O.F. Valentino: Awe in Austria

This beautiful throwing card was, I am told, produced by Piatnik, a distinguished Austrian playing card manufacturer.  The card promotes O.F. Valentino as "the modern magician."   

The cards sport at least two different backs, pictured here, in both red and blue.   For years, I had been unable to locate any record of an O.F. Valentino performing magic anywhere, nor is there any indication of the significance of "O.F." on the card.  The fellow from whom I procured this piece suggested that Valentino was an Austrian magician and that the card dates to the pre-WWII period.  To learn more, I turned to Magic Christian, an award-winning magician and magic historian.

 Magic Christian not only kindly provided a great biographical sketch of O.F. Valentino but also led to the discovery of a different Valentino card.

Magic Christian writes that he was not only familiar with O.F. Valentino, but that he met the magician many years ago.   Valentino's real name was Otto Fackler.  He was born 1892, and died December 26th 1966.   Initially working as a gardener, Valentino performed magic part time initially but later turned into a full-time professional.  Valentino was a member of the Magische Klub Wien (Magic Club of Vienna) between the two World Wars and later joined of the Society of Magic, Vienna. Magic Christian describes Fackler as a good manipulator and close-up magician. His death, at age 75, followed a period of misdiagnosed dementia.  Christian also kindly supplied an image of this card, another fine portrait using the Ace of Hearts and the same text, with the same backs. He also provided a photograph of Fackler performing from his collection, seen below.

Magic Christian also advises that Fackler used the stage name Valentino as an ode to Valentino Graziadei(1898-1965), a well-regarded card magician, popular from the 1920s through the 1950s.  .   Based on reviewing rough translations of some German-language magic history web sites, it appears that, between the wars, Graziadei was a popular Austrian performer, who slipped in a depression after WWII, ending his career.  Magic Christian has extensively researched the life of this intriguing figure.  Many thanks to him for his help with this information.