Jewish Magicians

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ori ashkenazy
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Jewish Magicians

Postby ori ashkenazy » November 18th, 2002, 12:27 pm

I hope some of you can help me with this...(write here or to my email)
I know that the matter of religion can be touchy, but I am working on an article for a special issue of the Israeli Magic Society Magazine about Famous Jewish magicians. Past, present and if possible (lets see all you mentalists try this) future.
I know of course about Houdini, Uri Geller, Copperfield and would like to know about others.(yes, Moses too - he did some wonderful magic in his days)

What I need to know is just the name and relation to Judaism, and if you know - did/do they refer to their religion in their magic?

You are welcome to write to me directly at ori@orimagic.com

Thanks for your input.

Ori.

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Dustin Stinett
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Dustin Stinett » November 18th, 2002, 1:48 pm

Ricky Jay
Max Malini
Max Maven
...

Ricky Jay tells a story about Malini being at a dinner with the Governor of the Philippines. As a joke, he was served a roast pig. Malini covered the pig with his napkin, waited a moment, and then whisked the cloth away to reveal a roast chicken in the pig's place.

[11/20/02: Max Maven passed on a note to say that Ozzie Malini, Max Malini's son (who, sadly, passed on just a short time ago) said that it was a pair of turkey drumsticks and not a chicken produced in place of the pig. Thanks Max!]

RJ appeared in a book titled The Jewish Writer. You may want to check into that.

Can't say much about Max Maven, except to say that he tells some of the best jokes I've ever heard.

Good luck,
Dustin

Ken Trombly
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Ken Trombly » November 18th, 2002, 2:42 pm

There actually is a site that I recently discovered, that has compiled an interesting, albeit incomplete, list of Jewish magicians. Check out www.jewsinmagic.org

Michael Edwards
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Michael Edwards » November 18th, 2002, 4:39 pm

You might want to check out Hannes Holler's 81 page paperback book: European Jewish Magicians 1933-1945.

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Dustin Stinett
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Dustin Stinett » November 18th, 2002, 5:16 pm

Do I hear Lance Pierce's mind at work coming up with an all-magician rendition of Adam Sandler's Hanukkah Song?

Steve V
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Steve V » November 18th, 2002, 6:07 pm

I'm not Jewish but I went to Israel and hit on a pretty red headed Jewish girl in Haifa, does that count?
Steve V

PS: My attempt at picking up the girl failed.
Steve V

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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Guest » November 18th, 2002, 6:39 pm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm not Jewish but I went to Israel and hit on a pretty red headed Jewish girl in Haifa, does that count?
Steve V

PS: My attempt at picking up the girl failed.

Steve,

You are a disgrace to sailors all over the world :) !

Mike

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ori ashkenazy
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby ori ashkenazy » November 18th, 2002, 7:30 pm

Thanks. The site Ken Trombly refered me to is more than I could ask for. This is a wonderful and enormous task.
Any idea on who published or operates it?
Are all the details there accurate?
If so...

. . . W O W !!!

Steve V
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Steve V » November 18th, 2002, 8:16 pm

Come on Mr. Gallo, later on I purchased a bar girl in the lower city.
Steve V
Steve V

Ken Trombly
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Ken Trombly » November 18th, 2002, 9:09 pm

Ori,
I think that the site is a joint venture of the Jewish HIstorical Society and a group in NYC. If you go to www.jewsinsports.org you will see a similar home page, but with a little more background on the people producing it.
As to accuracy, I have my doubts about Alexander (Claude Conlin) - perhaps they confused him with Alexander Herrmann. I also have been told on good authority that Dunninger was German, and not Jewish.....so I might take some of the other entries with a grain of salt.
The site is by no means complete - Chevalier Ernest Thorn, Marvin Roy, Pops Krieger and many others are missing....but it is an interesting start.

Guest

Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Guest » November 18th, 2002, 9:13 pm

The Great Lafayette, all the Herrmanns, the Bambergs, Horace Goldin, the list could go on and on. And let's not forget Professor Seiden -- Max Malini's tutor.

Bill Mullins
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Bill Mullins » November 19th, 2002, 3:11 pm

I think that Lee Asher could be added to the list.

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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Guest » November 19th, 2002, 5:06 pm

Was Fred Kaps really Jewish? That surprised me. He's one of my favorites...maybe that explains why. You could add Moses and Jesus to the list too.

