The Ricky Jay Collection

ALEXANDER (Claude A. Conlin, 1880 – 1954). ALEXANDER. THE MAN WHO KNOWS. Circa 1920. Iconic bust portrait poster with an image of Alexander’s turban-clad visage in black-and-white on a bright red background, with text in white above and below the likeness. 40 x 28”. Minor chips and folds in borders, scattered small losses. Unmounted. Equal parts scoundrel and showman, Alexander’s iconic posters tell only part of a multifaceted life story that reads like the script of a noir-era potboiler. His biographers reported that Conlin, “… became perhaps the highest paid entertainer in the field of magic. Starting out as a stage illusionist, Alexander eventually discarded the large props and relied on his tremendous skills as a showman to put over an act of mentalism and psychic readings. As the turbaned ‘Man Who Knows,’ Alexander earned four million dollars over the course of a relatively short career during the 1920s. The … story that runs concurrently with Alexander’s theatrical career includes … seven marriages (sometimes to more than one woman at once), time spent in local jails and federal prison, his trial for attempting to extort an oilman millionaire, his failed attempt to outrun the authorities in a high powered speedboat loaded with bootlegged liquor, and the four men that he admitted killing.” (Charvet and Pomeroy, Alexander: The Man Who Knows, 2004.)