, she attempted suicide by turning on the gas in her dressing room in a Salt Lake City theatre. Fortunately, Walter found her, and she recovered in the hospital.
Leona LaMar died of a heart attack at her home on April 22, 1941, and was buried in the Mount Carmel Cemetery in Englewood. She kept up the old illusions until the end, and her age was reported as forty-eight in Billboard, though she was fifty-five. Her funeral was attended by a delegation from the Old Actors' Home that her husband had helped establish fifteen years earlier. It was a place she visited often. She left behind a son Walter and a daughter Leona, as well as a legacy as one of the fastest, smoothest, and most successful second-sight performers in magic history.
This article first appeared in the May 2007 issue of The Linking Ring and is used here by permission. I am thankful to Geraldine Duclow, Head of the Theatre Collection at the Free Library of Philadelphia for information on Leona LaMar, as well as to William Rauscher for the use of photographs from his collection. I also used Ask Alexander, Ancestry.com, and the Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive. In updating the piece in 2023 for Magicana, I drew from John Buesher's book Radio Psychics (2021).
"This has probably provided me with the best magic education I could ever have," she continued. "Not only have I learned to run a business, but I have had the opportunity to meet almost every single magic celebrity in the field . . . Dealing with vintage posters has also widened my horizons to learning about magic history. There is always something new I learn everyday." When asked to give advice to close-up workers, she writes, "The nature of close-up magic demands a relationship with your audience. The fact that you can look them in the eye, learn their names and interact with them demands that you transcend the tricks. Learn to communicate and speak better than anyone, and use those skills to relate to your audience. Remember they are the most important people in the room, and you are sharing with them something amazing."
Though her last paid performance was a few years ago, Lupe remains passionately interested in learning magic and still attends conventions. Norm's final performance was at the London Palladium in 2008. After he fully retired from the stage, they did not travel as much as they used to. But Nielsen magic continued, having made products for magicians since 1956. In addition, Lupe decided to learn the process of furniture making and has enjoyed that as a hobby for several years. As she told Alan Howard for a feature article in MAGIC in February 2013, "I'm quite content being settled and doing more woodworking. I normally live in the present; I don't think past two weeks at a time, as far as immediate goals." A rare Kellar poster showing him reading a book perched on an elaborate wooden book stand served as the inspiration for one of her projects: a limited run of book stands patterned after the one in the poster.
Job Titles:
- Co - Director of Tannen 's Magic Camp
Job Titles:
- National Administrator of the SAM
Sindie Richison has served since 2006 as the International Executive Secretary of the IBM, and Manon Rodriguez has worked as the National Administrator of the SAM since 2008. Phyllis Ritson (1907-1976) assisted Dick Ritson's character "Wu Ling" as "Suee Sen." Vera Rivanova performs magic in the Netherlands. Roberta (Roberta Byron Bodley, 1917-2002) and Marion (Marion Byron Durant, 1921-2004) had a hugely popular magic act as teenagers in the 1920s and ‘30s and were still making convention appearances during WWII. Linda Roberts (1950-2004) was "Magic Wanda" in Cincinnati. With her husband Eddie, Lucille Roberts (1909-1977) was part of a second-sight team that flourished in the nightclubs in the 1940s. Myrtle Roberts (1908?-2003) was billed as "Australia's Foremost Lady of Magic." Lou Robinson joined the craze for liquid air acts circa 1905, while Olive "Dot" Robinson (1863-1934) was the wife and chief assistant to Chung Ling Soo (William Robinson). Emily Robinson-Hardy currently wows audiences as a British magician, mentalist, actor and model.
Margaret Ruth Steward Evans eventually changed her name to the more magical-sounding "Celeste"-a heavenly name that took her around the world for five decades, with one of the most celebrated magic acts of her era. She was born in the small town of White Rock in British Columbia, Canada, on December 31, 1931, just fifteen minutes before the New Year. Growing up under the somewhat sour disposition of her mother, Ruth developed an interest in magic at age nine and had to practice in secret in her bedroom loft, trying out sleights on the bed so as to make as little noise as possible when the cards dropped. As a teenager she saved up her tips from waitressing jobs and bought a magic book-years later she thought it was by Tarbell-spending years learning its contents without a mentor to guide her. Ruth owned only one pack of cards, so she frequently washed and powdered them to keep them looking good.
