Jay Marshall (James Ward Marshall) (August 29, 1919 – May 10, 2005) was an American magician and

ventriloquist Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is v ...

Early life and career

According to the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

, his interest in magic started when he was six. As a youngster, he saw performances by Thurston and

Houdini Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...

. In later years, he admitted to dozing off in the midst of Houdini's show. After only a year at college, he went on to be a professional entertainer instead, initially working out of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. He later moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where he met Naomi Baker, daughter of

Al Baker James Albert London Baker (born December 9, 1956), nicknamed "Bubba", is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) from 1978 to 1990. He played college football for the Colo ...

, then Dean of American Magicians. Naomi married Marshall and they had two sons, James and Alexander ("Sandy"). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Marshall was "

island hopping Leapfrogging, also known as island hopping, was a military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan during World War II. The key idea is to bypass heavily fortified enemy islands instead of trying to captu ...

" in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

to entertain military personnel in

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

shows. He became tired of taking his elaborate ventriloquist's dummy called Henry with him, so he decided to use a white glove and some bunny ears to turn his left hand into his dummy, "Lefty". Marshall often described the transition from his use of a traditional vent dummy to the development of his glove puppet rabbit commenting that the "dummy wouldn't carry the suitcase." Originally made from a

khaki The color khaki (, ) is a light shade of tan with a slight yellowish tinge. Khaki has been used by many armies around the world for uniforms and equipment, particularly in arid or desert regions, where it provides camouflage relative to sandy ...

army glove, when Marshall was discharged from the army, he replaced it with a white dress glove. While performing in Las Vegas, at the suggestion of one of Marshall's friends, the puppet was further transformed into a rabbit by affixing two fingers from a separate glove to it, thus forming a pair of perky ears. Over his 60-year career he appeared on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...

'' 14 times together with his glove puppet rabbit dummy, "Lefty". He also played the New York Palace and London's Palladium. Marshall was the opening act for performers like

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

Milton Berle Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger; ; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. His career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and tel ...

and

Liberace Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...

. He was the first act to open for Sinatra in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. In Marshall's later years, he was honored with the title of "Dean of American Magicians" by the

Society of American Magicians The Society of American Magicians (S.A.M.) is the oldest fraternal magic organization in the world. Its purpose is "to advance, elevate, and preserve magic as a performing art, to promote harmonious fellowship throughout the world of magic, and t ...

Personal

Marshall was born in

Abington, Massachusetts Abington is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, southeast of Boston. The population was 17,062 at the 2020 census. History Before the Europeans made their claim to the area, the local Native Americans referred to the area ...

. He spent a year at

Bluefield College Bluefield University is a private Baptist university in Bluefield, Virginia. It offers 22 majors and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The campus is about from the state line between Virginia and West Virgi ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. In the 1950s, Marshall moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and married fellow magician and magic dealer Frances Ireland. Together they operated the Ireland Magic Company at 109 North Dearborn St. in the

Chicago Loop The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in Nort ...

. In 1963, the firm was relocated to the North side of Chicago at 5082 North Lincoln Ave., and renamed it Magic Inc. Marshall's reputation as an all-knowing historian of

stage magic Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It ...

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

and entertainment grew through the years, as did his legendary collection of books, posters and assorted ephemera on a wide range of subjects. He died at the Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago after a series of

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

s. He was 85 and is survived by his son Alexander; another son, James; a sister, Marjorie Bamman; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Rodrigues 2010p. ...

remembers Jay Marshall during the

JREF James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) is an American grant-making institution founded in 1996 by magician and skeptic James Randi. As a nonprofit organization, the mission of JREF includes educating the public and the media on the dangers of ...

Amazing Adventure 4, March 8–15, 2009. Randi describes how Marshall was an expert at taking advantage of an opportunity and gives the example of when Lefty ate a fly. Randi's anecdote begins with "a fly came into the spotlight..."

References

External links

Beating a Dead Horse: The Life and Times of Jay Marshall written by his son, Alexander "Sandy" Marshall
(

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, May 13, 2005) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Jay 1919 births 2005 deaths American magicians Ventriloquists Academy of Magical Arts Masters Fellowship winners