The Gentil Magician

For this post, we travel south to Port Arthur, Texas, prompted by a scaling card for one Alvin Paul Gentil, “That Crazy Magician.” It is a humble scaling card by the usual standards and features his name and some promotional copy on the front and the recently identified “Stanyon back” on the reverse. It is also autographed by Gentil to “DeMello.” There are a number of DeMello’s in magic but the most likely recipient is probably Arthur DeMello from Fall River, Mass, who appears often in 1920’s issues of The Sphinx.

Gentil was born
in Louisiana Jan. 21, 1904, and he and his family are listed in all of the national Census accounts. The 1940 Census shows him as being married to Mae Gentil, and they had four children – Virge Lee (13), Elizabeth (11), Dorothy (8) and Claude (3). His occupation at the time was a “Gager,” whatever that may be.

A search through Ask Alexander reveals that Gentil was an early force in the founding of magic in Texas and first notice of him comes in the September 1924 issue of The Sphinx where he is announced as being the Assistant Director of the newly-formed Texas Society of Magicians. His name appeared in a column from the Society written by Paget Marr, of Corsicana, Texas. Marr notes that although Gentil is young in years (he was 20), “…he has extensive knowledge of magic, and is a most interesting person to know.” The rest of the column covers news of other clubs and members in Texas including the San Antonio Magic Circle. Appearances of other magicians in Texas are also provided.

In that same issue, Gentil placed an ad (above) hoping to sell a Thayer Packing Box Escape. Another ad below his advertises a book by some guy named “Houdini.” Would anyone like a copy of “Elliott’s Last Legacy” for $1.15?

Gentil was an early member of the I.B.M. with card number 359. His name appears frequently over the years in a number of magic trade magazines including Genii, New Tops, The Sphinx, and the Linking Ring. In a 1977 issue of New Tops, columnist Frances Marshall notes that Gentil, had been a magician since 1922, but had left magic due to illness. Apparently he was persuaded to return to magic by Bud Dietrich. Gentil surfaces again in an April 1995 Linking Ring club report for Ring 168, which he joined. Everyone was looking forward to having this learned magician as a member. He also belonged to Houston Ring 39.

Gentil died March 31, 1995 at 91 years of age. He is buried in Greenlawn Memorial Park in Port Arthur. He was an Order of Merlin Excelsior and was noted as being a member of Rings 91 of Trinidad, and Ring 268 of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Tom Ewing