I'm reading "Cardini, the Suave Deceiver" by John Fisher right now - fascinating book! - and there's a mention of a photograph of Cardini that I'm curious about. An issue of Esquire magazine, Jan. 1945, published a photo of him in color - they wanted a picture of him and his assistant, but did *not* want Swan, his wife, to be in the photo. Instead, they used Pat Ogden, a model of the period.

I've been looking around the Net for a reproduction of this photo, but haven't found it anywhere (there are lots of images of the Jan. 1945 issue of Esquire, but they're almost all about the pinup calendar included in that month's issue). You can still buy issues of the magazine but for an issue that old, it's kinda' pricey,

I thought I'd ask if anyone has seen this photo - perhaps in a book, or online somewhere?

Thanks for any help with this,
Larry S.

PS: According to Fisher, the photographer was Anton Bruehl. Searchng for image by him shows a wide variety of dramatic and interesting photos; it really makes me curious to see his photo of Cardini and 'assistant'.

I may have an original of that. I'll have to check.

Michael,
I appreciate your effort in looking for this. The more I look around the net at Bruehl's photos, the more interesting they get!

Larry

PS: I did find some pinup photos of the model Pat Ogden on the net ... Swan Cardini looks a lot more interesting. -)

Is the photo on the cover of that book, the one in question? That is the one that I have. It came to me framed several decades ago, and I have never removed it from the frame.

By George, you struck the nail right on the head! I *thought* the lady on the front cover didn't look like Swan Cardini, but I thought it was artistic license.

Actually, the Anton Bruehl photo (from which the front dustjacket is adapted) is just inside the book facing the title page. Gorgeous shot - I didn't look at the credits and assumed it was a painting commissioned for the book. I was thinking it'd make a great poster...

The front cover/dustjacket is a mixture of the Bruehl photo and the famous Vanity Fair photo (shown in the book pg 22) and I think there's an image of Swan Cardini added in the lower left corner.

Thanks for the inspiration to look closer at what I already had, Michael! Living up to the motto "Magicians helping magicians."

Larry S.