When Max Malini (1873–1942) — one of the greatest magicians of all time — arrived at Honolulu in 1912 on the first of several visits to Hawaii, he entertained Queen Liliuokalani at a luncheon given in her honor.
And, in the course of a long career as a master illusionist, he would appear before other royalty and notable personages as well, namely, King Edward VII, King George V and the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace in London, England, the King of Siam, the Emperor of Japan, King Constantine of Greece, King Alphonso of Spain, Yuan Shikai, the first pPresident of China, and many others.
Max Malini likewise enjoyed the singular distinction of having entertained four presidents of the United States at the White House: William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge.
The world-famous magician also performed at least twice on Kauai — at the Koloa Theatre on Aug. 23, 1934, and at the Lihue Armory on Aug. 30, 1934.
Born Max Katz Breit in Poland, he immigrated to New York City with his parents as a child and by the age of 10 had studied and was performing magic in order to earn income to help support his family.
One of his signature magic tricks was the blindfold card stab.
A table would be set at center stage with a pen-knife placed on its edge.
Then a pack of playing cards was thoroughly mixed and scattered face-down upon the table by a lady from the audience.
After being blindfolded by a member of the audience, Malini would ask the audience for the name of a card.
Someone would call it out, after which he would stab the pen-knife into the cards, and when he raised the pen-knife, the correct card would be impaled upon it.
In the months before his death in Honolulu during World War II, and despite having been seriously ill for quite some time, he never spared himself from entertaining military personnel and civilian defense workers on numerous occasions at USO centers on Oahu.
