The Last Greatest Magician in the World

December 13, 2010
Expanding on his chapters on Howard Thurston in his history of magic, Hiding the Elephant, Steinmeyer produces an engaging full-length biography of the man Orson Welles called “the master.” While Houdini’s daring stunts were legendary, Steinmeyer says Thurston was the public’s favorite, captivating audiences with his “self-assured grandeur.” Hailing from Columbus, Ohio, Thurston gained fame in the early part of the 20th century with his “Rising Card Trick,” in which he levitated cards named by audience members. He successfully changed with the times, going from street performances to wagon tours through the West. He then became a top vaudeville star, but wisely left the vaudeville circuit to produce more ambitious spectacles involving 40 tons of magic apparatus and colorful costumes, a variety of animals, and more than two dozen assistants. Tracing the magician’s rise to fame, this volume neatly juggles his marriages and his magic with his triumphs, travails, showmanship, and marketing ballyhoo (“The Wonder Show of the Universe”). Steinmeyer recovers, from the shadows of his greatest rival, a figure whose grandiose productions were an American institution for almost 30 years.

January 15, 2011

Entertaining rescue of a forgotten show-business legend.

We tend to associate modern magic with Houdini, but he was not considered a great magician by most of his contemporaries. If asked to name the greatest magician, most would have named a Houdini rival, an entertainer few today have even heard of: Howard Thurston (1869–1936). When we think of the debonair performer in black tie who patters suavely with the audience while sawing women in half or pulling rabbits out of hats, we are conjuring the image Thurston spent 40 years in show business perfecting. According to Steinmeyer (Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural, 2008), a magician, illusion designer and scholar of magic, Thurston may have lacked the dexterity and originality of some of his illustrious peers, but he brought the elements together to drag theatrical magic into the modern world. What made Thurston so great, Steinmeyer argues, was his utter belief in his own con. Though cultivating the illusion of the modern entertainer as a bland, upright businessman, Thurston was actually a one-time street urchin and pickpocket who, while on his way up, was not above grifting when the occasion called for it. The author ably conveys Thurston's intriguing milieu and relentless adventuring (much of which he labored mightily to hide from the public)—his train-hopping boyhood and travels between carnivals to medicine shows in the wild West as an apprentice magician, his vaudeville and music-hall tours of the United States and Europe, his 1905–06 tour of Australia and the Far East and "last stand" as an itinerant movie-theater performer at the height of the Depression. Thurston's rise to the heights of showbiz fame paralleled the thrilling American boom years between the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago and the financial crash of 1929, and Steinmeyer, in his quiet, workmanlike way, captures it all vividly.

A low-key but thoroughly fascinating biography.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from January 1, 2011

In the early 1900s, America was entertained by carnivals, circuses, and traveling magic shows. Top magicians of the time were Harry Kellar, Paul Valadon, Harry Houdini, and Howard Thurston. Steinmeyer (Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural), a professional magic illusion designer, has written an entertaining account of Thurston's life and work. Thurston began his career after running away from home, riding the rails, working as a carnival con man, then becoming a card manipulator and magician. Thurston dreamed of having his own magic show. He toured Europe, Asia, and Australia, and when his mentor, Kellar, retired, Thurston bought him out and was billed as the Greatest American Magician. The need for bigger and better illusions created financial and marital problems, and his rivalry with Houdini became more obvious with Houdini's success. VERDICT Steinmeyer's in-depth research and knowledge of magic along with colorful characters, schemes, and magic espionage come together in a fast-paced, excellent read. Highly recommended for all readers.--Rosalind Dayen, South Regional Lib., Broward Cty., FL

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.