Harley

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Brian Morton
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Brian Morton » November 19th, 2002, 6:58 pm

Was Fred Kaps really Jewish? That surprised me. He's one of my favorites...maybe that explains why.
Actually, Fred Kaps was black. Ask Scotty York to tell you about the time Kaps showed him "The Electric Slide."

brian :D :cool:

Jonathan Levey
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Jonathan Levey » November 19th, 2002, 7:12 pm

Brian,
Even if Fred Kaps was black, how does that stop him from being Jewish?
Jonathan :rolleyes:

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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Guest » November 19th, 2002, 7:14 pm

Zanzic, that New Orleans magi/scammer, was both black and Jewish!

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Pete Biro
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Pete Biro » November 19th, 2002, 7:23 pm

Hold it... hold it m'boy... Al Flosso!

Mr. Electric (Marvin Levy)

Sam Schwartz

Lou, Irv and Mike Tannen

:eek:
Stay tooned.

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Michael Kamen
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Michael Kamen » November 19th, 2002, 8:23 pm

I am not certain, but if memory serves I think Harry Lorrayne needs to be included here.
Michael Kamen

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Richard Kaufman » November 19th, 2002, 8:31 pm

Kirk Douglas is a Jew ... oh, sorry, wrong profession.
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Guest » November 19th, 2002, 8:42 pm

Al Flosso. Maty J

Guest

Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Guest » November 19th, 2002, 8:43 pm

Also, of recent origin, check out Lou and Irv (how could they not be Jewish) Tannen.
Marty

Guest

Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Guest » November 19th, 2002, 8:45 pm

I'm on an "asociation" thread; other dealers Chanin,Kanter) again, not ancient vintageor NAME performers. Sol Stone..do you want contemporaries?

Jonathan Levey
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Jonathan Levey » November 19th, 2002, 10:42 pm

Aaronson, Samuel
Adler, Hugo
Alan, Alan
Albini, Herbert A. (aka Bert, Rosini, Albini the Great )
Alexander, The Man Who Knows (aka Dr. Q)
Auster, Leo
Auzinger, Max (aka Ben Ali Bey, Maxistan A. Uzinger)
Ballantine, Carl (aka “The Amazing Ballantine”)
Balzar, Harry
Bamberg, David (aka Fu Manchu)
Bamberg, David Leendert
Bamberg, David Tobias
Bamberg, Eliaser
Bamberg, Jasper
Bamberg, Theodore (aka Theo) (aka Okito)
Bamberg, Tobias
Barnett, Daphne Lucille
Barnett, Jack
Bartl, Rosa
Bellachini (aka Bellach, Samuel)
Berg, Joe
Berglas, David (aka International Man of Mystery)
Berglas, Marvin
Berland, Samuel
Bernard, Bobby (aka Bernard Vincent )
Blaine, David
Bland, Joseph
Bloch, Richard (Rich)
Blumenfeld, Emanuel
Boaz, Herman (aka The Sieur Boaz)
Brandon, James
Breslaw, Philipp
Canasta, Chan
Chanin, Jack
Cohen, Al (aka Pernell Zorch)
Cohen, Jean
Cohen, Stan (aka Dubow the Magician)
Cohn, Al (aka The Sponge Ball King)
Copperfield, David
Corodini
Cross, Mal
D'alton, Emilie (aka Mrs. Carl Hertz)
Daley, Jacob (aka Doc, Jack)
Dammann, Gunter (aka Robertini)
de Biere, Arnold
Dr. Giovanni (aka The King of Pickpockets)
Dunninger, Joseph (Joe) (aka The Amazing Dunninger)
Ellsbach, Hermann
Epstein, Adam
Fain, Sammy
Falkenstein, Glenn
Faro, Don
Fayne, Chuck
Fleischman, Sid (aka Carl March)
Flosso, Al
Flosso, Jackie (aka Al Flosso, Jr. )
Fogel, Maurice J.
Fox, Imro (aka Comedian Conjurer)
Freeman, Steve
Freund, Josef (aka Joseffy)
Friedhoffer, Bob
Furst, Dr. Bruno
Gacs, Rezs (aka Rodolfo)
Geller, Uri
Goldin, Horace
Goldkette, Louis
Goldston, Leah (aka La Devo, Leah Laurie)
Goldston, Will (aka Carl Devo)
Goshman, Albert (Al)
Greenberg, Alan C. (aka Ace)
Hanussen, Erik Jan
Hardeen (aka Weiss, Theo)
Hartz, Leo (aka Mohammed Bey, Dr. Chung)
Hauser, Cornelius (aka Cor, Larette)
Heinrich, Dr. Kurt
Herrmann, Adelaide
Herrmann, Alexander
Herrmann, Carl (aka Compars)
Herrmann, Leon (aka Hermann III)
Herrmann, Samuel
Hertz, Carl
Hindman, Dale Raymond
Hindman, Dorothy
Hodgson, Joel
Horowitz, June Olive
Horowitz, Sam
Houdini, Harry
Hull, Burling
Hurwitz, Dr. Abraham (aka Doc, Abe, Peter Pan the Magic Man)
Isola, mile
Isola, Vinzenz
Jacobs, Joseph (aka Wizard, Mr. Jacobs, M. Jacobs)
Jaks, Dr. Stanley (aka Jack Stanley)
Jarrow, Emil
Jay, Ricky
Jonas, Philipp
Kaps, Fred (aka Bram, Mystica)
Katzenstein, Dr. Hans
Kaufman, Richard Jeffrey
Kissel, Marc
Kor Lioni (aka Professor Rebus)
Kreskin (The Amazing Kreskin)
Kurtz, Hermann (aka Mahatma)
Laemmle, Dr. Hugo
Lafayette
Lam, Louis
Lautenstein, Egon von (aka The Man with Gifted Hands, The Magical Casanova)
Lebram, Ludwig (aka Leonard Bellachini, Leonardi)
Leichtmann, Joseph
Leichtmann, Melanie
Leipzig, Nate (aka Nate Berol, The Prince of Hanky Panky)
Lnrd, Dr. Uilmos
Leon, Teddy
Leon, The Great (aka Chunda Hula, Kadan Sami.)
Lewis, Shari
Loew, Emil Max (aka Emalo)
Loewitz, Otto
Lorayne, Harry
Lyle, Cecil (aka The Magical Milliner, The Great)
Malini, Max
Marks, Brian
Maven, Max (aka Max)
Medows, Jeremy
Muse, Ray (aka Amuso)
Neumann, Albin (aka Allan)
Nivelli
Nostradamus (aka Michel de Nostre-Dame)
Olten, Jac (aka Jack Holten)
Peltini, Max
Philadelphia, Jacob
Professor St. Roman
Radner, Sidney
Rameses
Randi, James (aka The Amazing Randi)
Roner, Fred
Rosenfeld, Orginski
Rosini, Carl (aka John Rose, Carl Rosine)
Rouclere, Harry (aka Harry Terhune)
Sakall, S.Z.
Schindler, George
Scott (The Great Scott)
Sealtiel, Walter
Seldow, Michel
Shachnaey, Roni (aka Ronaldo; Wiseman, Ronaldo)
Silverman, Kenneth (aka Ken Silvers)
Spitzer, Hans (aka Boros)
Stein, Richard (aka Ricardo)
Sulamith, Leopoldene
Trixer, Hans
van Os, M. (aka Rosini)
Vellemann, Michel (aka Ben Ali Libi)
Wachsmann, Ruth Iris (aka Miss Blanche)
Warchawski, Solomon
Weil, John (aka "Man of Mystery")
Willner, Josef (Joe) (aka King of Cards)
Wright, Arthur (aka The Hypnotized [censored])
Yedid, Meir
Zarrow, Herbert G.
Zimmerman, Diana (aka Diana the Enchantress)
Zimmerman, Dick

