The Great Raymond Is Here

"The Great Raymond. ¿No lo ha visto ud? [Have you seen him?]. Ya llegó [He is here]."

This circular advertising piece--similar in size and appearance to a luggage label--shows two small imps or devils whispering in the ears of Morris Raymond Saunders (1877-1948), a magician whose stage name was "The Great Raymond." If the translation from Spanish (above) is correct, one imp is asking, "Have you seen him?," and the other is answering, "He is here."

According to Rhett Bryson, professor in the Theatre Arts department at Furman University, "The image of the sagacious magician looking knowingly at the viewer with small imps whispering the enduring secrets of magic in his ear has been often used on magician's advertising posters. This image of the magician getting the 'secrets' from these underworld demi-devils apparently started with Harry Kellar (on his 1894 poster)."

For further discussion and additional images of imps imparting information to magicians on posters and other advertising materials, see Bryson's A Visual History of Whispering Imps on Magic Posters.

For another example of whispering imps, see the Howard and Jane Thurston Good Luck Throw-Out Card (small image below).