This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/25/2023
KAR-MI (Joseph Bryant Hallworth ca. 1872- 1957). See The Great Kar-Mi Troupe. Newport: The Donaldson Litho. Co., ca. 1916. One-sheet color lithograph for the “originators and presenters of the most marvelous sword swallowing act on earth.” Vignettes show Kar-Mi and his troupe swallowing the legs of tables, his loaded gun barrel stunt, and knife throwing tricks, among others. Framed to 44 x 30”. Lower portion toned, pasteover chipped; not examined out of frame. See Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women, color plates. Little has been written about Kar-Mi’s act, though many of the lithographs advertising his show have survived. This contemporary account was published in The Sphinx in April 1916: “The stage was set in oriental style and was beautifully arranged. The first trick was that of a sword swallower, only a barrel of a shot gun was used instead. With the gun halfway down his throat he fired and succeeded in breaking a soda cracker on his assistant’s head. Then he came into the audience and had the questions written. Madame Selma, his assistant, was blindfolded and held a pad of paper in her hand. Kar-Mi took the note and held it to his head and without a word the blindfolded Selma wrote out the question word for word on the large pad so that everyone could read them. Another question appeared on a slate which had been sealed in a suspended box. Selma was put to sleep on a table and covered with a cloth. Two watches were borrowed and vanished and almost instantly Madame Selma raised her hand from under the cover with the watches. The cloth was then pulled away and the Madame was gone. After the show we went to the stage door and there met Kar-Mi and Company. He is a native of — well a native of U.S.A., and he had us all going. We had a pleasant chat with the Indian (?) wherein he told of his many experiences in magic. … When a man can make the local Hindoo colony believe he is an Indian Prince he must be some magician and Prince Kar-Mi is.”