Chan Canasta

Chan Canasta (born Chananel Mifelew, 9 January 1920 – 22 April 1999) was a pioneer of mental magic in the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Kraków, Poland, he was the son of a Polish-Jewish educator. Most of his family perished in the Holocaust.

He was twice married and died in London at the age of 79.

Canasta moved to Great Britain in 1947, following a stint in the Royal Air Force during World War II.

Starting as a card magician who took his surname from the popular card game of canasta, he became a well-known stage magician performing feats of memory and book tests during the late 1940s.

In 1951 Canasta recorded his first television show for the BBC - a sparse affair with only a few props that concentrated on mental effects.

Throughout his career Canasta made over 350 television appearances, including on the Ed Sullivan, Arlene Francis and Jack Paar shows.

His final TV appearance was in 1971, on the BBC's Parkinson show, and was billed as "The Return of Chan Canasta," for he had left television performing behind several years earlier. although he did reappeared on Israeli TV on 11/11/1983.

Throughout his career Canasta was never billed as a magician, nor even a mentalist, but simply as "A Remarkable Man".

Canasta retired from the stage at the height of his fame to pursue his true dream, that of being a serious painter. In his later years he established a second career as an artist, with successful gallery shows in London and New York.

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