Carl Ballantine
| Carl Ballantine | |
|---|---|
Ballantine in 1968.
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| Born |
Meyer Kessler September 27, 1917 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | November 3, 2009 (aged 92) Hollywood Hills, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, magician and comedian |
| Years active | 1949–2009 |
| Spouse(s) | Ceil Cabot (1955–2000; her death); 2 daughters |
Carl Ballantine (September 27, 1917 – November 3, 2009) was an American magician, comedian and actor. Billing himself as "The Great Ballantine", "The Amazing Ballantine" or "Ballantine: The World's Greatest Magician", his vaudeville-style comedy routine involved transparent or incompetent stage magic tricks, which tended to flop and go "hilariously awry" to the wisecracking Ballantine's mock chagrin. He has been credited with creating comedy magic and has influenced both comics and magicians.
Ballantine was born Meyer Kessler in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Israel Kessler (1883-1930) and Rose Cohen (1890-1973), both Jewish immigrants from Borshchiv, Ukraine and Russian Poland (then part of the Austrian Empire and Second Polish Republic). Nicknamed the "Jipper," he was inspired at age 9 by his barber who would do magic tricks with thimbles while cutting his hair. His first job was working as a printer. In the 1930s, Kessler was doing professional straight magic as "Count Marakoff", "Carlton Sharpe", and "Carl Sharp" in Chicago, helping support his family, and later moved to New York City, where he performed in night clubs and on television variety shows. In the early 1940s, he gave up "real magic" when he realized he could not be as good as some of his peers. According to his daughter, “one night, one of his tricks got screwed up, he said something to cover, and the audience laughed. So he started adding more.” He switched to comedy magic and changed his name to "Carl Ballantine", after he noticed a bottle of Ballantine whisky in an advertisement and decided it sounded "show-businessy and classy", and called the magic act "Ballantine, the World's Greatest Magician". He entertained troops during World War Two. He was billed as "The Amazing Mr. Ballantine" when he played the New York Capitol in 1950, and "The Great Ballantine" in The Ed Sullivan Show and The Steve Allen Show on television in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the first magician to play Las Vegas, appearing on a bill with Harry James, Betty Grable and Sammy Davis Jr. at El Rancho Vegas in 1956.
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