Francis the Famous

This post falls into the category of some performers featured on this blog who had their own scaling card but about which very little is known. Our subject is Francis G. Cuttle. A thorough search through Ask Alexander, Ancestry.com and newspapers.com (something any conjuring historian of worth should utilize), I was able to turn up a little background. This is odd for someone who billed himself as “Francis the Famous!”

Cuttle’s card features his photo with the caption above it, “The Young Wizard.” He does look fairly young in the picture. To the left is his signature and, like many show people in the early part of the previous century, inquiries could be addressed to the New York Clipper, the newspaper for all things show business. The reverse side is not by one of the larger commercial card companies, but is attractive and pink in color.

Cuttle was most closely associated with Columbus, Georgia. In October 1930, the magicians of Atlanta, Georgia gave their fall benefit show in the auditorium of the Women’s Club. It was sponsored by the Atlanta Child’s Home. The bill was filled with local magicians including DeVaughn (a female magician); Mac and Frances; Albert Harrington, Homer Hulse, Dr. F.E. Van der Veer; Julian Boehm; and others.

No, Cuttle was not on the bill, but The Linking Ring covered the event in their November issue and noted that after the show the magicians had the pleasure of meeting Francis G. Cuttle of Columbus, Georgia who had heard of the show and traveled 200 miles to attend. He was identified as an, “ex-magician,” who was known in his professional days as, “Francis the Famous.” That’s it.

We also know Cuttle was married. According to The Atlanta Constitution, his wife, Annie Robinson Cuttle, died Monday December 18, 1934, after a long illness. She was born in Lowell, Mass., and her body was returned there. She had lived in Columbus since 1910. And one last interesting note – she was survived by her husband Francis and one brother — wait for it — William E. Robinson of Atlantic, Mass. No, not THAT Robinson, but an interesting twist to a story without a lot of details. Cuttle now arises from near obscurity to near visibility among Propelled Pasteboard's panoply of prestidigitators.

Tom Ewing