Edward Maro

Edward Maro
Cover of Sphinx (March 1908)
Born	Walter Truman Best September 25, 1868 Montpelier Vermont
Died	February 26, 1908 (age 39) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Resting place	North Cemetery, St. Charles, Illinois

Edward Maro (1868-1908), the stage name of Walter Truman Best was one of the first successful headlining magician on the Lyceum and Chautauqua circuits who billed himself as the "Prince of Magic". He was a shadowgraphist, musician, and artist.

Biography

He worked from 1892 until his death. Maro was also a photographer and a member of a professional saxophone quartet. He played the gogglepeg, a one stringed instrument of his own invention.

Maro spent his vacations near Leland, in Northern Michigan, at his workshop where he built and designed all the paraphernalia pertaining for his performances. When not doing magic he arranged or composed music, painted and sketched. He also tutored magician John Blackledge.

Eugene Laurant took his place on the circuit after his death.

Maro died of typhoid fever after his last performance in Philadelphia in 1908. His last requests were to be buried in St. Charles and also have a 3-ton, 6-foot-high boulder brought from Leland to St. Charles as his grave marker.

Year of birth

David Price in his "Magic A Pictorial History History of Conjurers in the Theater" stated that he had a letter in the Egyptian Hall Museum handwritten by Maro himself giving the date as September 25, 1869. His gravesite marker is in St. Charles, Illinois.

Honors and Awards

• Cover of Mahatma October 1901

References

• Sphinx Vol. 07, March 1908
• http://sdrcdata.lib.uiowa.edu/libsdrc/details.jsp?id=/maro/1&ui=1
• Who's who in the lyceum By Alfred Augustus Wright (1906)
• Who's buried in The Great Maro's tomb? St. Charles man finds out By Dave Heun Daily Harold 9/17/2010
• Edward Maro A forgotten Master by Mike Caveney, Magic August 1997
• The Nielsen Gallery, Maro - The Prince of Magic, MUM, December 2008