Joseph Ovette
From MagicPedia
Joseph Ovette born Giuseppe (Joseph) Olivo in Italy was a prolific author and top ranking magician.

Joseph Ovette
Born Joseph Ovette
January, 20 1885
Naples, Italy
Died August, 05 1946
Buffalo, New York
Resting place Arn Prior in Ontario, Canada.


Ovette and his three brothers were raised in Brooklyn, New York and his first magic shows were with the Kickapoo Medicine Show in 1916 until 1919. He then toured the country playing the Vaudeville circuits. Featuring such acts as the "Man they Could not Hang," and the Bullet Catch, he obtained wide publicity.

He also lived in Canada and was very active in Magical Societies. The Sphinx and M-U-M had published articles about him and his magic. He was the originator of the "Ovette Master Move", which had been published in Genii as "Kelly's Bottom Placement", causing some sort of confusion about the originator.

Ovette did a crystal gazing act as "Mar-Jah", of which he would state, he was the original...as several other mental acts billed themselves as "Mar-jah" as well. A real showman, he wrote a lot of material about publicity stunts like being buried alive and blindfold drives.

He contributed lots of tricks and articles to the The Linking Ring between 1930 and 1940

Operated on for a malignant throat on July 24th, he succumbed on August 5th at in Buffalo, New York. He was buried on August 7th at Arn Prior in Ontario, Canada.

Books
•Trickery Tricks (1917)
•The Book of Wisdom (1920)
•Practical Telepathy (1924)
•Silk Creations (1931)
•Eggstraordinary Ways of Eggshibiting With Eggs (1932)
•Miraculous Hindu Feats - (1934)
•The Perfection Flag Trick - (1936)
•Odds and Ends in Cardology - (1937)
•Fast Ones (1940)
•Ovette's Tricks and Illusionettes - (1944)
•Ovette's Golden Mysteries (????)
•Magician New Field
•Bargain Magic
•Vaudeville Magic



References
•Who's Who in Magic, Sphinx, August, 1931
•The Great Ovette, Bat No. 33, page 178