$1,200
Thurston, Howard. All Out of a Hat. Cleveland, Otis Lithograph Co., ca. 1926. One-sheet (40 x 27") color lithographed poster depicting Thurston's production of umbrellas, assistants and other objects from a giant top hat. This production number was used to open Thurston's show in later years. Minor surface wear and unobtrusive tears to margins, but overall good condition. With original snipe (not mounted) for Thurston's appearance at the Chicago Theatre; tattered but intact. Linen backed. Howard Thurston was America's most popular magician from approximately 1908, when he purchased Kellar's show, until his death in 1936. Born in Columbus Ohio, it took years of touring the honkytonks of the old west, playing third-rate vaudeville shows, saloons, and rural opera houses before he finally hit the big time at the dawn of the twentieth century with an act that featured card manipulation, a showy version of the Rising Cards, and the production of a live duck from a spectator's coat. He later toured the world with a larger show that incorporated illusions, and after assuming Kellar's "mantle" of magic, built up the largest road show of illusions in America. His annual tours were billed as "A National Necessity," and they lived up to that title, breaking box office records and making Thurston famous. His lithographs were primarily produced primarily by two companies, first Strobridge of New York and later Otis of Cleveland.
Auctioneer:
Potter & Potter
Date:
2011-03-26
