Hans Moretti Has Died

[Richard Kaufman]

Just saw a post on Facebook that Hans Moretti has passed away.
What a great act he and his wife were!

[IrishMagicNews]

Very sad. He was one of the first acts I remember seeing as a youngster getting interested in magic. He was so unique and different looking he was very hard to forget. RIP

[Richard Kaufman]

Who can forget their Broom Suspension, or the Sword Box done with a cardboard box, costume change, and chickens!

[AJM]

It was indeed a great act which, if I recall correctly, was taken over by his son.

Hans made a brief appearance onstage at the Magic Circle Centenary Celebrations in 2005, I think at the end of Paul Daniel's stage show.

Regards

Andrew

[F.Amílcar]

Dear friends,

Our most sincere condolences for his family, specially for her daughter Nicole from Barcelona- Spain.

F. Amílcar Riega i Bello.

[M.Lee]

Hans was a Great Artist , Escapist & Mentalist ,
While he did the broom Suspension early he Created a Sensation that Floored Everyone w/ His own Unique/ Beautiful Paper Tree suspension.
He Spent many months in hospital when the Burning Rope gag went wrong, but the tropper he was ..he did it numerous times afterwards.
HIS Sword Box was the most original presentation to be seen anywhere , Using a Cheap cardboard Box and appearing afterwards in Full Clown Makeup & costume w/ a Festival of Live chickens , rabbits , Flaga & baloons as his Final to the presentation. HIS Bulletcatch was quite possibly the most Unique to bee seen ever on the Stage., Even more astounding then M. Fogel's.

We have lost Another Great Artist
RIP Hans Moretti

Michael Lee
NYC/USA

[Matthew Field]

Very sad to hear this. The Moretti Sword Box, with the climax of him appearing in clown makeup and holding a chicken, was absolutely perfect, providing a climax to what is otherwise a boring conclusion to the trick. Having Hans in the box while Helga (his late wife) or a spectator put in the swords was another great touch.

Magic has lost a truly iconic performer.

Matt Field

[CraigMitchell]

[hugmagic]

What an incredible perfomer he was!

On of my great magic thrills, was being picked to put the swords in the box illusion when he performed at Abbott's many years ago. As I walked back to my seat Harry Blackstone and Charles Reynolds were both asking what I saw.......absolutely nothing.

He had the style, class and presentaton of very few I have ever seen.

RIP

Richard

[Jonathan Pendragon]

Hans was one of my greatest inspirations and a good friend. He was a true performer/inventor, one of the few. It's a testament to how well his was liked and respected by his peers that we all jealously guarded his creations as a Moretti exclusive. I saw more than one magician get loudly whistled (a sign of disrespect in Europe) for doing a "Cardboard Box" knock off at a magic convention. I saw the prop up close and personal, it's a work of genius. Like Tom Stone, Hans never liked the "G" word very much, he was having too much fun. Barrel chested and mustached with all the exuberance of an energizer bunny on speed, you couldn't help but love him.

His hanging chain escape showed a dedication to physical illusion that I rank as the epitome of craft. Threat-Escape via burning rope, the rope would break before he got to the ground. This landed him in the hospital when once the release came sooner than expected. His was older than I am know when he presented it on the 1993 TV special "Disney's Night of Magic" having under gone a difficult surgery less than a year earlier.

There is a wonderful story about the filming. Hans, like most magician at the time, was unaware of my identical twin brother, Mark. I was the star of special (this was filmed in Disneyland near Paris, and released in 8 different languages. The fact that I had so much grand illusion material which didn't require talking was an asset) which kept me busy (about two hours sleep a night) throughout the filming. Mark got to set before I did. Hans ran up a hugged Mark before my brother knew what was happening. Unnerved by the affectionate German, Mark muttered, "Uh, I am his brother." Hams thought that I had gotten an ego augmentation and was sadden by the loss of a friend. A tech asked him why he looked so upset and he told him that his friend had turned into an [censored]. The tech told him that the person he had hugged was "Jonathan's twin brother." When I walked on the set I was likewise assaulted by Hans who laughed, "How did you keep that secret, I thought I had lost you." He never did and he never will, i will keep him alive in my heart for as long as I live.

[Jonathan Pendragon]

Sorry Richard, forgot to leave the blanks unfilled.

[IrishMagicNews]

When I walked on the set I was likewise assaulted by Hans who laughed, "How did you keep that secret, I thought I had lost you." He never did and he never will, i will keep him alive in my heart for as long as I live.

How beautifully put!

[Richard Kaufman]

Once when I was in the airport in some city, leaving a magic convention, I saw Jonathan behind me on the escalator. I turned around and said hi, and he looked at me blankly. It gave me the creeps--thought I was going crazy.
Seeing the expression on my face, he ssid,"Hi, I'm Mark, Jonathan's brother."

I almost fell down the escalator.