Jack Kodell

Jack Kodell (born John Edward Kodelka; November 4, 1927 – May 17, 2012) was an American stage magician.

Biography Born in Mankato, Minnesota, he was encouraged by his father to "do something different". By the age of nine he learned to fly a Taylor Cub airplane, and at 13 became the Soap Box Derby champion. While bedridden with rheumatic fever in his teens, he learned card tricks and, after moving with his parents to Chicago, began frequenting magic stores and learning new routines. He saw prestidigitator Bill Baird performing with billiard balls, and taught himself similar tricks but using live cockatiels or parakeets, inventing the idea of "bird manipulation".

He developed his act, began using the stage name Jack Kodell, and in 1947 won an award as most original magician at the International Magic Convention in Chicago, where Harry Blackstone Sr. said: "This young boy has revolutionised magic..". Kodell started appearing at the El Rancho casino and hotel in Las Vegas, becoming the first magician to be featured in the city. He toured around the world, and frequently visited Britain, where he met English entertainer Mary Naylor; they married in 1953. At that time, Kodell was presenting his magic tricks in an ice show at the Empress Hall, Earl's Court. In 1997, he and his wife moved to Orlando, Florida, where he died in 2012, aged 84.