Secrets of the most famous wizard of the twentieth century: truth and fiction about Emile Kio

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

April 11 marks 123 years since the birth of the founder of the famous circus dynasty Emil Teodorovich Kio … During his lifetime, so many legends were associated with his name that it was extremely difficult to separate truth from fiction. The great illusionist was such an unsurpassed master of his craft that even in Japan he was called the "wizard of the twentieth century." Secrets accompanied him not only in his professional life, but also in his personal …

And the first of these secrets is associated with his name, or rather, with a pseudonym. After all, the real name of Emil Teodorovich is Hirschfeld-Renard. However, to work on the stage, which he dreamed of, he needed a more effective, memorable and short pseudonym. About why he began to call himself Keo, the artist himself told the following legend: one evening he walked past the Khudozhestvenny cinema, and noticed that in the word "Kino" one letter - "n" had burned out. The word "Kio" seemed to him mysterious and euphonic, he took it as a sign from above and decided to take for himself such an unusual pseudonym.

And when he was on tour in Kiev, he jokingly called his pseudonym an abbreviation and deciphered it as "the famous Kiev deceiver." The audience picked up this idea and offered their own version: "how interesting it is to deceive." Emil Kio's son Igor voiced his own version: “My father is half Jewish, half German. In Warsaw, my father lived next to the synagogue. And Saturday morning began with a prayer heard throughout the neighborhood. And in prayer it was like a refrain: TKYO, TKYO. This TKYO cut into my father's consciousness so much that he decided to link his life with him. " Which of these versions is closest to the truth is difficult to say, because they were all voiced by the illusionist himself. Obviously, he himself had nothing against the legends that arise around his name.

Emil Kio was the first illusionist who began to demonstrate tricks not on stage, but on the circus arena, where they were observed from all sides, was the first to ask the audience intellectual tasks and puzzles, and was the first to use some of the principles of tricks that illusionists still follow. In 1960, Emil Kio in London earned the title of the best magician in the world, and a year later in Denmark he received the gold medal of the International Artists' Lodge. In Japan, he was called the wizard of the twentieth century.

For 33 years, Emile Kio performed in the circus arena and was incredibly popular. He made good money and was considered a millionaire by many. However, this is another myth. The fact is that he spent all the money he earned on his family, and he had a very large one, spoiled his wife with expensive gifts - he bought her fur coats, jewelry, French perfume. The wife of Emil Kio Jr., Eleanor Prokhnitskaya, admitted: “When Emil Teodorovich died (December 19, 1965), I had to sell a black Volga in order to erect a monument at the Novodevichy cemetery - the savings book of the great illusionist turned out to be empty”.

Since all the artists of the Kyo circus dynasty always had many assistants, a legend was born that there was a fierce competition between them, with frequent fights and scratching of their faces. Iolanta Kio, who was the wife of first Igor Kio, and then his brother Emil, who spoke with them, confirms these facts: “Everyone tried to take a more noticeable position in the winning number. But there was no point in competing for the sawing trick, because Kio, as a rule, sawed their own wives."

Iolanta Kio also revealed many family secrets of the circus dynasty: “Emil Teodorovich was generally a great esthete, a lover of women … It was not an ordinary family. Kio's former assistant, Kosherkhan Tokhovna (Kosha), lived in Kio's apartment. Once she was an actress of a theater in the city of Ordzhonikidze, but she fell in love with Emil Teodorovich and left after him. Over time, Emil was born to them. And six years later, another assistant to Kio - Evgenia Vasilievna - gave birth to Igor. She was 24 years younger than Kio, and he married her. At the same time, Emil Teodorovich could not allow his eldest son to be left without a father. So they all lived together in a three-room apartment on Leninsky Prospekt: Kio Sr., Kosha, Evgenia, Emil, Igor … It remains only to be amazed how the women agreed to this."

Emil Kio was such a professional illusionist that many people sincerely considered him a magician. And they came to him with requests to remove the evil eye, make a love spell, cure drunkenness, etc. Of course, he did not do this, but, as eyewitnesses said, he still possessed hypnosis and could predict the future. However, this is also a legend …

And even officials were afraid of the founder of another famous circus dynasty: "King of jesters" Anatoly Durov