Larry Becker

Welcome to the Magic Poster Tour at Poe’s Magic Theatre, inside the historic Lord Baltimore Hotel.

This stop features Larry and April Becker, a late twentieth century piece billed as “Mentalism and Mystery.”

Larry and April Becker stand back to back in evening clothes. He holds a glass cylinder at the edge of the frame, while the silver writing across his jacket records a personal inscription. The studio background and formal pose belong to the polished publicity photography of a working professional act.

Unlike a lithographic show poster, this image sells the people behind the mysteries. Their names are not printed across the top; they are left in the signature, where the audience can meet the performers at close range. It is a small change in scale, from public spectacle to a keepsake handed from one person to another.

This is a cropped and perspective-corrected photograph of the signed publicity portrait displayed at Poe’s Magic Theatre; the original handwriting is retained.

Larry Becker was a Baltimore-born mentalist, author, and creator whose work became influential among performers of mentalism. His writing and original routines helped shape how later artists approached theatrical mind reading.

April Becker performed and worked alongside Larry, sharing the life of an act that depended on timing, trust, and an audience willing to wonder what it had just seen. The signed portrait preserves both of them together, rather than reducing the show to a lone face and a mysterious prop.