There you go :)
And I think there's more; David Roth, David Acer, Lee Asher, Simon Aronson, Yigal Mesika, Menny Lindenfeld, Jonathan Levitt (the X-files guy), David Regal.
Although not 100% sure on those ones..

Jonathan

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Timothy Hyde
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Timothy Hyde » November 20th, 2002, 12:46 am

Jonathan

Surprised , that your comprehensive listing,
posted from Sydney Australia,
does not include
perhaps one of Sydneys and Australia's
greatest magicians
FISM award winner Maurice Rooklyn

cheers

Timothy Hyde

MagicCoach
The Secret Notebooks of Mr Hyde - Vol 1 & 2 - http://www.MagicCoach.com

Sean Piper
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Sean Piper » November 20th, 2002, 1:08 am

Hi Timothy,

Good to have you join us!

Jonathan,

Good to see your cut & paste function is working nicely!! :p

Sean Piper
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Sean Piper » November 20th, 2002, 1:12 am

... plus I don't think anyone has mentioned Jerry Sadowitz yet. I'm a bit wrapped up in his work at the moment so his name came to mind.

Jonathan Levey
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Jonathan Levey » November 20th, 2002, 1:14 am

Sean,
hehhehe yeah thanks.... :D
Is the Sadowitz book called "Card Zones" or something like that? Anyway, how is it?
thanks,
Jonathan

Sean Piper
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Sean Piper » November 20th, 2002, 3:19 am

Card Zones is spot on. I've only seen a few extracts so far, but have recently seen quite a bit of his work from UK television, and he is far and away my favourite performer. That rude, insulting, politically incorrect style of humour always has me rolling on the floor!!!