Maria Elena Hernández was born in Havana on December 6, 1951. Her family escaped the communist regime in 1962, after her father-an engineer at Shell Oil-had been imprisoned five times as a critic of Fidel Castro. Maria was nine when she was whisked from a comfortable home with a nanny and transplanted to Miami, where she quickly learned to be more self-sufficient. Her father Orlando set the example for the family by saving enough money to repay the $1200 loan he had received from the Refugee Center upon their arrival. The family has always been grateful for the warm welcome it received in the United States.
While most future magicians probably were thrilled at watching their first magic show or getting that first magic set for Christmas, Maria's introduction to magic turned her off. At the age of six she attended a circus in Cuba. A young boy-a stooge for the magician-was drinking a Coke on the edge of one of the circus rings. In stormed the angry magician, chastising the boy for drinking his cola. He pretended to stab the child with an ice pick and then squeeze soda out of his elbow with a funnel. This horrifying twist on a stock comedy magic routine made young Maria think magicians were evil.
She didn't change her mind for twenty years until her son Orlando's first birthday, when she hired a magician to entertain at the party. Even though the performer was not all that brilliant, Orlando was hooked, and so was his mother. Maria went out and bought $15 worth of tricks at Miami Magic, a local shop owned and run by Sammy Chiprut, aka Amazing Sammy. An impromptu show at a hospital ward when Orlando had his tonsils out went so well that Maria sent her husband back to the magic shop for more tricks. Soon, an ad placed in the local paper by a friend of the family amazingly netted 30 bookings, and Maria the magician was born.
Her mentor, ventriloquist/magician Alberto Montejo, came up with the stage name Merlina, and she did shows for nearly 40 years in the Miami area at birthday parties, schools, libraries, hospitals, company picnics, and many other venues. She performed at the US Coast Guard Air Station, the Mall of the Americas, and gave three command performances before the Saudi royal family. She became the official Christmas and Easter entertainer at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables for six years and a house magician at the Sheraton Bal Harbor Hotel for another five.
As a graduate of Florida International University, a member of the National Storytelling Association, a member of the Miami Storytellers' Guild, and the founder of the Strawberry Fields Storytellers, Maria loved to incorporate educational messages into her magic routines. Some were didactic lessons about fire safety and avoiding drugs, but she also liked to tell stories about her Cuban grandmother, her own immigration to the United States, and other things that helped spectators young and old appreciate Hispanic culture. Audiences loved her bilingual shows and her unique mix of magic and storytelling. "Coming to America" was one of her favorite routines-it was a version of the magic coloring book effect that wove in the story of Maria's leaving her home country and finding her place in a new land. She performed the effect in Spanish and in English. The images in the book depicted her family and friends and favorite childhood places. She also did a routine called "Grandmother's Sewing Basket," where each item in a sewing kit served a magical purpose.
In Has This Ever Happened to You? (compiled by Celeste Evans), Maria confessed that one of her worst show disasters turned into unintentional comedy gold. When doing a Cub Scout banquet show where she was told a prominent magician was in the audience, Maria was a bundle of nerves. One thing after another went wrong: a dove pan jammed, a milk pitcher was overloaded, and so on. Finally, Maria noticed the audience laughing hysterically, and she turned to witness her rabbit, Harry, peeking his head out of a square circle long before he was supposed to be produced. Backstage later, the visiting magician, wiping away tears of laughter, asked Maria how she had managed to get the rabbit to pop up on cue. "Months of training," was her quick response.
Maria Ibáñez was honored with Presidential Citations from both the IBM and SAM Presidents. She was also appointed as a Trustee and Full Professor, by the Camelard College of Conjuring Chemmis, joining such distinguished names as John Calvert, Bev Bergeron, and Jeff McBride. The Camelard College honored Maria with its highest award: the Beneficium Arte Magica (BAM).
Merlina also received a Merlin Award from Tony Hassini of the International Magicians Society in recognition of her contributions to magic. She was also honored with a Cometa Magico, the highest recognition from the Hispanic magic community, which is presented after a vote by magic societies worldwide. A life-size bust of St. John Bosco, Patron Saint of magicians, is the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Mexican magic societies. Mandrake the magician and the Abrakadabra organization have also presented Maria with several plaques and awards.
