Passing of Moi-Yo Miller Montes

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Kent Blackmore
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Passing of Moi-Yo Miller Montes

Postby Kent Blackmore » September 27th, 2018, 8:47 pm

I haven't seen mention of the death of Moi-Yo Miller on this forum, so this is an extract from Alan Watson's 'MagicNZ' with an announcement by Gerald Taylor:

Message by Gerald Taylor (Australia)

Dante's assistant Moi-Miller Montes passed away at 104 years of age.

Her daughter, Charisse, was with her when she died. Moi-Miller also has a son who lives in the U.S.

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moi-Yo_Miller

Moi-Yo Miller was the stage name of Mona Loretta Miller (born 24 April 1914), an Australian who became the principal assistant to the stage magician Dante.

Miller came originally from Geelong, in the Australian state of Victoria. She first met Dante (aka Harry Jansen) while still in her late
teens when she was appearing in a musical revue in Melbourne. Dante
had decided to recruit an Australian girl as an assistant after, in his words, "he saw in Melbourne more beautiful women per square block than he had seen in any other part of the World".

Miller dated Dante's son, Bill, and went on to work with Dante, staying with him for the rest of his performing career. She very quickly became his main assistant and an integral part of his show Sim Sala Bim. She was often billed as "Australia's Most Beautiful Woman". She once estimated that she had been sawed in half around 11,800 times during her career.

Miller became highly regarded among professional magic performers and is widely cited as one of the all-time great magic assistants. She features in the 2008 documentary movie, Women in Boxes, which explores the vital role of assistants in magic.

In 1993 she received the Dragon Award presented by the J. Marberger Stuart Foundation. She celebrated her 100th birthday in 2014.

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Dustin Stinett
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Re: Passing of Moi-Yo Miller Montes

Postby Dustin Stinett » October 4th, 2018, 5:23 pm

Thanks for posting, Kent. I was unable to when it happened. Mike Caveney has penned a very nice obituary of this amazing woman that will appear in the November issue of Genii.

stanjarin
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Re: Passing of Moi-Yo Miller Montes

Postby stanjarin » December 17th, 2018, 2:51 am

Hi, I'm Stan in Melbourne, an old friend of Moi-Yo and the family. Moi-Yo's memorial service will be held this Saturday, at 1pm St Joseph's Church, Stanhope St., Malvern, Melbourne, Australia. Dress code: "Wear colourful clothes".
As I understand it, it was her granddaughter Celeste who was at her bedside, as daughter Charisse and son-in-law Phil were overseas.
A bright, bright light has taken its place among the stars above.

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Re: Passing of Moi-Yo Miller Montes

Postby MagicbyAlfred » December 17th, 2018, 10:03 am

Prior to this thread, I had not been specifically aware of Moi-Yo Miller (stage name for Mona Loretta Miller). I found myself doing a little research, checking out photos and even unearthing an old Dante video. It struck me that her beauty, class, grace and elegance provided an excellent counterpoint to Dante's coarse, rough-around-the edges, cigar-smoking persona. She was clearly an important, even integral component of his act and success as a performer. It is a reminder that the success of people who are stars in show business is often attributable, in great measure, to unique people who support them, act as a foil, and/or otherwise enhance their performances. (One prominent example would be Ed McMahon's role on the Johnny Carson show). Such key supporters may be in the limelight or behind the scenes...

To Stan in Melbourne - that was a beautiful eulogy in one short sentence: "A bright, bright light has taken its place among the stars above." I may use that line the next time I am at a loss for what to say to a grieving person. Other bright lights from the world of Magic, who have recently taken their place among the stars include (but are not limited to), Eugene Burger, Daryl, Ricky Jay and Johnny Hart. They will not, or should not, be forgotten...

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Re: Passing of Moi-Yo Miller Montes

Postby performer » December 17th, 2018, 11:17 pm

I knew Murray the escapologist quite well. He was a big friend of Dante's. He told me he used to dream that he was back in the old days drinking with the Great Man . I also met an old man who told me he was Dante's stage manager. He told me that Dante's hair went white overnight when his son died in a motor bike accident. He also told me that Murray used to watch his show all the time to see what he could see what he could pinch! I certainly believe that bit anyway!

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Re: Passing of Moi-Yo Miller Montes

Postby stanjarin » December 23rd, 2018, 2:33 am

Moi-Yo and Dante's son Bill Jansen were in love. Not sure if they were engaged or not but if they weren't, they weren't far off it. He died in a motorcycle accident in Queensland, Australia. It must have been a shocking blow to Moi-Yo.
By the way, Dante's stage manager was Arturo Montes — Moi-Yo's husband! White hair, moustache, Mexican heritage? Of course, Dante may have had more than one stage manager, but he appointed Arturo as his prop designer/builder and eventually also stage manager.
(I've got about 5 hours of audio interviews with Moi-Yo. She asked me to write her book, a project which, alas, was never completed.
We were good friends. I feel I should do something with the material, not sure what.)

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Re: Passing of Moi-Yo Miller Montes

Postby stanjarin » December 23rd, 2018, 2:41 am

At Moi-Yo's memorial service last Saturday, 22 Dec 2018. Icons representing facets of her life.

Image
Last edited by stanjarin on December 23rd, 2018, 2:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

stanjarin
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Re: Passing of Moi-Yo Miller Montes

Postby stanjarin » December 23rd, 2018, 2:44 am

Moi-Yo's remains on the table-top. Her ashes were interred in the church's memorial garden.

Image

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Dustin Stinett
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Re: Passing of Moi-Yo Miller Montes

Postby Dustin Stinett » December 23rd, 2018, 5:58 am

Thank you for posting those photos, as well as for your comments.
Dustin

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Re: Passing of Moi-Yo Miller Montes

Postby stanjarin » December 27th, 2018, 1:18 am

A couple of vignettes.
We were walking arm-in-arm a kilometre to the pier at Lorne, a pretty seaside town on the surf coast here — she was a great walker — and she looked down and saw the flip-flops on my feet. She said "Y'know, someone gave me a pair of those in Tokyo in 1935."
Mind blown.
She was at the sink washing the dishes and my boy Daniel, about 8 or 9, said "Moi-Yo, did you know Houdini?" I smiled because Houdini died in 1926, of course. Moi-Yo said "No darlin', but I was great friends with his wife Bess."
Again, mind blown.
We would all play poker into the night for pennies in Lorne, with Moi-Yo and Arturo. It was always hilarious. At her eulogy, not sure if it was daughter Charisse or granddaughter Renée who said that they were always convinced that she would cheat at cards but didn't have the knowledge to spring her. I never saw her cheat, perhaps because she didn't, perhaps because I was in the room and she knew of my fearsome reputation as a teenage card man many years before and regarded me as the hotel detective. I never once dared show her a trick in all those years – it'd be like asking Picasso if I could sketch him – unthinkable.

stanjarin
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Re: Passing of Moi-Yo Miller Montes

Postby stanjarin » December 27th, 2018, 1:33 am

To MagicbyAlfred

Moi-Yo was all you say and even more. Once she started travelling with the show she saw how creaky and old-timey it had become, she pretty much became the show's de facto creative director, convincing Dante to replace the hokey music with sophisticated, contemporary stuff, changing all the costumes, having the sets re-designed. Today, they'd call her the "show runner" and Dante the star.

She hired all the assistants. She told me that the first question she would ask a girl was her hat size. She said you can contort your body, but you can't shrink your head.


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