In 1910, a female magician named Ionia debuted a large illusion show in France and then toured around the European continent. She was the daughter of two magicians, Charles de Vere and Julia Ferrett, known as Okita. Ionia's real name was Clementine de Vere. Her first husband was a world famous lion tamer. Her second husband was an Old World Prince. Just before WWI, Clementine went to Russia. She spent four years there, leaving just after the Russian Revolution. Her sister was one of the most photographed women in Paris. Her brother in law was an American millionaire. After returning to Paris, Princess Clementine operated a mysterious tea salon which became a famous way station for Russian emigres. Along her unusual life journey, she had encounters with Houdini, Paul and Julia Child, Rasputin assassin Prince Felix Yusupov, and George Méliès. When the time was right, she retired to a villa on one of the most famous estates on the French Riviera.

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Clementine Listine de Vere (1888 - 1973)

Clementine Listine "Ionia" de Vere
Born 20 Dec 1888 in Belgiummap

Daughter of Herbert Shakespeare Gardiner Williams de Vere and Julia (Ferrett) de Vere

Sibling(s) Caroline, Claude, Camille, Charles, Constance (Elise), Cyril, Claire.


Died 31 Mar 1973 at age 84 in Saint-Laurent-du-Var, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Francemap

Biography:

Notables Project
Clementine de Vere is Notable.

Clementine was born in 1888. Known by her stage name, Ionia, was the most influential female magician in the first half of the 20th century. She was a British magician and illusionist, also known as Clementine Weedon (her married name) and Princess Eristavi Techitcherine. She was a British citizen, although she was born in Belgium. She lived in Paris for quite awhile also. She performed under the stage name of Ionia or the "Goddess of Mystery."

She grew up with a father who was a popular conjurer and magician. His stage name was Charles de Vere. Her mother, who went by the stage name of "Okita" performed Japanese magic. Her dad opened a magic shop/factory in Brussels in 1878. A sister of Clementine's, was the French actress Elise de Vere. She starred in the silent film, Miss de Vere. The family moved to Paris in 1892 where her father opened another magic shop which he ran until about 1909, with the help of his sons. On May 5, 1904 Clementine married Herman Wirtheim (stage name, Herman Weedon). She was only 15 years old. He performed with the Bostock Circus.

In June, 1904, the newly married couple travelled to New York as her husband had a commitment on Coney Island. He and Clementine traveled across Europe and the United States performing. They had a son, Frank. His stage name was Frank Wirtheim Tchitcherine. In 1909, Clementine traveled with Herman to Denmark, Russia, and Vienna. Between 1900-1909, her brother, Camille was working in the family business at the age of 13. He died of Diabetes. Charles then gave up his business in preparation to work with his daughter, Clementine.

Clementine performed as Ionia in Europe for several years. In 1911, she appeared on stage as Ionia and later on she was billed as "the Goddess of Mystery" or "Enchantress" while performing at the Birmingham Hippodrome in England. The act required 6 tons of equipment and elaborate Egyptian costumes for Clementine and her assistants. Ionia had great success that year. She continued to perform in Vienna, Marseilles, Lyon, Prague and other venues. In March of 1911, she was mentioned in the magazine, The Sphinx, which showed a photograph of her.

Ionia was contracted to perform in America, but she did not due to the sudden closing of Broadway's Folies Bergere of New York. This theatre opened in the spring of 1911 and closed in Oct, 1911 because of financial difficulties. After it's closure, Clementine could not find suitable employment. In 192 she did find some work here and there, mainly performing in Vienna.

In 1913 Clementine met Prince Vladimir Tchitcherine in Austria. They married in 1919, in Paris. She divorced Herman Weedon in 1917.

By 1914, her father, Charles, was disappointed that his daughter did not continue with her act, and he sold pieces of her equipment so as to curb their financial burden.

Her father writes about their situation in a letter dated, 1928:

"My daughter who was Ionia was at Moscow when the Revolution commenced. All her material pillaged and she was in cellar of Hotel 3 months."
Her father's statement were correct. Clementine had given up magic before she met Tchitcherine in 1913. She was not performing magic in Russia. She was there to buy large tracts of Real Estate.

