Danish-born Harry August Jansen, also known as Dante the Magician, was not the first to bear this moniker, as it belonged to fellow Scandinavian Oscar Eliason, born to Mormon parents in Utah. Eliason, often dressed in courtly attire, performed stage illusions, including the spirit-cabinet act, touring the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Australia as early as the 1890s.
He was at the peak of his popularity when he tragically died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen during a hunting trip in South Africa, caused by an accidental discharge. In contrast, the famous Harry Jansen, Dante's Magician, was an understudy to Howard Thurston in the 1920s and adopted the moniker on Thurston's advice.
Jansen took Thurston's magic show on a world tour and continued to perform to captivated audiences overseas when Thurston passed away in 1936. Dante's show, 'Sim Sala Bim', featured classic routines like the "Backstage Illusion", sawing a woman in half, the vanishing horse and rider, and "The Un-Sevilled Barber".
