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American stage magician

Charles Joseph Carter (June 14, 1874 – February 13, 1936) was an American stage magician, also known as Carter the Great.

He was born on June 14, 1874, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and developed an interest in magic from a young age. Carter's first theatrical experience occurred at the Herzog's museum and Pat Harris' Masonic Temple in Baltimore at the age of 10, where he appeared as "Master Charles Carter the Original Boy Magician". Due to stiff competition from the number of magic acts on the American stages at the time, Carter opted to pursue his career abroad, where he gained fame. Among the highlights of Carter's stage performances during his career were the classic "sawing a woman in half" illusion (an elaborate surgical themed version with "nurses" in attendance), making a live elephant disappear and "cheating the gallows", where a shrouded Carter would vanish, just as he dropped at the end of a hangman's noose. He was also known for devising acts that were inspired by recent events that captured the public's imagination, such as the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922 or John Dillinger's famous jailbreak in 1934. In 1894 he met his future wife, Corrine, whom he married and included in his show. A year later, his son, Lawrence, who would eventually take over the act after his death, was born. According to some sources, it was this heavy equipment of his that lead to him being refused a place on the RMS Titanic during a return trip to the US in 1912. A famous anecdote states that he kept his lion, Monty, in the back room of the shop and when it would roar, the startled customers would run for the door. In 1920, The Great Carter was touring again, opening at the Criterion in Sydney, Australia in May, accompanied by stage psychic Miss Evelyn Maxwell. The pair then toured Australia before heading overseas again. In 1921, he lost a fortune while filming The Lion’s Bride in South Africa, a movie starring himself, that he had also written, produced, directed. The film never made it to screen. The Great Carter returned to touring, playing packed houses in Australia in 1924 and again in 1934 together with Miss Evelyn Maxwell. In 1936, Charles Joseph Carter suffered a heart attack on his way to Bombay, India. He was sent to the hospital and his son Larry took over the show. He died on February 13, 1936, aged 61 following a second heart attack. He is buried in the Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York.

Carter's home in San Francisco was rented by the Sumitomo Bank of California in the 1980s–90s and used as a residence for the Bank's President. Carter used to put on shows in the basement and people still discover occult references in the stained glass windows. The house is in the Seacliff District of San Francisco near the Pacific Ocean. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the "Houdini Mansion". It is now used as a foreign consulate. Following Charles Carter's death from a heart attack in 1936, his son Larry Carter took over as Carter the Great. A variety of vintage posters, advertising his shows, are on display at the House on the Rock in Wisconsin. It is commonly believed that the character 'Maxwell' from the video game 'Don't Starve' was inspired by Carter because of his connections to magic and his relation to the city of San Francisco, as well that his real name is 'William Carter'. A highly fictionalized account of his life can be found in Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold. The rights to the novel were purchased in 2002 by Paramount, with Tom Cruise planning to star and produce, but the film has since been stuck in development hell. Warner Bros. currently hold the rights to a Carter Beats the Devil film.