Alexander - The Man Who Knows

Alexander, The Man Who Knows was the highest paid mystic/magician of the golden age of the 1910s & 1920s. His portrait in this poster is detailed, his face glancing upwards and focused. Alexander often adorned himself in clothing inspired by the East, and here his turban and end tassel also help to form the shape of a question mark.

Alexander was born Claude Alexander Conlin in South Dakota in 1880, and rose to prominence during the Vaudeville era of American theater. While he did perform some magic tricks, Alexander’s real claim to fame was his psychic act which was made up of fortune telling and mind reading. Many credit him for introducing electrical elements to the field of magic. Like many magicians of the era, Alexander’s life is full of myth and intrigue, among them rumors he had 14 wives and participated in a jailbreak. Alexander invested much of his fortune back into creating his effective chromolithograph posters, which were his main source of promotion. After retiring in 1927, he had many posters leftover. He sold these extra posters in 1944 and they were used throughout the 1940s and 1950s by Alexander look alike acts. Alexander passed away in 1954.

This poster is conservation mounted, linen backed, and in excellent condition. We guarantee the authenticity of all of our posters.