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Fetaque Sanders

Fetaque Sanders (b.1915-d.1992) toured with the USO during World War II, performing for African American troops in the then-segregated US Armed Forces. After the war, Sanders continued to perform his magic act until 1962.

Biography

Fetaque, pronounced "Fee-take", Sanders began his professional career in 1933 setting out to Chicago for a part in a stage show that would be performed at the World's Fair.

After he finished his classes at Tennessee State in the spring of 1938, he bought a second-hand set of Punch and Judy figures. Designing and building a cabinet for their performance, he developed a variety act including puppetry and impressions of well-known figures (black and white).

In January 1939, Sanders appeared at the Society for the Study of Negro History in Washington, D.C. Finding many opportunities he relocated to the District of Columbia. Sanders married Irene Kennedy, who had been a volunteer from the audience at one of his shows, in 1942. Irene joined her his show as his onstage assistant. The two performed on Broadway in New York City in May 1943 (a gala event directed by Orson Welles).

During World War II, he toured with the USO on a recommendation from John Mulholland, whom he had met at the Magic on Broadway show.

He was featured in a December 1949 Ebony magazine article on black magicians.

In 1958 Sanders suffered a stroke brought on by overwork which impaired his peripheral vision and in 1962 at the age of forty-seven he was forced to retire. He returned to Nashville and became a magic collector.

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-[[File: PercyAbbott1.png|right|thumb|200px|[[ Percy Abbott]]]]
+[[File: FetaqueSanders2.png|right|thumb|200px|[[ Fetaque Sanders]]]]
-'''Percy Abbott''' (b.1886-d.1960) was an Australian magician and magic dealer who founded [[Abbott's Magic Novelty Company]] in Colon, Michigan.
+'''Fetaque Sanders''' (b.1915-d.1992) toured with the [[USO]] during World War II, performing for African American troops in the then-segregated US Armed Forces. After the war, Sanders continued to perform his magic act until 1962.
 == Biography ==
-Abbott was born in Sydney, Australia in 1886 as one of four children. Orphaned as a youngster, Abbott and his siblings moved in with an aunt who charged the children for room and board.
+Fetaque, pronounced "Fee-take", Sanders began his professional career in 1933 setting out to Chicago for a part in a stage show that would be performed at the World's Fair.
-Early interests included theatre and magic; Abbott took part in amateur theatrical productions as a boy, and soon thereafter, discovered magic; it was the latter pursuit, along with its allied art, ventriloquism, to which he would devote the balance of his life. In his early 20s, Abbott found himself performing regularly in Sydney and other Australian towns, eventually taking a position with the New York Novelty Co., a firm that supplied magicians with the tricks of their trade. Abbott eventually broke away from the firm to open his own supply house for conjurers, called Abbott's Magic Novelty Co., located on Pitt St. in downtown Sydney. He continued performing locally and through the Pacific, and was reportedly one of the first magicians to perform the Sawing a Woman in Halves illusion in Australia.
+After he finished his classes at Tennessee State in the spring of 1938, he bought a second-hand set of [[Punch and Judy]] figures. Designing and building a cabinet for their performance, he developed a variety act including puppetry  and  impressions of well-known figures (black and white).
-After a short time, Abbott turned the reins of his magic shop over to his brother Frank and left Australia permanently. He toured the Orient, and eventually landed in America, in 1926, and attended the first annual conventions of the [[International Brotherhood of Magicians]]. It was at one of these affairs that Abbott met [[Harry Blackstone, Sr.]] The two men agreed to form a partnership and thereby established the Blackstone Magic Co. in the small village of Colon, Michigan.
+In January 1939, Sanders appeared at the Society for the Study of Negro History in Washington, D.C. Finding many opportunities he relocated to the District of Columbia.  Sanders married Irene Kennedy, who had been a volunteer from the audience at one of his shows, in 1942. Irene joined her his  show as his onstage assistant. The two performed on Broadway in New York City in May 1943 (a gala event directed by [[Orson Welles]]).
-The Blackstone Magic Co. lasted for only 18 months, closing its doors in 1929. Four years later, after working on [[Coney Island]] with [[Jean Hugard]], playing school shows throughout the Midwest, and marrying a girl from Colon named Gladys Goodrich, Abbott opened another magic shop in the small Michigan town, this one bearing his name. The Abbott Magic Novelty Company began advertising in trade journals in 1933, and by 1934, was a going concern, having introduced a successful magic trick to the fraternity that sold well enough to keep the small business solvent. The effect, suggested to Abbott by a dentist from Saginaw, Michigan, Dr. [[Boris Zola]], was the barehanded vanish of a shot glass full of whiskey, and was called "Squash."
+During World War II, he toured with the [[USO]] on a recommendation from  [[John Mulholland]], whom he had met at the Magic on Broadway show.
-[[Percy Abbott|Read more about Percy Abbott....]]
+He was featured in a December 1949 Ebony magazine article on black magicians.
+In 1958 Sanders suffered a stroke brought on by overwork which impaired his peripheral vision  and in 1962 at the age of forty-seven he was forced to retire. He returned to Nashville and became a magic collector.
+[[Fetaque Sanders|Read more about Fetaque Sanders....]]

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Revision as of 20:20, 22 June 2025

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