For the Aussies who haven't seen Jerry Sadowitz, think Rodney Rude with a deck of cards (and a Scottish accent)

Max Maven
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Max Maven » November 20th, 2002, 4:10 am

Some of the names that have been listed are incorrect. Glenn Falkenstein and Dick and Diana Zimmerman are not Jewish. The listing for C. Alexander is clearly a mix-up with Alexander Herrmann (and, while the Herrmann family was Jewish, Adelaide Herrmann was not).

And, speaking of confusion, "Leo Hartz" was one of the stage names used by S. Leo Horowitz, and should not have a separate listing.

So far as I know, Kreskin, James Randi and Burling Hull are/were not Jews.

David Bamberg, David Blaine, Alan Bursky, Joseph Dunninger, Chuck Fayne and Michael Weber are/were half-Jewish (in terms of ethnic ancestry).

Peter Reveen and Jan Rose are converts to Judaism.

The following names (all magicians or with specific magic connections with national or international reputations) have not been mentioned in this thread; to the best of my knowledge, these are/were all ethnic Jews:

Alba
Avner the Eccentric
Rafael Benatar
Arthur Benjamin
Milton Berle
Bobby Bernard
Eugene Bernstein
Stanley Blumenthal
Del Cartier
Bill Derman
Lou Derman
Marc De Souza
Eddie Fields
Aaron Fisher
Arnold Furst
Gillian Gotlib
Felix Greenfield
June Horowitz
Jacob Hyman
George Jason
Max Katz
Gerald Kaufman
Gerald Kosky
Ken Krenzel
Eta-Lyn Lampert
Hank Lee
Jules Lenier
Leon Leon
Arthur Leroy
Amos Levkovitch
Natt Litt
Jack London
Sam Margulies
Dennis Marks
Harry Mendoza
Moe of Pittsburgh
Danny Orleans
Ed Rosenthal
George Sands
Lev Schneider
Sam Schwartz
Howard Schwarzman
Looy Simonoff
David Solomon
Burt Sperber
Steve Spill
Sandy Spillman
Abigail Spinner
Duke Stern
Sol Stone
Jamy Ian Swiss
Tihany
Eddie Taytelbaum
Oscar Weigle
Irv Weiner
Snag Werris

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Richard Kaufman » November 20th, 2002, 8:26 am

Erdnase and Hofzinser were both Jews.
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

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Dustin Stinett
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Dustin Stinett » November 20th, 2002, 8:46 am

Okay - I'll bite: We don't know Erdnase's true identity, but we know he's Jewish? Does he mention it in the book and I just don't recall it?

Dustin

Sam Kesler
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Sam Kesler » November 20th, 2002, 9:08 am

Speaking of Gerald Kosky (on Max's list above)...
I just checked out a 1st edition copy of "Card Cavalcade" from the L.A. library. Imagine my surprise to open the cover and find the inscription, "To Gerald Kosky with sincere thanks, Jerry Mentzer." Now if I could only forget to return it...

Guest

Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Guest » November 20th, 2002, 9:42 am

The fact is that we are everywhere. Jews have traditionally been involved in the arts (and not just magic) including mentalists. Marc Salem is Jewish as is Richard Busch and publisher and dealer Micky Hades.
PSIncerely Yours,
Paul Alberstat
http://www.stores.ebay.ca/ABstagecraft

Guest

Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Guest » November 20th, 2002, 10:27 am

All the magicians from Israel are jews :)

Paul and Andy Diamond
Hank Lee (Levi)

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David Regal
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby David Regal » November 20th, 2002, 10:28 am

Originally posted by Jonathan Rubel:
And I think there's more; David Roth, David Acer, Lee Asher, Simon Aronson, Yigal Mesika, Menny Lindenfeld, Jonathan Levitt (the X-files guy), David Regal.
Although not 100% sure on those ones..

Jonathan
I'm 100% sure I'm a Jew.

Larry Horowitz
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Larry Horowitz » November 20th, 2002, 11:12 am

Max,

So, what am I? Chopped liver?

Also Paul Green and Barry Price.

Larry Horowitz

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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Guest » November 20th, 2002, 12:25 pm

I'm Jewish. Wanna check?

Harley

Larry Horowitz
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Larry Horowitz » November 20th, 2002, 12:50 pm

Erdanase hints in the section on "blind Cuts"

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Richard Kaufman » November 20th, 2002, 12:59 pm

Please cut out the circumcision jokes.
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

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Lance Pierce
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Re: Jewish Magicians

Postby Lance Pierce » November 20th, 2002, 1:19 pm

Yes, they fall kind of short, don't they?

L-


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