ANNEMANN, Ted (1907-1942). Annemann Final Performance Unused Ticket. [New York], 1942. Issued for a show at New York’s Chanin Auditorium scheduled for January 27, 1942, fourteen days after Annemann’s tragic suicide. 1 ½ x 3 ½”, black ink on pale green stock. Only very minor wear; near fine.
A rare artifact from the short, storied, and prolific career of Ted Annemann. Remembered and revered as an inventor of mind reading feats and card effects, and one of the ten “Card Stars of the USA” in Hilliard’s classic, Greater Magic, Annemann likely garnered more publicity for his feat of catching a bullet than any other effect in his repertoire.
Typically performing the feat out-of-doors, he was scheduled to finally stage the stunt as part of a theatre show at the Chanin Auditorium on January 26 and 27 1942. Sadly, due to a likely combination of nerves and habitual alcohol abuse, he took his own life two weeks before the performance. The intervening years, however, have been kind to his memory, as his creative output was both immense and remains important to the magic community at large.