Malini, Max (Max Katz Breit) | One of just two surviving copies of this poster

Malini, Max (Max Katz Breit)

Malini the Magician. Round the World Tour. Sydney: Printed by Marchants New Process, ca. 1916

Color lithograph poster (39 3/4 x 29 1/2 in.; 1010 x 750 mm). A little surface abrasion and soiling, a few closed tears. Matted, framed, and glazed with Plexiglas.

Max Malini was a particular favorite of Ricky Jay, who devoted an entire chapter of Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women to "the last of the mountebanks": "Malini was rarely featured on music hall or theater stages, even though he performed in the heyday of the great illusionists. … Malini was the embodiment of what a magician should be—not a performer who requires a fully equipped stage, elaborate apparatus, elephants, or handcuffs to accomplish his mysteries, but one who can stand a few inches from you and with a borrowed coin, a lemon, a knife, a tumbler, or a pack of cards convince you he performed miracles. … He probably worked for more heads of state and wealthy families than any performer of his day" (p. 85).

This very graphically striking poster, which was used to advertise Malini's appearance at King's Theatre in New York, presents a roundel portrait of the bemedaled Malini against the background of a world globe; vignettes of a train and a ship bearing his name trace the progress of his tour, while at the foot appear oval portraits of six heads of state before whom he has been commanded to appear: former president Teddy Roosevelt; Yuan Shikai, president of the Chinese Republic; Edward VII, late King of England; George V, King of England; Rama VI, King of Siam; and Constantine I, King of Greece.

"The classic poster of Max Malini 'commanded to appear' before various heads of state survives in only two known copies" (Exemplars).

REFERENCE:

Exemplars, pp. 14–15; LP&FW, pp. 83–96