Comedians De Mephisto Co. | The Monarchs of Magic

Comedians De Mephisto Co.

Le Roy, Talma, Bosco. The Worlds Monarchs of Magic. The Devil Gets the Worst of It. Hamburg: Lith Adolph Friedländer, ca. 1905 (no. 3229)

Color lithograph poster (37 x 26 in.; 938 x 662 mm). Very light horizontal fold creases. Framed and glazed with Plexiglas.

One of the most memorable and desirable of the many narrative posters for Comedians De Mephisto Co., depicting the trio of performers riding in an imp-powered hot-air balloon, their gondola emblazoned with their comic chicken logo, shooting down the devil, who rides in a rival balloon. 

The Comedians De Mephisto Co. comprised Servais Le Roy, a masterful and innovative magician admired by Houdini, Thurston, and Kellar; Talma (Mary Ann Ford), Le Roy's wife and a brilliant sleight-of-hand artist, often billed as the "Queen of Coins"; and Leon Bosco, a comic assistant who was evidently played by several different rotund performers over the years.

Shows by Le Roy, Talma, and Bosco "consisted of original illusions, dozens of animals, hilarious routines, and beautiful sleight of hand performed by three uniquely talented individuals. … Many of Le Roy's greatest inventions … are still eliciting gasps from around the world" (Magic, pp. 499, 498).

REFERENCE:

Illusions 153