Joe Berg (1903–1984) was a professional magician and magic dealer who lived and worked in

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

and

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

. Berg was born in

Pinsk Pinsk ( be, Пі́нск; russian: Пи́нск ; Polish: Pińsk; ) is a city located in the Brest Region of Belarus, in the Polesia region, at the confluence of the Pina River and the Pripyat River. The region was known as the Marsh of Pinsk a ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(now

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

) and immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1914. He supplied magic effects and props to such noteworthy entertainers as

Harry 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 ...

, Harry Blackstone Sr. and

Howard Thurston Howard Thurston (July 20, 1869 – April 13, 1936) was a stage magician from Columbus, Ohio, United States. His childhood was unhappy, and he ran away to join the circus, where his future partner Harry Kellar also performed. Thurston was deeply ...

among others, and self-published books on magic. His brother, Hy Berg (1908-1982), was also a magician.

Affiliations/published memoirs

On the autobiographical section of his web site, the semi-professional magician, Manyfingers Hostetler comments about visiting Joe's shop in California during the 1960s.

Works

*''Here's Magic'' (1930), Intro by Dr.

Harlan Tarbell Harlan Eugene Tarbell (February 23, 1890 – June 16, 1960) was an American stage magician and illustrator of the early 20th century. He was the author of the well-known '' Tarbell Course in Magic''. His only foray into cinema was an early 193 ...

, Illus. by Nelson C. Hahne *''Here's New Magic: An Array of New and Original Magic Secrets'' (1937), Illus. by Nelson C. Hahne; ghostwritten by

Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis ...

*''The Berg Book''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berg, Joe 1903 births 1984 deaths American magicians Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Academy of Magical Arts Masters Fellowship winners