The City of Miami and Miami Dade County have recognized Maria with Proclamations presented by the respective Mayors, and on numerous occasions she performed directly for and at the request of the Mayor of the City of Doral, Luigi Boria and his wife. She also appeared as Mrs. Claus for three seasons during the annual Nights of Lights event at Pinecrest Gardens.
She served as President of the Greater Miami Magic Association, which is comprised of IBM Ring 390, SAM Assembly 280, MALAM (Magos Latino Americanos en Miami), IMS Chapter 25, and Magic City Conjurers. As she wrote in 2016, "We were very honored to have then International President, Shawn Farquhar, present the Charter for I.B.M. Ring 390 personally." Finally, Maria served as a member of the Membership Committee for the IBM alongside of Terry Richison.
Maria gave a presentation at the Magic Collector's Conference in Orlando in January of 2023. It was her last appearance. Maria died on February 15, 2023, after a battle with cancer. She was 71. She was survived by her husband, two sons and their wives, and six grandchildren.
A version of this article first appeared in the February 2007 issue of The Linking Ring and is used here with permission. Additional updates were provided by Maria Ibáñez in 2016, and she appeared on the cover of The Linking Ring in February 2021, with an article written by David Bull.
Marian Day was born Hazel Marian Hartman on October 13, 1910. Her parents were farmers, and Hazel was one of five children growing up in DeKalb, Illinois. She received her education at the University of Michigan, Radcliffe, and the University of Chicago. Her schooling was far more extensive than that of her husband, Richard Vail, whom she married in 1937. He only finished the 8 th grade and worked various jobs as a salesman and taxi driver. Hazel's interest in magic began five years after her marriage, when she learned some effects from Mike Zens (1877-1952), who recommended that she join the Chicago Magigals.
That was 1942, and her career continued for several years. She performed a two-hour show in top hat and tails, doing illusions, card magic, rope tricks, and escapes. Her signature effect was the production of a huge rabbit named Johnnie, which often afforded her great publicity pictures for the local newspaper. She was an excellent marketer. Her show was called "Magic with Laughs," and Marian's motto was "We Need Laughs to Live."
Marian Day was profiled in the May 1944 issue of Genii on Geraldine Larsen's "Magigals Page." She was also an active member of the Wisconsin Houdini Club and performed at its Annual Conclave at Eagle River in 1944. In 1946 she did a needle act at the St. Louis IBM Convention and published a card trick in Walter Gibson's New Conjurors' Magazine the same year. Marian's husband became her manager, and the list of her clients was lengthy, including many, many repeat dates.
Her students responded so positively to her magic that Mary Ann realized she needed to expand her repertoire. When she landed an educational TV series at AETN in Little Rock-where she used a magic effect to recap the point of each lesson-the local IBM Ring 29 came to her aid and has supported her ever since. Once when she wanted to reinforce a housing lesson, two members loaned her a shack they had built for an urban renewal project. When Howard Bamman put Mary Ann on the cover of The Linking Ring in May of 1979, she stared hearing from magicians around the world who used magic with a message. She got lots of ideas from Kent Cummings, a Texas magician who had used magic extensively in his teaching in the Army.
Mary Ann Campbell's resume is amazing. She has been a full-time visiting professor at the University of Central Arkansas, where her students referred to her as "Dr. MAC." She served on the National Advisory Council for the Association of Small Business Development Centers, and has been the chair of the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center's Advisory Council. Mary Ann was appointed by President Clinton to Chair the National Women's Business Council, where she travelled internationally to represent small business issues. Dr. Campbell was a founding member of the Arkansas Chapter of the International Women's Forum. She served as co-chair of the Arkansas Small Business Coalition, was a founding member of the Financial Planners Association of Arkansas, and has been the President and owner of Money Magic, Inc. since 1985. Money Magic provides presentations laced with magic for educational and management training seminars. In 2007, she received her doctorate in Family Finance at Iowa State University.
