- Jay Marshall (magician)
Jay Marshall (James Ward Marshall) (
August 29 ,1919 –May 10 ,2005 ) was an American magician and ventriloquist. Over a 60 year career he appeared on the "Ed Sullivan Show " 14 times together with his glove puppet rabbit dummy, "Lefty". He also was the opening act for performers likeFrank Sinatra ,Milton Berle andLiberace . In fact, he was the first act to open for Sinatra in Las Vegas. In Marshall's later years, he was honored with the title of "Dean of American Magicians" by theSociety of American Magicians .According to the
Chicago Tribune , his interest in magic started when he was six. As a youngster, he saw performances by Thurston and Houdini. In later years, he admitted to dozing off in the midst of Houdini's show. Marshall failed to graduate fromBluefield College inWest Virginia and went on to be a professional entertainer instead, initially working out of Boston. He later moved to New York City where he met Naomi Baker, daughter of Al Baker, then Dean of American Magicians. Naomi married Marshall and they had two sons, James and Alexander.During
World War II , Marshall was "island hopping " in thePacific to entertain military personnel inUSO shows . He became tired of taking his elaborate ventriloquist's dummy called Henry with him, so he decided to use a white glove and some bunny ears to turn his left hand into hisdummy , "Lefty".In the 1950s, Marshall moved to
Chicago and married fellow magician and magic dealerFrances Ireland . Together they operated the Ireland Magic Company at 109 North Dearborn St. in the Chicago Loop. In 1963, the firm was relocated to the North side of Chicago at 5082 North Lincoln Ave., and renamedMagic Inc. . Marshall's reputation as an all-knowing historian ofstage magic , vaudeville and entertainment grew through the years, as did his lengendary collection of books, posters and assorted ephemera on a wide range of subjects.He died at the
Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago after a series of heart attacks.External links
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11017966&pt=Jay%20Marshall Find-A-Grave profile for Jay Marshall (magician)]
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