Regular readers have already seen a card featuring De Jeu the Wizard, as part of Jay Hunter's assembly of Bicycle Promotional cards. The custom card here features some additional details about this performer, who was clearly influenced by the unparalled success of Alexander the Man Who Knows. In fact, when I picked this card up from Ray Goulet's collection in early 2017, I initially thought that De Jeu could be yet another stage name for Claude Alexander Colin, who performed under a number of names (including Astro the Seer) because of, among other things, many scrapes with the law.
But that initial impression was quickly dispelled through a bit of research. Turns out Jean De Jeu (b. 1896) was a noted Lyceum performer and a formidible businessman. Based on the styling and approach used on this card, he was clearly influenced by Alexander the Man Who Knows, who was, after all, quite the magic superstar. According to Grdina, De Jeu changed his name to De Jen in or around 1921, due to concerns about anti-semetism. And, indeed, the historical record bears this out -- by the 1920s, all references to this performer use the name Jean (and sometimes John) De Jen.
He worked as a stage magician throughout the 1920s, taking on the sideline of booking other acts. Several ads in periodicals reflect the fact the he bought and then sold entire magic acts and pieces, including Karl Germain's black art act.
While we often focus on the charming details of the performers featured here, not everyone adored De Jeu. Here's what Stuart Cramer had to say about De Jeu, according to a piece reprinted in Magic magazine in 2003:
"I admired him as a magician, but intensely disliked him as a person. It probably harks back to the time I assisted him as a high school kid, at the 1930 IBM Convention in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I was surprised when I went to his apartment in Cleveland Heights to learn there would be no rehearsal, just a typewritten sheet of instructions. The act didn't come off well, and it earned me a blistering and embarrassing bawling out after the show. I hadn't even known how the Asrah worked until I was pushing the table offstage with Mrs. De Jen inside. I later overheard De Jen blaming some of his own flubs on "that fool of a new assistant." I was so incensed that I took the bus home."
By 1930, in the height of the Great Depression, De Jen accepted a sales position with General Electric, ending his stage magic career. After retiring from GE, he founded his own visual presentation company, Oravision, which marketed easels, podia and similar devices for public speakers. In The Perennial Mystics No. 2, James Hagy presents a detailed biography of De Jen's life and career.
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