Gloria Dea, 1st magician on Las Vegas Strip, dies at age 100

LAS VEGAS — Gloria Dea, touted as the primary magician to carry out on what would turn out to be the Las Vegas Strip within the early Forties, has died. She was 100.

Dea died Saturday at her Las Vegas residence, stated LaNae Jenkins, the director of medical providers for Valley Hospice, who was one among Dea’s caretakers. A memorial is being deliberate.

Dea additionally appeared in a number of films within the Forties and ’50s, together with “King of the Congo,” starring Buster Crabbe, in 1952.

Dea moved from California to Las Vegas in 1980. Famed magician David Copperfield befriended her in her later years, based on the Las Vegas Evaluation-Journal.

“Gloria was superb. She was charming humorous and interesting,” Copperfield advised the newspaper. “And in Vegas, as a younger magician, she began all of it. It was an honor to know her.”

Dea was 19 when she carried out at El Rancho Vegas on Could 14, 1941.

Her present on the Roundup Room is the primary recorded look by a magician in Las Vegas, the Evaluation-Journal reported Sunday.

“There was no Strip, actually, in these days,” Dea advised the newspaper final August when she turned 100. “We had the Final Frontier and the El Rancho Vegas. They’d simply began constructing the Flamingo.”

Dea carried out magic that night time and extra.

“I additionally danced. I did the rumba as a result of it was troublesome to maintain organising all my magic stuff,” Dea stated.

After relocating to California, Dea appeared in a number of films together with “Mexicana” in 1945 and “Plan 9 From Outer House” in 1957.

“I used to be within the Saturday matinees, for the youngsters,” she stated. “‘Plan 9 From Outer House’ was the worst film of all time. … I had enjoyable making it although.”

However that marked the tip of Dea’s leisure profession. She offered insurance coverage after which new and used vehicles for a dealership within the San Fernando Valley, changing into a prime gross sales rep.

Based on the Evaluation-Journal, Dea was an solely baby and didn’t have any fast household. Her husband Sam Anzalone, a former California automobile gross sales govt, died in January 2022.

Dea was scheduled to be inducted into the UNLV Faculty of Wonderful Arts Corridor of Fame on Tuesday night time.

These plans will go ahead as deliberate; Dea can be inducted by Copperfield in a presentation earlier than the complete program.