This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/26/2024
BAMBERG, Theo. (Tobias Bamberg, 1875 – 1963). Thurston Presents Theo Bamberg Europe's Great Shadowist. Cincinnati: Strobridge Litho. Co., ca. 1908. Half sheet color stone lithograph bears a full-length portrait of Bamberg (Okito) and the hand shadows he presented as a specialty act on the Thurston show. 30 x 20”. Linen backed. Old central folds evident. A-. Scarce.At the time this lithograph was printed, Bamberg — more widely known as Okito — was a guest artist on the Thurston show, performing his hand shadows as an interlude in the full-evening entertainment. Though remembered today as an inventive magician and peerless craftsman of magic apparatus, as a boy in his native Holland, Bamberg performed his hand shadow act for the nation’s royal family. In 1908, after Thurston purchased the show of Harry Kellar, Bamberg was added to the program not only to lengthen the performance, but to also as a technical advisor. He would later return to vaudeville and European variety theatres as Okito the ‘Asian’ magician, topping bills and earning huge salaries. He died in Chicago in 1963.