J. Warren Keane

J. Warren Keane
Born	John Warren Keane 1879 USA
Died	March 30, 1945 Brockton, Massachusetts
Resting place	Union Cemetery, Brockton, Massachusetts

J. Warren Keane (1879-1945) was a Vaudeville headliner, one of the early members of the S.A.M., and organizer with Harry Houdini of the professional organization Academy of Magicians.

Biography

Keane toured Europe and America for more than thirty years.

In Max Holden's Programmes of Famous Magicians (1937) stated that the J. Warren Keane & Co. program presented in New York City in 1936 was "One of the cleverest and most novel magic acts on the stage. As the curtain rises a girl is playing a grand piano on the stage. Keane makes his appearance and his patter is all in song or rhyme." The effects listed by Holden were "Cane & Hat forms a Table, Production of Two Silks, Smoke Appears in Glass, Vanishing Cigarette, Vanishing Silk, Torn & Restored Paper, Untying Silk, Diminishing Cards, Silk Into Pocket, and Card Sleights — Including Production of Full Pack of Cards from the Air."

One of his featured presentations was his Poker Demonstration. Many magicians tried to coax Keane to release the secret, including Dai Vernon and Persi Diaconis.

Dai Vernon states that Keane was the first to perform the untying silk

He passed away at age 66 in Brockton, Massachusetts, near where he had made his home in Brant Bock for the last twelve years of his life. He was interred in Union Cemetery, in Brockton.

Notes

Need to verify birth date.

References

• The Linking Ring, Vol. 25, No. 3, May 1945, J. Warren Keane Dies, page 48
• MUM, Vol. 9, No. 3, August 1959, Ask the Doctor, by Dr. John Henry Grossman, page 105