Jean De Jeu, the Wizard a/k/a Jean De Jen

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.

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.

Grdina

John J. Grdina came to America at age of five with his family and settled in Cleveland, Ohio. Checking through the internet, in 1940, census indicates he stated he was born in Yugoslavia in 1886 and not in Austria in 1885 as it has been indicated online and in past articles. Grdina became a naturalized citizen in May 1898. Years later he was in a theater audience in Cleveland and saw Harry Kellar perform. That show changed his life.