THE VANISHING MAGICIAN
Born Gloria Metzner in Oakland, California, she was an only child. Her parents were Martha Heyman and Leo Metzner.
Despite being of German origin, Leo served with American forces in Europe during the First World War. After he returned home, he became a paint salesman. Later on, he owned a chain of paint shops.
Leo was an amateur magician with the stage name ‘The Great Leo’. He taught his daughter magic.
Gloria started performing tricks in front of other people when she was just four years old.
By the time Gloria was seven, she was known as ‘The Youngest Working Magician in the World’. Her specialism was the Hat-Trick. She would pull her pet guinea pigs and a pigeon out of a top hat.
Aged eleven, Gloria became the youngest member of the ‘Pacific Coast Association of Magicians’ and she won an award with them for the ‘Best Work with Livestock’.
At nineteen, Gloria appeared in Las Vegas. On the 14th May 1941, She performed in the Roundup Room of the El Rancho Vegas – a hotel and casino.
Gloria’s set concluded with a trick where a playing card flew from a handkerchief into a quartered orange. She received a standing ovation. “It felt good. Anytime someone likes something that you do, you feel good, don’t you?
Prior to her second set, Gloria performed some dances with the house band playing the music. “I also danced. I did the rumba because it was difficult to keep setting up my magic stuff.”
It is believed her act was the first ever performance of a magician on the Las Vegas Strip (mind you, there were only two venues there at the time, although a large-scale building programme had just begun).
“There was no Strip, really, in those days.”
The hotel was so impressed with Gloria that they gave her a small cottage to live in, rent-free.
A couple of years later, Gloria moved to southern California. Initially, she danced with Earl Carroll’s Vanities before deciding to give up magic and become a Hollywood actress, taking the stage name Gloria Dea (pronounced ‘Day’).
Her first film was ‘The Story of Dr. Wassell’ (1944), in which she played a Japanese nurse. Gloria signed a contract with Columbia Pictures.
In her second film, ‘Delightfully Dangerous’, Gloria played a dancing clown. It was directed by Charles R. Rogers.
Part way through filming, Rogers brought the production to a standstill so that Gloria could marry her fiancé, band leader and accordion player, Jack Statham.
Both their work schedules had been so busy, they had not been able to find the time to get wed. Sadly, the marriage only lasted a year and ended in divorce.
Gloria then married Hal Borne, the pianist for Fred Astaire (who also led the band when Ginger Rogers went on her dance tours). This marriage would also end in divorce.
Gloria’s biggest part came in the 1952 film, ‘King of the Congo’. She played native girl Princess Pha. Her co-star was Buster Crabbe.
In 1954, Gloria represented the ‘American Guild of Variety Artists’, as a founder board member of the ‘San Fernando Labor Co-ordinating Council’ (a co-operative of various unions).
It’s driving force was Jack Shulem, a member of the International Typographical Union. He was to become her third husband, although yet again, it would ultimately end in divorce.
Whilst on union business, she always used her married name.
Jack and Gloria moved to Burbank in California. She decided to give up her acting career. She had appeared in nine movies, including ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ and ‘Planet 9 From Outer Space’. “It was the worst movie of all time. I had fun making it though.”
Gloria decorated their new home herself. Throughout the house, she drew Greek Gods, painted in charcoal, oils and gold leaf. She also created all the curtains, finishing them off with glued-on coloured beads.
The extravagant decoration of their home received national attention, being photographed for newspapers and glossy magazines.
Gloria threw herself into community life in Burbank. She chaired the Hobby Club and was in the Beautiful Club. She became an active member of the Women’s Council and joined B’nai Brith, a cultural association for German Jewish immigrants.
Along with her mother, Martha, Gloria also was part of the Burbank branch of Hadassah, the women’s Zionist organisation of America.
Gloria was a lifelong supporter of the Democratic party.
When Gloria and Jack got divorced, she needed to find work. Initially, she became an insurance broker, before becoming a car saleswoman for a Chevrolet dealer.
It was there that she met Sam Anzalone, another salesman. He was to become her fourth (and final) husband.
In 1980, Gloria and Sam retired and moved back to Las Vegas. “Vegas makes me very happy. I don’t care to live anywhere else.” They lived a quiet life.
Gloria was ‘rediscovered’ in 2021. Magician AnnaRose Einarson found a 1940s teal and pink blouse. Someone told her it belonged to a magician who had played Las Vegas many years earlier – and whom it was believed, was still alive.
Intrigued, Einarson contacted magic historian, Lance Rich. He too, had never heard the story and set about investigating.
He called in the help of his friend, the famous magician David Copperfield (who was also a keen historian), and together they tracked Gloria down.
Gloria was to become great friends with Copperfield. He invited her on stage at one of his Las Vegas shows and told the audience she was responsible for the start of magic in Las Vegas. Once again, she got a standing ovation.
Her husband, Sam, died in 2022. Gloria then moved into a nursing home – where she performed tricks for other residents.
At 99, Gloria could still perform what she called ‘Wet and Wild’ – the putting on of perfect lipstick without using a mirror. Asked how she could manage this, she said, “Sleight of hand – I’ve been doing it since I was a child.”
For her one hundredth birthday party, the Westgate Las Vegas casino was hired. Various magicians performed but Copperfield was the star turn.
Gloria was given the keys to the Las Vegas strip and the city declared her birthday, the 25th August, to be ‘Gloria Dea Day’.
Gloria also commented that she was the last surviving cast member from the film ‘Planet 9 From Outer Space’.
Gloria was about to be inducted into the UNLV (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame, when she died of a heart attack. She had no surviving relatives.
The induction still went ahead, with David Copperfield receiving the recognition on her behalf. He said, “Gloria was amazing. She was charming, funny and engaging. And in Vegas, as a young magician, she started it all. It was an honour to know her.”
In the induction speech, Dean of the College, Nancy Uscher, said, “She was a true pioneer in her discipline and has inspired many great illusionists working in the field today, who honour her memory with great admiration and respect.”
RIP – Rediscovering Illusionist Pioneer
