Dell O'Dell

Dell O'Dell was the stage name of Nell Newton (20 Oct 1902 - 5 Feb 1962) an American magician regarded in her profession as a pioneer who provided a role model for modern female performers and noted for being one of the first magicians to appear on television. At the height of her career she was billed as "The World's Leading Lady Magician" and "The Queen of Magic."

Nell Newton's father worked in carnivals and she began learning magic from him when she was young. She developed a style that featured snappy patter and cute rhymes, which became something of a trademark. She married Charles Carrer, a famous juggler, who managed her show and constructed props for her.

She became a pioneer of television magic when The Dell O'Dell Show began transmission on a local station in the Los Angeles area in California on 14 September 1951. She thus pre-dated several other noted pioneers of television magic, such as Mark Wilson, whose first television show began in 1955, and Richiardi Jr who made the first of his record run of appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956.

O'Dell wrote extensively on the subject of magic. She contributed a column titled "Dell-lightfully" for the magicians' magazine The Linking Ring. She also produced a number of books of tricks and performance routines, including Presenting Magical Moments (1939) and On Both Sides of the Footlights (1946). Her "Stamp Album" presentation was published in volume 4 of the Tarbell Course in Magic.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

G. Ray Terrell
Died
Williamstown, Massachuesetts

G. Ray Terrell was known as the "The Debonaire Deceptionist" as a member of the IBM and SAM.
Terrell had started in magic at age 14. He became a professional magician in 1942 and performed throughout the United States at hotels and theaters.
In 1945 he gave a "command" performance for President Harry S. Truman in the White House. He also gave a similar performance for the then General Dwight D. Eisenhower who had just returned from Europe after WW II.
Terrell and his family moved to St. Petersburg, Florida in 1958, and to Vermont in 1968.

He passed away following a performance at the "Winter Carnival" at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

For five months the Terrells played U.S.O. Camp Shows.