MARO [BEST, Walter Truman (1868-1908)]. Maro Prince of Magic. Chicago, Goes Litho., ca. 1906. Handsome window card shows Maro, an early and successful Lyceum and Chautauqua magician, producing scores of cards, ribbons, and even livestock from the coat of a bewildered spectator. 13 x 18". Matted, framed, and glazed. Not examined out of frame. Maro (1868 - 1908) was born Walter Truman Best in Montpelier, Vermont. Trained first as a photographer and musician, he eventually combined his abilities as a saxophonist with his aptitude for magic, after encouragement and coaching from Dr. A.M. Wilson of Kansas City, Missouri. One of the earliest and most successful magicians on the Lyceum circuits that toured rural America, Maro made a name for himself as a refined and artistic performer who presented a mixed bill of hand shadows, conjuring, and music, and such was his reputation that at one time, it was suggested that he might succeed the great Harry Kellar. Sadly, Maro's career - and life - was cut short at the age of thirty-nine by typhoid fever, in 1908. Friend and fellow Lyceum magician Eugene Laurant took over Maro's route.