Magician's last trick leaves 'em laughing

BY MARK BROWN Chicago SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

It was the promise of a magician's funeral, in particular the "broken wand ceremony," that lured me Monday morning to Drake & Sons Funeral Home on the North Side. I couldn't place the name of the deceased, had never heard of a magician's funeral and knew nothing of the broken wand ceremony, but the mind boggled at the possibilities.

Would they saw the casket in half? Skewer it with swords? Perhaps make the corpse disappear? Replace him with a pretty girl in a sequined costume?

As it turned out, nothing more flashy than a card trick was performed, but I hardly left disappointed. That was apparently often the case where Jay Marshall was involved.

Marshall, 85 and by his own estimation "one of the better cheaper acts" in show business, was the man in the casket, and the sign on its lid was enough to let you know his would be no ordinary funeral.

"Not the first time I've died," it read, a reference not to any powers of rebirth but to the tribulations of a stage performer.

The funeral parlor was full of people who know what it is like to have died -- on stage -- and to go back for more.

They were magicians, ventriloquists, comedians and carnies, and they were eager to share their stories about Marshall, who come to find out, was all those things and then some.

I felt better when one of Marshall's friends described him as "the most famous celebrity that nobody knew."

Early television performer

Photos of Marshall in the back of the room and an obituary from Friday's New York Times stirred my memory banks.

The photos showed a David Niven look-alike in evening clothes with a white sock puppet with rabbit ears on his left hand. "Lefty," as the puppet was known, made 14 appearances with Marshall on the Ed Sullivan television show. They opened for Frank Sinatra during his earliest days in Las Vegas and did the Jackie Gleason Show.

Their act combined magic and ventriloquism with a comedy born of his days in Vaudeville.

Another photo of Lefty atop the casket carried the caption, "I'm Speechless." Marshall previously donated the hand puppet to the Smithsonian.

But Marshall may be just as well known for the Magic Inc. shop he and wife Frances moved to Lincoln Avenue in 1962, where Marshall assisted and befriended generations of magicians. Several speakers said it was Marshall's willingness to treat every magician as a peer -- from the biggest international stars to 12-year-old kids -- that made him a beloved figure in his field.

Marshall allowed groups such as the Wizards Club to hold their meetings in the store, often punctuating downtime with his jokes.

"The jokes weren't always appropriate. They were always, always funny," said club member Keith Cobb.

Marshall's eulogy was performed by his youngest son, Alexander "Sandy" Marshall, who seemed to have inherited his father's showmanship and sense of humor.

Noting he was born within months of his father's discharge from military service, Sandy said: "For the first 15 years of my life, he referred to me as that god damned weekend pass."

Sandy said his father often observed that he had no problem with his own death.

"I just don't want to be there when it happens," he would say.

The breaking of the wand

Marshall was named dean of the Society of American Magicians in 1992 and was presented a wand, ancient emblem of mystery, to mark the occasion.

A fellow performer who goes by Aye Jaye was called upon to perform the broken wand ceremony Monday, officially marking the end of Marshall's tenure as dean. Breaking the wand was meant to be symbolic of the fact that without the magician it was nothing but a mere stick.

But first Aye Jaye did a card trick, using an audiotape with Marshall's voice that was one of the many magic teaching aids Marshall developed. The routine came complete with punch lines that produced the sought-after laughs.

Then Aye Jaye acted as if he was swallowing the wand, before pulling it out to reveal it was a trick wand that retracted as he appeared to put it down his throat.

Aye Jaye waxed philosophic, noting, "You've all died."

"Why the hell do we do this?" he said. ''For that one time we make it over. For that one great laugh. For that one great trick."

Aye Jaye got a pretty good laugh with this joke:

"Do you know what they call a magician who breaks up with his girlfriend?"

"Homeless."

Aye Jaye then told the story of the man who goes to see his doctor, and the doctor asks what's wrong.

"I can't pee," says the man.

"How old are you?" ask the doc.

"85," says the man.

"85? You've peed enough."

"Jay, you have peed enough," said Aye Jaye.

With that, he broke the wand.