Question of the Day - 04 September 2024

Great question, one we've never answered. 

The first magician to perform on a Las Vegas stage was John Calvert. A pioneering illusionist, he brought his act to Las Vegas in the 1940s and was the first of his kind that we could find.

His full name was Madren Elbern Calvert, a handsome showman and actor with a pencil-thin mustache whose stage production, Magicarama, is widely hailed as “the longest world-touring magical extravaganza in history.” Calvert made an estimated 20,000-plus stage appearances over his nearly 85-year career.

Calvert was born in 1911 in Indiana. His father took him to his first magic show when he was eight and shortly thereafter, he performed his first magic trick, making an egg disappear for his Sunday school class show-and-tell. Within a few years, he was doing his act in local shows and by the time he was 18, he was touring around Indiana and Kentucky — himself, an assistant, and “Gyp the Wonder Dog.”

His career took off in the 1930s and he soon became a headliner, performing in vaudeville theaters and nightclubs all over the country.

In the 1940s, Calvert brought his act to Las Vegas, becoming the first magician to perform on its stages. We couldn’t find which, but his shows are remembered for being large, spectacular, and often dangerous, in the fashion of his idol Harry Houdini. He escaped from a straitjacket while suspended upside down, used a buzz saw to cut off the heads of volunteers from the audience, produced a string of lit cigarettes out of thin air, fired a woman from a cannon into a box suspended overhead on stage, made a handkerchief float, and of course vanished items big and little from the stage. He was also known for his charisma and ability to connect with his audiences.

In addition to his magic career, Calvert appeared in several films, often playing roles that highlighted his skills as a magician. He produced and directed a few as well.

Calvert continued to perform well into his 90s, making him the oldest active magician of his time. He continued to tour the world, eventually bringing his magic to audiences in approximately 75 countries. The International Brotherhood of Magicians finally awarded him its highest honor, the Order of Merlin Excalibur.

His final performances in Las Vegas were at Boomers in 2007 and Gary Darwin’s Magic Club in 2008, when he was 97.

John Calvert passed away on September 27, 2013, at the age of 102, in Lancaster, California. What a life!