Tarbell

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

This stop features Harlan Tarbell, a mid twentieth century piece billed as “World Famous Magician, Mental Scientist.”

Unlike the saturated lithographs nearby, this handbill relies on black ink, photographs, and forceful display type. ‘Tarbell’ cuts diagonally through the upper half, while blocks of copy crowd the page with promises. It is economical theatre advertising made for quick local printing.

The phrase ‘Mysteries of the East’ and the turbaned stage persona reflect the same Orientalist convention seen elsewhere in the collection. It reduced varied Asian cultures to an exotic theatrical category. Poe’s Magic Theatre does not endorse that convention, and the plain printing makes its casual normality especially visible.

Harlan Tarbell was an American magician, illustrator, physician, and educator. He is best remembered for the Tarbell Course in Magic, first issued as a correspondence course in the 1920s and later expanded into books that remain foundational for magicians.

This advertisement reminds us that Tarbell was not only a name on a bookshelf. He toured, lectured, performed mentalism, and brought the material into theatres in person.