Malini Home In Hawaii

[Tom Dobrowolski]

A friend of mine just reminded me that Malini's final home was in Hawaii. I will be down there next week and was wondering if anyone knew the location/address. I'd like to track it down if I could. Thanks.- Tom

[Diego]

If you can call the library in Hawaii, (do you know which island he was on?) they might be able to look in the phone/city directory of the years he was there, and have the address.
I could only find a Frank Malini, in Hawi, Hawaii, but his heritage is listed as Puerto Rican.
The 1920 U.S. Census, has Max in a hotel in San Francisco.
Was his sons name Oziar, Joseph, or_______? There is a Oziar Malini, who died in 2002 in Camrillo, Calif., who registered for Social Security, while in Hawaii.
If he died in Hawaii, his address would be on his death certificate, which you could obtain from the Hawaii vital records office.

[Joe Pecore]

He think he did have a son Oziar or Ozior. I believe he died in Honolulu, on the island Oahu.

[Diego]

An Oziar Malini died in Californin in 2002, but I couldn't find a Max Malini living or dying in Hawaii. Was his name once Malisi? He may have died in Hawaii, but may not have been in the Social Security system, or simply not noted. There has to be some Malini experts out there who have more data.

[T Baxter]

Ask Alexander -- David, not the database.

If memory serves, David knew Ozzy Malini quite well.

T. Baxter

[Curtis Kam]

Tom, you're saying that you'll have to "vait a veek"?

The Malini home is part of the regular tour, remind me to point it out. It's easy to miss, because at the moment you're about to see it, you find yourself looking in the wrong direction.

There's a great shot of the place, showing the street number and the bare legs of some of the greatest minds in magic, (Vernon, Skinner, Okawa, Guitar, Klause, Cornelius) on page 3 of "Roger Klause: in Concert."

[Dustin Stinett]

Diego,

Check for the name Max Katz in Hawaii (that was Malini's real name).

Dustin

[Bill Mullins]

Check for the name Max Katz in Hawaii (that was Malini's real name).

And it was the name of Ricky Jay's grandfather.

[John McDonald]

coincidence?

[Dustin Stinett]

Yes, just a coincidence. There is no relation.

Dustin

[Bill Mullins]

Here's some more bio info on Malini and his family.

Ozzie's obit:
**************************
Ventura County Star (CA) - September 1, 2002
Camarillo -- Ozzie Malini
Ozzie Malini passed away Aug. 11, 2002.

Mr. Malini was born in Manila, Philippines, on May 22, 1913, the son of Max Malini, world famous magician. He traveled world wide for two decades as his father's manager. He was a lifetime member of the Magic Castle in Hollywood and had spoken internationally on magic and the career of his father. For the last two decades, he has given valuable training to young magicians.

Ozzie was an officer of the U.S. Navy in the Seabees. His career encompassed real estate brokerages in Hawaii and Encino, Antelope Valley and San Francisco. He was also an appliance manager and trainer at Philco in Hawaii and Sears Roebuck in California. His hobbies included traveling, golfing, dancing and gardening.

He is survived by his wife, Babs; his former wife; three daughters, two sons-in-law, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial service was held Aug. 21, at sea.
********************************
[other records have Ozzie being born anywhere from 1910 to 1914]


Max had a daughter, Bernice Rosenthal. Can't find much else about her.

Max's wife Lizzie Isaacs Malini was born 10/8/1872, died 2/26/1921. Married Max Katz Malini 4/11/1911. Survived by husband Max, son Oziar, daughter Bernice, and 4 brothers and 6 sisters.

Max divorced Minnie Kaye in Feb 1927. (They were married nolater than 10/26/1922, when they were on a passenger list arriving in NYC).

Max was naturalized in Chicago on June 10 1895

[Tom Dobrowolski]

Thanks everyone for your assistance and all the information.

Curtis I'll remind you next week.

Again Mahalo everyone....

[mai-ling]

Tom, you did read Bill's article when he found
Malini's grave in Chicago?

[Diego]

On his passport application, he states he was born on Oct. 3, 1875, not 1873, as some magic books, and web sites say.
Also other passenger lists, include an Anne Malini, with him.

I'm sure there are magicians in Hawaii, who know where his house and/or grave is.

[JordanB]

That's a good picture in the Roger Klause book. I've heard some great stories about that trip as well....sounded like a fun time.

If I remember correctly, Allen Okawa knows where the house is/was.

Hope to get to Hawaii someday. /sigh.

[Leonard Hevia]

Hi Mail-ing--I recently read that article in Magic Magazine about the location of Malini's grave. His ashes are buried next to Lizzie in an unmarked grave. The cemetary is in Illinois.

[Tom Dobrowolski]

Tom, you did read Bill's article when he found
Malini's grave in Chicago?

Hi Mai-ling,

Not yet. Hope to catch up on some of my reading on the 8 hour flight down there.- Tom

[hugmagic]

Mark Mitten also knew Ozzy Malini well and spoke on him at Collector's gathering. I think it was in LA.

Richard

[Jim Maloney]

On his passport application, he states he was born on Oct. 3, 1875, not 1873, as some magic books, and web sites say.

