Abril Lamarque

Eduardo Abril Lamarque was a Cuban and American caricaturist, cartoonist, artist, designer, and magazine publisher. He also engaged himself as a stage magician and as a music conductor. Lamarque was an innovator in the arts of typography, magazine layout and design, and caricature creation. He was the first person in the world to create, draw, and distribute a comic strip entirely in the Spanish language. Lamarque also invented entirely new forms of art, such as his infamous radiocatures, genre forms of cartoons, and a new style of caricature he called the composacature. With the follow-on collapsing sugar market and economic crash in Cuba, Lamarque's parents could no longer afford his studies in America.

From 1940 to 1941, Lamarque established his first design firm called 'Abril Lamarque Creations." Here, Lamarque designed jewelry, accessories, and household items. One of these was called the pallettray, a serving tray made to look like an art palette.

Career as a magician Abril Lamarque performing a card trick for an audience member at one of his magic shows. Lamarque's career in the art of illusion was a pastime for him - he remained gainfully employed in the magazine business, but became a good enough magician to perform for public audiences beginning in the 1930s. His editor and friend Max Batchelder would often help him with arranging gigs as a magician.