Kid Canfield

George Washington Bonner (1878 – March 12, 1935), popularly known as Kid Canfield, was an American gambler and confidence trickster who later reformed and made a series of lectures and two films on the prevalence of cheating in gambling. Born in a small village near Columbus, Ohio, Canfield learned to gamble in his family's hotel. After a period running fixed three-card Monte games at circuses, he traveled the United States to play high-stakes card games. Canfield claimed to have played with gangsters such as Arnold Rothstein, Legs Diamond, and Al Capone and to have won $350,000 from Rothstein in a single session.

By 1910 Canfield had ended his gambling career and was touring the vaudeville circuit with a show recounting his story and revealing his methods of cheating. He published chapbooks on the subject and, in 1912, appeared in a two-reel silent film depicting his life and cheating methods. He starred in a second film in 1922, five reels long and on a similar subject matter set around a Western theme. Canfield continued his vaudeville act until 1935 when he died while making a promotional radio broadcast on WHIS in Bluefield, West Virginia.

Gambling career Kid Canfield was born as George Washington Bonner in 1878 in a small village near Columbus, Ohio. His parents owned a hotel, and it was there that he learned to gamble. Kid Canfield later worked in circuses as a confidence trickster, playing fixed games of three-card Monte. Canfield moved to Chicago by the age of 17 when he left the city to tour the country playing high-stakes card games. By 1910 Canfield was touring the vaudeville circuit with a show that denounced gambling, described his career, and demonstrated the methods he used to cheat. In 1911, Canfield published at least two editions of a chapbook entitled Kid Canfield: The Reformed Confidence Man and Gambler. Canfield's vaudeville show led to a 1912 two-reel silent film, Kid Canfield, The Notorious Gambler, in which Canfield starred. The film also included footage of four of the murderers who posed for the cameras before their executions. The film was described as a "semi-documentary" but had a Western theme. Canfield, aged 57, died from a heart attack within a minute of falling to the floor, becoming the first person known to have died while broadcasting on radio. After a brief period of confusion, a station employee put on a record of dance music, which played on repeat until midnight that night.