This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/17/2023
“SILENT” MORA (Louis McCord, 1884 - 1972). Archive of Personal and Performance Photos of Magician “Silent” Mora. [Ca. 1910s – 60s; most 1920s – 40s]. A collection of over 70 black-and-white photographs from the personal collection of “Silent” Mora, including many full-length images of the famed sleight-of-hand magician presenting his act in both Asian and Western garb, and performing some of his best-known effects including the Balls in Net, Chinese Sticks, and balancing a ball on the edge of a fan. Several unpublished, both in studio settings and on stages, and other candid photographs with fellow magicians, among them Shirley Quimby, John Mulholland, Howard Thurston, Adelaide Herrmann, Walter Floyd, Tarbell, Frank Ducrot, and Walter Gibson. Many of these images bear notations in ink or pencil on their versos and are SIGNED by Mora. Also Included are several images of other magicians and entertainers, INSCRIBED AND SIGNED to Mora, including pictures of Beatrice Lille (two, both SIGNED), Jay Palmer, Joe and Anne Karson, Irv Weiner (an early bust portrait), Rouclere Jr., Rita Rio, Cliff Hard, Al Munroe, Lady Frances, John Grdina, and others. Bulk 10 x 8” with glossy finishes, most in good condition or better with age-expected wear and faults. A unique and important collection related to the life and career of this important American magician. Now best remembered for his “Balls and Net” routine and the Wand Spin that bears his name, “Silent” Mora was an accomplished magician who flourished in the vaudeville era, performing in Asian garb and presenting a wide range of tricks, including feats accomplished by delicate sleight-of-hand maneuvers, as well as apparatus tricks. He also worked in Chautauqua and Lyceum fields, and in later years, in the school show field. Mora’s later years were spent in and around Boston, where he became a fixture at local magic events. It was in those days he constructed several specialties, most notably a version of the Chinese Sticks made from real bamboo, painted by hand, and typically inscribed by Mora on the flat side with one of several “wise” aphorisms, among them, “More men drown in the bowl than in the sea.”