Her television experience is no less impressive. Her show "Money Magic" won a bronze medal at the 1980 International Film and Television Festival, an unusual honor for a local program. For several years she had a weekly program on Little Rock's KATV Daybreak, offering financial planning advice, often illustrated with a magic effect. Guests on her programs have included Dr. Milton Friedman, Louis Rukeyser, Hillary Clinton, and famed Arkansas football coach Lou Holtz, who learned a number of magic effects from Mary Ann. They both use the Gene Anderson paper tear during their speaking engagements and count it as one of their favorite tricks.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Michael is an investment professional with extensive experience, specializing in institutional asset management. His long-standing experience in the industry in business development, marketing, and client service comes from his past roles serving as vice-president in institutional marketing and sales along with his business development experience as a senior advisor for two private investment firms.
Unlike some women in the field, Madame Reno consistently received acclaim from her colleagues and was often mentioned in the same breath with the legendary Adelaide Herrmann. One reviewer said in 1908 that "Madame Reno is the best magician of her sex that I have ever seen, except Madame Herrmann, and it is no disparagement to either lady to say that they are equally skillful, graceful, and handsome." Yet another said that she "is no less skillfull than her talented husband Ed Reno, and being aided by a graceful and charming stage presence, her act is one that will not soon be forgotten." Dr. Wilson agreed, writing in The Sphinx that she "never lacks for profitable dates." A 1910 program lists her repertoire as follows, and I can't help but wonder what effects audiences saw with these titles: "Hindoo Mysteries, The Turtle Dove's Dream, The Fairy Flower Garden, The Magic Rifle, A Comedy of Errors, A Temperance Lesson, The Unlucky Watch, Our National Emblem, A Worried Rabbit, and Electricity Annihilated: A Lesson from Mars."
Emma Reno billed herself as "The Empress of Magic" and a full-color lithograph poster shows her reclining lazily in an ornately carved chair, wearing a flowing pink dress. No depictions of effects from her act were necessary to convey her status. She made the cover of The Sphinx in February 1912 and was praised as a "woman of distinguished presence and graceful bearing," whose magic is "modern and executed with all the skill and grace that her many years upon the stage have developed." The writer went on to say that Madame Reno's "equal among lady magicians would be hard to find, for her experience is wider and of longer duration than any other, with the sole exception of Mme. Adelaide Herrmann." By that time a stout woman with white hair, Emma Reno had a matronly appearance, and children loved her effects with live rabbits and ducks.
He was buried, incidentally, in Kankakee, nearly 700 miles from Emma's final resting place in New York. And as it turned out, Emma's passing, as well as the retirements of Adelaide Herrmann and Mercedes Talma, paved the way for the next "Queen of Magic," a zany comedian named Dell O'Dell.
Norm Nielsen met at Hank Lee's Magic Conclave in Cape Cod in 1989 and kept in touch over the years. They were married in Las Vegas on May 2, 1998, by veteran magician John Booth. Since 1996 she has been managing Nielsen Magic, after his previous assistant, Connie Boyd, left. Lupe had plenty of experience working with magic dealers, including Hank Lee's Magic Factory, Collectors Workshop, and Houdini's Magic Shop in Las Vegas. For a while she continued to perform on a part-time basis and dedicated the rest of her time to manufacturing and selling an exclusive line of magic props (Vanishing Bottles, latex doves, Okito-Nielsen items, etc.) as well as high-quality reproductions of posters from Norm's famous collection.
When this article first appeared in 2007, Lupe described how involved she was in the magic business. In her words, "Along with Norm, I work doing everything for the business: from making the coffee in the morning, to the accounting, answering correspondence, writing the instructions for the tricks, rehearsing and routining them, to soldering and polishing metal, pouring the latex in molds, sanding the wood for the cabinets, selling, packing, and shipping the magic and posters. We attend various magic conventions every year and sometimes travel thousands of miles just to find yet another rare magic poster."
Norm and Lupe have hosted many visitors to their legendary poster collection in Las Vegas and have featured the posters in a monthly series in M-U-M called "The Nielsen Gallery." In November 2016, both were the Guests of Honor at the New England Magic Collectors Gathering near Boston. Lupe gave a delightful lecture about their love of lithographs. The 25-year poster collection was sold in two auctions in 2016 and 2017. In the introduction to the auction catalogue Lupe wrote, "Norm and I retain a loving attachment to the collection, so much so that in letting it go we feel we are selling pieces of our lives and souls." Collectors all over the world were grateful for the chance to share in the treasures that Norm and Lupe have cared for and cherished for so long.