The only true way to get the exact date would be to get a birth certificate. Back then it was entirely possible and not uncommon to find people giving incorrect information on legal documents, as there wasn't really any form of age verification going on.

-Jim

[mai-ling]

Tom, you did read Bill's article when he found
Malini's grave in Chicago?

Hi Mai-ling,

Not yet. Hope to catch up on some of my reading on the 8 hour flight down there.- Tom

It's nicely laid out and as good as of a read as
his original posting on his blog.
Hopefully i'll get to visit the gravesite,
as well as Okito's.

[Magic Newswire]

Max Malini died on October third in Honolulu, Hawaii. He had been ill for months, though he continued giving shows for soldiers and sailors. He was so weak that he gave his last performances sitting in a chair on the stage. Strange that he should die in Honolulu where he made his first great foreign success. When he first appeared in Hawaii, it was under the rule of Queen Liliuokalani.

(Sphinx 1941)

[Jack Greenberg]

I thought it was "Max Katz Breit."

While in Hawaii (Oahu), you should try to contact Alan Okawa, who spent considerable time on this, and who may have located Malini's final resting place (possibly near Diamondhead -- contrary to speculation in some magazines). Sometime around 1980 I met with a bunch of Hawaiian magicians on Oahu, and Alan impressed me with his knowledge about Malini's life in Hawaii -- moreso than any other magician I have met since that time.

I don't have Alan's contact info, but you might find him by contacting Glen Bailey or other magicians in the Honolulu area.

Jack Greenberg

[Tom Dobrowolski]

I was very fortunate to have spent some time with Allen Okawa in January on my visit to Hawaii and believe it or not the subject of Malini never came up.

Curtis Kam (who posts here on occasion)is a good contact for Mr. Okawa. Maybe he could talk him into writing up a few memories for an article or two.

[Curtis Kam]

Wow, you guys might be interested in the story at this link, provided by Hawaii magician and ER doc to the stars, Jason Flemming, M.D.: http://www.elks616.org/d/d/3034.html

It concerns an appearance by Max Malini, opening for Will Rogers at a benefit for the Elks' Milk Fund. Sounds like a good old time, but as usual, the magician doesn't get much press.

[Leonard Hevia]

I recently picked up my copy of Vernon's Malini & His Magic. On page 91 there is some interesting information about Malini's autobiography. It mentions that Vernon read the manuscript of Malini's autobiography and that his late son Ozzie reportedly had the manuscript and had wanted to publish it for the general public. Does anybody know where this manuscript may have wound up?

[David Alexander]

Ozzie showed me the book when I was a kid. I read it one afternoon at his place. It didn't take much time and was disappointing. I kept my opinion to myself but it wasn't very long and wasn't very well written as Max didn't have a firm grasp of written English. The "book" would not have been worth publishing without a lot of other material being included that would have come out of long interviews with Ozzie and a lot of in-depth research.

When I lived in San Francisco in the mid-1960s I got to know one of Max's friends, an old lawyer who knew Max well in the 1930s. He told great stories. Charlie Miller, who Ozzie always said "Knew my father better than Vernon" also had stories. Someone should have written them down. Faucett Ross saw Malini when he was a kid. He told a great story about meeting him. He was introduced to Malini by the man sitting next to him - a guy named Alexander Graham Bell. As I recall, Faucett was still in short pants.

I doubt there is anyone left alive who saw Malini.

The Malini Card Stab is one of the strongest card effects known...and hardly anyone does it. I did it in a small night club when I was in my early 20s. The room was utterly silent as I found the cards, one by one, with the point of a German hunting knife. Strong stuff, but it requires, as Charlie would say, "address."

[Leonard Hevia]

Thanks for clearing that one up David. I wondered if the manuscript never saw the light of day because it was too rough around the edges.

Those were great recollections. With the exception of the Vernon book and that fabulous November 1999 Genii issue, there's not much on Malini in print. What we do have though is...sweet.

[David Alexander]

Malini's methods were practical and direct, his presentation idiosyncratic. He was a character. Ozzie once told me of telling his father (as a child) that he should speak "better English." Max replied, "I speak better English and you don't eat," or something to that effect. Max knew what he was doing.

Malini also had a way of making what he did seem important. When people saw Malini perform they knew they were seeing someone and something special, a little seen in today's over-hyped "magic dude" market where performers too often look like they slept in their cars before wandering in off the street to perform.

I had, for a time, one of his scrap books that Ozzie loaned me. It had a number of clippings pasted in the pages. Turned out it was originally a ledger and on a page was an accounting. I remember it as though I saw it yesterday.

It was Max's accounting of show fees paid over a 30-35 day period in 1903. He had ONE SHOW that paid $50. All the rest paid $100 or $150. The total for the time memorialized was $1550.

Max was doing well. In case you're wondering what that means in today's money, using a site that calculates such things the figures are as follows:
$39,123.05 using the Consumer Price Index
$31,226.10 using the GDP deflator
using value of consumer bundle
$172,211.04 using the unskilled wage
$225,769.29 using the nominal GDP per capita
$852,689.43 using the relative share of GDP

[Torkova]

Great info David - thanks for sharing it!

Torkova