Carl Ballantine (September 27, 1917 â€" November 3, 2009) was an
American magician, comedian and actor. Billing himself as "The Great
Ballantine", "The Amazing Ballantine" or "Ballantine: The World's
Greatest Magician", his vaudeville-style comedy routine involved
transparent or incompetent stage magic tricks, which tended to flop
and go "hilariously awry" to the wisecracking Ballantine's mock
chagrin. He has been credited with creating comedy magic and has
influenced both comics and magicians.Ballantine was born Meyer Kessler
in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Israel Kessler (1883-1930) and Rose
Cohen (1890-1973), both Jewish immigrants from Borshchiv, Ukraine and
Russian Poland (then part of the Austrian Empire and Second Polish
Republic). Nicknamed the "Jipper," he was inspired at age 9 by his
barber who would do magic tricks with thimbles while cutting his hair.
His first job was working as a printer.In the 1930s, Kessler was doing
professional straight magic as "Count Marakoff", "Carlton Sharpe", and
"Carl Sharp" in Chicago, helping support his family, and later moved
to New York City, where he performed in night clubs and on television
variety shows. In the early 1940s, he gave up "real magic" when he
realized he could not be as good as some of his peers. According to
his daughter, “one night, one of his tricks got screwed up, he said
something to cover, and the audience laughed. So he started adding
more.†He switched to comedy magic and changed his name to "Carl
Ballantine", after he noticed a bottle of Ballantine whisky in an
advertisement and decided it sounded "show-businessy and classy", and
called the magic act "Ballantine, the World's Greatest Magician". He
entertained troops during World War Two. He was billed as "The Amazing
Mr. Ballantine" when he played the New York Capitol in 1950, and "The
Great Ballantine" in The Ed Sullivan Show and The Steve Allen Show on
television in the 1950s and 1960s.
American magician, comedian and actor. Billing himself as "The Great
Ballantine", "The Amazing Ballantine" or "Ballantine: The World's
Greatest Magician", his vaudeville-style comedy routine involved
transparent or incompetent stage magic tricks, which tended to flop
and go "hilariously awry" to the wisecracking Ballantine's mock
chagrin. He has been credited with creating comedy magic and has
influenced both comics and magicians.Ballantine was born Meyer Kessler
in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Israel Kessler (1883-1930) and Rose
Cohen (1890-1973), both Jewish immigrants from Borshchiv, Ukraine and
Russian Poland (then part of the Austrian Empire and Second Polish
Republic). Nicknamed the "Jipper," he was inspired at age 9 by his
barber who would do magic tricks with thimbles while cutting his hair.
His first job was working as a printer.In the 1930s, Kessler was doing
professional straight magic as "Count Marakoff", "Carlton Sharpe", and
"Carl Sharp" in Chicago, helping support his family, and later moved
to New York City, where he performed in night clubs and on television
variety shows. In the early 1940s, he gave up "real magic" when he
realized he could not be as good as some of his peers. According to
his daughter, “one night, one of his tricks got screwed up, he said
something to cover, and the audience laughed. So he started adding
more.†He switched to comedy magic and changed his name to "Carl
Ballantine", after he noticed a bottle of Ballantine whisky in an
advertisement and decided it sounded "show-businessy and classy", and
called the magic act "Ballantine, the World's Greatest Magician". He
entertained troops during World War Two. He was billed as "The Amazing
Mr. Ballantine" when he played the New York Capitol in 1950, and "The
Great Ballantine" in The Ed Sullivan Show and The Steve Allen Show on
television in the 1950s and 1960s.
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