Norm Nielsen passed away on April 21, 2020, at the age of 86, mourned throughout the magic community as one of the true greats. Lupe continues to operate the business, set up at conventions, and keep up with their countless friends and customers all around the world.
Norma Loftman was born into an immigrant Polish family on May 17, 1903 (she would later become a naturalized US citizen in 1946). She completed a couple of years of high school before getting into show business. It's unknown when she met and married Willie Krieger, but they were together by 1925, appearing in circuses like the Lee Brothers' Show and the 101 Ranch Wild West Show. Norma and Willie performed magic and puppetry as a team in vaudeville in the 1920s and ‘30s, and they also played Luna Park at Coney Island, featuring, among other things, the Doll House illusion. There's a great photograph published in The Sphinx (August 1950) showing the couple standing with the rest of the Dreamland Circus Side Show cast.
Life with Willie Krieger could not have been easy. He was a heavy drinker, and his addiction constantly interfered with his performing career. At Luna Park, a stooge who worked the show was so familiar with Willie's magic act, that whenever the magician passed out before going onstage, he was able to step in and do the act. The young magician, incidentally, was Francis Finneran, who became better known to magic as the card man Francis Carlyle.
Realizing she could do far better on her own, Norma starting working in night clubs as early as 1941, with a routine of familiar but well-done effects: silk dye, paper tear, egg bag, vanishing milk, repeat card trick, and the swallowing of razor blades. Writing in The Jinx, Annemann praised her performance of the aerial fishing, a classic that had been a favorite of Pop Krieger. From other reports we see that Norma was also skilled at close-up with coins. She had several return engagements at Fays Theater in Providence in the ‘40s, where she was billed as the "charming lady magician."
Job Titles:
- Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Journalist
Canadian broadcaster and journalist Patrick Watson built his extensive career as a television and radio interviewer and host, author, commentator, writer, producer and director. He was also one of the three founding members of Magicana in 2000.
Patrick was also the chairman of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from 1989 until 1994; and has received an honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Mount Allison University in 2002 and the University of Toronto in 2004. He was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1981, then promoted to Companion in 2002.
Paula Baird was born in Hastings on May 27, 1918; her father was a second cousin to Logie Baird, the television pioneer. She first caught the magic bug at age twelve after receiving a magic set intended as a Christmas gift for her brother. During the next year she took lessons from Leo Martin and developed sufficient skills to win a young magician competition at St. George's Hall in 1932. The prize was a box of apparatus from Hamley's. One newspaper headline read, "Hastings Girl the Best in England-Brother ‘Fed Up.'" She performed a number of paid shows as a teen, billing herself as "The Schoolgirl Magician." During that period she also took up flying, receiving a pilot's license at age 17.
During 1938-1939 she received tuition from Stanley Collins, worked as a magic demonstrator at Gamages, and ran a children's show at the Hastings Pier. After the beginning of the war she joined the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) and made tours of the British Isles and North Africa from 1940 to 1944. The troupe was given the same rations as the soldiers and often had to perform under bad conditions-heat, blowing sand, etc. Dealing with sand inside her thumb tip and between her cards was especially frustrating. During her time in the service, Paula Baird met a medical student named S.E. Slade. The two were married in 1944.
Paula Baird experienced some sorrow in her life. She lost a brother in World War II, and her son John, a successful Norwich barrister, died tragically at age 39. She drifted away from magic during the ‘60s, as agents increasingly wanted less skill and more revealing costumes. She became a travel courier in Norwich but continued to make appearances at magic functions. Her card work was described as "still immaculate" in 1965. She was a special guest at the Magic Circle Collectors' Day in 1992, where she was interviewed by her friend Harry Carson. Paula Franklin Baird Slade, once called the "most accomplished lady sleightster in the world," died in a Norwich nursing home on November 16, 1998, at the age of 80.
