Max Malini — The king of impromptu magic

He was 1.55 metres tall, spoke broken English, and had no orchestra or set. Yet Max Malini was the favourite magician of presidents, millionaires and kings. He knew how to do magic in the middle of a refined dinner — with the most irreverent daring the art has ever known.

From Poland to the White House

Born as Max Katz Breit in 1873 in Ostrov (then Austria-Hungary), he emigrated as a child to New York. He started as a child magician in Yiddish theatres in the Lower East Side, and slowly worked his way up to elite events.

At his peak he performed for presidents Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and Warren G. Harding — not in a theatre, but in their drawing rooms and yachts. He understood that the very rich don't buy tickets; they invite someone.

The legendary button

His signature stunt was the Button Bite: in the middle of a conversation he bit the button off an important guest's vest, chewed it, swallowed. An hour later, when everyone had forgotten, the guest found the button back — sewn back on his vest, or in his glass of wine, or on his plate.

He once did it with Senator Mark Hanna's vest — one of the most powerful men in America. Hanna was first annoyed, then obsessed. It became the story he told everyone for decades.

✦Performed for Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, King Edward VII
✦Famous tricks: Button Bite, Brick Production, Multiplying Block of Ice
✦Beloved by Dai Vernon, who named him his greatest hero

The power of daring

Malini's philosophy was simple: 'The audience doesn't remember what you did, but what you dared to do.' He went to the limit — jokes others didn't dare, vulnerable jokes, physical risks. It made him passionately loved or hatefully feared, and always unforgettable.

He died in 1942 in Honolulu, 69 years old. No film, no TV, no book during his life. But all modern close-up magicians who have ever done an unannounced trick in a restaurant have Max Malini to thank.