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| Great Zelmo Throw-Out Cards with Bicycle Lotus and Wheel No. 2 Backs |
I found a number of references to Zelmo on the Ask Alexander
search engine. The earliest ones were from The Sphinx for 1910 and 1911. In
June of 1910 it states, “The One and Only Ozarra Zelmo, ‘the man that keeps
them guessing’ called at the office of The Sphinx a few days ago and informed
me that he would soon take out his own show again. Zelmo is one of the cleverest manipulators of
coins that I have seen for many a long day”. For March of 1911 it says, “His
‘World’s Prayer and Easy Money’ is a combination act in which he catches silver
money from the air and is immediately changed in his hand to bright new crisp
paper money. He also demonstrates an electric device by which he produces a
bright electric light without the use of wires”. Both of these tricks are
mentioned on the front of Zelmo’s throw-out cards.
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| From The Linking Ring for January of 1957 |
It appears Zelmo stayed busy as a magician as he traveled over
a large part of the U.S. doing shows. Dayton, Ohio magic dealer Carl Lohrey,
speaking of the late Zelmo, said about
him in The Linking Ring of January, 1957, “The man worked 52 weeks in the year,
and could do more with a pack of cards, with his left hand, than some of the
boys do today with two hands and a stripper deck”.
Lohrey also mentioned the trailer Zelmo traveled in. The
Billboard magazine for August 26, 1922 referred to it as “a specially
constructed auto truck that is fitted up with all the comforts of home”. The
Billboard included a photo of the auto truck/trailer as did The Linking Ring
for February of 1930.
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| The Linking Ring for February of 1930 |
In April of
1957 in The Linking Ring, magic historian and world renowned collector David
Price submitted this story.
I had trouble finding an Emil Buckheim that matched the data
Price had given. It turns out there was a typo as to the spelling of Zelmo’s
real name. It was spelled Buchheim. I then found him on Find-A-Grave as Emil G
Buchheim. He was born on April 27, 1871 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and he passed
away on February 19, 1941 and was buried in his hometown of Sheboygan. He was
69 years of age.
One last thing about that trailer. The Linking Ring in May of
1939 had this amusing blurb. “Zelmo had a truck built like a Pullman, and
knocked down the stoplight in Richmond, Ind., and was chased over into Ohio by
the cops”. I guess Zelmo was always on the move!