Terri Wagner has served as co-director of Tannen's Magic Camp. Princess Wahletka (1885-1968) read minds in vaudeville in Native American dress, though she was a White woman named Lottie May Navarre. Originally from Chicago, Rachel Wax has based her comedy magic act in New York City since 2013. Now retired, Donna Weihofen
Robert Miller also recalls her as a huge booster of the IBM, giving membership applications endorsed by herself and her husband Dick to young magician customers. She signed Robert's application when he was in high school in 1946, and since then he has had continuous membership for seven decades. Marian made close friendships with her young customers, so much so that she once asked Robert to teacher her daughter how to ride a bicycle.
Rose Resnick (1906-2006) shared her talents of magic, mentalism, and piano with injured soldiers for the USO; the fact that she was blind and used a seeing-eye dog as her assistant made her performances all the more inspiring. Australian Coral Reveen (1937-2023) assisted her illusionist husband Peter with his world-famous show. Renee Revelle was the "Mis-Direction Lady" in the ‘40s. Regina Reynolds collaborated with her late husband Charles on many magic projects, including the famous book 100 Years of Magic Posters. Adele Friel Rhindress assisted Harry Blackstone in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s as the "Elusive Moth" and years later became a beloved presence at magic conventions. British magician Katherine Rhodes serves as Vice President of The Magic Circle and was featured on the cover of The Magic Circular in 2015, while Indonesian Riana Graharani performs a distinctly eerie act as "The Sacred Riana." Along with her husband Harold, Thelma Rice (1911-1990) was one half of the legendary Silk King Studios.
The Forties were a great time for magicians, and that includes female conjurers. Ruth Dore (1926-2015, daughter of Theo Dore) performed magic during that decade, as did Jerry Dawn (wife of the deaf magician Steve Miaco), Rita de Lara (1896-1969) and Rita Del Gardia (1899-1966). Donna Delbert (1913-1991) was one of the more unusual feminine magicians of the Forties, as she was actually Delbert Hill in drag. The actress Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992) learned magic from Orson Welles and served as one of his assistants on the 1943 Mercury Wonder Show. Harriet Dreilinger (1918-2018) did magic in New York in the Forties and Fifties. Dunninger's wife Chrystal (1898-1982) learned sleight-of-hand from her husband and from Slydini. Bill Dodson's wife Betty (1912-1993) conjured on her own in the Fifties, and so did Paula Dolan, "the Dancing Illusionist."
Terri Rogers (1937-1999) was an amateur magician but a major ventriloquist in England. Madame Artot Roman played the music halls in 1886. While one performer named Romany did escapes in the English provinces a hundred years ago, the current Romany keeps audiences delighted with her lively brand of comedy as "The Diva of Magic." Her 2018 memoir, Spun into Gold: the Secret Life of a Female Magician, is a must-read. President Theodore Roosevelt's daughter Alice (1884-1980) tinkered with magic as a hobby, in between making famously acerbic remarks. Evelyn Rose, an ex-ballet dancer and student of Hank Vermeyden, performed an elegant act in the ‘60s. Mildred Rouclere (1869-1938) assisted her husband Harry in a magic and second-sight act, and their daughter Rouclere Junior (Mildred Yull, 1894-1983) carried on the family name as "The Most Closely Watched Girl in America." Finally, Roxanne of Germany is the wife and partner of Topas and has her own act, Cecelia Rupp does magic and ventriloquism in Idaho, Melissa Russo received the 2016 Milbourne Christopher Award for Promising Young Magician, and who better to end with than Carol Roy (1929-2009), the indispensable better half of Marvyn who lit up his life.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board of Directors
Tim has an extensive background as an entrepreneur, business and not-for-profit leader. He currently serves as the President and CEO of Shad Canada, a progressive STEM and entrepreneurship program for students to prepare them for real-world challenges and opportunities. He has also served as CEO of the Accelerator Centre, an incubator for technology startups, Vice President at the University of Waterloo and Executive Vice-President at the MaRS Discovery District, one of the world's largest urban innovation hubs. He co-founded Tech Capital Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm, and served as CFO and CEO at Waterloo-based technology firm, PixStream (sold to Cisco Systems). Tim has chaired boards such as The Ontario Trillium Foundation, The Waterloo Public Library, The Food Bank of Waterloo Region and the Centre in the Square Theatre.