Stuart Cramer – The Man of Many Names

Kamain, Remarc, Chan Wing, Professor Nemo, Mr. Meriweather, J. Jefferson Palmer, Leo Starrman, and Germer C. Wrist. Who are these people? These are all pseudonyms for Cleveland magician Stuart Cramer.


This is one throw-out card front and back.                                                   This is one throw-out card front and back.

I have been able to acquire 4 different throw-out cards of Cramer over the years, all of them from fairly early in his life. In researching Stuart’s life it became quickly apparent that I could probably write about his experiences for days as there is so much written about him in the magic journals of his time. But as this is a blog about his throw-out cards, I will just cover the basics.


This is one throw-out card front and back.                                                      This is one throw-out card front and back.

Stuart P. Cramer was born in Cleveland, Ohio on July 16, 1911. He became interested in magic in 1918 when an uncle showed him a few pocket tricks. He falsified his age as a young man so that he could join the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

A great influence on Cramer was fellow Clevelander and one of magic’s greatest magicians, Karl Germain. Germain’s career was cut short when he began to lose his eyesight. Over the years Cramer visited Germain often. Cramer learned so much about Germain and his magic, that Stuart authored two books about his friend and his magical effects in later years.

Cramer was one to take advantage of performance opportunities. Besides doing regular magic shows, he appeared on early television as different characters on various TV shows in the Cleveland area. “Professor Nemo” was created for a Saturday morning show that featured westerns. As “Mr. Meriweather”, he was on television station KYW for around three years doing the weather reports accompanied by chalk talks and later with magic. When he was done with the weather gig, he was somewhat relieved, as coming up with a different trick every day during the weather report became stressful.

Stuart Cramer as Professor Nemo and Chan Wing

All of Cramer’s many characterizations gave him a different magic act to perform and I am sure made it easier for him to find continuing work as a magician. While he primarily spent his life as a professional magician, like his mentor Karl Germain, he too graduated from college with a degree in law and was admitted to the Ohio Bar. Stuart once said that he was the only attorney/magician who never lost a case. This is due to the fact that after winning his first ever case, he switched to magic full time and stopped the practice of law.

Stuart Cramer had a long and productive life as a magician and author. He was well known in the magic community and was very well respected by his peers. He passed away on April 15, 2003 in Ithaca, New York at the age of 91.