In the 1920's she lived with her husband in the United States, in Washington D.C. Later on they lived in Paris. In 1928 she divorced again, yet she retained the title of Princess since her husband was a Prince. She lived in France for the rest of her life.

Her career was relatively short, lasting only 5 years. In 1908 her act featured trained animals. This continued into 1910. In 1909 her father helped her create her magic act which she debuted in Marseilles in 1910. "Ionia's" act was spectacular, filling the stage with illusions. Her act was advertised with beautiful posters, which some considered to be the most artistic posters of magic's Golden Age. Only 11 of these posters which were produced by the Moody Brothers of Birmingham have survived. They are now considered collectibles.[1]

She passed away in 1973, at the age of 84. She is buried with her parents in the Batignolles Cemetery in Paris, France.

Sources
↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clementine_de_Vere
https://findagrave.com/memorial/205000972

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De Vere
Charles De Vere (1843-1931) was a British inventor of magic (co-developer of the Black Art Table) and a successful stage magician. His real name was Herbert Shakespeare Gardiner Williams. He opened a magic shop in London in 1873, and later moved to Paris where he opened a magic shop down the street from the Folies Begere. He later toured Europe with his own show. De Vere was also linked to two successful female stage magicians – his wife and daughter. Both had their own shows.


Okita (Julia Ferrett)
His wife was Julia Ferrett (1852-1916). She was the first known occidental performer to do an act as an “Oriental Magician”. She used the name Okita, but this was long before Theo Bamberg adopted the name Okito. I could not find a lot of details about her show or where she did it, but in a French History of the Cinema book I did find a mention: “On the stage of Melies’s (George Melies, magician and film pioneer) Theatre Robert-Houdin, the wife of Parisian magic dealer de Vere, has sometimes performed in Japanese illusion numbers as Okita, having been dressed and made up in Japanese Costume.”

They had eight children: Caroline, Claude, Camille, Charles, Constance (Elise), Cyril, Claire, and Clementine. Caroline and Elise were musical performers in the show. Camille was a magician who helped his father in the magic shop, but died very young.

Elise went on to a very successful career as a stage actress. She married Frank Joseph Goldsoll, a man with a checkered past and a bit of a scoundrel. Some considered him a conman and a high class swindler. He was convicted of selling fake jewelry. He tried to hoodwink the French army by delivering mules he had claimed were horses. Where all his wealth came from was unclear. He bought into Goldwyn Pictures, became President of the company, and forced Goldwyn out.


Elise De Vere
Ionia (Clementine Devere)
Much of what we know about Clementine (1888-1973) is thanks to the research of Charles Greene III. She toured for three years with her own big illusion show as Ionia, and then became a princess. Quite the fairy tale ending for her.

Clementine was inspired not just by her father, but by the many top magicians she saw at the Folies Bergere, including Harry Keller, Servais Le Roy and Herrmann. Her initial performances as Ionia were not as a magician, though.

At age 15, in 1904, she eloped with American circus animal tamer, Herman Weedon, who worked with lions, tigers, and bears. Her husband trained her how to handle the animals, and she appeared on stage at the Theatre Casino-Kursaal on her own for the first time in 1910 with six bears. That apparently proved unbearable, as she lost the bears and left Weedon.

Working with her father, in 1911 she created the Ionia illusion show. It was a major show, with six tons of equipment and nine people. It was an Egyptian themed show that toured to Berlin, Copenhagen, Paris, England, and Vienna. Vienna was the last stop, and she retired from performing after just three years with the show. She did do a pantomime act in Vienna after closing the illusion show.

Her show had beautiful posters. There were reportedly 22 different posters produced, but only 11 of them are known.

The apparent reason for her retirement was her relationship with and eventual marriage in 1919 to Prince Vladimir Eristavi-Tchitcherine of Russia. He was a prince, but not wealthy. Still, it made her a princess. There are a lot of questions about her post-magic life. Greene interviewed people who knew her, but they did not know about her life in magic. It was something she apparently never spoke about. She divorced her prince in 1928, but retained the title of Princess. She lived a life of luxury until her death in 1973, but it is a mystery as to where her money came from.