Sample Chapter – Interesting Hoosiers in History

Sample Chapter
Interesting Hoosiers in History
Chapter title – Lester “Marvelo” Lake

Lester “Marvelo” Lake (July 1904 – August 1977)
The son of Clarence and Elizabeth Greatbatch Lake, Lester was native to New Trenton, Indiana in Franklin County. As a boy he attened District No. 8 School in New Trenton from 1911 until 1921. He worked as a clerk in his father’s general store in New Trenton. Sometime during these early years, he watched some magic acts performed by Harry Houdini, Howard Thurston and Eugene Laurant at the local chataqua festival sometime in 1930.
Chatauqua Movement
Popular in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries, Chatauquas were events that sought to deliver top quality entertainment, culture and education. Methodist minister John Heyl Vincent and businessman Lewis Miller organized the first Chatauqua event in New York on the banks of Chautauqua Lake. The event featured speakers, musicians and other entertainers as well as lecturers of various topics. In an era of limited transportation and communication the events provided valuable educational and entertainment opportunities to an America hungry for both. The rise of the automobile, which expanded transportation opportunities, and radio, which enabled people to listen to music and culture at home, brought the Chatauqua movement to an end before the middle of the Twentieth Century.
Hooked on Magic
An elderly man, whose name has been lost to history, showed Lake a few magic tricks during this time. The boy was hooked.
Brookville Beginnings
He and another New Trenton boy destined to become a magician, John Calvert, became friends while boys.
Photography
Lake’s other passion was photography. In 1923 he moved to Brookville in May 1923 after purchasing a photography studio. His company, Lake Photography, opened on June 28, 1923. He specialized in portrait photography; however, he also photographed scenes from around Franklin County. He also used a technique called “spirit photography.” In this method, he would superimpose a figure over a photograph using double exposure. The technique was used to simulate ghostly images.
First Performances
Lake began his performances in Brookville in 1925 on December 12. His two-hour performance was sponsored by the Brookville Kiwanis Club in the town hall and was deemed a success.
Full-Time Magician
He sold Lake Photography in Lake Studio in September 1926 to pursue his magic career. By 1927 he became part of the stable of performers on the magnificent showboat, Golden Rod, which sailed on the Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri Rivers. He also performed in nightclubs, theaters and amusement parks. Sometime during this period, he joined Queen City Mystics.
Queen City Mystics
This group of magicians was composed of an earlier group called the Society of American Magicians, which had formed in 1902. Famous magician Harry Houdini presented the group with the charter for the Queen City Mystics during a performance at the Keith Theater in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1922.
A handbill advertising a performance by Lake in 1926 lists these stunts as part of his act:
“Act I: Amazing, Spectacular and Comedy Magic,
Act II: ‘A Trip to Spookville’ and the $1,000 Challenge,
Act III: Rag Pictures, and Funny Chalk Talk Cartoons,
Concluded with ‘Sand Paintings’ the world’s greatest and most beautiful art novelty. He staged this performance at the United Brethren Church in New Haven, Ohio.
In 1928 he devised the first of his most famous acts, Boiled Alive. The Dayton Daily News described it thus:
“Permitting himself to be bound with chains and shackled, he jumps into a tank of blazing fluid, emerging a few moments later free of all his bounds and seemingly without being any the worse for his experience. That there is not fraud in the manner in which he permits himself to be bound and shackled, he permits personal inspection of his bonds by anyone so desiring, before leaping into the tank.”
He later described the mechanics for the trick for a magazine named The Sphere:
“Suggested measurements for the props for this effect are a platform five feet wide, twelve feet long, which is raised twelve feet from the ground on four uprights or substantial posts. The platform needs to be braced and to have a trap door in the center four feet by four feet. This trap door has two doors opening down and a release connected with a rope which runs to the edge of the platform and hangs down . . . Around the base of the tank is laid light kindling and brush wood and excelsior . . . I filled the tank practically to the top and poured a quart of gasoline on top of the after . . . After the performer has released himself from the shackles in the water, he stays down as long as he is able in order to heighted the effect.”
On Monday, July 1, 1929, Lake unveiled his newest trick, Burned Alive.
An article in the Sphinx stated:
“A platform was built and covered with sand. Coal oil was poured around and papers scattered about and in the center was a box of zinc construction. Lake was put into it and the lid clamped down. Then someone set4 the oil on fire. The mass burned for seven and one-half minutes, after which Lake was removed from the box, hot but unburned.”
When Lake emerged, he related that the box had gotten a little too hot, so he adjusted the act that consisted of using lower temperature fires for the act. Critics of his acts contended that he used oxygen masks to breathe, however he denied this accusation. He said that he was able to enter a catatonic state which allowed him to survive on less amounts of oxygen as well as withstand heat better.
Numerous Stage Names
During the years 1927 Lake used various stage names. These included The Jolly Necromancer, Mystic Lake, The Jolly Magician and Professor Lake. After 1930 he used the name Marvelo, as well as variations of that name that included Professor Marvelo, Marvelo and his Company of Wonder Workers, Marvelo the Great and The Great Marvelo.
Lester Lake Guillotine
Lake probably began working on this illusion sometime in 1929 and by 1931 he was ready to perform it. The magazine The Linking Ring, published an ad for Lester Lake Guillotine, which he performed for the first time later that year. He would manufacture, market and sell this device from 1931 – 1934 when Abbott’s Magic Company began manufacturing it. It probably used two blades to create the illusion. One was positioned above the neck. A built-in stop halted the blade just before it reached the victim. A blade on the bottom fell away, creating the illusion that the blade had passed through the victim’s neck without harming them. His was a small, portable version of this device that he could take on traveling shows. These are just three of the over 300 tricks that Marvelo invented and improved. Many of these illusions are still used by magicians and the Abbot Magic Company still manufactures the plans for Lake’s machine as well as many others of his illusions.
Spook Show
During the 1940’s he hosted a Spook Show, which was a special live magic show usually done around Halloween. During World War II he travelled with the USO performing for troops fighting overseas, visiting Europe, North Africa, and the South Pacific.
Television
Lake was a regular performer on the television show You Asked For It which ran on ABC from 1950 until 1959. He was inducted into the Queen City Mystics, Assembly 11 of the Society of American Magicians.
After his death he was interred in Maple Grove Cemetery, Brookville, Franklin County, Indiana.

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