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.

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Dell O'Dell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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."[1]

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.[1][2][3][4]

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.[5] 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.[1] 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).[6] Her "Stamp Album" presentation was published in volume 4 of the Tarbell Course in Magic.

References
1. "Dell O'Dell". MagicPedia. Genii. http://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.php/Dell_O%27Dell. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
2. "Brief Biographies of Magic Inventors N-O-P". magicnook.com. http://magicnook.com/forum/bioNOP.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
3. "Magicians' Biographies". magictricks.com Library. magictricks.com. http://www.magictricks.com/bios/whoswho-o.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
4. Dell O'Dell at the Internet Movie Database
5. Dell O'Dell Show at the Internet Movie Database
6. "Presenting Magical Moments (and more)". AbeBooks. http://www.abebooks.de/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1086958156&searchurl=vcat%3D2827747%26vcatn%3DPerforming%2BArts%26vci%3D4056120. Retrieved 2008-09-10.

Further reading
"Use Your Illusion, A mystical history of the women who broke the lovely assistant mold and sawed the boys' club of magic in half", Bust Magazine, June/July 2008
Julie Sobanski, article on Dell O'Dell, MUM magazine, August 2007

External links
Picture of Dell O'Dell at the National Library of Australia
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O'Dell, Dell
(1902-1962)
One of the most successful female magicians of the 20th Century. American born, real name Nell Newton. Learned magic from her father, a carnival magician. Specialized in snappy and cute rhyming patter, and lots of promotional material. Husband Charles Carrer, a famous juggler, managed her show and constructed her trademark clever and special props. Her local television show (California) in the early 1950's was one of the first regularly broadcast magic programs.
See: Stamp Album Presentation in Tarbell, Volume 4.